Hi …
I’ve been out of the radio hobby/etc for a while now (and not really planning to get back into it cause of other things going on that are taking up my time). But, I I still do like to listen to some programs now and then.
Many of my radios aren’t functioning properly for various reasons. (Some partly work, some are pretty much totally kaput.) So, I’m looking at buying 1, or maybe 2, radios.
It / they will be mostly for casual listening, however I would like them to be good DX performers as some of the stations I want to listen to aren’t local to my area. Also I’d like to have plenty of choices for what to listen to. (It would be great if I could find a radio that’s sensitive and selective enough to get a station on every single frequency during daytime on AM, and on FM, but I have my doubts if one exists...)
I’m still in the east county San Diego area (same where I’ve been all my life thus far). I eventually want to move, maybe to a more rural location (for example maybe some place where the strongest AM signals are the nighttime skywave class A’s, and nothing during the day is stronger than about 500 µV/m or so) in the western half of the USA, outside California. I don’t know when or where yet, though. I’ve looked some in the last year or two at moving to another place in my local area for now, but have basically been priced completely out of the market. (One or two places I remember almost looking at, happened to literally be 1 or 2 blocks or so east of the KFMB transmitter site, so that would have been a challenge to get stations like KKOB, KCBC, KOAL, WSB, WJR, etc.)
Anyway … I’m basically looking for one, and if possible, two different radios.
First, I’d like a “shirt pocket” size radio that’s a decent performer, reasonably priced, etc.
As I’ve said, I’ve been out of the radio hobby for a while, but I was looking a little bit recently, and the Sangean DT-800 looks appealing. Is that a good one? I’d prefer the gray one, but know nothing of the seller (VirVentures) who’s selling it on Amazon right now. (It helps that it’s fulfilled by Amazon though.)
Or are there other ones I should consider in a similar size / price category? I’d prefer to stick with more well-known brands, but I might consider others if they have great reviews, AND have great reliability. (I’ve had a love/hate relationship with several of the Tecsun radios I’ve had. In rural areas they seem to be quite sensitive, but in my suburban location they get swamped with overload. Also, none of them are working properly anymore, nor is my Traveler III.)
I’m primarily interested in AM, and there’s a few FM stations I want to listen to as well. I don’t really need shortwave or longwave, even though several of my radios can receive it.
Also, for the smaller radio, having better dynamic range / overload rejection and selectivity would be more important to me than having tight nulls on a directional antenna. I will often be carrying & using the radio while doing things around the house or yard, and don’t want fringe stations fading in and out as I (with the radio) am turning / facing different directions. (For example, KERN, which has been heard here on an occasion when KCBQ was off the air, or KALL, which has been heard once or twice even through XEWW splatter, as well as some others.) (On the larger radio, having both would be nice, as I’d be more likely to set it down somewhere and use the speaker.)
I’d strongly prefer a radio that’s “vertically” oriented, rather than horizontal. (Hence, looking at the DT-800, instead of a Tecsun PL-series radio, although I know the 368 is vertical but I”m not sure about its performance with the built-in antenna.)
If I also get a second radio, I’d look for a larger one, hopefully under about $100 or so, or maybe a bit more. One that comes to mind is the CC EP Pro or something like that, although I’d prefer to have a digital readout, and if possible a signal strength meter similar to the Tecsun radios. How would the sensitivity and selectivity on that compare to the GE Superadio III ? I still have a working SR3, so if the CC isn’t significantly better - as in, if the CC can’t clearly hear a station that’s buried in the mud or splatter on the GE, then I probably wouldn’t want it. (Another way to put it for sensitivity: I’d love for the new “larger” radio to be as much better than the SR3, as the amount of improvement you get on a typical shirt pocket radio when you add a Select-A-Tenna or longwire or something like that - I’m thinking around 20+ dB or so.)
Also what about the CC 2E or 3 (or whatever), or maybe some other radios? (Just looked them up though, they're a bit higher priced than I'd like, but If I could find something similar in the $120-140 range or so I might consider it. Would the ~$180-200 CC's be worth the higher price, though? Radiojayallen's review does concern me regarding its suceptibility to overload.) I did briefly have a Sangean PR-D15 several years ago, but returned it for various reasons, one of which I think was low volume on weaker stations. My CC Pocket has the same issue, although I’ve been using it until recently when it effectively gave up the ghost. It powes on, but is locked to 910 kHz on page 0, and gets absolutely no reception even though I have a local 5 kW station 9 miles away on that frequency that, until the Traveler III went kaput a while ago, would read around 70 dBµ or so. My DT-400W is also another recent casualty - has no sign of life even with fresh batteries installed. (I also have a non-functional Eton E1 and Sony ICF-2010, I wonder if there’s a way to get those working again? I hadn’t used them in several years but I recently put fresh batteries in them but they aren’t lighting up at all, I’m hoping it’s just something I’m doing wrong…)
Speaking of the CC Pocket, I wonder if I should consider getting another one? I wonder if mine was a dud (it also only had audio on 1 side of the headphone jack, and the clock would reset when replacing the batteries, among other things), maybe another one would be better than my sample?
