Any suggestions for portable world band radios

Category: accessible Devices

Post 1 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 18:27:14

Hi all.
I am interested of getting a good portable world band radio.
I want a radio which has got fm, am, long wave and short wave.
Have you got any suggestions?
I am interested for a radio with the traditional dial button to get the stations not the digital radios that you can save presets and things like that.
It would be good if i could get it online and i would prefear a website from England if possible because some American shops don't accept my card unless if they accept paypal.
Thanks.
Nikos

Post 2 by Grace (I've now got the ggold prolific poster award! wahoo! well done to me!) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 20:44:59

Greetings Nikos,

Post 3 by sparkie (the hilljack) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 21:05:39

Those are nice radios. They also have wind up ones.
Troy

Post 4 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 21:56:48

I would like one with bateris but if it was working with electricity as well it wouldn't be bad because i would be able to plug it in when i had access to electricity.

Post 5 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 22:12:42

I'm not sure what shops in Europe sell them, but the crank radios are probably your best bet. I'm sure there must be a UK based shop that sells Grundig models, since I know they have one that does all 3. It's a crank radio, can run off of batteries, and also AC power. Is there any specific reason why you want one that isn't digital?

Post 6 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 22:23:09

Not a spessifick reason. I just like the detail you get with the old radios. Because on short wave stations are really close with each other it is easier with the analogue one.
What are the prices for the crang radios?

Post 7 by Telemachus (Death: the destroyer of worlds.) on Wednesday, 27-Sep-2006 23:22:53

Radios!!!

I want one, now. I don't care what it runs on, though battery/AC power would be preferrerable. I used to have one, but it got lost when we remoddled our house, I do believe. And it was hooked up to an antenna outside my house, so it got really good reception. No more antenna, though. Bad job, storm.

Post 8 by The SHU interpreter (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 04-Jan-2007 22:40:18

what are thos ecrank power ones. that's good. what are those radios for anyway.

Post 9 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 08-Jan-2007 15:21:24

Speaking of radio's. How do the Yotboys perform? I know they are no longer being made, however have heard they are good, portibal FM DX units. Its hard to find portibals with wide/narow bandwith, Line out jack, and runs on both AC power and batteries.. I also want one without the stereo mute feature, and the abillity to switch to mono.

Post 10 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Monday, 08-Jan-2007 19:41:58

I got as a present for my birthday the Sony ICF-SW12S compact world band radio.
I think it has got good and bad points but mainly good so i find it as a good present.
The best thing about it is the size. I don't know exactly the dimentions but it can feet in somebody's pocket and it is easily packed for traveling.
It has got a cover and if you unfold it you get two parts of the radio. The bottom part is the main radio with the volume and tuning buttons, speaker and the headphone jack. The top part of it is the screen for the clock and the buttons to change the time etc.

After reading the description online i can see that its clock is very good. It is a world clock so if you set the time of your city and you find another city it changes automatically to the time of the city you set it. But this feature of it is no good for me lol. It has also an alarm with snoosing ability but this is no good for me either.
I like its reception on fm, medium wave and shortwave. On shortwave it has got 9 bands.
And now the negative things.
It doesn't seam to have good reception on long wave. I hartly can get anything and also its price. 57 pounds from amazon. I think it is a bit too much for it. 30 pounds would be a better price for it. It is good radio but not the best. It might be expensive because it might not be easily available.
This is a short review for this radio. If you do some research on the internet you can find more information about it.

Post 11 by mysticrain (Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.) on Monday, 08-Jan-2007 20:55:13

not to sound stupid, but what's long wave and short wave radio stations, and are they everywhere?

Jen

Post 12 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Monday, 08-Jan-2007 21:18:15

I am not the best to explain but i will try and explain it how i understand it.
Most radios these days only have FM and medium wave. The difference between fm and medium wave or AM is of cource the range of frequencies they operate. But also the sound is much different. FM sound very clear and in stereo however they don't seam to travel as far as other wave bands.
Medium wave sound in mono and not as clear. They can travel further than FM and during the night you can get more stations.
Long wave and shortwave are not used as much these days. I would say these wave bands are used for international reception. Longwave can pick up close countries arround.
Shortwave seams the most powerful and basically you can pick up stations arround the world. But shortwave seams the most sensitive out of all. Reception depents of weather conditions and sometimes the sound keeps fading in and out.
For more technical information and frequencies i am sure there is plenty of information on the internet. I found an article about shortwave in wikipedia the other day.
Hope it helps and if anyone can give more details about the difference between longwave and shortwave it would be good.

Post 13 by mysticrain (Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.) on Tuesday, 09-Jan-2007 21:31:13

so if I were to get a short wave radio, the I'd be able to listen to stations in europe?

Post 14 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Tuesday, 09-Jan-2007 21:35:18

Yes you would be able to listen to a few stations in europ but not as much as you could get online or with satelite. You can get mainly news stations or calturer stations that send shows for people from their country who live abroad but it is interesting to explore and see what is available.

Post 15 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Tuesday, 09-Jan-2007 21:40:53

Some examples of europeen stations you could get is:
The BBC world service from England, the Spanish international radio, a German one, the voice of Greece, radio Prague, and many more.

Post 16 by mysticrain (Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.) on Tuesday, 09-Jan-2007 22:27:21

cool, thanks

Post 17 by OjosDeMiCorazon (That's how I roll!) on Thursday, 10-May-2007 23:54:55

Anybody have any recommendations for a great inside and/or outside antena for a grundig worldband radio?