Radio for a beginner

[bearcatrp]

What would be a good beginner radio for someone who doesn’t know squat about radios or HF? Fairly inexpensive. Need to get one for my daughter. Haven’t shopped for radios like this in a long time. My R30’s are to advanced for her. Appreciate your feedback.

 

[sunwave]

What would be a good beginner radio for someone who doesn’t know squat about radios or HF? Fairly inexpensive. Need to get one for my daughter. Haven’t shopped for radios like this in a long time. My R30’s are to advanced for her. Appreciate your feedback.

What has your daughter expressed her interest in what she wants to listen to over the shortwave bands? What does she not want to listen to? Those answers can save you money or be expensive. Also, a good basis choosing a radio for her.

 

[bearcatrp]

Kind of pushing her toward this. Good radio for IF crap goes to hell and all communications are off for whatever reason. Used to own a seagen years back and gave that to my son to learn. Something similar. I keep tabs on this forum for following new equipment coming out. Eaton seems to be a good radio but a bit expensive.

 

[bearcatrp]

Found a couple but lithium batteries in the ones I found. What, no AA batteries? Prefer AA batteries. Anyone have a recommendation that uses AA batteries?

 

[wenzeslaus]

I only do portable AM/FM/SW battery powered radios, receive only. example: Sangean SG-622. if you're talking about something like that let me know.

 

[bearcatrp]

Am wanting portable. AA batteries. Prefer HF coverage. Am/FM/SSB.

 

[MiCon]

I don't know what's available in today's market. Like you, I haven't shopped for decades. You might want to check E-Bay or Amazon for used radios like the Realistic DX-440. This one has a digital tuning knob and direct programming. Covers 150khz ~ 30 mhhz plus the FM broadcast band, and has a BFO for ssb. Uses D size batteries. Has an RCA input for external antenna, plus an internal ferrite antenna.

 

[Fast1eddie]

C.Crane SSB. Very good performer and a nice size. Just about $200.00

 

[wenzeslaus]

okay, if it's SSB then analog is out.

for digital radios the go-to brand is Tecsun. not expensive, not vintage discontinued hard-to-find stuff.

they have quite a selection. their newest radios tend towards BL5 or 18650 batteries. I totally agree with you on using AA batteries, so that limits the selection.

PL-600 (???$)
AM/FM/LW
SW 1711-29999 kHz, SSB (doesn't say BFO control)
dual conversion
4AA
direct entry keypad
tone
6V adapter
FM/SW antenna jack
paged memory can be divided into 10,20,25,50 pages

PL-600 | TECSUN Radio

www.tecsun-radios.com

PL-680 127$
is a PL-600 but add air band, BFO control

PL-680 | TECSUN Radio

www.tecsun-radios.com

PL-660 100$
has all the same features as the PL-680 and I can't tell the difference except styling.

PL-660 | TECSUN Radio

www.tecsun-radios.com

PL-365 65$
AM/FM/LW
SW 2300-2150 kHz, SSB w/ BFO control
single conversion
3AA
USB charging
"low power consumption"
AM/LW external antenna jack
doesn't have internal AM antenna
159x53x26mm

PL-365 | TECSUN Radio

www.tecsun-radios.com

tips:

90% of the stations you get will be 5.8 to 12.2 MHz. (49, 41, 31 and 25 meter bands) every shortwave radio has those. frequency range isn't important.

tell them about daytime 9-17 MHz, night 3-12 MHz or they're going to get awfully frustrated

AC adapters cause mucho EMI, only good for charging NiMH batteries or FM

never have got any stations on LW

if you go without SSB that opens up your options. if you get an analog the batteries last 5 times longer.

 

[wenzeslaus]

really for a total beginner I'd skip the SSB and just get them a DR-920C. analog w/ frequency counter, 2AA

 

[bearcatrp]

The PL 680 looks about right. Good options. The DR 920 from my search are used only. Will look around a bit longer but want to dig in more on the 680. Thanks for all the help folks. Came to the right place for answers.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Eton Traveler.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

PL-600 (if you want SSB).

 

[popnokick]

Do not drop the SSB requirement. If SHTF comms are one of the reasons to use the radio, much of the most interesting comms are likely to be in SSB.

 

[wenzeslaus]

I looked at the manual. the 600 has BFO control too. it's the knob in the middle. the 365 has a thumbwheel for that.

the 680 and 660 have synchronous detection, which tracks the carrier frequency of AM mode to reduce fading somehow. the 600 and 365 don't.

the 365 has both ATS and ETM, which is similar to ATS but has a lower threshold for faint stations, and stores them in temporary memory registers for you to browse and manually store what you want. a lot of people like it better than ATS. the 600, 660 and 680 don't have it because it requires the SI4735 DSP chip and they use PLL instead of DSP.

the 365 manual says this:

PL-365 is equipped with DSP si4735 microchips (from Silicon Labs in the USA) for digital demodulation of analog AM/FM broadcasting signals, which greatly enhances the radio's sensitivity, selectivity, S/N ratio and anti-interference.

I disagree with the part about sensitivity and s/n ratio. they have problems trying to get a faint station because the chip thinks it's background noise and reduces volume. or switches back and forth, called "volume pumping". testing my 606 (SI4734 chip) against several other analogs showed that reception wasn't any better.

all these only scan within the SW bands. if you want to search for stations between bands you have to do it manually with the knob or thumbwheel. my 606 does that. drives me nuts.

 

[bearcatrp]

Thanks for the information. Now my older seagan had pre programmed stations. These newer radios also have pre programmed stations? Am presuming they do but figured I ask.

 

[wenzeslaus]

review for an ATS-909 says

The Radio comes pre-programmed with Sangean's selection of SW stations, stored in all of the 27 pages & complete with station names added.

checked manuals for 909, 909X, 909X2, they didn't mention anything about it. they do have pre-programmed time/location for time zones. other than that, I never head of SW stations being pre-programmed into memory from the manufacturer.