View Full Version : What kind of radio do you use?
I'm in the market for a small radio to bring along. What type of radio do you have and where did you get it? I'm not interested in your MP3 player and your amy winehouse tunes. I want a radio.
Lone Wolf
03-26-2008, 15:27
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103050&cp=2032054.2032115&parentPage=family
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103050&cp=2032054.2032115&parentPage=family
That looks good. Do you know of a good, small one that can sit on a table?
Tipi Walter
03-26-2008, 15:30
I found a little radio I like, it uses 2 AAA batteries, stores 10 FM and 10 AM stations in memory and gets good reception. Here's the fotog(Coby brand):
Ramble~On
03-26-2008, 15:43
http://www.shoppingwarehouse.net/prod-44356.html?src=froogle&src1=sw&src2=gbase&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=Product%2BSearch%2BEngine
Whitey9457
03-26-2008, 16:49
I have bought a little radio like Tipi Walter's looks like for like $5 from FYE
Whitey9457
03-26-2008, 16:50
But just to throw it out there....not all of us who use mp3 players listen to people like Amy Winehouse lol...I use mine because radios don't play music i like and i DON'T want people like Winehouse coming on while i'm listening.
hopefulhiker
03-26-2008, 21:42
I carried a litte Sony Weather/AM/FM digital Radio with ear phones when I first started out.. It was helpful when a major storm front moved in and a bunch of us rode it out in a shelter.. Trees fell that night...
7 dollar headset radio from Walmart.
sloopjonboswell
03-26-2008, 23:09
the sony walkman digital radio beats with the goodness. it only takes one AAA. its tough, you get tv, and i remember thinking that amy winehouse song was a killer downhill hiking jam. by the way, i hope you like top forty and country music.
My Sangean SR-2Y weighs less than 2 oz and is still going strong even after taking considerable abuse on my thru. Good for FM and AM.
Sangean are great radios, I have 3 of them and have been very happy with them. Good Shortwave radios for a portable.
For backpacking I use a Grundig G4 Executive Traveler. It’s an AM, FM, and Shortwave radio about the size of a pack of cigarettes, has a digital readout, has a built in speaker (something missing on a lot of radios these days.). Runs a long time on 2 AAs It’s a little pricy for most ($60.00) but it works well. And I can listen to news from all over the world with it.
I picked up a Midland weather radio from REI that weighs 2.7 oz *with* batteries.
I plan to sing along with NOAA.
sofaking
04-06-2008, 18:52
i don't use a radio. i sing. loudly and off key, often late into the night. see you at the next shelter...
modiyooch
04-06-2008, 18:55
^^^^ and use the string test for the weather.
The FM radio that comes with a Creative Zen Nano+. It also holds 500 songs. That's 50 LP Albums! (about half way adding them as I type)
mark schofield
07-04-2008, 16:08
I just bought an RCA Pearl at Wally's for $29. It's an mp3 and FM receiver. I like books on tape and sci fi pod casts. And the FM works OK. Best thing for me is that it uses a triple A battery so you don't have to recharge the unit. Really small and light. I use to use a small grundig radio with am, fm, short wave. Last year I brought a Zen mp3 with fm and liked it. But worried about running out of power. Mark S.
A $30 Grundig from Radio Shack.
Odd Thomas
07-04-2008, 16:42
But just to throw it out there....not all of us who use mp3 players listen to people like Amy Winehouse lol...I use mine because radios don't play music i like and i DON'T want people like Winehouse coming on while i'm listening.
http://about.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=13510495/search=iFM/st=product/sv=title
With this you can get radio on the iPod too, plus it adds recording capability (both radio and voice) too. $10
EarlyBird2007
07-04-2008, 17:04
I'm in the market for a small radio to bring along. What type of radio do you have and where did you get it? I'm not interested in your MP3 player and your amy winehouse tunes. I want a radio.
During my AT thru last year, I used a Sony SRF-M37V. Picks up AM, FM, Weather stations and TV audio (though the TV part probably won't work after TV goes all digital next year.) It's very durable and close to waterproof. Uses a single AAA battery. You can get it for about $30 at Wal-Mart or Amazon.com. I'm a serious NPR addict and it worked very well the whole way. By the way, if you are a serious radio junkie like me, I wouldn't rely on the radios that you get as part of some MP-3 players. In my experience they don't have very good reception.
NICKTHEGREEK
07-04-2008, 17:27
During my AT thru last year, I used a Sony SRF-M37V. Picks up AM, FM, Weather stations and TV audio (though the TV part probably won't work after TV goes all digital next year.) It's very durable and close to waterproof. Uses a single AAA battery. You can get it for about $30 at Wal-Mart or Amazon.com. I'm a serious NPR addict and it worked very well the whole way. By the way, if you are a serious radio junkie like me, I wouldn't rely on the radios that you get as part of some MP-3 players. In my experience they don't have very good reception.
