Small radio recommendation

[johnny]

Hi Guys,

I'm wondering if any of you have a suggestion. I'm looking for a small AM/FM radio, walkman-sized that has an excellent reception of distance stations, doesn't suffer from overload, FM stereo, and sounds good. Cassette/MP3 recording is nice, but not necessary, as I will plug it into my laptop. My Sony recordables do a great job on nearby stations, but have trouble with distant ones.

I remember one of the guys using a Realistic model, but not sure which. Although I see that Radio Shack no longer sells Realistic radios?

It bugs me to no end when I can't record a station because my radio can't pick it up, when the cheapy clock radio in the hotel room can with ease. Or when I can't get the station I want because of the overload from a station 1 MHz away.

Any suggestion guys? This is for recording the airchecks you always see me posting.

Thanks

 

[mediumwave_dx]

I have a Sangean ATS-606A that I've had for a few years. It's
small and has AM/FM/LW/SW. It's about the size of a Walkman.
It's reception on all bands is great. I'm in the New York City
area and I regularly listen to Canadian stations, and I listened
to WKBW in Buffalo at night before they changed the format.

I'm not sure if they even make it anymore, but it's a great radio
for the price if you can find it.


> Hi Guys,
>
> I'm wondering if any of you have a suggestion. I'm looking
> for a small AM/FM radio, walkman-sized that has an excellent
> reception of distance stations, doesn't suffer from
> overload, FM stereo, and sounds good. Cassette/MP3
> recording is nice, but not necessary, as I will plug it into
> my laptop. My Sony recordables do a great job on nearby
> stations, but have trouble with distant ones.
>
> I remember one of the guys using a Realistic model, but not
> sure which. Although I see that Radio Shack no longer sells
> Realistic radios?
>
> It bugs me to no end when I can't record a station because
> my radio can't pick it up, when the cheapy clock radio in
> the hotel room can with ease. Or when I can't get the
> station I want because of the overload from a station 1 MHz
> away.
>
> Any suggestion guys? This is for recording the airchecks
> you always see me posting.
>
> Thanks
>

 

[johnny]

Thanks for the tip, so the FM section is hot too? Not sure where around NYC you are, but, let's say, can you get the FMers that you can hear on your car radio the same as you can on it? I'm in Northwest NJ and while I can get both NYC and Philly on my car and home stereo, Philly isn't even a whisper on my walkman.

 

[johnny]

Just so you guys know, I did some research and bought a Grundig Mini World 100 PE. This thing is a AM/FM/SW radio and is lighter than all heck (4 ounces). It's "smaller than a pack of cigarettes" and can easily fit in a shirt pocket with room to spare. This is exactly the size/weight I needed, as travelling through airports with a lot of weight is simply not fun. It's bad enough having to take the work laptop along. I'd say this radio is at least 1/3 lighter than my walkman.

Performance-wise, so far so good. It's really hard to say how well it works, but I was listening to Ben-FM in Philly (75 miles away) nice and clear with the stereo light on. Reviews say that the FM section rocks, the AM section is fair, and the SW section is weak (unless you attach a 25' wire to the telescoping antenna).

The speaker is small and sounds little better than an old transistor radio, but when plugged into the headphone jack, it sounds awesome, and it's in stereo.

The only downside that I've noticed is that it's an analog dial and the dial is off. I had it dialed all the way to the end and it wasn't far enough for WKRF on 107.9. Easy enough, I opened it up, tuned it right with one twist of a screwdriver.

Best of all. This radio cost $19.97. Yeah, you can see some cheapness in it, like the case, but it's fine to me. The radio has been discontinued, but most Radio Shacks seem to have it still in stock, so it must have been recent.

I'll give a full report on how well it works on my next trip. And you guys will experience how good or bad it sounds first hand.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...32052.2032073&productId=2111048&tab=techSpecs

 

[tmesser]

> Just so you guys know, I did some research and bought a
> Grundig Mini World 100 PE.

I've been looking for a good small radio myself because the radio reception in my Archos MP3 recorder doesn't always cut it, and it's FM-only. My MP3 recorder also has a line-in, which works great for recording airchecks from an output on my car stereo and for hooking up an external receiver.

Upon your recommendation, I went out today and grabbed the last Grundig Mini World 100 PE at my local RadioShack before heading out of the Chicago area for the night. I'm pretty happy with it so far. As you said, the dial is a bit off, but I can still tune to a station on 107.7 where I am currently. I'll have to try it with 107.9 WLEY when I get back to Chicago.