am/fm portable w/ very good am receptiion is what i'm looking for. (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

ok what i want is a portable radio with am tuning that is very strong.
i like to go to the jersey shore and enjoy trying to tune in stations from as far away as possible.
it should be less then $100. and can also have fm. but not as imprtant.
i found this so called super radio on amazon.

High-performance station selectivity and sensitivity

this sounds good. does anyone have this radio or one like it.

 

[Steve Russell]

I have heard and heard about the CCRadio from the C Crane co. A buddy of mine bought one, it does ALL radio bands(am, short wave, etc...) It has really good am reception, and am sound. I'm not sure on a web address but if you go to www.artbell.com there are links to the c crane co.

 

[GordonL]

The GE SuperRadio III is also very good and it's under $100 ($40 at Amazon).
http://www.ccrane.com/ge_super_3.asp

 

[Peter Kline]

For the best FM reception of any portable try the new PAL radio from Tivoliaudio.com. Pricey but worth a try (they have a 30 day money back guarantee). Also has incredible sound and up to 20 hours on one charge of the NiMH battery:
http://tivoliaudio.com/palinfo.htm

 

[TonyD]

this quote from the cccrane .com on the ge superradio...

Construction is medium at best. Dial is not accurate nor easy to tune until you become accustomed to it. It also has no light, clock, or timer.

is bad.
the most important thing on a radio of that type is it's abiility to be tuned properly and easily.

peter that kloss pal radio looks nice but i'm more into an extra good am radio.
thanks.

the am radio that art bell has as an advertiser is close to $200 with shipping so i'll pass on that.

i'm looking for less the $100.

 

[GordonL]

They also say

The best AM radio for the money.

I'd recommend doing a Google search for the GE SuperRadio. There is a fair amount of information about it, which most people regard as "the best AM/FM portable radio available". Given its superb ability to pull in AM stations, most people are willing to overlook the minor issues with it. Read the GE Super Radio FAQ about the tuning issue. I have one, and the tuning issue is not as big a deal as you'd think.

 

[TonyD]

great post gorgon thanks.

i always forget about google

i'll checkt that link and see what it says.

thanks.

 

[DaveBB]

Would these also be good for use inside office buildings? I have yet to find an AM radio that I can use at my desk.

 

[Joseph S]

I've had a GE SuperRadio v.? for about 4 years now and it's great. The price was about $50 at Sears.

I can pick up WBZ 1030 Boston from about 8-9PM to 4:30AM some 900-1000+ miles away. The only problem you may run into that the ccradio would be of better use is that some of the clear channels are too close to each other on the dial. For example, 1010, 1020, and 1030. The signal will sometimes drift to the point that you get one or the other but not both. 1030 seems to win out more times than not for me. The ccradio is digital and can do finer tuning. I've never used one myself, though I have recently considered trying it out.

 

[TonyD]

anyone have the 12-808 from radio shack?

 

[TonyD]

well for anyone who cares i bought this 12-903 radio and it appears to be an exact copy of the superadio III.
but it is $20 more then the SR 3 sold on amazon.com.
it has a very nice am radio so i'll be returning the radio chack radio and ordering the SR3 from amazon.

 

[MarkO]

I just ordered the last Superadio III from Amazon. Ya snooze ya loose.

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

Consider getting a shortwave radio. Those will do AM, FM, as well as a ton of shortwave bands. The shortwave radio generally carries much farther than AM or FM, so you can tune stations from europe on good nights.

Andrej

 

[TonyD]

i've had my super III since that post above and it still works great and isn't as "flimsy" as the radio shack version.

 

[Karl_Luph]

Why not just buy a used c. crane radio off of e-bay? I'm sure you could find one under a hundred dollars. They are supposed to be fantastic for am.

 

[Joseph S]

Why not just buy a used c. crane radio off of e-bay? I'm sure you could find one under a hundred dollars. They are supposed to be fantastic for am.

The Super Radio is half that and does a very good job. I'm looking to perhaps picking up one of the new antennas from CCrane though and the recently announced Griffin AM/FM USB radio for recording overnight broadcasts while I sleep on my Mac.

 

[Jay Heyl]

The GE Super Radio has very slightly better long distance reception than the CCRadio Plus due primarily to its larger antenna. The larger speaker provides better sound (regardless of what CCrane says) and the analog operation allows the batteries to last a VERY long time. For casual listening, particularly in slightly noisy environments, the Super Radio is the better solution.

OTOH, the digital tuning on the CCRadio is very convenient if you like to station hop. It has five presets while the Super Radio has none. The CCRadio also has a more solid feel, though the "handle" indent in the back doesn't provide a very good handhold. If you plan to carry it a lot I'd recommend the (unfortunately expensive) carry case.

Oh, and if you're still pissed off at the French like I am, you should know the Super Radio is actually made by Thomson of France. GE sold their electronics lines to Thomson quite a few years ago.

For extreme portability I'd recommend the Sangean DT-200V. It doesn't look like much, but the electronics are top notch and it has great reception for such a small radio.

As for use in an office environment, any AM reception is going to be seriously hindered by the computer gear in most offices. The monitors are the worst culprits, often making reception impossible. To get decent AM reception in my office I have to connect the Crane/Justice AM Antenna to one of the radios (the Sangean DT-200V works fine for this) and then run the output through a digital signal processing program so I can eliminate the interfering frequencies. The result is quite good, but you have to be pretty dedicated to AM radio listening to go through this. (It helps if you readily admit to being a technology geek -- your co-workers are less likely to give you a hard time.)

One of my favorite radios is a Radio Shack version of the Sangean ATS-909. Radio Shack discontinued their model a year or so ago and blew them out at something like $130. It was a great deal at that price. The thing that surprised me most is that even with a smaller AM antenna it is every bit as capable as the Super Radio or the CCRadio Plus. And it has reasonable shortwave reception to boot. At the about $250 they normally go for I have to question the value, but if you can find one at anything close to the Radio Shack blow-out price I'd say go for it.

 

[James Edward]

I see this is an old thread and Tony has bought the GE Superadio III, and I'll also add that for the money
(under $50) it is great. So 99.5 tunes in at 101 on the dial... I can live with that.

 

[TonyD]

well the radio lasted only lasted exactly 2 years.
as it fell off a table and now is completely shot.

didnt fall very far but something broke inside and now doesnt work at all.

 

[Chris]

Outside of satellite radio, I listen almost exclusively to AM. Talk I want, stations I want, games I want, etc.
Car radios that handle AM well are a dying breed. I used to be able to pick up Atlanta, GA AM stations here in Kansas.. I can't find a radio that good anymore ;(
I loved listening to the braves (radio) rather then TV.
Anyway, that having been said, I still enjoy listening to AM out of Houston, TX (to catch Phil Hendrie now and again)