First I didn't buy this radio, it was a
post Christmas gift from a friend. Circuit
City has them on closeout for 20$. She knows
I like SW radios and that you really can't
have too many.
This radio comes in several colors. Suiting
it's role as an "emergency" radio, she bought
mini in "rescue" orange. It is about 6"X6"X2"
thick and it wieght is about 1Lb. It operates
from either 3X "AA", external 4.5V or from a
built in set of 3 "2/3 AA 600mAh Ni-MH 3.6V"
battery that can be charged by a crank on the
left side of the radio. There is a a nice
(looks like rip-stop nylon) carry case and a
real owner's manaul. The package says that
"90 seconds of cranking provides up to 1 hour
of listening." The FR-2000 also has a single
white LED "flashlight" on the front.
The radio covers the FM (88~108MHz),
AM/MS/BCB (530~1710, SW1 (3.2MHz~7.6MHz)
and SW2 (9.2~22.0MHz). FM and AM/MW reception
is somehwate better then I expected. Not a
GE-Super tuner, but very acceptable.
The SW is not going to shame my R2000 or DX398,
but it is very useble. Since it has no CW/SSB
that could limit it's utility, but I suspect
the target market hasn't a clue about those
modes anyway.
I have played with it for about 8 hours and
I was able to receive the normal international
and domestic(nut cases) stations. I listened to
the BBC news at midnight Zulu (7:00EST PM) and
I have been pleased with this little radio. The
manual says the Ni-MH battery can be charged by
either the hand-crank, or by an external 4.5V DC.
I found that it will run about 50 minutes on a
single 90sec cranking. I suspect the radio would
opperate for at least 12 hours if the Ni-MH pack
was fully charged.
The flashlight is very effective in a completly
dark room, but it is a little weak for outside use.
It will allow you to see well enough to walk, but
not for much more.
For $20 this is a outstanding value. The FR-200 is
a good value at that price. At the orignal price of
$39 it is still a good, though not great deal. As
Tim May(from misc.survilism) pointed out the crank
is rather delicate and I intend to keep several sets
of good, not Radio Shack, batteries with this radio
in my BOB. I view the crank as another option, and
I am not planing to use it unless I can't come up
with another source of power.
Even if the crank does break, the radio/light will still
operate from the 3X"AA", or an external 4.5V. The radio
is negative ground, but the outer part of the power
connector is positive.
I have a small PV array that should charge this baby up.
I intend to dig it out of storage and see if it will allow
direct operation in sunlight, and then see how long it will
take to charge.

My friend bought herself a Grundig S350 SW and I will post
a review of that radio in the next few days. Circuit City
has them on close-out for $50.

Terry