I need a new AM/FM radio, which one should I buy?

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[OscarCP]

I have a nice multi-band radio (AM, FM, 2 SW bands) that I bought from NPR when I was a member of one of the several US NPR stations I have supported along my itinerant, gypsy-like life at various locations in the good old USA, and carry with me far beyond its borders during stays in foreign lands (with an AC 110V – 240V  adapter, plus one two-prong to assorted plug types adapter). But, sadly, after well over a decade of good service, it is finally at it’s life end while still, not so (personally) sadly, I am not.

It is a Grundig Etón S350DL, with a nicely sounding 4-inch speaker and that, besides other bells and whistles, has separate knobs for controlling the bass and treble, in other words, it lets one adjust the frequency response of the sound amplifiers to suit one’s preferences, something that the more or less equivalent radios I have been looking at in various online catalogues generally do not have or have only a switch to choose one fixed bass or one fixed treble setting, and that’s it. I have found a couple of sellers offering this very model through Amazon, as “New but with scratches and the previous owner’s name engraved in the box” and “Practically new.” All for a most appealing US$150 – US$170. So that is a “maybe not.”

There is a recent model by Etón that has discrete-step turn knobs for bass and treble, but it seems pretty fiddly, with many buttons of obscure significance, only some 460 reviewers that have given it a subpar average rating of four stars, and that is why my question here, asking for advice to those who still get their music and even the news over the radio. By the way, I listen rarely to AM, sometimes to SW, because in my building the reception is not great for SW and I don’t care for sticking an aerial out the window, with or without booster radio-amplifier, etc. Mostly the radio is used to get FM programs of music and news & commentary. And the radio does not have to be an Etón.

So any advice you might have, that is good and not hyper expensive to follow, I’ll be grateful for. (US$ 0.00 – 150.00 is my price range.)

This is a portrait of an almost identical twin sister of my poor baby (plugs for audio in and out, etc. on the right side, so not shown here):

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• This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by OscarCP.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by OscarCP.

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ClearThunder

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https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable.html

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OscarCP

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Anonymous: Thank you so much, that is a very big catalogue. The one model that fits best what I need, because it has all the essential knobs and buttons I want in a radio (coarse and fine tuning, band selection, volume, etc. and the same separate controls for the continuous adjustment of bass and treble, as in my now moribund Grundig Etón, happens to be another Grundig Etón, the “Elite Field.” It is on offer in Amazon and is the one I mentioned as having poor reviews there. Given all the other models listed in this extensive catalogue, it may well be that this is it for me, so I’ll just buy it and hope for the best.

The rest of the radio models listed as currently available (i.e. not discontinued), are either too small, have no adjustable tone control, or are great for listening to airplane traffic, which I don’t do. One good thing that some have is long wave reception. Some also have one definite plus: single-sideband modulation reception, good for listening to ham operators, something important and even vital in places hard hit by a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, tsunami, big bush fire, etc. particularly during a blackout with the batteries installed, for example. But except for the Etón I have already mentioned, none of the others seem to have the adjustable tone controls that I need. It may not seem like much, but they are really important for listening to classical music, jazz, and other musical forms where hearing without distortion what the instrument players and the singers are doing is more important than shaking one’s head to a steady boom, boom beat, particularly with a 4″ – 5″ speaker of good quality, or using good hifi headphones for even better quality and in stereo. I wonder why such a simple and basic feature radios have had since the stone age is so deprecated now.

But the night, the day that started less than an hour ago, the week, the month, are still young. So here I am, hoping for some more good advice as what else is out there that I might want to have a good look at before I pull my metaphorical hard plastic wallet and pay over an online virtual counter for a radio that some people at a big warehouse will pack and mail to me and I’ll get eventually so I can have hours, days, months, years, decades of enjoyment,  maybe.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

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Oscar,

Have you tried C Crane Radios?  https://ccrane.com/

Favorite radio supplier for the late night radio folks to pick up “Coast2Coast” on KFI 640am out of Los Angeles.

