Etón Elite 750 Portable Receiver
Reviewed b y Ste v e Ford, WB8IMY
wb8imy@arrl.net
Those familiar with shortwave receiv ers ma y notice
something familiar in the Etón Elite 750. In its previous
life it was the Grundig Satellit 750. It underw ent a bit
of a metamorphosis and emerged
as the Etón Satellit 750.
The Satellit 750 was discontinued and
the shortwave listening community
assumed that was the end of the line, but
this was not the case. In 2020, it
reappeared as the Etón Elite 750.
A Hefty Portable
At a little more than 14 × 7 × 5 inches and weighing
more than 5 pounds, the Elite 750 is one of the larger
receivers in its class that can still be called portable.
Like its Grundig predecessor, the Elite 750 sports the
side-mounted rack handles, which giv es the Elite 750
an industrial profile. While you can certainly carry the
750 by the rack handles, there is a more con v entional
handle that folds out of the top of the case.
Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL.
Bottom Line
The Etón Elite 750 portable receiver covers all
of the popular longwave, mediumwave, and
shortwave bands, as well as the FM broadcast band and air band. It works well with
the built-in antennas and the audio quality is
good. Its SSB and CW capability is ne for
casual listening in the ham bands.
www.arrl.org QST April 2021 45
when you turn the tuning knob or adjust some of the
controls, and then turns off after about 5 seconds. Y ou
can keep the illumination on continuously by pressing
and holding the
LIGHT/SNOOZE
button.
I am so accustomed to seeing graphical signalstrength indicators that I was pleasantly surprised
Figure 7 — The Elite 750 S-meter and display.
to find a real meter in the Etón Elite 750. The circular
meter is recessed and illuminated by a single, amber
LED . Howev er, as useful as the meter is, I often
found it difficult to read in less than optimal lighting.
The sizeable tuning knob has a smooth, competent
Improved illumination would be a welcome addition.
feel, as do all the knobs and buttons. The illuminated
LCD is large enough to be easily readable, yet small
enough to avoid stealing ergonomic space from the
other controls (see Figure 7). To help conserve battery
power , the displa y bac klighting automatically comes on
Beneath the sizeable speaker, and adjacent to the
separate bass and treble controls, you’ll find an earphone/headphone jack and a
LINE IN
jack. The
jack is intended for those times when y ou might want
Table 2
Etón Elite 750, serial number n/a
Manufacturer’s Specifi cations Measured in the ARRL Lab
Frequency coverage: Receive only, 0.1 – 0.519, As specifi ed.
0.52 – 1.710, 1.711 – 29.999 MHz (SSB, AM),
88 – 108 MHz (FM broadcast), 117 – 137 MHz (AM).
Power requirement: External 6 V dc supply or four At maximum volume, battery power: backlights on, 462 mA;
D cells. 80 mAh w/o backlight, 90 mAh with backlight. backlights off, 450 mA. With external 6.3 V dc supply:
Modes of operation: SSB, AM, wideband FM As specifi ed.
(FM broadcast band only, stereo reception).
Receiver Receiver Dynamic Testing
Sensitivity: Not specifi ed. Noise fl oor (MDS), narrow fi lter, attenuator off:
AM sensitivity: Not specifi ed. 10 dB (S+N)/N, 1 kHz tone, 30 modulation, narrow fi lter:
FM sensitivity: Not specifi ed. For 12 dB SINAD, 15 kHz deviation: 100 MHz, 1.57 µV.
S-meter sensitivity: Not specifi ed. For S-9 (50 µV) signal at 14.2 MHz: Narrow, 3.93 µV;
Blocking gain compression dynamic range: Not specifi ed. At 14 MHz, 20 kHz spacing: 97 dB.
Reciprocal mixing dynamic range: Not specifi ed. At 14 MHz, 20 kHz spacing: 79 dB.
Two-tone, third-order intermodulation distortion At 14 MHz, 20 kHz spacing: 82 dB.
dynamic range: Not specifi ed.
