good shortwave radios?
 

The rules for the forum say it's for vintage, so I hope I can stretch the rules a bit... :)

I'm thinking about getting a shortwave radio. One of the portable Grundig models seems like a logical choice.

I want a decent radio, but don't want to spend a lot either. Any suggestions?

I used to listen to stations from Europe on my Dad's old shortwave receiver when I was a kid, and I'd like to putter around a bit now and then. I figure it will have probably AM and FM too, so it will double as an emergency radio.

Vintage or new

New...http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd...5&isArchived=0

I've always been partial to the old tube model Halicrafters.

If a couple hundred dollars isn't much, the Sony 2010 is hard to beat in the portable zone.

Or more than 200, now that it's discontinued. At 300 or so it puts it in the same price category of a Grundig Satellit, which SQ wise far outclasses the 2010.

If you want something paperback sized, I like my Grundig YB-400. I've owned a Sony SW7600G, SW7600GR, and one-time Sangean TOTL ATS-909, all about the same size and continuous coverage SW with FM and AM. The 400 ultimately was the keeper. All have their reception foibles, especially the 909 which pretty much requires an external antenna for decent reception. The 400 is not perfect but it's in the ballpark of the best (the 7600), with the added feature of great audio quality for the size. It makes a big difference when all the power is out and you're turning to your radio for information as well as a little entertainment.

For longer lasting power, choose one with a crank, although I have yet to find one those I like; or a bigger portable like the 2010, one that has room for D cells. Older analog units like the Sony SW5500 or the Panasonic RF-2200 will last a pretty long time on 4 D cells or so.

For a new portable, try the Kaito 1102. It is not expensive, quite small and even has a BFO. It comes with three AA rechargeable batteries that can be recharged in the set.

For vintage shortwave sets, go with Hallicrafters. I have a restored S-53A and I just love it.

How much is not a lot? It will mean different things to diffeent persons. I the real low range, find a Eton S350DL. About $100 new. An analog radio with a digital readout. The FM has a mpx output through the line outputs and the headphones. AM does not have an external antenna connection but has a long built-in rod and pulls well. The SW and FM have external antenna connections or can use a fairly long whip antenna. The AM and FM pull quite well and sound good. The AM has a narrow and wide band. No SSB. The SW is not great about 15mhz but below that it is sensitive, Comparable to my Hallicrafters SW-500.

If you want more sensitivity or even better audio there are filter mods available.

I have 2 of these, one in my office and the other besides the bed. In the office, it is the only radio that will pick up AM. All others I've tried get nothing but static.

OTOH, therfe is the vintage option. My Hallicrafters SW-500 tube radio only cost $25 in working condition. Only needed a litter control cleaning. It came with a set of magnetic headphones and is a lot of old time fun for as a kid I owned a S38C.

Holding my tongue...Y'all know what I wanna say...(grin)

Yes, yes...we know. Sandy...we know that instead of counting sheep to get to sleep you count R-390s.

Seriously, though...there's a TON of good to great SW radios available both new and used. I have a $5 garage sale Grundig YB320 that does pretty decent, although the frequency coverage isn't quite complete. Then, there's my Sony ICF7600DS...paperback size, BFO...a good radio. Lots of bigger desktop rigs around, too...a vintage Yaesu FRG-7 can sometimes be had for a reasonable cost and is a good performer. Like tubes? Hallicrafters offered everything from the beginner S-38 to the Holy Grail SX-88 and a ton in between. I kinda like the SX-96, myself. Then there's National, Hammarlund...it's a lonnnng list. We'll all pitch in with opinions and advice for sure.

Just look for any Amateur transceiver such as Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood and TenTec from the 90's onward for around 300.00 and you will be in business and then study for your license and talk as well!

73 de -Mike

If you are partial to Grundig radios, as I am, I would highly recommend getting a Grundig Satellit 2000 portable. It has AM, FM, and complete coverage of the short wave bands from 1.6 to 30.0 MHz. An 8 band turret (drum) tuner covers the frequencies from 5 to 30 30 MHz with a separate independent tuning scale and choice of normal or wideband tuning.

Years ago I owned both a Drake R8 and a Lowe 225 Europa receiver using a roof mounted antenna for worldwide shortwave listening. After I acquired and restored the Grundig Satellit 2000 (it had a failed out audio output transistor), I was very impressed by its performance (sensitivity, selectivity, and sound). I decided to do an A/B reception evaluation betwen the Grundig and each of the other two receivers. I was amazed that even on hard to reach stations that the Grundig was equal to both of the other two. After that, I sold both of the other receivers and kept the Grundig for all my shortwave listening.

