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Portable radio recommendations
- Thread starter austingrace
- Start date
Hello guys. I hope I did not come off as a jerk in that last post. I did not mean for that. I really don't have room for a boombox type radio right now. I like to take my radio most every where I go. I'm glad my pl-390 croaked. I hated how that thing tuned.
I'm interested in the AM dial far more than anything else, so place an asterisk there on this recent purchase and evaluation of a Grundig S450.
Initially I bought it as a probable replacement for the GE SRII. The GE was a portable to bring along on roof and basement jobs by which to reach out regionally, past the locals. The thing could serve very well as a straight DX radio, as well. And that thing has fallen out of a moving car, along with toppling from every perch it ever occupied -- and still works well! Yet, I know it can't have too many of its nine lives left.
Even while driving home with the new Grundig in the car, I knew I wouldn;t like it for some reason. It was too light. It was too ... plastic. It had digital tuning.
And I was right. The S450's sonics were no match for the GE, separate treble and bass knobs notwithstanding. The GE picked up more stations louder and clearer in the day. I was going to ask for a refund, but instead asked to try out another S450.
This new one COOKS on AM! Sensitivity-wise, it might be a touch better than the GE, although I have no instruments or technical knowledge by which to gauge these things.
It does come with the 'field radio' boast, which to me is a mis-nomer. No 'field radio' should require external antennae for short-wave or FM.
And the fidelity remains nowhere near that of the GE. Perhaps with earphones it would be better. There also is a pumping effect to the AM reception on the weak frequencies. Perhaps that's the pushed-up signal design peculiar to some of those 'budget' communications receivers of the 60s and 70s, like the Lafayette HA700 and 600 had.
But the S450 does come with a gain control for AM, plus a narrow and wideband option switch.
And a clock, which is important on a roof job.
It's a keeper here. Clinching matters further: The past few days I've IDed a couple of those Mid-Winter Anomaly catches on it, barefoot.
Initially I bought it as a probable replacement for the GE SRII. The GE was a portable to bring along on roof and basement jobs by which to reach out regionally, past the locals. The thing could serve very well as a straight DX radio, as well. And that thing has fallen out of a moving car, along with toppling from every perch it ever occupied -- and still works well! Yet, I know it can't have too many of its nine lives left.
Even while driving home with the new Grundig in the car, I knew I wouldn;t like it for some reason. It was too light. It was too ... plastic. It had digital tuning.
And I was right. The S450's sonics were no match for the GE, separate treble and bass knobs notwithstanding. The GE picked up more stations louder and clearer in the day. I was going to ask for a refund, but instead asked to try out another S450.
This new one COOKS on AM! Sensitivity-wise, it might be a touch better than the GE, although I have no instruments or technical knowledge by which to gauge these things.
It does come with the 'field radio' boast, which to me is a mis-nomer. No 'field radio' should require external antennae for short-wave or FM.
And the fidelity remains nowhere near that of the GE. Perhaps with earphones it would be better. There also is a pumping effect to the AM reception on the weak frequencies. Perhaps that's the pushed-up signal design peculiar to some of those 'budget' communications receivers of the 60s and 70s, like the Lafayette HA700 and 600 had.
But the S450 does come with a gain control for AM, plus a narrow and wideband option switch.
And a clock, which is important on a roof job.
It's a keeper here. Clinching matters further: The past few days I've IDed a couple of those Mid-Winter Anomaly catches on it, barefoot.
Well guys. I just got the CCrane SW pocket. It's a decent radio but i'm sending it back for one reason. It images waaaaay too much. This is not a good DXing radio at all. So my next move is the tecson pl-660. What do you all think of that one? Does it tune like the pl-390 did? Will it go from 104.1 to 104.2 or will it do 104.1 104.12 and so on? Thank you guys for your help. 
Ok guys. I got it narrowed down to 3 radios. The recommended pr-d5, the pr-d9 and the PL-660. I'm going to send back the SW pocket ASAP. So this should make things a bit easier for you all. The radio that gets the most votes wins. I think I will lean more toward the sangian models. I do like the pr-d5 because it only does am/fm. I'm not much of a short wave guy. But the pl-390 is not out of the question either. I wished I could buy all three radios and try them out. ahhahahah
OK guys. Sorry for another post. LOL. Let me explain my needs in a radio the best I can. I want a radio the size of the PL-390 I had but I would not mind it a bit bigger. As long as you can put it in a backpack or laptop case I'm straight. I need it to have good sensitivity and not get over loaded very easy. I don't know if I have said that once before but that is the best way I can tell you all what I'm after. I do not want a boom box sized radio. I use the radio in the car, on my front porch swing for DXing and in my room. I think most of the radios that run on c and d batteries are table top radios. That is not my aim. Again, I don't mind if it's bigger than the pl-390. I'm sorry if I'm unclear or if I have repeated myself. I really appreciate you guy's help. It really means a lot to me. It's hard to go by descriptions of radios. I do my best. OK. I want your thoughts on this. So now I'm thinking of the pr-d9 or the pl-660. How is the pr-d9? It sounds like it has really good reception. I'll leave the pl-660 as a last resort. But i may buy a pr-d5 to keep in my room and DX from there or my swing and use the pr-d9 to travel with.
