On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 4:14:48 PM UTC-4, amdx wrote:
On 10/21/2017 1:40 PM, John-Del wrote:
On Friday, October 20, 2017 at 8:08:16 AM UTC-4, amdx wrote:
On 10/13/2017 9:16 AM, wrote:
Just a few things in general from questions asked:

a) GE Super Radios are very good general consumer radios with excellent AM and FM capacities.
b) I am a bit of a collector of radios, with one foot pretty deep into Audio as well. So, I have a large number of comparison points from the 1920s through the 1990s. Of all of those, the best AM reception I get (without an external antenna) is on my Zenith RD7000Y TransOceanic. With an external antenna, it would be the Hallicrafters SX16. The Halli is a beast in weight, takes an external speaker, lots-O-real estate and will heat a small room in the winter. It is also my only communications receiver - chosen because I tripped over it (no kidding) at a flea-market, the seller was an old friend, and the price was right.

Tied for second place: Grundig Satellit 700 and my B600L TransOceanic..

Tied for third place: The GE, YB500 and H500 TransOceanic.

All of the above are very good radios, all but the GE designed specifically with DXing in mind, and really with very little to choose between them. The GE is a happy accident of good design and good execution resulting in a pretty hot radio.

On the audio side, I own two component tuners with AM sections. The Soundcraftsmen T100 AM section is an unhappy joke. I can get the local torches reasonably well (KYW being one). But no real distance. On the other hand, the Dynaco AF6 is not half-bad for AM. I have never tried it with other than the ferrite antenna on board, but I suspect it may have hidden depths with a very good antenna. It also helped that I aligned it for AM when I got it. Being able to do AM and SW alignments is a side benefit of the hobby, but does give me a good base for judgment.

But, if an inexpensive, reasonably well sounding stand-alone portable radio is desired - the GE Super Radio is a fine option with not a half-bad FM section as well.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA


Finally some recommendations for his question.
I agree with the GE Super Radio, it is a good radio at a reasonable price.
If you want to go up in price the Sangean ATS 803A was good and then
there is the Sony 2010. 3 of them for sale on Ebay as I write.
Mikek



As much as I hate to disagree with Peter, let me offer this example as a potential candidate for a quality AM radio (about two weeks left on auction for those reading this from the future):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-L...AOSwGNtZ2TO t


John
Wolcott, CT


Are you sure, or is the owner of a $550 handheld transistor radio
just going to to insist it is high quality?
At best the ferrite rod will only be 4" long and probably only 3-1/2".
Mikek



Did you read the whole description? That baby is sporting two (2!) transistors, which means it has twice as many transistors as a one transistor radio!!

John
Wolcott,CT