Radios

[Oldwolf]

If I were going to buy a new radio, it would be another Sangean.
Check out their world band and portable radios that they offer.
http://www.sangean.com/products/all_products.asp

 

[Riverman]

I meant one model.

 

[Firtree]

I meant one model.

I’d look at the reviews on the
DIGITECH AT1780 less than $100 with shipping from Australia has SSB

C Crane Skywave Roughly same bands as above plus weather channels about $170. Maybe a sale BlackFriday/weekend

Another nice is RADIWOW R-108 about $50-60 No SSB or weather

Toddebert on YouTube has nice reviews of the above as do others.

 

[66788]

The current sunspot minimums dont really afect the lower shortwave bands.

The shortwave bands below 10-12 mhz are often still usable at night, and sometimes during the day.

The stations below 7 mhz or around that number tend to come in strong after local sunset.

A few days ago 20 meters was long in the afternoon and Hawaii and Japan were coming in 5 X 9.   Very nice!

 

[wagoneer]

One of my favorite radios is the SONY TFM8100wa getting hard to find for cheap because of the vintage label.

 

[Oldwolf]

If I were in the market the DIGITECH AT1780 would be one I'd be checking out alongside Sangean world band models.
It also uses 4xAA cells. Would like to know what the runtime is on a fresh set of cells. Also, the Digitech does not come with a carrying case, an important feature if traveling with the unit.

 

[66788]

I still have my old Sangean ATS-803 and it works like new.  I like the Single Side Band (SSB) feature.

The newer technology is far better and my Icom IC-7100 can flush out those weak signals with ease.  A few days ago the skip was long and amateur stations in Hawaii and Japan sounded like local AM stations.

As with any shortwave radio, the better the antenna, the better the reception.

 

[Oldwolf]

Another strong contender for portable SW radios is CC Crane. They are more expensive than the cheap Chinese ones on Amazon. But you get what you pay for, as they say.

https://ccrane.com/shortwave-radios/

 

[Gr8ful]

Amazon sells CC Crane also

 

[hugemoth]

Stay away from the CC Crane pocket radio. They have several shortcomings when it comes to build quality.

 

[Oldwolf]

Anyone have updates to this thread? I've been studying the ccradio 2e lately for medium wave dx'ing while camping.

 

[eDJ_]

One of my Radio's I use for AM DXing is a RCA Super Radio

It's much larger than the small Sangean but performs quite well. You may want to check one of these out to see if it would suit your needs.

Pdf manual download

 

[Oldwolf]

The RCA Super Radio is a classic.

https://radiojayallen.com/ge-superadios-evolution-of-a-classic/

 

[eDJ_]

If you are into listening, this device to use with your computer (USB) over the internet may be of interest. For less than $50 dollars it can cover a very wide range of broadcast that would take several radios to receive. RTL and NOOELEC both produce these for Windows, Linux, and Android. NOOELEC also works with Macintosh.

The RTL-SDR Blog V3 maximum sample rate is 3.2 MS/s (mega samples per second).

Youtube Video 12 minutes long

The Coolest Radio you've probably never heard of

Amazon and RTL-SDR Blog V3 Kit

 

[Oldwolf]

I agree, SDR is smazing. I use a SDRplay RSPdx with a wire antenna.