Hope this helps,

Lee

 

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OscarCP

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Lee, The “CCRadio 2E Enhanced” model seems quite the thing for me. So I’ll look further into this model. It is US$20 above my US$150 limit, but that’s OK, I am man enough and can take it. The reviews in the receiver Web’s page point out frequently to two problems with it: the LED display tends to die after a few years and the buttons break after a while. Well, except for the on-off one (a switch, actually), the buttons I am not going to worry about, because other than occasionally adjusting the clock if it gets too fast or too slow (which should be very rare indeed if the clock is a digital one as this one must be), and changing the hour twice a year from summer time to winter time, as well as now and then setting the alarm to make sure I don’t oversleep, I don’t expect to need to do much else with those buttons, so once they are set they’ll stay that way with rare occasional use, more or less for as long as the radio is of any use at all. The LED display is more of an issue, but if I can find the stations by turning the dial, as I always do anyway (who knows why, I never got used to presets). So I’ll be OK. Not exactly great to have a radio where one cannot see the LCD display, but not quite fatal either. One possible plus is that the camping gear outfit RAI endorses it. It is a very reputable company, or at least it was that several years ago, when I was buying things there before they close their local store.

Even so, I am concerned about the several reviewers complaining about the failure of the power button. That would be pretty bad if it happened, as some mention, within less than three years of buying the receiver, preceded by a period when it became necessary to try several times to get the radio to turn on or off.

So if someone thinks there is some other good radios out there, I am still listening.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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Oscar, check out this site for lots of radio receiver reviews:

http://radiojayallen.com/

These reviews are very informative and detailed; however, they do not include any insights into reliability, and manufacturer/vendor customer support. I have an Eton Field BT, purchased about 2 years ago. Great sounding radio, but otherwise it’s a lemon. RDS clock doesn’t work properly. Switches between the am, fm, and shortwave bands at times all by itself without any user input but balks at user attempts to switch bands manually. Main tuning dial no longer works _ have to use up/down buttons to tune stations. Eton uses or references the Grundig brand name, but the radios are made in China by Etoncorp.com (California).

I have several Sangean radios (sold on Amazon; and I believe most if not all C Crane radios are Sangean-built ). They are good performers but are also somewhat prone to controls- and switches- failures with time and use, as has been mentioned elsewhere. If you don’t need a portable, I would recommend one of the Sangean table models for best sound quality. FM range and reception is good and can easily be extended with a folded dipole wire antenna from Radio Shack.

HTH/Chuck

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OscarCP

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Do the FM stations you listen to not have an internet feed?

cheers, Paul

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Yes, the music stations around here and even some far away do stream their programs, but I prefer to listen to them with a radio with a good speaker, because the sound is better than the one of the speakers in my laptop. I could use headphones, and I have good hifi ones, but I find wearing them is tiring after a while. So, while I listen to music often with my laptop, with and without headphones, both streaming and already downloaded and saved, I do like to listen to music in a good radio as well.

Or if I could find a cable with two 3.5 mm jacks at each end, or at one end and some kind of dongle/adapter at the other, I may be able to connect the socket for the headphones in the laptop to the external audio input socket of the radio and listen with its better speaker, or when not using the laptop, attach my headphones to the radio audio-out socket, if it has one, which most radios have, and get good stereo sound this way (although I am not too particular about listening in mono or in stereo). Also a portable, with its batteries in, is a good thing to have when there is a blackout, not that rare around here (or some other more serious emergency), to find out what is going on by listening to the local radio stations. And SW transmissions. should one wish to listen to them, are not streamed, at least that I know.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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“And SW transmissions. should one wish to listen to them, are not streamed, at least that I know.”

http://www.websdr.org

HTH/Chuck

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HTH/Chuck: Thanks for passing this on. Software radios are an interesting development in radio.The one described in the article linked in your comment is for running on Linux computers, so Linux users that are SW enthusiasts could give it a try. One thing that worries me, though, is that this article’s URL is http, not https. Maybe it is just an old link, but I think one should be careful about this.

I am interested myself in the use of the idea of software radio for making programmable GPS (*) receivers. All GPS receivers are radio receivers with a built-in computer to process the signals received from the GPS satellites, so they are digital receivers. I am interested, because GPS receivers (regular, not software ones so far), are also carried in some artificial satellites to find where these are at any given time and also to provide precise timing needed to operate some satellite equipment.

The receiver data is downloaded by radio, along with other data, telemetry, etc. to ground stations from where are uploaded, in return, commands and updates to the satellite as it passes by. The receiver data is then processed sometime later at participant organizations’ computing facilities to refine the satellite’s position and to do several kinds of scientific work. Among other things, studying the atmosphere using its effect on the GPS radio waves as they travel through it to get to the receiver’s antenna, something useful for meteorology. Some commercial space companies do exactly this with their own satellites or with regular GPS receiver data they buy from space agencies.

