IT Blog Today

I received three of these radios from J&R Music today for $30, including shipping (just ordered two more). The radios were very well protected and were received undamaged through UPS. I own some larger and more expensive digital PLL-tuned radios, but this radio is truly unbelievable - too bad, I wasted time and money on the other radios. This is an analog-tuned radio, which evidentually, has a tuned loop input and may contain the same receiver chip and ferrite-bar, as the much more expensive Sony PLL radios. There is an excellent review of this radio on RadioIntel and look under the "reviews" tab; this radio has almost the same AM DXing capabilities, as a $700 receiver ! The radio is simply handsome and about the size of a 3x5 card and 1 1/4" inches deep, so it definately has some bulk (this is not the typical 1960's-style transistor radio, that I grew up with). This radio has the feel of a quality piece of electronics for only $10 ! The fit-and-finish is very good, the tuner is very tight, the battery compartment cover and antenna fit tightly, handling the radio does not affect reception, and the 2 1/4" speaker much better, than one would expect. I compared its AM nighttime reception to my more expensive digital PLL radios and it could pick up exactly the same stations (West to WHO 1040 Des Moines, South to 870 WWL New Orleans, and North to Canada, all from Maryland), but without the typical static of cheap boom-boxes, or the typical PLL synthesizer noise. This radio also has an LED tuning indicator, so you will know when the station is right on; also, I have not noticed the typical drifting one gets with analog-tuned radios. I hope Sony doesn't make the mistake of discontinuing this excellent radio.

Reminds me of the transistor radio I brought into school while in fifth grade (1969- the Miracle Mets!), except much better reception. I bought it to have a small radio in my computer room, and it fits the bill. Sure, I'd like digital tuning, but for $[...] buy it, I promise you will not be sorry.

BUY THREE!

I've never written an online review before but his radio is great and is worth the trouble.
I'm a Ham Operator and I restore tube radios for a hobby so I've spent a few hours listening to DX, I know crap, I know hype, and I know a miracle when I trip over one. I started looking around for a pocket radio to keep in my truck because sometimes I would be caught working away from the shop for hours without any news or music. If you're a radio nut you can guess what happened next. A month later, probably twenty hours online and more than a hundred bucks worth of pocket radios and I wasn't happy. I'd had fun and now had some radios handy around the house for "adequate" use (radios & led flashlights, can't have enough!). Even though I had run across this radio online and in reviews I didn't put it on my list of probables, It was just a $10.00 radio and I was limiting myself to vintage radios with discrete transistor designs or new IC designs over $30 or $40 dollars. After all I wanted a "good radio". I was pretty much interested in an analog radio because in this price range digital sets are usually noisey, battery hogs, and plauged by "birdies". Finally, I ordered one of these because "what the heck" ten bucks, if it sucks I'll give it away. When it showed up I plopped in a set of AA's tuned the dial and heard lots of stations, good sign. Any radio that has analog tuning with a dial thats two inches across is a challenge, but thats ok. Low and behold theres KGNC from over 120 miles away and it's 1500hrs(3pm). What the hay! Listen up buyers, This radio is TEN BUCKS and it can hear stations others can't. No one has learned how to put sensitivity, selectivity, and audio into one box this size but this radio is a miracle! Don't get me wrong this is not a Sony 2010 or a GE SRIII, but it's small enough and cheap enough to have one in every room of the house and in each car. And the speaker is good enough that you don't have to use phones. It has a telescoping antenna for FM. Some radios that cost 6X as much don't have a tele. ant., they use the headphone cables. That means even if your using the speaker you have to have the headphones plugged in or the FM stinks. Since this is still a new toy it hasn't yet made it to the glove box in the truck, I'm still playing with it. I live in the Panhadle of Texas and last night I listened to a talk show in Nebraska before bed; woke up and touched the dial and there was a great morning show in San Antonio. If this radio was $70.00 I'd give it 3 or 3.5 stars, for TEN to FOURTEEN dollars it is a true bargain! Some others may review this radio and subtract points because of selectivity or something, remember this radio cost less than a good burger and fries! I've spent thousands of dollars on radios; Collins,Icom,Yaesu,Sony, and others. I have better radios than this one but I've never had anything for >$15.00 that was this good.

Buy two or three, I did.
Jeff