Two-tone, second-order intermodulation distortion At 14 MHz: +29 dBm.
intercept point: Not specifi ed.
Squelch sensitivity: Not specifi ed. At threshold: 7.42 µV.
IF/audio response: Not specifi ed. Range at –6 dB points, (bandwidth)*
Size (height, width, depth, including protrusions): 4.4 7.6 1.3 inches; with handle lifted add 2.7 inches.
Antenna length, 38.8 inches. Loop length, 8.2 inches. Weight 6.25 pounds with batteries (4 D cells); 5.55 pounds without.
Second-order intercept point was determined at the S-5 signal level .
*Bass and treble control adjusted for fl attest response — bass midway, treble, maximum.
at max volume, backlight on, 540 mA.
475 kHz, –129 dBm; 3.5 MHz, –127 dBm; 7 MHz,
–130 dBm; 14 MHz, –127 dBm; 28 MHz, –122 dBm.
0.198 MHz, 1.0 µV; 1.020 MHz, 0.94 µV; 3.885 MHz,
0.90 µV; 6.160 MHz, 0.90 µV; 7.490 MHz, 1.0 µV;
15.1 MHz, 0.75 µV; 120.0 MHz, 1.46 µV.
Wide, 1.74 µV.
SSB Narrow: 290 – 2390 Hz (2100 Hz)
SSB Wide: 290 – 2340 Hz (2050 Hz)
AM Narrow: 290 – 3560 Hz (3270 Hz)
AM Wide: 330 – 2910 Hz (5160 Hz).
LINE IN
46 April 2021 QST www.arrl.org
Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL.
Figure 8 — The Elite 750’s built-in ferrite bar antenna works well
for AM broadcast band reception.
to connect another audio device and play it through
the Elite 750.
You’ll find
LINE OUT
ports on the back, and they are a
nice feature for those times when y ou w ant to make
recordings of your listening adventures. The engineers
thoughtfully included two line-level ports, one f or each
audio channel when recording FM stereo broadcasts.
Of course, you can also use these ports to connect the
Elite 750 to a much larger audio system.
The profile of the Elite 750 is dominated by its rotatable, directional ferrite-bar antenna (see Figure 8). It’s
one of the reasons the 750 is prized among those who
enjoy AM broadcast DXing. Of course , there is also a
long telescoping antenna for higher frequencies. The
right side of the radio has BNC and terminal jacks for
any other external antenna system you might wish to
attach (see Figure 9).
You can power the Elite from its 6 V dc power supply,
or take it trav eling if y ou install f our D cell batteries. (It
seems like ages since I’ve used a radio that accommodated D cells.) If you choose to use an external
6 V dc supply provided b y another man uf acturer, or
perhaps one of your own design, bew are. The 750’s dc
power jack has an unconv entional arr angement with
negative polarity at the center/tip rather than positive.
The Elite 750 offers wide frequency cov erage . It starts
in the longwave basement from 100 to 519 kHz and
extends all the wa y to 29.99 MHz. The receiv er adds
FM stereo broadcast band coverage from 88 to 108
MHz and then continues into the aeronautical band at
117 to 137 MHz.
Mediumwave, Shortwave, and Longwave
My introduction to the Etón Elite 750 occurred right
after I pulled it out of the box and deploy ed the telescoping antenna. I took a cruise through the popular
shortwave broadcast hangouts and was fortunate to
run into Radio Romania’s transmission in English. The
signal strength was excellent, despite using the
Figure 9 — The Etón Elite 750’s external antenna connectors.
receiver indoors. I wanted to catch a later broadcast
using my outdoor antenna, so I added the frequency
to one of the radio’s 1,000 memory slots. This is easy
to do and requires only a few b utton presses. Recalling
memories is even easier .
Frequency memories are grouped into numbered
pages for conv enience, and the Elite 750 allo ws y ou to
sort them in various ways. The receiver also includes
the ability to scan through the longwave , AM, and FM
broadcast bands, automatically storing the strongest
signals into Page 0 memories.