Whether used as GPS receiver or as a regular radio, this type of receiver can be modified by making more or less extensive changes to the software, for example, to  try different receiver designs to see which one is best for what is needed, and do all this using the same hardware.

I am mostly interested in self-contained software radios that do not run on PCs, but use as processor a kind of chip called a Field Programmable Gate Array, or FPGA for short that, as the name indicates, can be programmed in a special language, to adopt any possible configuration by setting internal switches to interconnect in different ways the kind of logical gates in this chip that make up most of what is in a computer processor.

(*) These days there are several nations that have their own GPS-like satellite systems, so the term of art these days is not “GPS” (“Global Positioning System”), but “GNSS” (“Global Navigation Satellite System”). The USA one is still called GPS, and those of other nations have their own names as well: for example “GALILEO” is the one of the European Union, GLONASS is Russian and BEIDOU is Chinese. Japan and India have their own systems, but for use only in the area in and around these two nations.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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Had about the same problem here, in the outskirts of civilisation. Analog FM is faded out. Some arial high in the sky to the moon is not a real option, isn’t it. FM through the mighty cablenetworks have disappeared because the cable-monopoly has shut down this part of the cablesignal.   So I am forced to use a seperate internet-radio device at home and when travelling, that’s not bad but still no real substitute for the traditional analog FM.  Getting too old I guess . Succes in your search.

* _ ... _ *

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Browse this list :

https://purdylounge.com/best-am-fm-radio-reviews/

You may like Kaito KA500 5-way Powered AM/FM/SW/NOAA Radio devices charger.

If you can’t find the charger for any of your mobile devices, you can use this radio as a substitute! It has a built-in DC 5V USB output port which serves as an emergency battery charger for a variety of devices like smartphones, digital cameras, MP3 players, GPS units and more.

The device is also equipped with multiple light sources that you can utilize for many tasks. It has a reading lamp made of five LEDs, a flashlight and a red SOS beacon light. …

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OscarCP

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The CCrane will do the job for you Oscar. Fine radio. One of the best in the price range. I’ve had one (an older model) for 8 years and it still works like a champ, including the LED.   When I go camping on Skyline Drive I don’t lug around extra batteries, and the hand crank allows you to generate your own power until you install new batteries or have access to AC.

One of my hobbies is AM DX’ing, and the receiver of the CC is very sensitive and picks up weak signals with clarity.  I also have a GE Superadio and often compare the two for their ability to reject spurious emissions from electrical sources, and CC squelches those irritants quite well.  The internal AM antenna is very good and amplified. But if you’re into radio as a hobby, and you are physically able to install it, I would invest in a good outdoor longwire or rhombic to really go after the elusive AM signals.  And I’m not talking 50 or 100 foot runs. We’re talking at least 320 feet of copper here to exceed a full wave at 1000 kHz — about the middle of the AM broadcast band.  And at least 440-500 feet if you want a good glove to catch shortwave signals that peg the signal strength indicator.

Unfortunately (climbing on my soap box here), the FCC has allowed the AM broadcast band to slowly die out. Take away the utter absurdity of ‘HD’ radio, AM stereo and, the most ridiculous of all, digital AM transmission, the FCC has also pulled off a ‘double duh’ by relaxing and not enforcing RF interference requirements in consumer electronics and, especially, home appliances.  That buzzing you hear as you tune across the band isn’t always from old power transformers. The culprits run from ‘smart’ washing machines to heat pumps. And the only way to defeat their attempts of spoil your DX session is to put up an antenna that strengthens reception enough to get through all that hash and trash. Which, by the way, is only going to get worse because the FCC doesn’t care about AM, and they continue to hire top-level managers who have zero or very little commercial broadcast industry experience. Field enforcement is non-existent.  Their answer to solving the AM interference and listenability problems is by handing out licenses for LPFM (Low Power FM) translators like penny candy, forcing smaller broadcasters to fork over consultant fees (gotta submit that good old contour map!), application fees and the cost of new equipment just to try and compete with their FM counterparts.

Speaking of FM, Oscar, the CC has great FM reception even outside metro areas. However, (too) many FM stations are now grossly over-processing their audio and you’ll fail to be impressed by what is normally a very good, high fidelity internal speaker on that rig.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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OscarCP, wavy

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ClearThunder wrote:

Their answer to solving the AM interference and listenability problems is by handing out licenses for LPFM (Low Power FM) translators like penny candy, forcing smaller broadcasters to fork over consultant fees (gotta submit that good old contour map!), application fees and the cost of new equipment just to try and compete with their FM counterparts.