More info on vintage Grundig shortwave portables here:

http://www.classic-worldband.com

You might also want to consider joining the Grundig Satellit Info Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/grundig_satellit/

Panasonic RF-2200. Great with the built-in whip, excellent when connected to an outdoor wire, for both AM/MW and SW. FM is no slouch, either.
Superb tone quality is the icing on the cake.
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3791/rf2200elv2.jpg
Tom

Another couple of choices if you're not afraid of "old" would be Sony's CRF-150, 160, 230 or 330 models, or Panasonic's RF-3000, 5000, & 9000 models. They were the respective "flagships" of 2 very big & proud Japanese electronics firms, had all the bells & whistles Sony & Matsushita could cram in 'em, & had very good performance. Only problem is that w/these sets, you tend to start to butt up against the collector "nuts" who want one of these things for what they are, rather than for what they'll do, & run up the prices on 'em.

Kenwood R1000. You can find them used and it is a nice rig. Its a desktop, not small.

Here's a 5000:
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/6670/5000xu2.jpg

And a drool-worthy 9000. A Panasonic dealer told me that in 1982 they only made a few thousand of them because they cost so much (±$3000). I believe it.
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/9256/rf9000lkq4.jpg

I would ALMOST swap one of my R-390s for a 9000....Yeah, I'd guess I'd do it, but I'd cry...

Man, that 9000 looks amazing.

My fat ol' fingers would have a heck of a time running that 9000...but I'd sure give it a try!!

The buttons aren't that small. The radio is actually 5' X 8'.

Passport to World Band Radio
 

You're going to need a guide to what is on shortwave anyway and Passport to World Band Radio is one of the better guides in book form. As a plus it has extensive reviews of most of the currently available shortwave radios. It's usually available at Amazon for under twenty bucks.

One does NOT need to have an R-390 to achieve SWL bliss, there are many, many excellent radios out there. Tube models I have personal experience with-Hallicrafters S-39- Better collectable than radio. SX-25- Very good set. SX-28- Gold standard WW2 era set. Still pretty decent, but more of a collectable nowadays. SX-73- 1951 TOTL Halli set. Excellent performer, rare, butt-ugly. SX-62- Get this one & you've got it all- Performance, looks, even has the modern FM band. Hammarlund- SP-600- Their TOTL. R-390 class, or close to it. Get a later version that doesn't have the infamous BBOD(Black Beauty of Death) caps in it, though. HQ-129A- Fabled MW performer, a bit long in the tooth now. National SW-54- Good boy's 1st radio. AA5 set w/SW bands. Modest performer. NC-98- What the boy got for Christmas a year or 2 later. Better performer. NC-125- The Buick of the National line. NC-183D- Not quite their TOTL but close. You won't go wrong w/this radio, however. HRO 50T1- Their TOTL set. Archaic 1935 design, you have to change coil sets in them to change bands. Getting the 2 coilsets that cover the MW band is a PITA, too. But HROs are good performers. Scott- RBO-2- Shipboard morale receiver, good MW coverage, limited SW coverage. SLRM-similar late WW2 morale radio. 800-B-Good performer, excellent sound, some models have modern FM band, turntable & TV. There you have a thumbnail sketch on a few of the more popular/readily available "boatanchors". A lot of them will require a speaker, virtually all will require some maintenance, but there's something about playing w/a big, old, multitube, multiband radio that is hard to beat...

I have an Icom IC725 (won it at a hamfest in 1991) with a very hot receiver. Used it with about three different antennas, worked 49 states and a handful of foreign countries, now using it with a Barker and Williamson AP-10A apartment portable antenna.

Getting back to the receiver section of the 725, as I said, it is very sensitive and, with the optional 500-Hz CW filter (which I installed on mine years ago because I operated CW quite a bit until I moved here--the rig's 100-watt signal trips one of the GFCIs in my apartment, but works very well on the local radio club's ten-meter net and doesn't bother the GFCIs on SSB) is quite selective as well. Icom did not cut corners with this radio. The only receiver I've used in 36 years as a ham that could match or even rival the one in my '725 was the Halli SX-101A Mark III I had in my Novice/Technician station, in the early 1970s until 1985. The SX101 had a switchable crystal filter and a notch filter; the crystal filter could narrow the selectivity all the way down to 500 Hz--excellent for CW.

I also had a Halli SX62a for a few years. Like the SX101, it was very sensitive and selective on all eight bands, including FM. I used only an old car-stereo speaker with it, but it still sounded wonderful on FM, even in the basement of my former home, using just a length of wire on the antenna terminal. I often find myself wondering how good that receiver would have sounded on FM had I connected it to a really good speaker. I think it would have sounded at least as good as a good mono phonograph of the period (1950s-'60s), as the SX62 had, IIRC, a well-built audio stage with two 6V6 tubes in push-pull parallel. Like the old Zenith radios, they don't make them like that anymore, although, as you mentioned, the recent-vintage Icom rigs don't do badly. I intend to hang on to mine as long as it works as well as it does.

73,

Longwire radio, New, all-mode: Icom R75. Biggest bang for the buck desktop base rig. I call mine "The Postman" 'cuz it always delivers. The $ point of rapidly diminishing returns for new at ca $600.
Longwire radio, Used: Icom R75, Drake R-8. Ca $450 with patient shopping, the best bench radios for the money at the $ point of rapidly diminishing returns.

