County Comm GP-5/SSB Handheld AM FM SW Radio Receiver DSP RECEPTION IN YOUR HAND

Description

Please note that we have used an asterisk
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in the description below to prevent accidental keyword spamming when using Ebay's search engine.
Those of you who follow our listings on Ebay know that we specialize in serious communications and amateur radio receivers.  This organic grey County Comm GP-5/SSB (generation 3) is a departure for us and it is our delight to bring this wonderful unit to Ebay.
As you can see, this is a new radio unit and this is also different than our standard offerings.  There is a good reason for us to step outside our normal Ebay offerings and we are proud to offer the GP-5/SSB.
Since this is a new unit, cosmetics are factory fresh and the unit is in perfect operating condition and guaranteed to perform flawlessly in accordance with its design.
First of all, you may wonder why we are making such a fuss about this small handheld radio.  This is a legitimate question and one that demands a little time to explain.  You see, it is amazing how far technology has advanced in electronics the past 20, 10, or even 5 years.  Flat screen TV sets in the home are relatively recent and this revolution has occurred most during the past 7 years.  Cell phone technology began with the bag phones in the 90's, advanced to flip phones in the 2000's, and during the past 7 years is not only miniature, but is akin to carrying a mini computer in your pocket with advanced camera optics and an MP3 player to boot.  Amazing stuff.
The GP-5/SSB is considered to be an ultra-portable due to its discrete size and it comes to the buyer in the most modest way possible.  Forget the fancy packaging with the splashy pictures.  You will receive a plain brown box devoid of any hint of the contents.  But open the box, you will be greeted with the radio and belt clip, vinyl carry case, stereo earbud earphones, 15' shortwave wire antenna, medium wave ferrite antenna, and operation manual.  The user will need to supply 3 AA batteries or, if desired, rechargeable batteries to connect to a USB/mini cable and charge the batteries internally.  County Comm produced this radio in quantity for contract use and it was not meant to be supplied for sale in retail stores.  Money is saved in packaging and thus you do not pay extra for something that you may likely toss away.  Below is a video made by a gent who unboxed his GP-5/SSB:
https://youtu.be/NdYqE94XOBE
And here is a lengthy review:
https://youtu.be/3HIZVbVyYFc
The GP-5/SSB was acquired by us for our personal use a couple of years ago.  Within 24 hours during its use and discovery of its features, our heads were spinning with advancements in radio technology that are demonstrated in the GP-5/SSB's design.  We are avid shortwave radio enthusiasts and have owned a wide range of radios during the span of our hobby interest over the past 40 years and so we were actually startled at this radio's performance.
In the 80's digital signal processing was introduced into the market via military receivers capable of cleaning up signals that traditional analog receivers could not match.  At first the differences were modest and virtually undetectable.  But over time, DSP circuitry took hold and enabled so many more features to be added to improve reception signal/tonal clarity at a fraction of the cost.  Actual sensitivity has not really changed a lot during the past 20 years in radios for the most part, but the smaller radios now challenge some powerful desktop receivers and the performance to clean up the signal and reduce interference is vastly superior to portable radios from 20 years ago.  But that is not all that has improved....
The GP-5/SSB is actually an improvement to its cousin the PL
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360 by Tec
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sun which does not have sideband capabilities.  It takes a very good unit and makes it a step better by enabling someone to tune and hear amateur radio operators in LSB and USB, sideband transmissions from shortwave broadcasters, maritime traffic, airline weather and in-flight information, or military communications.  County Comm contacted Edison Fong PHD to elicit his assistance with improvements and the result was the SiLabs Si4734 DSP chipset.  The GP-5/SSB makes important use of the SiLabs Si4734 DSP chip to pack a variety of features and reception of both LSB and USB that can be achieved with 10 Hz BFO tuning resolution that is virtually unheard of in a handheld unit and not even possible in some desktop receivers.  Such tuning resolution enables clear sideband reception with minimal distortion.
Virtually all shortwave radios enable the user to tune using a standard dial or by scrolling through stored memories.  This radio is no different and it provides a capacity of 550 standard memories if the owner is so inclined.  However, one of the things that we also found attractive for this unit is that you can activate ETM (easy tune mode) whereby you press a button and the radio will tune medium wave, shortwave or FM and then store the frequencies into a usable memory that does not affect the standard memories.  Thus, if you travel quite a bit, there is no need to thumb your way through the whole band to get that favorite AM or FM station or to discover what you can receive in a given shortwave band.  If you activate this function, the radio will scan the receiving range.  At the conclusion of scanning, you can scroll through the stored frequencies by using the thumb wheel tuning knob.  The advantage of this on shortwave is remarkable.  With this method, you can tune from 2300 to 29900 KHz and can do so within 4 minutes to determine what can be heard at that time at your location.
By using the ETM, we will often locate stations outside the regular shortwave bands such as the "spy numbers" stations or those broadcasters operating in more unusual frequency locations.  We have discovered that we can shorten the scan time and cease scanning once the radio hits around 18000 KHz since little is ever heard above that range on shortwave.  When listening on shortwave, the ETM is a great feature since you can use ETM to locate stations as the listening frequencies change throughout the course of a day.  Interestingly, we have even used the GP-5/SSB as a locator for our serious desktop unit.  Our desktop receiver cannot scan such as this and so we can locate stations and programs that we would have missed if relying solely on bandscan tuning which can be very time consuming.  This is not to suggest that there is no longer a need to bandscan, but merely to advise that if you just want to program listen and do not intend to DX, then the GP-5/SSB can act as a locator and point you in a direction to tune your desktop receiver.