I can HIGHLY recommend the Tecsun PL-606. It is a POCKET SIZE radio with outstanding selectivity and sensitivity on BOTH AM and FM. It also has SW and LW coverage. My wife and I have traveled to various places around the world and have had many chances to put this radio to good (DX) use. Recently, I was in Maui and was able to dig out over a dozen stateside AM signals from the U.S. West Coast plus farther inland signals like KSL, KKOB and KOKC (Oklahoma City)....all this in an hour or two, shortly after Hawaiian sunset. A year ago, while in the Eastern Atlantic, just west of the Azores, I could hear lots of U.S. East Coast stations including several 5,000 watt outlets from MA, NC, NY, etc. The 50kw signals were all heard! I am EXTREMELY PLEASED with the performance of this radio. I own several radios and have been DXing since the mid-50's and rank this radio near the top, overall, of those I have used.
I have the Tecsun 606 and the 390. I like the 606 because it is so small and the 390 for the excellent AM reception. Both have outstanding FM sensitivity and selectivity. I don't like the fact it tunes in 1 increments, Tuning the dial, it does go to 10 increments,but it's not steady. I programmed the entire FM band into memory on both radios. Much easier to tune on the FM band. The 390 also has two speakers and tunes a little faster than the 606. I wish the 606 had direct tuning,but it's small size is the deal breaker.
I also have the Sagean PR D5..best radio for AM. It's large but sounds great and has an Aux In. The Tecsun 390 also has an line in, as well. Always looking for better and smaller I ordered the CCrane Pocket radio. It has 200 memories,which can be programmed in any order and has direct frequency key in. Most reviews were positive. I received the radio last week and was not thrilled..very poor AM reception, and splatter on FM from other stations. We have a 10,000 watt local about three miles away on 1070. That station also comes in on 1080 through 1130. On my Tecsun radios, no spillover whatsoever. A 50,000 watter on 1090 is 130 miles away and I can receive that station.
I'm happy with my 606 and 390, as well as the Sangean PR D5. Each serves a purpose.
I also have the Sagean PR D5..best radio for AM. It's large but sounds great and has an Aux In. The Tecsun 390 also has an line in, as well. Always looking for better and smaller I ordered the CCrane Pocket radio. It has 200 memories,which can be programmed in any order and has direct frequency key in. Most reviews were positive. I received the radio last week and was not thrilled..very poor AM reception, and splatter on FM from other stations. We have a 10,000 watt local about three miles away on 1070. That station also comes in on 1080 through 1130. On my Tecsun radios, no spillover whatsoever. A 50,000 watter on 1090 is 130 miles away and I can receive that station.
I'm happy with my 606 and 390, as well as the Sangean PR D5. Each serves a purpose.
Hello. I appreciate the ideas on the 660 but I'm sorry but that radio is out of the question for me right now. But the pl-390 had very good reception. I just hate how it tunes. It took for ever to program the whole band on presets. I say screw all that crap and get another radio. It looks like this pr-d9 may give it a run for it's money. So I have made my mind up. I'm going the pr-d9 root. The tecson has waaaaay too much going on. I don't need these clocks and whatnot. So let's ditch all the other radios and focus on the sangean brand name. So anyone here with the pr-d9? I hear the reception is awesome. ESP on AM. I will get the radio next week and keep you all posted. It's nice to have the weather band as well. Again, I do appreciate the input and it will be considered for another time. but I have made up my mind. As I said, I may purchase a pr-d5 eventually and use it as well. But for now the pr-d9 is my choice.
The tecson has waaaaay too much going on. I don't need these clocks and whatnot. So let's ditch all the other radios and focus on the sangean brand name. So anyone here with the pr-d9? I hear the reception is awesome. ESP on AM. I will get the radio next week and keep you all posted. It's nice to have the weather band as well. Again, I do appreciate the input and it will be considered for another time. but I have made up my mind. As I said, I may purchase a pr-d5 eventually and use it as well. But for now the pr-d9 is my choice.HMMMM I'll admit. That really caught my interest. ahhahaha That would be cool. To get a DX from another country. OK. I'm still getting the pr-d9 and maybe i'll buy a pl-660 as well. Try them both out.
