Hi. Years ago, when I was a kid, I used to do AM dx'ing and really enjoyed it. I want to get back into it and am trying to decide what my first radio should be. I don't want to spend over $100 and it seems like there are a number of good options even at that price. I could see myself buying something better if I find I am really enjoying it, but figure better to start relatively inexpensively. I'm looking at a few Tecsun and Sangean models, a C Crane CC Skywave and a used Grundig S350DL. None of them seem to me to be clearly better than the others so I would really appreciate folks thoughts and suggestions. Thank you very much!!
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Beginner AM DXer Seeking Guidance on 1st Radio
- Thread starter yeti1963
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Remember, you are looking for medium wave (540 to 1700 kHz) capabilities. A lot of radios charge extra for weather band, SW, FM and other stuff you may not need or want. Check with members of the IRCA or NRC about their favorite under-$100 radios.
We have had receiver comments in the past, but let's get a good sampling of perspectives on this subject now.
Last year I bought a Tecsun PL880 which is out of your price range, but the PL 330 looks pretty nice, too.
We have had receiver comments in the past, but let's get a good sampling of perspectives on this subject now.
Last year I bought a Tecsun PL880 which is out of your price range, but the PL 330 looks pretty nice, too.
the tecsun pl880 is great on SW and FM, even with just the whip.. but not on AM.. you can trick it to use an external antenna but its still not great
I would reccomend the CCrane skywave, the Non SSB model.. its under $100. it doesnt include usb/lsb and some other stuff.. but its about the best am portbale ive ever used.
Mind you, i use it with an external antenna.... but even barefoot its been great
I'll second the C. Crane Skywave (non-SSB) recommendation, especially for AM listeners. C. Crane customer service is excellent, too, in the event you run into any problems. Current list price is $90. It has both a tuning knob and up-and-down buttons, plus five AM bandwidth selections (6,4,3,2,1 kHz) and a "voice" filter that emphasizes the frequency ranges where voice is heard. Only downside I find is the need to press "FREQ" before entering a frequency directly through the keypad.
The Tecsun PL-310ET and PL-380 are almost as good - and, on FM, better - and may be a bit less expensive. The design is getting a bit long in the tooth - for example, charging is with a USB mini jack which is no longer common - but they are still good radios. I also recently got a Tecsun PL-320, which is a brand new model. I don't think its AM performance is up to the level of the C. Crane radio; FM performance is about the same as the earlier Tecsuns. At home, it's hard for me to judge AM performance; I'm taking the PL-320 on my next trip to get a better idea about this.
Also worth considering is the Sangean DT-800. There's no direct frequency entry, there are fewer memory presets, and there are only two audio bandwidths available on AM (4 and 2.5 kHZ) but it is smaller, and has the ability to turn off "soft muting" (it's controversial - I recommend doing a web search on the term if you would like to know more). C. Crane's "Pocket" is similar in size though with fewer features.
I would avoid the cheaper Chinese radios - Retekess and so on. They tend not to be as sensitive and the shielding from noises produced by the radios' own chips sometimes isn't what it should be.
The Tecsun PL-310ET and PL-380 are almost as good - and, on FM, better - and may be a bit less expensive. The design is getting a bit long in the tooth - for example, charging is with a USB mini jack which is no longer common - but they are still good radios. I also recently got a Tecsun PL-320, which is a brand new model. I don't think its AM performance is up to the level of the C. Crane radio; FM performance is about the same as the earlier Tecsuns. At home, it's hard for me to judge AM performance; I'm taking the PL-320 on my next trip to get a better idea about this.
Also worth considering is the Sangean DT-800. There's no direct frequency entry, there are fewer memory presets, and there are only two audio bandwidths available on AM (4 and 2.5 kHZ) but it is smaller, and has the ability to turn off "soft muting" (it's controversial - I recommend doing a web search on the term if you would like to know more). C. Crane's "Pocket" is similar in size though with fewer features.
I would avoid the cheaper Chinese radios - Retekess and so on. They tend not to be as sensitive and the shielding from noises produced by the radios' own chips sometimes isn't what it should be.
I have more fun DXing on a radio that you wouldn't think has good performance on AM, like this 1979 Fisher casseiver (made by Sanyo):
I'd still swear by my Sony ICF5900W I bought in 1980. It gave out in the late 90s
I'm going to amend this a little after taking both the C. Crane Skywave and the new Tecsun PL-320 outside this afternoon. This gets the radios out from under the solar panels on our roof that I suspect are causing interference. I used three test frequencies from my Oakland location: 890 (Sacramento area), 1080 (Santa Cruz), and 1120 (San Martin). These were not receivable inside the house. All three were receivable outside, and at equivalent signal strengths, using a 4 kHz bandwidth for the C. Crane and 5 kHz for the Tecsun. On 890, the PL-320 still was subject to the AGC (or soft mute) pumping problem that I've mentioned in another thread; the C. Crane was much less prone to it.