Portable, new: (no SSB reception) Redsun/Kaito RP2100/ or CCRadio-SW with upgraded AM BCB. Highly rated for the bux at ca $120-$150.
Sony ICF-7600GR w/synch AM and SSB reception. The benchmark-best current small all-wave portable, ca $150.
Kaito/DEGEN 1103, budget priced over-acheiver w/SSB reception. Good small port with most for least $, ca $80.
Portable, used: Sony ICF-2010, Sony ICF 7600G, both with AM synch and SSB reception. Benchmark-best in respective classes. Sangean ATS-803(A)/R-S DX-440 and variants, honorable mention for execptional value at sub-$100 used.

Portable vintage: Zenith Trans-Oceanic 3000 BCB-SWBC AM/FM. Analogue tuning.
They really don't make anything like this anymore, handwired with all-American made parts and plug-in transistors. Once the best portable DX radio, period. Still relatively plentiful and affordable if one accepts a working example that isn't otherwise perfect. I like mine a lot and use it on AC to avoid having to load in 9 'D' cells. If you want classic vintage without maintainance issues this is it.

"Stickshift" (analogue knob-and-dial) tuned older sets like the older portables and tube sets have their own charm but are more like fishing blind than going direct to frequency with a precise numbered read-out. Tube radios have their very special maintainance requirements, a heavy tube set needs to have competent local technical service available. Fortunately I can service my own R390A (70lbs) and Hammarlund Super Pro 210X /Sig Corps BC-1004-C (120+lbs). Lightweight tube sets generally don't deliver the goods well enuff to satisfy in the long term. I wouldn't recommend toobz for noobz without a local mentor regardless, too many pitfalls to mention.
S.B.

Pio1980, excellent post!

Nothing like DX-ing, signal coming in from over (whichever) ocean, rolling strong then weaker then strong over the waves, waves of heat and that unique aroma wafting up from the tubes, cup of coffee, armchair Marconi!

Reece

That's almost like haiku.:D Just a tad bit longer.

That Panasonic looks just like a Grundig I used to own:headscrat.

_Mike

I like the 725 but and prefer the receiver on the Ic-735 for it's sensitivity and age. I have a 746 Pro and a 756 Pro and the DSP does amazing things for a receiver now a days. I am thinking of stepping up but don't want to pay 11,000.00 for the IC-7800!

73 de Mike

Yup. The Panasonic came out around 1978 or so, the Grundig much later... mid-80's or early 90's, IIRC.

How about Sangean?

I have had a number of SW radios over the years, Sony, Grundig among them - wish I kept the others, but a few years ago, my wife picked up a Sangean ATS-909 for me for Christmas, and that radio works quite well, for the casual listener.

I hook up the long wire antenna, plug in the headphones and enjoy.

i second the R1000 . its a great receiver , hook it up to a long wire/ dipole and your good to go .

N9QPE..Ken

Sangean ATS803(A)/R-S DX-440 and variants added to my used portable listing, forgot them as an honorable mention exceptional value.
S.B.

I've had a Sangean ATS-803A (99% same as a RadioShack DX-440) since late '88-89. Pretty nice radio with direct freq entry, ssb reception possible with the BFO, wide-narrow bandwidth, and separate bass and treble controls. Pretty powerful audio for a portable. Should be able to find a good one these days at a reasonable price.

I owned one of those Sangean 808's as well.

I forgot the model number. That was an excellent radio.

The YB400PE was my first SW radio...I liked it :)

Then I got my amateur radio license and a Yaesu FT840...and got addicted to it :banana:

I have a Grundig Satellit 800, which is supposed to be one of the best available (I won it in a contest a few years ago, have barely used it; definitely not an SW expert). All digital tuning. Looks like it may be worth a bit, may have to put it up for sale :)

After looking at the various options, I decided to go with one of these.

Thanks to everyone for all their advice and comments.

We'll be waiting for your review after you get it!

Good choice - I've had one for 18months or so and it's very good. Reviewers complain about the 'funny' volume control but it takes about five minutes to get used to it as a "multi-use" knob. Very sensitive, even on the whip antenna, with good filters to keep out the adjacent channel splatter on broadcast band. One word of warning - this hasn't happened to me but - some users have zapped the pre-amplifier with static charges by touching the whip antenna before the metal speaker grill. Spares are available but you'll need a very small soldering iron and magnifyting glasses! I regularly receive the NY aeronautical weather on 6604kHz from New Zealand!

Good choice! You'll find out if it's for you and how much with something that is capable of decent performance on-the-cheap.

A worthwhile acessory; http://www.passband.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Passport-World.../dp/0914941666

Best Rgds & a Great Holiday season to you, yours, and all!
S.B.

Drooling over a Panasonic 9000? I'd rather drool over a Braun T1000CD!

Saw one of those at an indoor flea mkt nearby some 15 yrs ago and knew what it was having lived in Germany for several years. Still regret not getting it but money was tight then. Only one I've seen "in the wild".
S.B.