Also, recall that LPFM, nowadays jam-packed with religious rants, has wrecked what used to be called the “college band” (~ 88 -92 MHz) where you could find interesting programming from nearby low power college radio stations. And DXing distant NPR stations which are also located in the college band.

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OscarCP, wavy

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Anonymous  #2387798  : “Also, recall that LPFM, nowadays jam-packed with religious rants, has wrecked what used to be called the “college band” (~ 88 -92 MHz) where you could find interesting programming from nearby low power college radio stations.”

Tell me about it! And consider the perambulations of a Maryland’s/DC’s living legend, the FM radio Grand Dame Dispenser Over-the-Air of recordings of traditional folk music that sounds great, is sang by really good singers and has lyrics that are really worth listening to: the one and only Mary Cliff.

This seems to be going somewhere else unrelated to AM/FM radio receivers, but stay with me and you’ll see.

She started in WETA, a DC FM NPR station in the 1970’s and stayed there for the next 34 years, doing a late Saturday night program called “Traditions”. When I first came to live in the area, hers was the first program that got my attention: this (tiny) lady that mostly whispered on the microphone and often rambled a bit, playing all this folk music much of which was quite new to me.  Then, decades later, WETA radio went all-classic, fine with me, but the management of WETA decided that country music, blue grass, honky-tonk and the rest of it “was not a good fit” for WETA anymore, and showed her the door. To the tremendous indignation of lovers of good music that appreciated the importance of what she was doing and how well she was doing it. But soon enough another perch for her become available in another NPR FM DC station: WAMU. “Traditions” and her moved there, on the same late Saturday schedule

She lasted there for some two years and then she was on the move once more. This time across the Potomac to Arlington, to WERA, where now she has her program, still late on  Saturday night. And still rambling a bit.

Except that the station she landed on is one of those low-powered FM ones that are being discussed here, so although I am some 25 miles from the antenna of her station, I cannot receive “Traditions” on a radio anymore, and a good FM radio at that. Luckily, her station now is also streaming over the Internet, so now I can hear “Traditions” once more, but cannot do so with the radio kept next to my bed, while I listen lying there in the penumbra, as I liked to do this years ago, on  those Saturday nights without a better program of my own:  https://wera.fm/schedule/

https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/mary-cliff-folk-music-and-radio-legend/

“As host of the weekly show “Traditions” on WERA (96.7), every Saturday night from 9 p.m. to midnight she plays a mishmash of music: folk, blues, ballads, country, old-time, gospel, bluegrass, honky-tonk, ethnic and more for thousands of fans across the Washington region.

Cliff’s gentle, soothing voice draws listeners in to hear beautifully blended harmonies, plinking banjos, moaning harmonicas and twanging fiddles.

Between songs, Cliff offers commentary on the local folk music scene and odds and ends. Unscripted, she often teases, “Let’s see where we go.”

“In 2018, she was inducted into the Folk Alliance International’s Folk DJ Hall of Fame, which honors broadcasters passionate about the promotion and preservation of folk music. “Ms. Cliff,” lauds the World Music Central magazine’s website, “has risen to the challenge.”“

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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Kenneth Stephens

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I feel your pain, Oscar! My own go-to station, WGBH_FM Boston, has inflicted many such ‘improvements’ on my discerning ears over the last several years  All in the name of progress, I suppose. Times change; we don’t.

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OscarCP

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ClearThunder:

I have one question, very naïve, but that is bugging me anyway: is it OK to have the batteries inside the radio and connect the radio to the AC mains at the same time? The idea is that the AC takes over and the batteries are not used, so they are there in case there is a blackout and the AC is unavailable. With the added advantage that all the settings, clock etc. don’t get erased and need to be set all over again.

To the rest of those commenting here:

(1) Thank you all for your good and timely advice. Now I am working with that advice in mind, to sort out what would be the best radio for me  to buy. You have given me plenty of information to work with and come to a decision.

