Tuning Knob Comes Off Loose Be Careful While Handling!

When I first got the Buzz Aldrin Edition radio I was very happy with it.  I use it for my talk radio shows and broadcast LW/SW/AM DXing.  I love it it more than my G5.     The radio however while walking outside was working excellent, but in 1/13/2009 around 3:32 PM the tuning knob started to come off and then permanantly I have lost the tuning knob and now all I have is just the keypad to tune the stations such as the Auto/Search.   I went to Eton Corps website and did not find no replacement knob for my radio.   The radio works great, but where's my tuning knob at???

The Longwave Bands - The LW bands need improvement in the front end section when it starts at 150 kHz then reaches up to 300 kHz.
The radio is completely deaf from 150 kHz to 283 kHz, then there is a
slight reception boost when you get up to 280 kHz then all the way
up to 520 kHz.    You need a loop antenna that tunes the long wave bands from 150 kHz to 520 kHz to get real good DX reception in the long wave bands during the night.  It did pick up beacons in the 150 kHz to 520 kHz range when you use an external loop antenna or
longwire antenna with a LW coupler.  I did receive Germany a long time ago with a homemade loop antenna in my apartment, but still
station became weak with noise and electrical interference.  I could not DX too well when my tuning knob was missing.

The AM Bands - The AM bands were excellent from 520 kHz to 1710 kHz, to tune the stations I use the Auto/Search keys to tune the stations in the 10 kHz increments like a car radio and the stations do
come in great.    This radio is the best AM radio I have ever used I
love using it for my AM radio talk shows such as Coast to Coast AM
and gospel music programs.  Still you need a loop antenna, but still its not a huge requirement just as the LW bands.   Its a good travellers radio for AM radio listeners, even sports, and news listeners.

The Shortwave Bands -  The Shortwave bands are excellent when you have that tuning knob or else if you use the Auto/Search
you will been in a band loop if you do not use the jog dial tuning knob.  The good thing about this receiver is that it does have great travellers reception when world travelling, which means you don't always need a portable shortwave wire antenna like most radios do,
the antenna rod is all you need unless you are using the tuning knob
and DXing weak shortwave signals.   With the tuning knob you can
use the SSB feature to tune in Ham and Utility signals, but you cannot use the SSB feature without the tuning knob, its very hard to do.   The radio covers the shortwave bands from 1711 kHz to 29 MHz
with AM and SSB bands.

The FM and Air Bands - Tuning is difficult without the tuning knob use have to use the Auto/Search buttons to tune the stations on the FM
and Air Bands.   The FM band reception is moderate, which means you will get local and semi local stations depending on the antenna
and the battery.  The radio does not have a FM antenna jack to add an external antenna.   The radio is able to receive the stations from
76 MHz to 87.5 MHz, but does not receive the russian and other bands such as the 59 MHz to 76 MHz bands when travelling there. The radio covers 76 MHz to 87.5 to 87.5 to 108 MHz when good reception.  The sound quality is good, but they should have added a line out jack and maybe a line in jack for a external source like an ipod
or to playback your DX catches when you don't have another source to playback.    The tuning knob is a good help to tune in adjecent signals on the FM bands.

The Air Bands -  The tuning is knob on this radio for the Airbands is a
must cause the radio will only tune in 5 kHz increments when you only use the auto/search keys, like most scanners this radio should tune the 12.5 kHz increments instead of just 1 kHz increments.  If you are going to use this radio for aircraft communications its best you know the formula for 12.5 kHz tuning to get more signals and you must use the tuning knob included on the radio.  Some aircraft uses SSB for their communications, but this radio has SSB, but does not function on the air bands just like the LW/MW and shortwave bands.   The reception in the airbands do tend to overload if you live in a city
metropolitan environment.

Other Features -  The radio has megabass when you switch from news to music, when you switch to music the megabass comes on automatically.   There is world time, but not alot of time zones a
lock feature and a light function for the display not the keys.  The radio should of had the keys to light up, but they did not design it that way.  The good thing about this radio is that it take just 2 AA
batteries instead of 4 AA's or 6 AA's and D cells.  The radio comes with earbuds and a A/C adapter that reads 4.5 volts, thats all it needs.  If you use this radio its highly recommended that you use  a folded dipole antenna with one lead to use and a wire shortwave antenna that clips on the rod and WTRH and Passport to World Band Radio and Areonautical Directory and FM broadcast station list.  The external antenna jack is good for long wire antennas that has a ground rod.  Some sources say that you MUST be careful with connecting wire antennas to the radio since there is plenty of static
electricity out there.  Ground yourself before touching the rod antenna this dry winter months.