Small portable radio...advice please

[sandbender]

"...even if the BBC does kill their service off (which will be about money, not valves)..."

No doubts here that it is all about the money and that them being doing to the last few valves is simply the excuse they decided to sell to us.

It would be quite entertaining if some pensioner turned up at Droitwich with a box of Marconi CAM3 valves and said "there you go, that'll last you another twenty years".

 

[spandit]

I've got a Summit wind-up/solar powered radio

http://windupradio.com/FPsummit.htm

Pretty rugged & no batteries needed!

 

[ganstey]

I've got a Summit wind-up/solar powered radio

http://windupradio.com/FPsummit.htm

Pretty rugged & no batteries needed!

Looks very tempting, but it's been discontinued. Done a quick Google for its replacement, but can only find cheap-looking plastic trash.
Graham

 

[ganstey]

Sorry, duplicate post.

 

[Martyn]

Looks like a good item - but spendy even second hand (a few going for well over the hundred notes). I'll keep my eye out for a bargain, but if anyone knows of anything a little more accesible in my price range for now, I'd be grateful!

I think it depends on how much you want SW. Or rather how much you want decent SW. The Sony SW1 is a legendary radio and expensive for good reason. Many SW radios are deaf on the SW frequencies, but the little Sony has a reputation for pulling in a crisp signal across the whole SW spectrum without a problem. Be aware though, that many had faults early on and you see cheap ones on sale that suffer from this common fault (motorboating). There are people who will repair the fault for you, but it's about £35 a pop IIRC. If you can find one cheap, in good working order, without the fault (or that has had the capacitors professionally replaced), snap it up.

If you are happy to set your sights a little lower, the Grundig G6 Aviator is a good little set....

http://www.overstock.com/Electronic...ortwave-Radio/5857120/product.html?cid=133635

You wont get the same range of SW you will get with the SW1 (that radio was about £350 when new 20 years ago). But the G6 is certainly not deaf on SW. Compact size, good sound quality, good battery life, decent SW and reasonable price.

As with all SW radios, a long wire antenna makes a big difference. This is my "pack radio" and I carry it in a little hard case thing, with a set of earbuds and a 20 foot plug-in long wire antenna.

 

[ganstey]

I think it depends on how much you want SW.

I don't need SW at all. My criteria are:

1) FM/LW reception
2) Portability
3) Reasonable price (£40-ish max, £30 prefered)

Solar/windup would be a bonus, so long as they were practical. I bought an admittedly cheap windup radio, and on a full charge it lasted about 10 mins on FM. Main location it would be used is outside in the UK.
Graham

 

[Martyn]

I don't need SW at all. My criteria are:

1) FM/LW reception
2) Portability
3) Reasonable price (£40-ish max, £30 prefered)

Solar/windup would be a bonus, so long as they were practical. I bought an admittedly cheap windup radio, and on a full charge it lasted about 10 mins on FM. Main location it would be used is outside in the UK.
Graham

Red was looking for a radio with SW capability and that is where the high price and big variations in quality are. You just need a standard FM/AM radio (LW and MW are both AM). You can pretty much pick whatever you want that ticks your boxes. Personally, I would avoid wind-ups. They are a gimmick IMO and as you have found out, 2 million hours of winding, gives 30 seconds of radio, or thereabouts. Much better off with a 2xAA radio IMO. AA batteries are cheap, available everywhere and in various chemistries, including a variety of rechargeable formats.

 

[santaman2000]

...If you are happy to set your sights a little lower, the Grundig G6 Aviator is a good little set....

http://www.overstock.com/Electronic...ortwave-Radio/5857120/product.html?cid=133635

You wont get the same range of SW you will get with the SW1 (that radio was about £350 when new 20 years ago). But the G6 is certainly not deaf on SW. Compact size, good sound quality, good battery life, decent SW and reasonable price.

As with all SW radios, a long wire antenna makes a big difference. This is my "pack radio" and I carry it in a little hard case thing, with a set of earbuds and a 20 foot plug-in long wire antenna.

+1 for the Grundig A6. It gets reasonable battery life with ordinary AA batteries plus it has a mains connection. Using on mains will recharge the batteries (if your using rechargeable batteries)

It recieves SW, FM, AM, LW, and the aviation band.

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Late entry:I've just come across this one: http://www.survivaldepot.co.uk/SURVIVAL_RADIO_AMFMSW/p474753_3926902.aspxMay be of interest to someone?Anybody have any views on it?

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

oops - link went wrong and I can't edit for some reason. Trying again:http://www.survivaldepot.co.uk/SURVIVAL_RADIO_AMFMSW/p474753_3926902.aspx

 

[rik_uk3]

As said back at the start of the thread, Tecsun make great radios are good prices
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000423913

 

[gsfgaz]

I dont like the DAB radio , i'm back to using the old anologue one again, DAB is'nt the same ...

 

[jacko1066]

Hi guys, I got brought for me a roberts sports 2 dab radio, is tiny, has a great loudspeaker and also head phone jack, its about 3inches by 2 inches and has rechargable lithium (I think thats what its called) battery built in. All in all a blinding bit of kit!!!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002YT8CXW/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&psc=1

 

[Kerne]

I use a small Roberts Sports radio - very cheap and it has LW = so you can listen to the cricket!

 

[ANDYLASER]

If you are buying a SW radio, check the bandwidth coverage. The Tecsun 380 llinked to earlier only goes up to 21MHz. This will miss out covering the 10m band.

This radio has now been superceded by the Tecsun 210, which goes to 29MHz.

Tecsun are the OEM manufacturer for many of the Grundig and Eton brand radios and offer a lot of radio for the money.

 

[peaks]

Hi
I use an Eton radio - very happy with it, good reception good battery life. Better than my Roberts. Have a look at the Scorpion range if you are thinking of taking it into the woods