New Radio advice?

[Andy3]

Just joined and I'm looking for advice.
My Sony 7600GR has bitten the dust (don't ask) and I'm looking for a similar type of portable, but better on AM (medium wave).
The Sony was just about OK but MW reception of weak signals was spoilt by noise. This seems to be a problem with modern portables. I have an old mid 60's transistor radio that wipes the floor with these modern wonder-boxes, honestly it pulls in distant daytime stations like they were in the next town. The only problem is that the analogue dial makes finding a specific frequency a bit hit-and-miss.
So far I've identified the Eton/Grundig G3 and the Sangean ATS909 also known as the Roberts 861 here in the UK.
However, I can't try before I buy as I have no radio dealer in my area. Looking at customer reviews, opinions on both sets seem to range from 'rubbish, can't hear station xyz' to 'brilliant, as good as my old Sony 2010!'
MW is my main interest so I don't want to spend money on a radio that is no better on AM than the Sony.
Any help you chaps can give me would be worth a lot. Thanks.

 

[SCPD]

Just joined and I'm looking for advice.
My Sony 7600GR has bitten the dust (don't ask) and I'm looking for a similar type of portable, but better on AM (medium wave).
The Sony was just about OK but MW reception of weak signals was spoilt by noise. This seems to be a problem with modern portables. I have an old mid 60's transistor radio that wipes the floor with these modern wonder-boxes, honestly it pulls in distant daytime stations like they were in the next town. The only problem is that the analogue dial makes finding a specific frequency a bit hit-and-miss.
So far I've identified the Eton/Grundig G3 and the Sangean ATS909 also known as the Roberts 861 here in the UK.
However, I can't try before I buy as I have no radio dealer in my area. Looking at customer reviews, opinions on both sets seem to range from 'rubbish, can't hear station xyz' to 'brilliant, as good as my old Sony 2010!'
MW is my main interest so I don't want to spend money on a radio that is no better on AM than the Sony.
Any help you chaps can give me would be worth a lot. Thanks.

Andy,

It comes down to how much you want to spend really. If you're looking for a portable radio like the 7600GR then I don't know if you'll improve much. I own a 7600GR and imho, it's one of the best portables out there. Did you try an external antenna with your 7600GR?

Now if you're willing to splurge a bit on something that will work and will last, then I would recommend looking for a true shortwave desktop unit. If you really need portability then there are some options there.

Also, a used ham radio could be an option too. There are some portable ham radios for HF but they are more expensive. EBAY is a good source for used ham gear that may work for you.

Here's are some examples of portable wideband scanners that may work for you:

http://universal-radio.com/catalog/widerxvr/0500.html
http://universal-radio.com/catalog/widerxvr/5007.html
http://universal-radio.com/catalog/widerxvr/1006.html
http://universal-radio.com/catalog/widerxvr/0202.html

Just note that "portable" generally means you're sacrificing some performance. I haven't used any of the above radios personally, so I can't comment on their AM reception.

If you're looking for a desktop unit, then you may want to look for a used Drake R-8. They can be found on EBAY most of the time and are not too expensive these days. They were one of the reference standards for AM reception back in the 1990s.

FYI - the first link I gave above is for the Yaesu VR-500. I have heard some pretty good things about it considering it's size. Also, the one nice thing is that this radio includes SSB. So IF you decided you want to listen to ham radio, etc. then you can do it with this unit. (The others just have AM mode - no SSB.)

 

[Andy3]

Thanks for your thoughts, Nick.
I have a well-specced setup at home (AOR AR5000 with a Wellbrook loop antenna) which works extremely well, but I'm looking for portability for holidays etc. The Sony 7600 was indeed a fine radio, but MW was a little lacking compared to some older sets.

Handheld scanners invariably have very poor performance on MW. I write reviews of scanners for a magazine and all those h/h ones in your links are fine on VHF/UHF but almost useless on AM.

The 60's radio I mentioned is amazing. It's only a bit bigger than the Sony but it makes distant stations come in like a ton of bricks and leaves the Sony sounding hissy and distant. If only it had more modern features, like digital readout, FM etc. It far outperforms every modern portable I've tried - but I haven't been able to check out the Sangean 909 or the Grundig/Eton G3.

Thanks for taking the trouble to help me, but it looks as though I'll have to keep on looking.

 

[SCPD]

Yeah sorry Andy, I don't know of anything that's 'portable' with "excellent" AM reception. I think the 7600GR does a pretty good job considering it's size, etc. If you're in a good, noise-free location, I think it does the job for its price point.

I just thought of the old Grundig Sat 800 but that is far from portable.

I'll just throw this out there, but you may want to check out the FT-817. It's a ham radio but you can some times find these for sale on EBAY for a good price. It's very portable and if I recall correctly, the internal battery will last for about 10 hours on receive only.

I owned one for a short time and its overall receiving performance was excellent. Obviously, you'll need a whip antenna and/or an external antenna for ideal performance. It has two antenna jacks, so you can use it like a portable SW radio if you add a simple BNC telescopic antenna.

Yaesu FT-817ND, Yaesu FT817ND

 

[DPD1]

If they have any G5s left, try those out too.