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Kneisner+Doering KWZ 30

 

The Kneisner+Doering  KWZ30 is not very well known. It was produced in Germany.  Professional shortwave receivers such as Rhode&Schwarz, Telefunken etc are or were manufactured in Germany.  The KWZ 30 is a DSP (Digital Signal Processing) receiver. One of the advantages of such a radio  is that e.g., the band width filters are not hardware, but software components. They have a much better quality than most hardware filters.  Additionally, DSP also controls the demodulation. Compared to analogue radios,  AM-reception is largely free of distortion. As you can see in the picture, there are only a few controls on the receiver and the radio reminds us of the AOR AR7030. All controls are in menus which are operated by a key pad. Luckily, however, the KWZ 30 has some "user key pads" F1-F4.  These can be programmed individually with any function. I for one like this kind of operation. The KWZ30 can also be controlled via PC. But because it is a fairly rare receiver, there are hardly any programs which could control the radio with the exception of RadioCom 6 by Bonito.  The KWZ 30 is not exactly nice to look at.  Its design is industrially functional but is very solidly built. What you notice positively right away, is the VFO.  It is solid, can be operated precisely and its flywheel effect can be controlled wonderfully.

How does the KWZ 30 sound?

What you notice immediately, is the radio's AM quality. Compared to other receivers and  thanks to DSP there are far fewer distortions. SSB reception is also very good. The radio has a nice bright sound and there are no digital artifacts. Luckily, the KWZ 30 is nothing like the NRD-545 DSP with its aggressive sound. I was very surprised by the radio's large signal rejection.  Compared to other high-end receivers, I did not notice any disturbances, although the receiver has no preselection, only a low pass filter at 32MHz. Super!!

You do not see a KWZ 30 every day. It is an absolute rarity. It almost had a follow-up model, the KWZ-50. Unfortunately,  it was very expensive and this may be the reason it did not find any buyers.  Shortly after the introduction of the KWZ-50, Mr. Kneisner, its developer, passed away.

 

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