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Jay Allen reviews the new (hot) Sangean DT-160 mini portable...

hawaiigar said:
Weak signals mute completely?

That reminds me DTV reception. LOL The signal is either there or not, no in between.

The reason I miss analog TV.

Thanks for that report. It made me decide that I'm going to look for another smaller radio with fairly good AM reception, something that's more portable than my PR-D5 and has better reception than my SRF-M37 Sony Walkman.
Click to expand...

On the Pocket Radio I mentioned earlier (the only radio I have that has muting), the signals don't mute completely. They cut down by a few decibels, though. You might check it out, it's only $14. Mono radio, decent sound through headphones, good FM reception, too.

I'm not sure what size of radio you're looking for, but you could try a used Sangean 700L, one of the last small SW analog portables they made. They have very good AM band reception, and are maybe twice as big as a headset radio. The FM reception is mono, though.
 
hawaiigar said:
Weak signals mute completely?

That reminds me DTV reception. LOL The signal is either there or not, no in between.

The reason I miss analog TV.

Thanks for that report. It made me decide that I'm going to look for another smaller radio with fairly good AM reception, something that's more portable than my PR-D5 and has better reception than my SRF-M37 Sony Walkman.
Click to expand...

Well, it depends on how weak they are. There's a pretty noticeable volume difference between distants and locals at night, for example, when the skip rolls in. During the day, weak stations have disappeared completely on me unless I line up the radio juuuust right. Where I live, the ground conductivity is so bad and the two metros either side of me are just far enough away that they are all fringe signals, and almost none of them are loud enough to listen to on this radio. But the ones that pop through come in loud enough to tolerate.

I hope that makes sense.

And yes, I did find it to be a bit like digital TV. I heard nothing until I moved it just so, then pop — in comes the audio.

In a major city, though, I can't imagine it would even be an issue for casual listeners. I still think it's worth owning for the FM DX chops it possesses.
 
Sangean DT-160 "Soft Mute"

Just to note that, while my DT-160 "ducks" to a relatively low audio output level when first tuned to a weak AM signal, after a few seconds its audio output level (program + noise) is rather close to that of a local AM station -- the difference being that of its signal-to-noise ratios for those two conditions.
 
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Let me put my $.02 in on this discussion as I have both the sony SRF-59 and Sangean DT-160 ..

The DT-160 will destroy the SRF-59 on FM. The DT-160 will pull and pull anything out of the mud it can find. The SRF-59 AGC/AFC is to aggressive for serious dxing, when the band is crowded. The sensitivity is just not there either, when compared to the 160. The selectivity is "just OK", as I was getting a bit of imaging/overload between stations.

The SRF-59 on AM is a different story though. It "seems" to be more sensitive, and much louder for digging into the AM/MW mud, were the DT-160 just drops out ( volume wise ).

Another great thing about the SRF-59, long battery life on a single AA.

lastly, whatever you do, don't buy the SRF-35, what a piece of junk!!! Hopefully, the SRF-37 is much better over the 35.
 
formula72 said:
Let me put my $.02 in on this discussion as I have both the sony SRF-59 and Sangean DT-160 ..

The DT-160 will destroy the SRF-59 on FM. The DT-160 will pull and pull anything out of the mud it can find. The SRF-59 AGC/AFC is to aggressive for serious dxing, when the band is crowded. The sensitivity is just not there either, when compared to the 160. The selectivity is "just OK", as I was getting a bit of imaging/overload between stations.

The SRF-59 on AM is a different story though. It "seems" to be more sensitive, and much louder for digging into the AM/MW mud, were the DT-160 just drops out ( volume wise ).

Another great thing about the SRF-59, long battery life on a single AA.

lastly, whatever you do, don't buy the SRF-35, what a piece of junk!!! Hopefully, the SRF-37 is much better over the 35.
Click to expand...

Tune your SRF-59 slowly. Perhaps it will lengthen the life of the tuner. I have had no issues with mine, but then again, I tune it slowly, and don't use it every day.

Others have complained about the tuners wearing out.

Just an FYI.
 
I do, very slowly!! I'm not faulting the SRF-59, I think it is a great radio for what it is, but it can't hang with the DT-160 on FM.