Audio quality was e xcellent with the Elite 750’s built-in
speaker . The sound is rich and full, especially at lower
frequencies. The radio provides separate bass and
treble controls, and they mak e a substantial diff erence
in fidelity, unlike controls on other receivers that only
add or subtract muddiness.
The Elite 750 comes equipped with an RF gain control
and a switchable two-step atten uator. Both are useful if
you encounter strong signals, especially when using
an external antenna. For example, I f ound that the Elite
750 seemed somewhat prone to front-end overload on
the HF bands when I connected it to my wire dipole
antenna. A quic k tap of the
ANT .ATT
button would bring
the attenuator into play and the le v el of attenuation is
indicated in the LCD as a vertical bar graph. The bar
graph is somewhat counterintuitive until y ou get used
to it. The highest (tallest) bar indicates that the least
amount of attenuation is being applied.
Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL.
www.arrl.org QST April 2021 47
Another tool is the Elite 750’s selectab le wide and
narrow bandwidth options. The manual does not
specify the bandwidths, but the wide selection seemed
a bit too wide, and it was problematic in crowded conditions. I f ound m yself using the
NARROW
setting much
of the time.
After hunting through the HF bands for a while, I was
eager to give the rotatable f errite antenna a try on
medium and longwave signals .
I remember hunting distant AM stations with a portable
receiver many years ago and ha ving to endure the
hassle of turning the entire radio this way and that,
trying to aim its ferrite rod antenna for maximum signal
strength. This is not the case with the Elite 750. Its bar
antenna turns smoothly with a slight clicking sound, as
if it were moving through mechanical detents. Not only
could I peak desired signals, I was also able to use the
antenna to null interference from stations on adjacent
frequencies.
My first test was on 700 kHz. That’s the home of the
mighty WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. At first there was little
to hear but noise, but as I gently turned the bar the
static fell away, and WLW emerged. Reception w as
surprisingly good considering that the Elite 750 was
sitting inside an aluminum-sided house at the time.
Longwave broadcasters are a v anishing breed, b ut
their signals can still be heard when conditions are
optimal. Try as I may, I was unable to receiv e longw a v e
broadcasts during this review, but I was able to spin
the bar and isolate some interesting signals from other
services, such as aeronautical beacons.
SSB and CW
The Elite 750 is not a replacement for a high-performance ham radio receiver , b ut it does off er SSB and
CW reception. It achie v es this with an adjustab le beatfrequency oscillator (BFO). The knob is labeled
BFO
, but of course, its use isn’t strictly limited to SSB.
Tuning is in 1 kHz steps, and the SSB BFO control
does an admirable job of tuning in separate CW signals above and below the tuned frequency, as long as
the band is not too crowded.
I’ve often been disappointed with how BFOs are implemented in consumer shortwave radios. Either the BFO
control is way too sensitiv e, or the BFO introduces
annoying distortion that can make listening almost
painful. I w as pleasantly surprised to see that the worst
failings of consumer BFOs were av oided in the Elite
SSB
Lab Notes: Etón Elite 750 Receiver
Bob Allison, WB1GCM
In testing the Elite 750, I found that the sensitivity is
not quite uniform throughout the HF spectrum, like we
are used to with amateur transceivers. It’s good below
20 MHz and fair at higher frequencies. The aircraft
band could use more sensitivity. At less than 4 μV
needed for an S-9 reading (normally 50 μV), the signal
strength meter is not very accurate.
There are wide and narrow fi lter settings. In the SSB
mode, you will notice that the audio frequency
response measured slightly greater with the narrow
fi lter than the wide fi lter. Audibly, it’s hard to tell much
diff erence, but the narrow fi lter setting eliminates hiss
in the audio.
Dynamic range performance looks good at fi rst glance
for a portable, consumer-grade receiver, although I
could not perform 5 or 2 kHz spacing measurements,
as we do with amateur transceivers because there
was considerable bleed-through from the adjacent
signals. I hooked up an external antenna for the AM
broadcast but found that the increased signal levels
overloaded the receiver such that I heard a lot of intermodulation distortion. As noted in the review, the
ferrite bar antenna does a good job on its own.
