Portable radios

I'm interested in am radio dxing. Can someone recommend the best radio on the market today (2017) with best sensentivity and selectivity. I live in northwest Ohio in a rural area and I'm able to use an external antenna if needed. I currently can reach long range stations within 500 miles or more on a cheap radio. I'm looking for a better radio to dx long distance reception. I own a GE Superadio lll but it's crap.
Wanting honest advice!

The Superadio 3 suffered from quality issues - almost from the start. A good one - without defects - can rival the best AM portables out there, while the bad ones suffer from high noise floors and unstable tuning. There are fixes, but they are for people experienced with electronics that are willing to dig deep into the radio to repair it.

The best comparably priced AM portable currently manufactured is the CCrane radio - EP. About 80 dollars but they sometimes sell off returns at a lower price. It is a very good performer for the price - you can spend a lot more and not get much improvement. The only caution I have about the model is that it can suffer from overload in the presence of strong local signals on the top part of the band. There is a 25kW 1520 about 8 miles from me, and it forces me to de-tune the internal antenna on the EP to avoid overload. Except for that limit - it is a good little radio.

If it were me I would search the junkyards for an 1960's era GM radio. When I sold my '65 Corvair I kept the original AM radio and used it to DX for years thereafter.

Since it was a 12 volt unit I could take it on the road camping and have even more fun miles away from population centers.

landtuna said:

If it were me I would search the junkyards for an 1960's era GM radio. When I sold my '65 Corvair I kept the original AM radio and used it to DX for years thereafter.

Since it was a 12 volt unit I could take it on the road camping and have even more fun miles away from population centers.

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Those Delco radios were hot right into the '70s. My first car was a 1971 Buick Skylark, my second a 1977 Chevy Nova. Both cars' radios were superb on AM.

CTListener said:

Those Delco radios were hot right into the '70s. My first car was a 1971 Buick Skylark, my second a 1977 Chevy Nova. Both cars' radios were superb on AM.

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I can testify to the sensitivity of the old Delcos. I think the 262 kHz IF helped with the selectivity and sensitivity. But - as far as portables go - I would classify them as "movable" - but not portable. They drink current through a leaky output transistor, making any battery pack pretty much a bunch of D cells or a small lead-acid = HEAVY. You have to provide a speaker, which means a cabinet, and also a whip antenna - which you have to mount somehow so it stays vertical. Certainly not impossible, but rather clunky and kludgey at best. If you ever operate them off of a 12V adapter, they are very prone to noise pickup.

Thank you for the info, I'll look into the cc radio. Please keep the advice coming.

My Sangean PR-D5 has been great for AM DXing.

Got it 8 years ago and it's still going strong.

It has a 200 mm ferrite antenna and is the most solid radio I've ever owned.

It's up there with the more common ones you hear about like the GE Superadio and the CCrane.

Just to give you an example of the AM sensitivity, here in Hawaii at night I can often hear WBBM Chicago in back of KKOH Reno.

As for FM, it's pretty good but I've had better selectivity and sensitivity with the little Grundig G8.

But if you are looking for AM reception as a priority, I can't say enough about the Sangean PR-D5.

^^^^^^^^ What he said.

I have one and it is an excellent radio. DSP IF chip, stereo on FM, easy to use, twin coil 200mm loopstick.

Probably the best modern AM DX radio for the money. Some of the CCrane MW/FM portables are very good, but cost twice as much.

If you can find a new Sony ICF-38 you'll have a $30 radio that works almost as well as a good Superadio, and will go forever on batteries.

Only caveat with the PR-D5 is the headphones... experiment with different headsets when using headphones. A good, flat frequency set will work well. The bass boost headsets may be a bit boomy. I have a Sony set of headphones that sometimes is a bit boomy, but a cheap set I got at the dollar store works perfect with my PR-D5.