AM is a whole different ballgame, the SRF-59 will just perform better ( even better with a loop ), whereas the Sangean DT-160 has the soft muting, and kills all hopes of DXing those far out distance stations over 500 miles away.

As for DXing the FM band my catches, so far, have been nothing short of impressive with the DT-160.

KFSO ( 92.9) out of Hartland, California, serving the Fresno market. 166 miles

KFBK ( 93.1 ) out out Placerville California, serving the Sacramento market. 117 miles

KSEQ (97.1) out of Hartland, California, serving the Fresno market. 166.5 miles

KHYL ( 101.1 ) out of Auburn California, serving the Sacramento market. 120 miles

KHGE ( 102.7 ) out of Clovis California, serving the Fresno market. 133 miles

KOND ( 107.5 ) out of Hanford California, serving the Fresno market. 167 miles

There are more, but these are the ones that come to mind. I can listen to these stations without fade, all day. No Tropo stuff here. The SRF-59 can pick up maybe one or two of these stations, at my location.
 
I got the DT-160 a year ago, March.
Yes, Mw is okay, but mediocre, primarily due to the well noted soft muting.
The FM tuner is, by far, the best Iʼve ever had, particularly of the pocket “WalkMan” type—the sensitivity and selectivity are superb!
But what is absolutely MIND BLOWING is the image rejection: I used to work at the PO in Bostonʼs South Station (just retired at the end of March...should have done it 30 yr.s ago! P=), which is about 2.1-2.3 km from the Prudential Center, home to one of the two city FM antenna farms. With all of the other radios (yes, all pre-DSP, mostly PLL tuners) Iʼve had there, the FM band was always an image overload wasteland, with most frequencies 2-3 stations deep with imaging. In stark contrast, the DT-160 had absolutely NO IMAGING WHATSOEVER!!! Okay, okay, after awhile I started to notice a weak image, above and/or below the second or third adjacent of a couple of Pru locals (something that developed?), as well as a little image blur (and I do mean little—barely scratching the noise floor, let-alone discern its contents!) at the bottom of the dial. I could get stations from southern NH (in weak, but regular), over to central MA (fairly strong)...even CT and Long Island with just a little tropo!
My one major complaint with the DT-160 (affective to both Mw and FM) is the about .75-1 sec. frequency change “dead time”: If it needs all that time to change frequency, couldnʼt it keep passing the current frequency until the new one is compiled?!? If one tries to step through the frequencies, it takes forever to do a scan, with all that wasted dead time!
 
Uncle Kaimbridge said:
I got the DT-160 a year ago, March.
Yes, Mw is okay, but mediocre, primarily due to the well noted soft muting.
The FM tuner is, by far, the best Iʼve ever had, particularly of the pocket “WalkMan” type—the sensitivity and selectivity are superb!
But what is absolutely MIND BLOWING is the image rejection: I used to work at the PO in Bostonʼs South Station (just retired at the end of March...should have done it 30 yr.s ago! P=), which is about 2.1-2.3 km from the Prudential Center, home to one of the two city FM antenna farms. With all of the other radios (yes, all pre-DSP, mostly PLL tuners) Iʼve had there, the FM band was always an image overload wasteland, with most frequencies 2-3 stations deep with imaging. In stark contrast, the DT-160 had absolutely NO IMAGING WHATSOEVER!!! Okay, okay, after awhile I started to notice a weak image, above and/or below the second or third adjacent of a couple of Pru locals (something that developed?), as well as a little image blur (and I do mean little—barely scratching the noise floor, let-alone discern its contents!) at the bottom of the dial. I could get stations from southern NH (in weak, but regular), over to central MA (fairly strong)...even CT and Long Island with just a little tropo!
My one major complaint with the DT-160 (affective to both Mw and FM) is the about .75-1 sec. frequency change “dead time”: If it needs all that time to change frequency, couldnʼt it keep passing the current frequency until the new one is compiled?!? If one tries to step through the frequencies, it takes forever to do a scan, with all that wasted dead time!
Click to expand...

RE one second delay between channels. If you're searching for signals, maybe the tuner indicator will help. My DX-375 (a 1990's Sangean built digital SW radio) has one second tuning delays between channels, but the tuner LED lights up right away if it hits a channel with a signal, regardless of muting. Helps when bandscanning.
 