(2) I agree with ClearThunder and Anonymous #2387798  that here, in the USA, the Federal Communications (FCC) is no longer overly concerned about the AM and SW radiowaves being a public good to be protected. This is one more example of a general FCC attitude to telecommunications that started to be clear to me with the abandonment of Net Neutrality (still abandoned after the recent change in government, I believe, but hope I am wrong and some work is quietly under way to reverse that unfortunate decision). And then there is the award to Ligado of a band next to the one used by the very weak-reception GPS signals, that are likely to get swamped by the sub-harmonics of Ligado’s projected terrestrial country-wide WiFi Internet distribution system, over the opposition of NASA, the Department of Defense,  the Department of Transportation and an ad-hock association of both businesses, public utilities and scientific organizations, all with a shared keen interest in the integrity of the reception of GPS signals remaining intact in the USA.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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There has been a lot of short sighted (stup idity??) in the FCC. I think the change fro analog to HD broadcasting was a good hint of what was to come. Now a days few actually use HD BROADCAST, only a few in a city siting on top of a tower. Analog signals used to have a much farther reach, yeah maybe you got a grainy pic in the boondocks but you got something.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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OscarCP, ClearThunder

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OscarCP wrote:

is it OK to have the batteries inside the radio and connect the radio to the AC mains at the same time?

Of course it is. The designers took that into account when they made the radio.
Some (very old designs) have a switch in the power connector that disconnects the batteries. Modern designs use semiconductors to do the switching.

cheers, Paul

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OscarCP

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Paul_T: I was asking ClearThunder specifically about the CCrane radio, as he is quite familiar with it since he owns one, not about portable radios in general. But I guess I did not made that clear enough. My question might seem naïve (and that is why I wrote that this was a “very naïve” question). And, although I have used radios with the batteries inside and connected to the AC mains at the same time without problems, the AC providing the power while connected, I have not used a CCrane radio before. I have discovered that sometimes asking a “naïve” question results in some surprisingly useful answers. And one can never be too careful with batteries.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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is it OK to have the batteries inside the radio and connect the radio to the AC mains at the same time?

The CC takes both standard and rechargeables.  If you use their AC adapter, it will recharge the batteries and shut off after 10 hours or so.  You have to use NiMh batteries in their rigs, not Lith.  Can you keep one-time use batteries inside the radio while plugged into AC?  Yes, but only because to charge any battery in a CC you have to press a button that starts the charging. So as long as you don’t choose the charge function, you can keep standards inside while using AC.

That being said, I never trust the internal circuitry of any device to recharge batteries, especially the one’s I use. It is safer and more efficient (and much faster) to use an external charger.  The only exception is the model I have, which has a hand crank to give the batts enough charge to keep the radio singing when I am out in the boondocks. Still, when they run out of juice, I only use the external charger I have.

When choosing rechargeable batteries, regardless of the size, don’t skimp.  Go for the beefiest NiMh cells you can get. For most, that would be Ansmann, my personal favorite. Their AA NiMh cells have a capacity of 2850mAh  (an Energizer has a capacity of only 2200mAh), which is serious storage. So much so that you also have to buy their Ansmann charger because almost no off-the-shelf chargers can fully charge a high-capacity Ansmann. So you’re going to sink some money into the charger (around $70 for the ‘Energy 8’) and the batteries (about $16 for a 4-pack of AA), but you’ll save a ton of money in the long run. After about 50 recharges, you’ve paid for it all.  And the batteries are good for 400-500 charges, which takes about 2 hours (versus 10 hours to charge inside the radio)  in the Energy 8 charger.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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ClearThunder: Thank you so much. This is even more than I was trying to find out, but I can use all of it.

And is why I asked the question in the first place, because you are quite right in saying one should not put too much trust in internal circuitry (I would say “one should never take for granted it will always work as advertised”). I know this from hard-earned experience with electrical things. I am an electrical engineer, electronics orientation, and for some years I did use a soldering iron, so I now a bit about how the sausage is made, so to speak — although I now do other things: what one learns in this career is very useful for doing all sorts of “non-electrical” things, thanks to the very good math and physics foundation one gets as a student.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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ClearThunder wrote:

The CCrane will do the job for you Oscar. Fine radio. One of the best in the price range. I’ve had one (an older model) for 8 years and it still works like a champ, including the LED. When I go camping on Skyline Drive I don’t lug around extra batteries, and the hand crank allows you to generate your own power until you install new batteries or have access to AC.

May I ask which radio has the hand crank, I did not see it mentioned on the radio I was looking at.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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ClearThunder

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Wavy, That’s a challenging question that he will answer, I hope. My own guess: If he goes camping, trekking or driving in the Skyline Drive that is along most of the Virginia part of the Blue Ridge Appalachian mountains that stretch from Georgia to Pennsylvania (a great thing to do in the Fall at peak leaf color time), he probably carries equipment for that, including a small hand-cranked generator. As to hand-cranked radios: these are also known as wind up radios: I had thought they were a British thing, because who else would think of something like that? But it looks like in the US some have caught the bug as well:

https://windupradio.com/

So maybe he has one of these.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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ClearThunder

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Check out the following link directly from Charles Crane’s radio site. As noted above, the radios that have a crank are labeled on the CCrane site as “windup emergency” radios in their titles on the page.