Yup, analog (FM) TV audio in goes away too.
I think that you should read the buyer reviews on Amazon dot com. Some of the tiny radios recommended received terrible reviews -- the most common complaint being that a radio will not "hold" a station.
Don't need a radio... I just listen to those voices in my head.
Odd Thomas
07-05-2008, 03:21
Don't need a radio... I just listen to those voices in my head.
I need a radio, because my voices keep asking about Kenneth's frequency
mister krabs
07-05-2008, 08:27
30$ grundig mini300 from radio shack mini 300 (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2486269&cp=2032052.2032073&parentPage=family)
AM/FM/SW 4.5 oz. Has a speaker that sounds surprisingly good, headphones sound great. Has a big whip antenna for good reception, and it gets shortwave pretty darn well. I love a little radio havana cuba or radio netherlands before bed.
Undershaft
07-07-2008, 10:52
30$ grundig mini300 from radio shack mini 300 (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2486269&cp=2032052.2032073&parentPage=family)
AM/FM/SW 4.5 oz. Has a speaker that sounds surprisingly good, headphones sound great. Has a big whip antenna for good reception, and it gets shortwave pretty darn well. I love a little radio havana cuba or radio netherlands before bed.
I like the idea of having a shortwave reciever on my trail radio. It would certainly add a lot more variety to listen to. I bet it's fun to just tune around the spectrum and pick up all kinds of strange broadcasts. Have you ever picked up a number station (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=570#more-570)?
Does anyone know of a good radio that recieves AM/FM/SW/WX? I found that I listened to the weather radio at least twice everyday. Having a weather report available was a very nice thing on the trail.
mister krabs
07-07-2008, 11:56
I like the idea of having a shortwave reciever on my trail radio. It would certainly add a lot more variety to listen to. I bet it's fun to just tune around the spectrum and pick up all kinds of strange broadcasts. Have you ever picked up a number station (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=570#more-570)?
Does anyone know of a good radio that recieves AM/FM/SW/WX? I found that I listened to the weather radio at least twice everyday. Having a weather report available was a very nice thing on the trail.
I hear number stations often, but mostly in spanish. I have a kaito ka009 that receives AM/FM/SW/WX but it's bigger than a paperback book as it has wind up generator and a solar panel. Other than that, there's the eton fr500, which is also huge. WX band is nice, instant and thorough but local radio can get you the weather too if you wait long enough.
JohnnyBongo
07-07-2008, 12:35
I second the recommendation for the Grundig Mini300 PE. The sound quality from the speaker is good for a mini. Shortwave reception on the trail is a nice bonus, I especially like the Radio Netherlands evening broadcast. I also especially enjoy the musical programming from WBCQ in Monticello, ME.
FWIW, I actually heard the Spanish numbers station yesterday on ~20M, while waiting for the train at Hurd Corners.
summitnh
04-04-2009, 19:02
I have a small sony walkman radio with AM/Fm/Weather/TV reception. It was nice to listen to at night in my tent, and on those dreary, rainy miserable days
vamelungeon
04-04-2009, 21:03
Cheap Grundig from Radio Shack. Shortwave, AM, FM. It would be perfect if it received NWS.
vamelungeon
04-04-2009, 21:04
Oh, the cheap Grundig is one of the wind-up models, so you don't have to worry about batteries.
Wise Old Owl
04-04-2009, 21:40
The post above looks promising. DO NOT buy anything with TV audio. ITs already obsolete.
http://www.amazon.com/Sangean-DT-120CL-FM-Pocket-Receiver/dp/B000G6RVSW/ref=sr_1_47?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238895493&sr=8-47
MedicineMan
04-04-2009, 22:18
I'm carrying a Yaesu vx-8r these days.
AM,FM,Shortwave, 4-ham bands, Air,TV,Weather, Weather alerts,Marine Band, etc.
With it I carry a j-pole ant. and a superflexible (can almost tie in a knot) 2-m ant.
The 8r is APRS capable and can text or e-mail to an APRS station, it's got built in GPS and modem.
I still like the challenge of hitting stations from the trail knowing a cell phone will often do, just don't like cell phones out there (on me)...radio science is fascinating and could take up a lifetime of learning, never know, someday cells may not work for one reason or another.
Wise Old Owl
04-04-2009, 23:13
I concur on the previous post, when hiking the AT the AM drifts back & forth on several stations with the cheapest recievers. Nothing can be more frustrating when listening to a single station The reason is a missing filter to save money. I used to install the filter into the unit, today that is not possible or practical. Some of the digital tuners avoid that mess, I have had good luck with some Sangean, and Sony portables. Try to stay out of Radio Shack unless you take a free replacement warrenty.
