Just want a good AM portable radio

[shepcal]

I don't listen to FM, just AM. I bought a high dollar small AM/FM/sideband/emergency blah blah blah radio; I think German made starts w/ Gund---???? Any way besides the sleep, scan, clock and rest of BS- AM was marginal except for the Mexican stations.
Any one have a suggestion? Want small, 8-10"x2"x5-6"??? Years ago had an ol ivory colored dial AM only radio that took 8 C batteries; worked great. Didn't use for several years and batteries ate it up 😞

Appreciate it, Shep

[shepcal]

Appreciate the replies, didn't want this to get into a tire war!

I do HVAC. After job is troubleshot, depending on time to do repair, like to have radio.Out in the desert, may not want to watch TV. Not gonna string antenna wire out each job and trees are sparse in the desert.
Remember looking into the CCrane radios and am sure a great radio. If my incoming superadio doesn't work out, may have to just drop the hammer and try it.
Thanks again, Shep

[camperpaul]

PUCampin wrote:
--- snip ---
I like to listen to AM talk radio for my commute, but unfortunately the geography of my drive blocks the station. My previous car radio could pick it ok, my current one does not.

The vehicle makes a big difference.

Fords and Dodge (Cummins) are notoriously noisy (RFI).

[JimChow]

I bought a C Crane radio years, ago still using it. They are pricy but I think well worth it.

[2oldman]

It's Grundig.

[wa8yxm]

K Charles wrote:
Heathkit or Radio******have kits so you can make one.

Charles... You are a tad out of date.. Heathkit went out of business over 20 years ago, And though there have been revival attempst (Last I knew was one in progress now) no products on the market yet.

Seriously if you want a good AM radio take your Grunding (As close to the proper spelling as I can get) and 100-200 feet of wire and a long (like 3 foot) screwdriver (Phillips is best)

Attach one end of the wire to the screwdriver

Wrap 2x around the radio

Toss the wire over tree limbs (Any means posible) till it is fully deployed I use a 2 pound weight. and a 50 foot rope.

The problem with AM radio is that it is teh 300 meter band (300 meters is the wavelength of the station (Super station at that I think WMVP, Chicago is on 10) located at 10 (1000 KHz) roughly in the middle of the dial

So a quarter wave is 75 meters (About 80 yards) long, that is the ideal antenna length.. What portable radios use is a ferrite rod antenna, this is a coil of wire inside the case, it is very, very limited in its range compared to a good long wire up in the trees

NEEDS not be all that high up in the trees, I like 20 foot minimum cause a wire that long is going to cross roads or sites and if you do that you need to keep it over sixteen feet or it might get snagged on a passing RV.

[Raften]

I have radios that are 20 years old, working fine. Got a CCrain radio with bells and whistles that lasted till just after the warranty ran out. Not a good experience with a high priced radio. I did lik it's functions while it lasted.

[tpi]

RoyB wrote:
The best quality radio I found was from C CRANE with their CC RADIO PLUS model. This runs on both 120VAC or D-CELLS. Apparently my CC RADIO PLUS has been replaced with a newer model CC RADIO 2...
Be sure to also include the nice carry protection cover.

C CRANE RADIO 2

Excellant AM/FM Radio with many features. I ordered mine from AMAZON

Roy Ken

I can vouch for this. I live in a fringe area for my local MLB baseball broadcast and bought one of these just for that purpose. My other AM radios fade out, buzz, pop, crackle (or don't work at all) on this station. The Crane radio brings it in clearly every time. Very pleased with the purchase.

[More_To_See]

For the ultimate in AM reception get the C Crane radio and add their Ferrite Antenna Kit .

It doesn't give you a walk around portable setup but after years of use I'm pretty sure nothing else will come close to matching the ability of this package to pull them in.

[cdlaine]

Sir,

I am not a radio expert by any means... but I have had some
luck with the Sangean line...FM stereo/AM/LW/SW (AM frequency-
520 - 1710 KHz). Radio Shack re-badged these... popular models
were the 505 and 606. Lots of bells and whistles but I just
ignore them (as you should if only interested in AM).

Point being.... GoodWill, etc. don't look past Sangean... probably
available for pennies on the dollars. Functional.

Good AM reception (better at night and low tide to pull in long
distance stations). Good luck on the hunt. I'd def. go aftermarket,
gently used....

I forgot to add... best feature... station lock... no drift.

Charles

[PUCampin]

lynndiwagon wrote:
I suspect that you are like me in that you like to listen to conservative talk radio,i.e. Rush,Savage, etc. I finally found that my smart phone is the best AM radio. I use "Tune in Radio" and "Iheartradio" apps for listening to AM stations from around the country. When out working I use earphones that also double as hearing protection devices. You can also receive podcasts of past shows from Mark Levine, Rush, etc. In the bedroom I use a Grace Digital Radio for stations. The only drawback is that you will use a little data on your plan. Streaming audio doesn't really use that much data. Give it a try.....

If your looking for an emergency radio I would go with the C. Crane company suggestions.

I do this too. I like to listen to AM talk radio for my commute, but unfortunately the geography of my drive blocks the station. My previous car radio could pick it ok, my current one does not. I use iheart radio to stream it instead. I was initally concerned about data usage, but it is not that bad. I stream 40-50 hrs a month and it uses 2GB or less. Works out to about 40-50MB per hour. My wife and I have a 10GB plan, we never even come close.

[westend]

I tried listening to Glen Beck on my radio but when I tried to switch channels it shut down the radio. :W

[lynndiwagon]

I suspect that you are like me in that you like to listen to conservative talk radio,i.e. Rush,Savage, etc. I finally found that my smart phone is the best AM radio. I use "Tune in Radio" and "Iheartradio" apps for listening to AM stations from around the country. When out working I use earphones that also double as hearing protection devices. You can also receive podcasts of past shows from Mark Levine, Rush, etc. In the bedroom I use a Grace Digital Radio for stations. The only drawback is that you will use a little data on your plan. Streaming audio doesn't really use that much data. Give it a try.....

If your looking for an emergency radio I would go with the C. Crane company suggestions.

[Islandman]

We have several C Crane radios, they are a good product and priced fairly. Customer support is excellent, have been to their place of business in Fortuna California a couple times and the people are willing to help you with any concerns you may have and they have some good deals in their store too. Their radios are also very power efficien; batteries last a long time

[imgoin4it]

Have the same radio as RoyB and he is right on. This is a great radio, not cheap though. C Crain also has an analog AM/FM radio that is very simple radio. I have one but it does not seem to separate AM stations when the frequencies are close. They replaced it with no questions but the replacement was no better. Not sure the problem is the radio or our low power local stations