I’ve been out of the radio hobby/etc for a while now (and not really planning to get back into it cause of other things going on that are taking up my time). But, I I still do like to listen to some programs now and then.
Many of my radios aren’t functioning properly for various reasons. (Some partly work, some are pretty much totally kaput.) So, I’m looking at buying 1, or maybe 2, radios.
It / they will be mostly for casual listening, however I would like them to be good DX performers as some of the stations I want to listen to aren’t local to my area. Also I’d like to have plenty of choices for what to listen to. (It would be great if I could find a radio that’s sensitive and selective enough to get a station on every single frequency during daytime on AM, and on FM, but I have my doubts if one exists...)
I’m still in the east county San Diego area (same where I’ve been all my life thus far). I eventually want to move, maybe to a more rural location (for example maybe some place where the strongest AM signals are the nighttime skywave class A’s, and nothing during the day is stronger than about 500 µV/m or so) in the western half of the USA, outside California. I don’t know when or where yet, though. I’ve looked some in the last year or two at moving to another place in my local area for now, but have basically been priced completely out of the market. (One or two places I remember almost looking at, happened to literally be 1 or 2 blocks or so east of the KFMB transmitter site, so that would have been a challenge to get stations like KKOB, KCBC, KOAL, WSB, WJR, etc.)
Anyway … I’m basically looking for one, and if possible, two different radios.
First, I’d like a “shirt pocket” size radio that’s a decent performer, reasonably priced, etc.
As I’ve said, I’ve been out of the radio hobby for a while, but I was looking a little bit recently, and the Sangean DT-800 looks appealing. Is that a good one? I’d prefer the gray one, but know nothing of the seller (VirVentures) who’s selling it on Amazon right now. (It helps that it’s fulfilled by Amazon though.)
Or are there other ones I should consider in a similar size / price category? I’d prefer to stick with more well-known brands, but I might consider others if they have great reviews, AND have great reliability. (I’ve had a love/hate relationship with several of the Tecsun radios I’ve had. In rural areas they seem to be quite sensitive, but in my suburban location they get swamped with overload. Also, none of them are working properly anymore, nor is my Traveler III.)
I’m primarily interested in AM, and there’s a few FM stations I want to listen to as well. I don’t really need shortwave or longwave, even though several of my radios can receive it.
Also, for the smaller radio, having better dynamic range / overload rejection and selectivity would be more important to me than having tight nulls on a directional antenna. I will often be carrying & using the radio while doing things around the house or yard, and don’t want fringe stations fading in and out as I (with the radio) am turning / facing different directions. (For example, KERN, which has been heard here on an occasion when KCBQ was off the air, or KALL, which has been heard once or twice even through XEWW splatter, as well as some others.) (On the larger radio, having both would be nice, as I’d be more likely to set it down somewhere and use the speaker.)
I’d strongly prefer a radio that’s “vertically” oriented, rather than horizontal. (Hence, looking at the DT-800, instead of a Tecsun PL-series radio, although I know the 368 is vertical but I”m not sure about its performance with the built-in antenna.)
If I also get a second radio, I’d look for a larger one, hopefully under about $100 or so, or maybe a bit more. One that comes to mind is the CC EP Pro or something like that, although I’d prefer to have a digital readout, and if possible a signal strength meter similar to the Tecsun radios. How would the sensitivity and selectivity on that compare to the GE Superadio III ? I still have a working SR3, so if the CC isn’t significantly better - as in, if the CC can’t clearly hear a station that’s buried in the mud or splatter on the GE, then I probably wouldn’t want it. (Another way to put it for sensitivity: I’d love for the new “larger” radio to be as much better than the SR3, as the amount of improvement you get on a typical shirt pocket radio when you add a Select-A-Tenna or longwire or something like that - I’m thinking around 20+ dB or so.)
Also what about the CC 2E or 3 (or whatever), or maybe some other radios? (Just looked them up though, they're a bit higher priced than I'd like, but If I could find something similar in the $120-140 range or so I might consider it. Would the ~$180-200 CC's be worth the higher price, though? Radiojayallen's review does concern me regarding its suceptibility to overload.) I did briefly have a Sangean PR-D15 several years ago, but returned it for various reasons, one of which I think was low volume on weaker stations. My CC Pocket has the same issue, although I’ve been using it until recently when it effectively gave up the ghost. It powes on, but is locked to 910 kHz on page 0, and gets absolutely no reception even though I have a local 5 kW station 9 miles away on that frequency that, until the Traveler III went kaput a while ago, would read around 70 dBµ or so. My DT-400W is also another recent casualty - has no sign of life even with fresh batteries installed. (I also have a non-functional Eton E1 and Sony ICF-2010, I wonder if there’s a way to get those working again? I hadn’t used them in several years but I recently put fresh batteries in them but they aren’t lighting up at all, I’m hoping it’s just something I’m doing wrong…)
Speaking of the CC Pocket, I wonder if I should consider getting another one? I wonder if mine was a dud (it also only had audio on 1 side of the headphone jack, and the clock would reset when replacing the batteries, among other things), maybe another one would be better than my sample?
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that would be more like a few hundred miles from a Class A over good ground, or 30 or 40 miles from a Class C or something like that.