When you use ETM on any listening band, it is helpful.  But on shortwave, it is a remarkable tool.  That said, you may scan and find that during the daytime you will only find 12, 15, or 18 stations that can be received strong enough to enjoy and to be picked up by ETM scanning.  However, County Comm includes a bonus in the packing box of a shortwave wire antenna.  One end of the antenna clips onto the radio's telescopic antenna and the other end clips onto a window curtain, a tree branch or the awning of an RV.  In doing so, you can expect not only improved reception of the signals, but also many extra signals that the telescopic whip antenna would not "hear".  During testing, we used the whip antenna and got about 16 stations around 4 pm in the afternoon....a difficult time to hear many shortwave stations here on the east coast of North America.  When connecting the wire antenna, the number jumped to about 45 stations!  The interesting and fun aspect of the ETM is that you can watch the tuning....as the radio detects a signal and enters it in the memory, it adds it to a tally which rises during travel from the low bands to the high bands.
Unlike most portable or handheld shortwave radios, the GP-5/SSB can work well with the wire antenna attached without overloading the RF circuitry.  The radio was designed to detect incoming signal strength and to utilize the extra signal to boost reception.  However, should the signal be too strong, the circuit will actually attenuate the signal to prevent the radio from overloading.  This auto-attenuate feature is uncommon and allows the radio to realize the best reception with much less risk of too strong a signal overwhelming the RF in the radio.  Should you be interested in attaching the radio to an outside antenna with a minimum of fuss, we offer this connector sold here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/391378660766?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
Since this GP-5/SSB also receives longwave, medium wave, and FM and do so in such a small package, you can imagine the advantages of having this in your prepper bug-out bag.  In one radio, you have the potential to receive a wide range of signals and emergency communications (LW, AM, shortwave, amateur radio, CB, and FM).  Additionally, the radio can operate for 225 hours on a set of 3 alkaline batteries.  If you invest in AA lithium batteries, they will have a storage capability of 15 years, last for about 1000 hours of operation, and be ready any time you need to call upon the radio for pleasure or for emergency needs.  In fact, some people who prepare for emergencies may well find that for the cost, they would like to invest in one radio for their bug-out bag and another to keep in the car glove box.  You would be surprised at the uses for the radio at your disposal when in the glove box....sporting events, a leisurely walk during lunch while at work, that drive to the mountains for shortwave enjoyment away from all the RF noise, etc.
Here are some reasons why this radio is a good choice for emergency prepping:
Small size for easy stowing and carrying
Operates 225 hours on 3 AA alkaline batteries or 1,000 hours on AA lithium batteries (at 40% volume)
Can use rechargeable batteries so that you may use a USB mini input to charge from a variety of sources....including a small solar panel during power outages
Receives multiple radio tuning bands such as LW, AM, FM, shortwave, and citizens band (CB)
Can pick up all HF amateur bands and decode both upper (USB) and lower (LSB) sideband
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Longwave 150-522 KHz (available in 9 KHz tuning step only)
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MW/AM  522-1620 (9 KHz tuning step) or 520-1710 (10 KHz tuning step)
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Shortwave 1711-29999 Khz
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FM  87-108 MHz or 76-108 MHz
Using "easy tune" (ETM), can find AM or FM signals fast and easy at any time of the day or night
Comes with earbuds earphones for discrete listening, if required
Very sensitive for its size
DSP chip enables good audio/tonal qualities so audio is not "muddy"
It should be noted that reception on all the bands of the GP-5/DSP is remarkably good.  On medium wave, County Comm has gone to the extra measure of providing an external ferrite antenna to replace the smaller, less sensitive, ferrite antenna.  You collapse the whip antenna and then can insert and rotate the rod antenna for best reception on any frequency.  While you could rotate your body or your hand to improve reception, this is not often convenient.  By rotating the ferrite antenna, you can listen to your favorite station in comfort without the need to tweak your body or hand for best reception.
Another interesting feature of the GP-5/SSB is the addition of a thermometer in the display.  You have your choice of what is shown in the upper right corner of the display....clock time, alarm time, signal strength, or temperature.  By choosing temperature, you will be provided with ambient temperature in either Fahrenheit or centigrade.  If you want to go to sleep listening to the radio, you can activate the sleep feature so that the radio does not remain powered on for hours after you fall asleep.  And if you want to awaken afterwards, you can activate the radio alarm to power on to your favorite station at the appropriate time.  The small size of this radio, along with the various features, suggest that it is a great travel unit.
Here are some video reviews for the GP-5/SSB radio.  The first one is a countdown of the "top 5 features".  They may not be my personal top 5 features, but you can get a brief view of this man's top 5 and they are noteworthy:
This video offers a nice mini-review of the GP-5/SSB and gives the best overview of the radio:
https://youtu.be/JuEPJ3qGu_g
This video demonstrates some programming and memory storage of the radio:
https://youtu.be/9THTspBkFg0
Please email if we can assist you with any questions.
Buyers living outside the USA are welcome to purchase this GP-5/SSB radio.  We ship overseas on a regular basis and have had good experience in doing so having shipped to 105 countries during the past 22 years on Ebay.  You may also use the shipping calculator to determine cost to ship to your location, but we ask you to be aware that this
shipping cost does not include any VAT taxes, fees, or import costs, if any are charged.  If you are not sure about whether you are responsible for extra costs, please contact your local post office / customs office prior to purchasing and inquire.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to look at our Ebay items.