good shortwave radios?

[chuckworkb]

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.

[Sandy G]

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.

[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

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.

Here's a 5000:


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.

[grinnell]

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

[Sandy G]

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

[Fisherdude]

Man, that 9000 looks amazing.

[Ed in Tx]

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.

[chuckworkb]

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

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

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

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 bought one for $4 last weekend

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

I bought one for $4 last weekend

Well that's certainly reasonable enough!

Does the rotary tuning control work OK on it? Mine had gotten a little flakey sometimes jumping off frequency by itself, sometimes not responding quite right when tuned. I took the back off and shot a bit of DeOxit into the rotary encoder switch which is the tuning control. Fixed it right up!

[rjag46]

how about a 9 band Sanyo RP-8880 from the early 70,s

[wwcarey]

My go to SW radio is my Kenwood R-5000 W/VC-20 VHF converter. Have a Sony ICF 6800w (white label), A SX-25 W PM23 speaker, and a capart R-390A, At work. The Kenwood is by far the best. Ease of use, function, and has @ least some support, (yahoo groups) dave

[electronjohn]

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

[Fisherdude]

Originally Posted by electronjohn

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'.

[dciurej]

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.