With the built in antenna?Icangelp said:
Hello guys. I have been using my pr-d9 for 2 hours and I freaking love love love it. I say 1000000 out of 1000000. This thing is freaking incredible. It's just what I was looking for. It's simple to use, sound quality is awesome and the reception is equal to a car radio if not better. I'll give you 2 examples of the reception this thing has done for me in 2 hours. It got 880 from new york and it got 92.1 wjxr from the Jacksonville area even with 100000 watt wwka 92.3 on the next channel. This radio is everything the CC SW pocket was not. I defanatly recommend it over and over again. If you don't want shortwave I think this radio is one to consider. I wanted a simple to use radio with awesome reception and sensitivity and does not overload and this one kills every radio I owned. I have had the eton e10, the grundig g8 and g5. I have had the teckson pl-390 and this sangean kills them all. I'd say the second best radio I Ever owned was the e10. This radio excels at pulling out weak stations from adjacent channels. As I said. This radio is in the car radio league. It's that freaking good. If you are on the fence, I'd recommend you pop on amazon right now. It's normally 134 but I got this one for 55 or so. Be on the look out for my posts on this board. I finally have my love for DX back. Thank you to the people that kept throwign out the sangean name. Now I understand why you all lean so heavily on that name. Oh yeah. The speaker on this thing is awesome as well.
I finally have my love for DX back. Thank you to the people that kept throwign out the sangean name. Now I understand why you all lean so heavily on that name. Oh yeah. The speaker on this thing is awesome as well.It sounds like the PR-D9 has a DSP chip in it. The Sangean website says the PR-D14 has a DSP tuner. So I am guessing this is a positive trend for Sangean. I have an ATS-909X radio (I know, it's not cheap) that also has a DSP chip. It hears AM just slightly less than the GE Superaio II esp. on the lower side of the AM band.
Hello to all. I want to tell you all I have 3 radios I'm staying with for the foreseeable future. Portable radios: Sony srf-59 and CC pocket with weather band. Not the CC SW pocket Bigger radio: CC EP. I love love love the CC EP. It is the radio I have been looking for for years. I did not like how the AM sounded on the sangean radios. I have a sangean pr-d15 and it was OK but the AM audio was terrible on it. I'd say the CC EP is the best of both worlds. Awesome AM and FM audio and awesome reception on both. I love the CC pocket as well. It's not bad for what it is. But I think I prefer DXing with the srf-59 and the EP for sure. The CC pocket has decent audio as well.
I love love love the CC EP. It is the radio I have been looking for for years. I did not like how the AM sounded on the sangean radios. I have a sangean pr-d15 and it was OK but the AM audio was terrible on it. I'd say the CC EP is the best of both worlds. Awesome AM and FM audio and awesome reception on both. I love the CC pocket as well. It's not bad for what it is. But I think I prefer DXing with the srf-59 and the EP for sure. The CC pocket has decent audio as well.Hello to all. I have added the CC 2e to my collection. I bought it because I wanted to try it out. I had to mail my EP to ccrane because the tuning pod had gotten loose. I'm loving the cc e2 right now. I'm thinking I'll keep both the ep and the e2. As of right now, I'd say the ep is slightly clearer on AM. But the e2 is not far behind. It's not as bad as the sangeans I have had in the past. I think the 2e may be slightly better on fm than the ep but not 100 percent on that. Once I get my replacement ep from ccrane I'll put these radios through their paces. So I now have the cc pocket with weather band and no shortwave, the e2, the sony srf59 and the ep.
Hello to all. I can tell you with owning the cc 2e radio for over 2 weeks that the cc ep has brighter am audio then the cc 2e. I prefer the fm reception of the 2e. I use the EP to listen to magic games on AM. I like dxing with the 2e for sure. The 2e is a bit more selective than the ep. I'm glad I own both. If I had to give someone a recommendation I'd say the 2e. If someone was more of an am listener I'd say the 2e is fine but if you're looking for really good am fidelity like I was, then the EP is the best portable I have heard.
Another point to the cc e2 I'll give is the fm audio is way clearer than on the EP. It's weird how that works. The EP has the clearer and brighter audio on AM while the 2e has the better fm audio. Not saying the EP is a bad sounding radio. The 2e is twice the price and well worth it. I just wished they could have squeezed a bit more fidelity on am from the 2e. I give a 9 out of 10 for the 2e and 8 out of 10 for the EP. The EP gets 2 stars knocked off because it images toward the end of the dial and the tuning pods have been known to get loose. I knock off 1 star to the 2e because I think the AM audio can be a touch brighter but both radios are some of the best portables you can buy.
Hello. I no longer have the prd-15. I did have it at one point. The tone controls helped on fm but AM was so muddy on that thing.
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