By the way, I paid about $80 for the PL-320, through the anon-co seller on eBay, which has been reliable for me in the past and which is now doing order fulfillment from Washington state.
You might want to find a later model GE Superadio. The AM sensitivity is terrific. This radio has an RF amplifier in addition to excellent tuned circuits., and a pretty good internal ferrite rod antenna. It has dual-bandwidth (IF bandpass). The "wide" mode allows for Hi-Fi reception of strong local stations if they're tramsmitting good audio. The "normal" setting allows full sensitivity. This is a conventional, manual tuning (non-digital) radio which allows for better interference rejection. The only thing wrong with it is that the front panel tuning scale is off by almost 100 kHz. I'm told that most of them were made that way. As an example if your local station is broadcasting at 700 kHz the dial scale needle will show the station at about 600 kHz. Also the FM performance is just ok, (it sounds though more like slope detected AM rather than true FM) , and the headphone output for FM is mono only. But for AM DX it's pretty darn good ! Use this unit on battery rather than AC, there will be less noise, and take it outside in your back yard you'll probably be able to find a location with no noise at all. Happy DX!
I purchased a C Crane Skywave about 2-3 years ago for $89. Very happy with it. That price point seems to still be about the going rate. Sensitivity and selectivity are both about as good as you can find for an under $100 mini. This radio performs well on both AM and FM as well as on weather band. Also pretty decently on SW. Lots of features for its price range, but it does lack a BFO for sideband on SW as well as a "local-DX switch" for FM. I'm also impressed with the build quality....especially since it came back to life, unfazed, after being totally immersed in water for about half a minute last month.
There are definitely bigger and better radios out there, but the C Crane Skywave is a great little package for the price.
You might also want to keep your eyes open to see if you can get your hands on a GE Superadio (1 or 2, not so much the 3). Its a larger AM-FM portable that's a brilliant performer on both bands, especially AM. Long since discontinued, but you can still sometimes find one. I stumbled upon my "Supe-2" for a dollar several years ago at a church rummage sale. A steal! I'd gladly pay $100 for one in perfect working order. Which mine is, despite being 40 years old this year. Added benefit: When you just listen to it for music or other programming, you get tremendous audio from its large speaker. I use mine just about every day for that purpose when I stream music from my iPod and Spotify playlists via a Whole House FM transmitter.
There are definitely bigger and better radios out there, but the C Crane Skywave is a great little package for the price.
You might also want to keep your eyes open to see if you can get your hands on a GE Superadio (1 or 2, not so much the 3). Its a larger AM-FM portable that's a brilliant performer on both bands, especially AM. Long since discontinued, but you can still sometimes find one. I stumbled upon my "Supe-2" for a dollar several years ago at a church rummage sale. A steal! I'd gladly pay $100 for one in perfect working order. Which mine is, despite being 40 years old this year. Added benefit: When you just listen to it for music or other programming, you get tremendous audio from its large speaker. I use mine just about every day for that purpose when I stream music from my iPod and Spotify playlists via a Whole House FM transmitter.
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The AM receiver in my 1970's Zenith Allegro stereo system was amazing.
I was using that when I heard WIOD Miami on top of WIP Philadelphia for a short time from my college dorm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania back in 1981.
While there are some great vintage radios, I think a newcomer to DXing is probably better off getting something brand new. I can think of a couple of exceptions. The first is if the person is experienced in repair of electronics, in which case vintage radios could present an interesting challenge. The second is something very well known, like a GE SR or SR II.
I have all three GE Superadio models - the SR II can't run on AC power because a capacitor has failed but it's fine on batteries.
I was buying vintage radios on eBay for a while. I usually had pretty good luck but occasionally got a turkey that i couldn't do anything with. Even so, I'm mostly using the newer radios now. They're a lot easier to travel with, for one thing.
I have all three GE Superadio models - the SR II can't run on AC power because a capacitor has failed but it's fine on batteries.
I was buying vintage radios on eBay for a while. I usually had pretty good luck but occasionally got a turkey that i couldn't do anything with. Even so, I'm mostly using the newer radios now. They're a lot easier to travel with, for one thing.
For a long time, I had an Akai AT-V04 hooked up to a stereo system. Very sensitive on both AM (the ferrite rod antenna, which was adjustable on the back of the unit, was about seven inches long) and FM (even with the supplied clip-to-a-curtain wire antenna. There are digital presets and manual override. The AM went down to 520, manually tunable to 1 kHz, and pulled in a 125-watt morse-code transmitter for pilots to home in on in New Brunswick, which is about 1,200 miles from Chicago. FM tuned to .05 MHz and starts at 87.5, so you can tune to 87.75 for those Franken-FMs. There are several on eBay right now.
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