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

Some are currently out of stock, possibly due to the recent unfortunate events surrounding Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida’s landfall in the U.S.

@ClearThunder , perhaps one of the ones listed on that page might make a suitable replacement for your older one if it ever “gives up the ghost”. 

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ClearThunder

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Ah!  I can see the inference in my comment that the model that Oscar is considering has a dynamo.  But unfortunately, that model doesn’t.  I should have wrote ‘the hand crank allows me to …’  My model is old and not made anymore, but a buddy of mine has one of their Solar Observers, which has a dynamo.

I never intended to use the one I bought as a primary AM receiver for hobby use because it had an analog dial, but the ears were so good I set aside the GE.  The dynamo feature was why I bought it. Where I live in the boondocks, power outages can last for hours —– sometimes for days after really bad storms.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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wavy

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ClearThunder, while I do not need a hand-crank radio, the idea of using rechargeable batteries interests me. But I have read that a radio using these can have a volume of sound that is too weak. Is using the “beefiest NiMh cells you can get”, as you have advised, meant to avoid this? Os is just to keep the batteries going longer before they discharge completely?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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The amplifier in these types of radios draw more current than anything else, so the volume level and long you keep it at that level is a major factor in battery life —– whether you use rechargeable batts or not.  There are high $ single-use Lith Ions that have a high storage capacity (3000+ mAh), but using rechargeables saves money.   I carry around a radio scanner and I’ll go through a set of four AA every two days.  Every time I pluck out the dead ones and stick them in the charger, I’m saving 5 bucks.  That’s what it would cost to replace the 4 batts if I picked up some high quality single-use AA’s at the local Wally World.

Using ‘beefy’ (translation; high capacity) rechargeable batts just translates to longer average usable life.  Any rechargeable AA rated 2500+ mAh is what you want to shoot for.

 

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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OscarCP

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Paul T wrote:

Do the FM stations you listen to not have an internet feed?

cheers, Paul

You really should consider a backup plan if your internet streaming gets knocked out by a natural disaster.

FM radio is a good backup plan. I grew up on the US Gulf Coast, and that is one of the items recommended by NWS for post hurricane survival.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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When I started this thread, I was looking for a good radio to replace my good and much used old one that is dying. I looked in the usual places, Amazon, etc., and found a bewildering variety of models in offer, most of which did not seem to have the features I wanted. Also their reviews were, as they tend to be, all over the place on whether a particular model was a great or a terrible thing to buy.

Then several of you came in and gave me the two things one always needs to make a good decision on anything: perspective and information. I don’t mean to end this conversation here, but I want at this point to thank all of you for your helpful and friendly participation.

So, thank you all very much.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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OscarCP wrote:

So any advice you might have, that is good and not hyper expensive to follow, I’ll be grateful for. (US$ 0.00 – 150.00 is my price range.)

Dangit Oscar, you had to go and start this thread, LOL!

Now I have a new C Crane Skywave SSB heading my way! Didn’t know that I needed one, but you jogged an old memory of the short wave radio kit that I built as a kid. My dad gave me a nice factory made short wave receiver when I was in high school, and I strung up a long wire antenna and tuned in the world. That unit probably lasted about 15 years. I never got around to replacing that one over the years, but thanks to you, I decided that now is the time!

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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And it has an 1h20m audio tutorial!

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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OscarCP, JohnW

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Well, JohnW: when you get this radio and start to use it, please, let me know how you like it. I’ll be very interested  in your experience with this radio.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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wavy wrote:

And it has an 1h20m audio tutorial!

The audio tutorial appears to have been shortened to 49 mins. But still very informative, compared to the printed manual! I would recommend both approaches to learning this thing. The tutorial is narrated by a vision impaired person.

https://ccrane.com/cc-skywave-ssb-am-fm-shortwave-weather-vhf-aviation-and-ssb-bands-portable-travel-radio/ (look under Downloads/Manuals tab)

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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OK, this is about a different radio by the same manufacturer, not the one I am after! Sorry for the confusion.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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JohnW

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OscarCP wrote:

OK, this is about a different radio by the same manufacturer, not the one I am after! Sorry for the confusion.