I miss my DX-375 (sigh).

Eventually, The speaker stopped working, the FM/SW antenna came loose and fell off going through an airport (Albuquerque, IIRC). But it was still a champion for AM DX. It finally went off to that great DX spot in the sky about six years ago.
 
cyberdad said:
I miss my DX-375 (sigh).

Eventually, The speaker stopped working, the FM/SW antenna came loose and fell off going through an airport (Albuquerque, IIRC). But it was still a champion for AM DX. It finally went off to that great DX spot in the sky about six years ago.
Click to expand...

Mine hit the floor at work about two weeks after I got it. There is still a dent in the antenna.

Otherwise, it works fine.

I put a shim in the battery compartment to get a little extra life out of the batteries, some C cells are a little smaller than others. A set of C cells works a long time in a DX-375. Good emergency radio probably, for that reason.
 
cyberdad said:
I miss my DX-375 (sigh).

Eventually, The speaker stopped working, the FM/SW antenna came loose and fell off going through an airport (Albuquerque, IIRC). But it was still a champion for AM DX. It finally went off to that great DX spot in the sky about six years ago.
Click to expand...

I have a similarly disabled DX-390. I guess the FM/SW antenna connection was a problem for other models as well. I don't think I put it through too much harsh treatment, but that darn screw kept loosening and never would maintain a tight fit.
 
Yeah, could be a common defect for that type of Sangean portables. My ATS-505 has the same issue.

As for my late, great DX-375....I think the eventual demise of the radio had much to do with the toll taken from 20 years of having it on the road with me nearly every week. My Supe-II is still going strong in every way at 35 years old, but it's had a much "softer" life.
 
I've got a DX-398 with the same issue. It's remained tight the last several years, though, mostly because I no longer use it! But I do remember it needing to be tightened regularly.

It's still a decent working radio despite the abuse it's suffered over the last… gosh… 15 or 20 years? But the speaker no longer works properly. It sounds like something is keeping it from moving freely. When I took the radio apart, the speaker played just fine, but after re-assembling it, it became muffled again. I can't see anything restricting it, though. And I'd never had it apart before then, so I don't think I did anything to it. Just "one of the things"…
 
CTListener said:
I have a similarly disabled DX-390. I guess the FM/SW antenna connection was a problem for other models as well. I don't think I put it through too much harsh treatment, but that darn screw kept loosening and never would maintain a tight fit.
Click to expand...

Which screw? The one that held the whip onto the post, or the one that secured the post and whip assembly to the radio itself?

A bit of superglue on the latter would probably help. I have a DX-390 and have had no troubles with mine so far. I hardwired the antenna to the PCB, though. My DX-440 had connection issues with the flexible prongs, and so after fixing that by hardwiring it I did the same to my DX-390. But the actual screws have held tight.
 
cyberdad said:
Yeah, could be a common defect for that type of Sangean portables. My ATS-505 has the same issue.

As for my late, great DX-375....I think the eventual demise of the radio had much to do with the toll taken from 20 years of having it on the road with me nearly every week. My Supe-II is still going strong in every way at 35 years old, but it's had a much "softer" life.
Click to expand...

The Superadio II is a tough radio. Mine took a dive off a refrigerator and still worked (my cat was too curious about it, I think). The only thing that needed 'fixing' was a bent prong on the electrical plug, which took one second to 'fix'.
 
boombox4 said:
Which screw? The one that held the whip onto the post, or the one that secured the post and whip assembly to the radio itself?

A bit of superglue on the latter would probably help. I have a DX-390 and have had no troubles with mine so far. I hardwired the antenna to the PCB, though. My DX-440 had connection issues with the flexible prongs, and so after fixing that by hardwiring it I did the same to my DX-390. But the actual screws have held tight.
Click to expand...

It's the former, which is the only screw I see. I made a mistake in saying I had a DX-390; I have a DX-392, the bulky one with the cassette recorder. I see the 390 is a completely different design, looking more like my Grundig G3, which works fine and has had no antenna problems.
 
I really need a new Radio, Yeah I got the Eton 550, I want something small & can DX great on AM and FM

But I don't have the $$$ to buy it :(
 
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