Eton FIELD RADIO 550 User manual

OWNER’S MANUAL
The AM/FM/Shortwave radio that’s outstanding in its eld
FIELD RADIO 550

FIELD OWNER’S MANUAL
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MEET THE FIELD
Thank you for purchasing the Etón FIELD AM/FM/SW
Radio. We want you to thoroughly enjoy the use of this
product. To take advantage of its many excellent and
unique features, we urge you to carefully read the user’s
manual.
INSTALLING BATTERIES
The battery compartment is on the back of the radio.
Remove it by pressing the two tabs and pulling up. To
prevent battery acid leakage, follow these instructions.
Battery acid leakage is not covered by the radio’s
warranty. Install only fresh, new alkaline D cells, all of
the same brand and type. Never install or replace with
batteries of different brands and types. Never mix old
batteries with new ones. When not using the radio for
more than 30 days, remove the batteries.
BATTERY TYPE AND OPERATION
Use 4 D size alkaline batteries. Install them with
correct polarity using the diagram inside the battery
compartment. Replace them if the battery strength
indicator in the display shows one bar or the sound
becomes distorted. The radio will turn off automatically if
the batteries become too weak.
BATTERY LEVEL INDICATOR
The battery level indicator is in the upper left corner of the
display. When batteries are full, will be displayed in the

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LCD; if ashes, it indicates that batteries are low and
the radio will soon turn off automatically.
USING AC POWER
Plug AC adapter into the socket on the right side of the
radio. Use only the AC adapter supplied. When the AC
adapter is plugged in, the will show in the upper left
corner of the display. If you lose the AC adapter that came
with the radio, use one with 6 Volt DC output, negative
polarity, 500 milliampere and a plug with 5.5 millimeter
outer diameter, 2.1 millimeter inner diameter.
POWER FAILURE BACKUP FEATURE
If batteries are in the unit and it is powered via its AC
adapter, it will automatically switch to battery use if there
is an AC power failure.
TURNING THE FIELD ON AND OFF
Turn on the radio by pressing the red POWER & SLEEP
button on the front top right corner of the radio. When
the unit is on, press the POWER & SLEEP again to turn the
radio off.
TUNING
There are several ways to tune the radio to a desired
station:
•Rotate the tuning knob to select the frequency
•Short press the UP or DOWN button to step by step
change the frequency higher or lower

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•Long press the UP or DOWN button to seek the next
station up or down in frequency
•Press the PRESET button to tune to the next preset
station
Short press the Q.TUNE button to increment quickly up
the frequency range. The Q.TUNE button steps up in
frequency by 1000kHz in FM mode and SW modes and
100kHz in MW (AM) mode. Long press the Q.TUNE button
to continuously increment by the steps noted above.
TUNING IN FM STATIONS
The FM frequency range is from 87.5 to 108 MHz.
Fully extend the telescopic antenna and turn on the radio.
Place the top BANDWIDTH control onto the MONO or
STEREO position. Stereo is needed only when you’re using
headphones and STEREO appears to the bottom left of
the frequency in the display. FM mono has better signal
and noise ratio as well as anti-multiplex interference.
RDS/INFO:
The FIELD Radio supports RDS Data Streaming while
tuning in the FM band. A short press of the RDS button
will enable the display of RDS information as PS/PTY/RT/
DATA in cycle. The icon will be displayed in the lower
left corner of the display in RDS mode.
PS: station name , when no station information, just
display “NO PS”;
PTY: program category, no program, just display “ NO PTY”
RT: Radio text, no text, just display “NO RT”

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DATA: Clock/Date/program call information, if no
information, just display “NO DATA”. If the information is
available, the display format is:
Station call Weekly Month-Day-Year Hour:Minute
Weekly format:
“MON”, “TUE”, “WED” “THU”, “FRI” “SAT”, “SUN”,
For example, the LCD will roll to display as WGSS, TUE 03-
25-2014 02:15,
TUNING INTO MW (AM) STATIONS
Place the top BANDWIDTH switch into the W or N position
(wide or narrow). Place bottom BANDWIDTH switch into
the MW position.
Place SW RF GAIN switch into the 5 position, higher if
necessary.
Tune in the station with the TUNING knob or by pressing
the UP/DOWN button or by pressing and holding the UP/
DOWN button for one second to engage auto tuning.
Use WIDE if no interference is present. Use NARROW
if interference is present.
CHANGING THE TUNING STEPS (9kHz or 10kHz)
MW, or medium wave stations, known as AM stations in
North America, range from 520 to 1710 KHz in North
America and from 522 to 1620 KHz in other parts of the
world. In North America they tune in 10 KHz steps and in
other parts of the world they may tune in 9 KHz steps.
The radio is set up for 10 KHz tuning by default, but to
change the steps to 9 KHz, With the radio off, long press
the PRESET button to select.