I’m guessing that you may have been looking at something like this one, based upon your requirements for a decent internal speaker, the ccradio 2E with 5″ speaker:

https://ccrane.com/products/ccradio-2e-enhanced-am-fm-noaa-weather-2-meter-ham-band-portable-radio.html

I opted for a portable with 2″ speaker, rather a tabletop model. I can always plugin some decent PC speakers to the headphone jack if I want a big sound.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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JohnW: That is completely right: I am interested in the CC Radio 2E Enhanced

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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JohnW

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and that is an AC 120 power in w/o a wall wart !

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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OscarCP wrote:

That is completely right: I am interested in the CC Radio 2E Enhanced

That looks like an excellent radio! If CC added the shortwave band to that one, I’d be all over it!!! That’s a similar form factor to the radio I had in the 70’s.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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OscarCP

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BTW this thread did not show up for New Posts since last visit.
I only found it with emailed link

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Wavy, I’ve found your comment just now here when doing my daily scan of “New posts: Last three days.”

In this particular case, “New Posts: Last day” shows the link as well.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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wavy wrote:

and that is an AC 120 power in w/o a wall wart !

Correct!

Per the CCrane site, the input power specs for the CC Radio 2E are:

Input Power:
Power Cord: AC 120 Volts 60Hz
Batteries: (4) D size (not included)

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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wavy

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Here is a review of the best FM radios. Hope it helps.

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OscarCP

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Anonymous, Thanks!

As it happens, just today, a few hours ago, following the advice mainly of ClearThunder and some from JohnW, I have ordered the Crane CC Radio 2E Enhanced from Amazon (see picture of it some comments further up; I’ve ordered mine silver, not black), and, to my surprise, delivery is promised already for tomorrow. Once I figure out in practice how it works and have tried it for a while, I am going to come back here to let others know how it is working out for me. What I liked about it, as well as the bands where it can receive, is that it has a 5″ speaker and also separate bass and treble controls.

But, please, continue bringing information, as it is clear this is a subject of interest to more people than just me.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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OscarCP wrote:

Anonymous, Thanks!

As it happens, just today, a few hours ago, following the advice mainly of ClearThunder and some from JohnW, I have ordered the Crane CC Radio 2E Enhanced from Amazon (see picture of it some comments further up; I’ve ordered mine silver, not black), and, to my surprise, delivery is promised already for tomorrow. Once I figure out in practice how it works and have tried it for a while, I am going to come back here to let others know how it is working out for me. What I liked about it, as well as the bands where it can receive, is that it has a 5″ speaker and also separate bass and treble controls.

But, please, continue bringing information, as it is clear this is a subject of interest to more people than just me.

The Crane CC Radio2E is a good choice!

I tried the Crane Skywave SSB for a week, and then returned/exchanged it for the Crane CC Radio 2E, for the same price.

Reasons for returning the Skywave SSB:

Wrong choice for me. I’m apparently in a dead zone for shortwave in my current area, at least without some major outdoor antenna gear. And that’s not an option for me right now. So after searching the Ham club websites in my region, it appears that most of the local action is on the 2-meter band, which the 2E has, but the Skywave does not.

Another quirk with the Skywave is that it doesn’t have a line out jack, just a headphone jack. I had assumed that I could just plug it into some amplified speakers and fill the room with stereo sound. But a headphone jack has a different impedance than a line out, and so I had difficulty using an external amp.

Things I liked about the Skywave SSB: it was small and very well built. Excellent travel radio, but designed for headphone use. Works with standard AA or rechargeable AA.

Things I like about the Crane CC Radio2E:

I’ve had my Crane CC Radio2E for a week now, and no cons so far! Overall it has great reception on all bands! Just some local chit-chat on the 2-meter band, but that would be where all the action would take place in an actual emergency. “In the US, that role in emergency communications is furthered by the fact that most amateur-radio operators have a 2-meter handheld transceiver (HT), handie-talkie, or walkie-talkie”.

Nice 5″ speaker fills the room with sound.

AC power cord, so no wall wart transformer. 4 alkaline D cells for power backup/portability, with expected 250 hours runtime at moderate volume level.

Line out and headphone out, plus line in, so that you can plug in portable audio players to use the amp and speaker in the 2E.

Love the sleep feature which lets you set a timer to play for a set time before shutting off. I usually set it to play the local public classical FM station for 60 mins at bedtime, while I read a book on my kindle. Also has an alarm which I have not tried yet.