750. Y es , the control requires a light touch to tune signals perfectly, but once I had it tuned to my liking, the
BFO remained stable and the resulting audio was
clean and undistorted.
Even while using just the telescoping whip antenna, I
was able to monitor a number of amateur SSB and
CW conversations. The radio lac ks the ability to create
the kind of narrow filtering that is critical when listening
to a crowded band, but again, the Elite 750 is a consumer product, not a ham receiver .
With the radio still in the SSB mode, I couldn’t resist
punching 14.074 MHz into the keypad. That’s the
20-meter FT8 watering hole. As the musical
cacophony of what sounded like a million FT8 signals
erupted from the speaker, I gr abbed a microphone
headset, plugged it into my computer, and then held
the mic close to the radio. I started the WSJT-X soft-
ware and configured the program to select the computer’s headset input as its audio source. Within
seconds, I was greeted with a waterf all displa y full of
successfully decoded signals. Later I tried again, but
this time, I tapped the audio from the Elite 750’s
OUT
jacks and, as one would expect, it w orked e v en
LINE
48 April 2021 QST www.arrl.org
Reprinted with permission; copyright ARRL.
better. I have a f eeling the designers didn’t ha v e HF
digital reception in mind for the Elite 750, but this is
what happens when you turn a product over to a ham.
FM and Aeronautical Bands
The Etón Elite 750 turned in excellent FM broadcast
performance. Y ou can listen in stereo only through
headphones or earbuds, but e v en monaur al listening
with the internal speaker was impressive. Stereo
decoding is selectable, so you can also choose to
listen in monoaural, which is useful for weak signals.
It is worth noting that the bandwidth, RF gain, and
attenuator controls appear to be disabled when the
Elite 750 is used in the FM broadcast band. In addition, the signal strength meter indicates maximum
strength regardless of what you may be listening to .
Conclusion
The Etón Elite 750 appeals primarily to the consumer
market, and it does an outstanding job in that application. With its rotatable ferrite bar antenna, I think it may
also be a formidable contender among radios used for
AM broadcast DXing.
Amateurs would find it most useful for casual listening,
but there are times when it can do double duty as a
test receiver . During this review, I needed to compare
the transmit audio quality of two microphone/headsets I
was using with my HF transceiver. I reduced the transceiver output to just a fe w watts , turned on the Elite
750, stowed its telescoping antenna, and then kicked in
considerable attenuation. Using headphones plugged
into the Elite 750, I was able to listen closely and compare the characteristics of the two microphones.
Exploring the aeronautical band, I was relieved to see
the bandwidth, RF gain, attenuation, and metering
return to normal functioning. I live in an area with a lot
of air traffic, but I f ound that I had to use an outdoor
antenna to receive an adequate number of signals.
The sensitivity on the air band could be better.
The good news is that the Elite 750 includes a squelch
control that works on all frequencies, and it was put to
good use on the aeronautical band. It’s a welldesigned squelch with a sharp, fast cutoff.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Elite 750’s clock
and timing features. There are two independent alarms
that you can set to activate the radio whene v er y ou
wish. The Etón manual emphasizes their usefulness
as alarms to awaken you from sleep , which is fine , b ut
nothing would prevent y ou from tuning to a particular
frequency — a shortwave broadcast frequency, for
example — and using the alarm to switch on the radio
at the beginning of a specific broadcast. A v oice-operated (VOX) recorder attached to the
LINE OUT
jacks
could then record the broadcast while you are awa y. I
tried this using my station computer and the V OX function in my Audacity audio-editing software , and it
worked perfectly.
Of course, you wouldn’t inv est in an Elite 750 just to
use it as a test receiver , b ut it is an e xtra benefit to consider for those times when you’re not hunting longwave , AM broadcast, or shortwav e signals, or enjoying
your fa v orite FM stations.
Manufacturer: Etón Corporation, 1015 Corporation
Wa y, Palo Alto, CA 94303, etoncorp.com. Price:
$449. Available directly from Etón’s website or select
dealers.
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