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Long press to switch 9K or 10K, the LCD displays 9K or
10K.
USING THE SW RF GAIN KNOB
When listening to SW broadcast stations, this control knob
should be dialed to or near position 5. If you are listening
to a weak station, increase the gain, when listening to
extremely strong stations, decrease the gain. For listening
to Shortwave stations, place this control to maximum gain
and decrease the gain as necessary.
CHANGING THE TUNING SPEED USING THE TIMER
A / TUNING STEP BUTTON
With the radio on, short press TIMER A / TUNING STEP
button, the LCD will display:
For“SLOW” mode, rotate tuning knob to increase or
decrease frequency for FM at 10kHz, MW at 1kHz, SW at
1kHz;
For “FAST” mode,rotate tuning knob to increase or
decrease frequency for FM at 100kHz, MW at 9kHz or
10kHz, SW at 5kHz;
For “STOP” mode, the rotating tuning knob is disabled.

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ANTENNA DX/LOCAL SWITCH
If the station you’re listening to is so strong that it
sounds distorted, turn this switch to the LOCAL position.
Otherwise, leave it on DX, which stands for maximum
distance.
TUNING IN SW (shortwave) STATIONS
Turn on radio.
Place the upper BANDWIDTH switch in the W or N
position. Place the lower switch into SW1, SW2 or SW3.
Initially set the SW RF Gain dial to the max position for
the highest sensitivity. This will aid in picking up even
the weakest of signals. However, if the signal of desired
station is strong, the maximum gain setting will cause
signal to be overloaded and distorted, in this case rotate
RF Gain knob counterclockwise to reduce the gain until the
distortion is eliminated.
The SW RF gain can be adjusted to increase or decrease
sensitivity as necessary to minimize interference.
SW appears in frequency range of 1711 to 29999 KHz.
Tune in the station with the TUNING knob or by pressing
the UP/DOWN button or by pressing and holding the UP/
DOWN button for one second to engage auto tuning.
TUNING TO SW FREQUENCY RANGES (BANDS)
Tune to these frequency ranges for best results. The radio
can also tune between these ranges.

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Meter Band (m) Frequency Best Time of Day
90m 3,200-3,400 kHz
75m 3,900-4,000 kHz
60m 4,750-5,050 kHz night
49m 5,800-6,200 kHz night
41m 7,100-7,500 kHz night
31m 9,500-10,000 kHz night
25m 11,650-12,200 kHz
19m 15,100-15,800 kHz day
16m 17,550-17,900 kHz day
15m 18,900-19,020 kHz
13m 21,450-21,850 kHz day
11m 25,600-26,100 kHz day
OPTIMIZING SHORTWAVE RECEPTION
Shortwave enables listening to broadcasts over vast
distances including other countries and continents. The
following information will help you get the best results.
During the day, frequencies above 13 MHz are usually
best.
At night, frequencies below 13 MHz are usually best.
Around sunset and sunrise, the entire shortwave range
may be good.
Getting very close to a window and holding the radio
improves shortwave reception.

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To learn about shortwave we recommend the publication
below, published yearly and available from major
booksellers. Additionally, the Internet is a great resource
for learning about shortwave. Type ‘shortwave reception’
into your favorite search engine.
WORLD RADIO TV HANDBOOK
Published in the USA by Watson-Guptill
Publications, 770 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY
10003-9595. www.watsonguptill.com
STORING STATIONS TO PRESET LOCATIONS
With the radio on, press ALARM button to preset stations
in to memory.
When listening to radio, rotate the tuning knob or press
the UP/DOWN arrow or Q.TUN buttons to select your
desired station. Press ALARM button, “ ” icon will
ash in the display. Press UP/DOWN arrow buttons to
select memory address (1~10) ” ”, press the ALARM
button again to store station to selected address and exit
memory status. The user can repeat this procedure to
store other favorites, then press PRESET button to recall
memorized stations.
Note: The radio can store a total 50 memories, 10 presets for each band.

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RETRIEVING STATIONS FROM PRESETS
With the radio on, press the PRESET button continuously
to retrieve the stations that have been stored. Notice
that the frequency in the display changes and the ‘Preset’
number shows on the right side of the display.
A station cannot be erased from memory. Simply store
another station over it.
SETTING THE CLOCK
The FIELD’s clock works in either the 12 hour or 24 hour
mode. To change the clock from one mode to another,
turn the radio off, press and hold the UP button for 1
second.
To set the clock:
1. Turn radio off.
2. Press and hold the T.SET button until the hour starts
ashing.
3. Turn the tuning knob in either direction or press the UP
button to set the hour.
4. Quick press the DOWN button and the minutes will
begin to ash, turn the tuning knob to set the minutes
5. Quick press the T.SET button to nalize the entry.
Note: If the above steps are not completed quickly enough the time set
mode will exit. If it exits, if this occurs, simply start over.
SETTING, ACTIVATING AND DEACTIVATING THE
ALARM CLOCK
With the radio off, both buttons have the TIMER A/TIMER
B function meaning that they can set two different
alarms.