Optional carrying case available from Crane.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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OscarCP

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Thanks, JohnW!

Good to hear you have one of these radios and are happy, so far with it. Also very good to know that the batteries last as many as 250 hours when playing it at a “moderate” volume. (I guess the same way I play radios: I want good sound, but not a boom box: living in apartment and so with neighbors close). That is one whole month of listening at a bit more than 8 hours a day. Enough for most imaginable emergencies where the electricity is out or inaccessible, I should hope. I keep, whenever possible, a portable radio plugged into the mains’ wall socket, so the batteries are installed in the radio, but I use these in emergencies only.

I am supposed to get my new radio today, so if there is something I am not sure about or notice something that might be off with it, I might be back with a few questions, but I hope that won’t be necessary: a radio should just sit wherever I find convenient to put it, play when I want it to, tuned to any station I choose without serious drift, and do all this without making any trouble. In my experience, it has always been like that, in each case for many years, until they finally stop working right (for example the volume control’s potentiometer, or the tuner’s mechanism breaks down) and I have to go buy a new one, in this new brave world where TV and radio repair shops are virtually extinct.

So now we’ll see what is it like with this particular new receiver I am waiting for.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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[JohnW]

The only thing that may surprise you about the CC Radio2E is the lack of a top handle that you can wrap your fingers around. It only has a recessed handle for fingertips molded into in the rear of the top.

The workaround would be the optional Crane carry bag with a carry strap. $39.99.

https://ccrane.com/ccradio-2e-and-ccradio-3-carry-case/

 

 

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by JohnW. Reason: Added image

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OscarCP

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Well, at nearly three weeks after my previous entry, now I have, for the first time, my CC Radio 2E up and running and playing softly near me from my all-classical local NPR station. I still have not set up the clock, which is the one task remaining.

Part of the delay was the disappearance, in mysterious circumstances, of the power cord that came with the radio. So I bought another from C. Crane, and got it this week in the mail. I have installed batteries, but these are for emergencies, where I might have to go away with a radio to keep up with developments,  or when there is a blackout. One thing or another, things were not perfect for radio setting-up until last night.

Still have to set up the clock, and then I can give myself permission to start playing with bands, etc.

This looks like, here, going by the local weather forecast for tomorrow and the coming week, today is the eve of the real start of the Fall: bright and pleasantly warm outside today, the huge trees lining the property of this apartments building just showing a touch of yellow: in two weeks they’ll be bare and a different season will have settled in, leaning towards winter.

Not a bad time to be able to listen to the radio again. (I can stream the same stations I usually listen to, but even listening to them on the radio, to me, is more than that.)

Thanks to all of you that have helped me get to this point. A great Autumn, or Spring — depending on where — to all of you.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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JohnW

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I think the CC Radio 2E ticks most of the feature boxes in a wish list for a decent tabletop/portable radio.

I really enjoy mine. The sleep timer is really handy for setting a listening period at bedtime that shuts it off after 120/90/60/45/30/15 minutes. Just hold down the on/off button  to cycle through the times…

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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OscarCP

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After four and a half months of owning a CCrane 2E, I wish to bring to those interested in AM/FM and short-wave portable radios my own excellent experience with my new radio. Particularly the quality of the sound that comes out of it. As people here must have noticed by now, I am very much into classical music, in fact I have been since I was 14 year old and have never stopped. Now classical music sound is intricate, most of it involves several instruments playin at once, often of similar registers, so the crisp clarity of this new radio of mine is a definite plus. Even playing it at high volume, the distortion remains very low and non-intrusive.

Thanks all those that have advised me and guided me here to figure out what radio to buy as a replacement of my long-serving and much loved Grundig Etón S350DL.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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JohnW

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OscarCP wrote:

After four and a half months of owning a CCrane 2E, I wish to bring to those interested in AM/FM and short-wave portable radios my own excellent experience with my new radio. Particularly the quality of the sound that comes out of it. As people here must have noticed by now, I am very much into classical music, in fact I have been since I was 14 year old and have never stopped. Now classical music sound is intricate, most of it involves several instruments playin at once, often of similar registers, so the crisp clarity of this new radio of mine is a definite plus. Even playing it at high volume, the distortion remains very low and non-intrusive.

I love my CCrane 2E! Quite the sound for a small package! I fall asleep every night with the sleep timer set for 1 hour, listening to my local classical public radio station.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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