Which portable radio has the best AM/FM reception?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by dead of night, Jul 30, 2012.

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  1. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    Regarding radio reviews, I've come to respect and enjoy reviews from Jay Allen and "Herculodge." These gentleman have sites that review radios and these men always have many radios on hand to compare and contrast. In this way, I can weed out and narrow down my choices.
     
    Billy Infinity likes this.
  2. tribby2001

    tribby2001 Forum Resident

  3. soundQman

    soundQman Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlington, VA, USA
    I'll second your enthusiasm. I have a CCRadio SW model, which has shortwave coverage as well as AM and FM. The tone is tailored for speech rather than music, but it sounds fabulous for that purpose, and you can adjust the tone controls to sound better for music - basically by turning up the treble and bass. My model has a variation of the dual ferrite core antenna built in so it gets very good reception on AM - that is its forte.
    Very interesting; I'll have to check this out.
     
  4. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    They are available from time to time and if well kept can be superb radios.

    The modern BCB portables to consider are the main ones discussed here, the Superadio III and the CCrane.

    The DIY solution is to get a Delco car radio from the late sixties to early/mid 80s and mount it in a little box with a 12 volt supply. Garage sale speakers work great for this.

    There is a market, I believe, for a really well made portable but lots of luck getting anyone to address it. It would probably be a shortwave set too since that would not add radically to the price.

    If money is no object, consider buying a Potomac FIM-41 or FIM-21 (not -22, that's for 200-550 kHz) field intensity meter. They are probably the ultimate way to listen to AM that doesn't weigh 300 lbs.. You will want to feed an external speaker and amp from the headphone jack. The FIM-21 sells occasionally for $2500 or so, the FIM-41 still brings seven or eight thousand used.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. tribby2001

    tribby2001 Forum Resident

    For $1K you can buy the 3rd highest ranked receiver that runs rings at lightspeed around anything of hamfest fleamarket vintage.

    If it's not on this list it probably isn't worth a spit for critical DXing:
    Receiver Test Data listed by rank http://www.sherweng.com/table.html

    [​IMG]

    If you want high end audio to listen to symphony music use your home stereo.
     
  6. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    I went ahead and ordered the Tecsun PL390. If you think I've made a poor decision, please explain why and I will try to cancel the order. I would welcome anyone to feel free to critique this particular radio, the Tecsun PL390.
     
  7. tribby2001

    tribby2001 Forum Resident

    Silver, gray or black?
    [​IMG] is it FM stereo for $60 :thumbsup:
     
  8. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    Black, tribby.
     
  9. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    The Potomac Field Intensity Meters are great on AM reception, but pricey and best used by broadcast engineering types. FIM 41 is superb.
     
  10. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    The LF/MF/HF Potomac line is an outgrowth of the RCA/Nems-Clarke FSMs which are a lot cheaper, and come up on ebay also. The -41 is a two band set which goes up to 4 or 5 MHz, which is intended for measuring harmonics more than anything else. I don't think it has a BFO or product detector, so it isn't of much use for HF work except for that. The -22 is BCB only and a lot cheaper.

    The Sherwood Engineering table lists a lot of sets that don't even cover the AM broadcast band, even with a crystal change. Such as the 75S- range by Collins. They won't even cover the 160 meter ham band, let alone AM BCB. Also, it isn't obvious what frequencies are tested to derive these numbers. Bear in mind a lot of the synthesized ham and SWL radios have deliberate rolloff below 2 MHz to keep the front end from being swamped by broadcast stations even though they cover that range.
     
  11. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    The RCA (nee GE) SuperRadio is amazing bang-for-your-reception-buck, and easily obtainable.

    I've been lugging this around with me since about 1980 or '81, and still love it as much as the day I got it, and you could find a used one easily: http://www.radiointel.com/restoring-panasonicrf2200.htm

    Matt
     
  12. shucky ducky

    shucky ducky Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona
    http://radiojayallen.com/

    Thanks for the heads up about Jay's website. Lot of great information there, as well as cool pictures of all the vintage radios.
     
    Billy Infinity likes this.
  13. tribby2001

    tribby2001 Forum Resident

    When bands are crowded with strong signals, the ability to hear a weak signal a few KHz away from an exceptionally strong signal is what separates a decent receiver from a superior receiver. Software defined radios with high performance A/D and D/A converters really shine in this area.
     
  14. KFI was running about 20min after the quake.
     
  15. rainspainplain

    rainspainplain Forum Resident

    I'd like to know what you think of it if you get it
     
  16. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think we were listening to KSFO, which was the only thing I could get 5 minutes after the quake! We didn't bother tuning around once I got a signal, because we just wanted to know if downtown LA was still intact or not.

    It's amazing how good DXing works, when all the local stations are shut down in a disaster... :sigh:
     
  17. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    Thanks, I'll share. I'd like to report that I've canceled this order; I still need time to think. The reason I'm unsure is I am liking the Kaito KA 1103. I still like the Tecsun, but need more time to decide.

    Any comments regarding the Kaito 1103?
     
  18. Moby Grape

    Moby Grape Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. George, UT.
    I purchased a Sony ICF-SW7600GR a couple of weeks ago and could not be happier. Made in Japan with excellent reception on FM-AM and SW. Nice to have if something big goes down. It's my understanding that this model has been discontinued and I've seen some high prices. Through Sony direct it was $159. Build and quality far beyond the Kaito and the others you're looking at.
    Enjoy the GE Super Radio; I recall buying at Long's Drugs about 12-15 years ago. Wonderful AM reception.
     
  19. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    A nice performing radio that model of Sony is. And great value for the dollar.
     
  20. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    Nice rack.

    Most of this stuff is now relatively inexpensive now: downside is parts are unobtanium. Tek and HP had a lot of custom ICs and RF hybrids. Second tier stuff like IFR is usually built out of off the shelf parts you can still get.

    I'm surprised to not see the 8640B there, because it's actually the purest HF sig gen HP ever made.
     
  21. Doug Sclar

    Doug Sclar Forum Legend

    Location:
    The OC

    This is the first I heard of this. I had moved here in 1992, but moved from a house several blocks from KFI's antenna. I didn't think there was any significant damage there, though it did shake the whole region pretty well.

    My damage was minor, but I never fixed it. I have 'pimples' on some of my walls where the drywall nails pulled out a tad during the flexing.

    Of course I was on satellite for TV so I never noticed any outages there.
     
  22. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    Unfortunately, I am reading of too many reliability and consistency issues with the Tecsun brand. Right now, I am leaning either toward a CC Radio 2 or a Kaito 1103. The Kaito is a classic, but it too has fit and finish issues.

    I am pretty sure the bugs have been worked out on the CC Radio 2 that have plagued the precious CC Radios, the original and the Plus.
     
  23. dead of night

    dead of night Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northern Va, usa
    I thought I'd like to mention I purchased and received a Tecsun PL390. However, after setting it up and trying it out a little bit, I turned it off and had dinner. When I came back and turned it on, it "froze" with the light stuck on. No sound, no response to dial turning nor button pushing. Could not turn it off again.

    I called Tecsun customer service and quickly was put in touch with a technical specialist, without any waiting or on hold. He told me to do a "master reset" by taking out the batteries and reinstalling them.

    I looked again at the PL390 reviews and users frequently mention their units freeze up constantly and they have to continuously take out and reinstall the batteries.
     
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