Funkmeister
04-05-2009, 00:21
I agree that listening to shortwave is more interesting than one might think at first thought. Radio Moscow is one of my favorites--it's fun to listen to the spin they put on western news. Years ago, they used to refer to Ronald Regan as 'The Hollywood Actor', for example.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
And it's retransmitted with a sledgehammer signal strength from Cuba, for the convenience of their American and Caribbean 'friends'. Other European signals are rebrocasted from Caribbean islands, so they are fairly easy to receive.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The Spanish numbers station referenced above is most certainly originating from Cuba as well, attributed to passing information to former Soviet bloc spies.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Medicine Man: Does the VX8R have a AA or AAA compartment available, or do they only offer various NiCad or NMH rechargables? That's a deal-breaker for me.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Not sure I completely agree with WOO on avoiding Radio Shack stuff. For years I used one of their receivers (the Sangean knock-off, made by the same vendor) for the downlink on the Russian RS12-13 satellite before it got cooked by a solar flare. I handed out lots of QSL cards from sitting in the middle of nowhere camping bouncing my 50 watt signal off of a Russian satellite. That radio lived a long and hard life, mostly because besides being my shortwave receiver, it was my bathroom FM radio, being skinny enough to fit on the windowsill--years of humid/not humid cycling did it in. It took 6 D cells, and I carried it often while backpacking. Then again, I carried a 50 watt Ten Tec transceiver with a brick-sized 6AH battery. Was before lightweight travel was fashionable.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
And if you're gonna carry a shortwave radio, you may as well carry 25 or so feet of 20 gague wire for better reception. Unless it overloads the front end, then just wind up the far end of the wire antenna.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
de N1NFG
catfishrivers
04-05-2009, 01:15
I am bringing the Eton M300PE AM/FM Shortwave Radio (2 AA batteries, 4.5 oz)
sloopjonboswell
04-05-2009, 01:50
During my AT thru last year, I used a Sony SRF-M37V. Picks up AM, FM, Weather stations and TV audio (though the TV part probably won't work after TV goes all digital next year.) It's very durable and close to waterproof. Uses a single AAA battery. You can get it for about $30 at Wal-Mart or Amazon.com. I'm a serious NPR addict and it worked very well the whole way. By the way, if you are a serious radio junkie like me, I wouldn't rely on the radios that you get as part of some MP-3 players. In my experience they don't have very good reception.
this is a great review of a sony digital walkman that is still for sale at some walmarts. it has weatherband radio (which was splotchy at best in a valley) am/fm, tv. $20-30.
sloopjonboswell
04-05-2009, 01:58
i think it is the besst.
MedicineMan
04-06-2009, 01:28
and it's waterproof too...the reason i up'ed to the 8r from my kenwood is no fear of waterdamage....the only dissapointing thing is, back to the AA compartment, is that the specs call for alkaline batteries and not rechargables...but i bet if you needed too you'd use whatever you had handy.
and, forgot to mention, the 8r has barometer build in this time and not an add on like the 7r, and also thermometer built in.
The one I usually carry is a RCA Pearl MP3 player. It has 1 Gb of memory I load up with audio books and podcasts, a FM receiver, an AAA battery, and a 2 oz weight with an extra battery and ear buds. I use to always bring a book to read, but now I put 4 books on the player. Lithium batteries last for about 50 hours. I use the FM for music and weather.
I have my Sangean DT-210v on Ebay. It's new, comes with earphones and FM antenna. 3.3oz with batteries.When you don't use the earphones the FM antenna plugs in. I picked up some good signals with it. Plus having the speaker is nice if your alone. I was going to use it on the Long Trail but got a MP3 player now.
Phoenixdadeadhead
05-21-2009, 18:57
I have a G1, which is my all in one cellphone/gps/am-fm-weather radio/mp3/books/camera..............I could go on about it, it is the first machine to run on Android, and operating system from google, and for me it blows Iphone away, but there are other machines including the Iphone that will do many jobs you would like on the trail. BTW Android Apps are mostly free lol
I use a Eton microlink FR150 it has AM/FM, weather band, and flashlight. The Eton can be powered by winding it up or being solar charged, and can also be used to charge other devises.
Wise Old Owl
05-21-2009, 21:42
I use a Eton microlink FR150 it has AM/FM, weather band, and flashlight. The Eton can be powered by winding it up or being solar charged, and can also be used to charge other devises.
I waiting for the one with MP3 included.
While we are on the subject and this is a revitalized old thread....
Has anyone tried a personal Serius Stilletto system on the trail?
mark schofield
05-22-2009, 08:26
RCA Pearl with 2 gigs memory. The replicable battery is what sold me. The FM receiver works OK. I also use to bring a book but now I load it up with pod casts and audio books.
SunnyWalker
05-23-2009, 01:43
What better to walk with then a Walkman? I bought mine at Best Buy.
I have one of those quarter the size of a pack of cigarette AM-FM radios sold by Radio Shack. Works most places on the AT, but, truth be known, I haven't carried it in a few years. Nature's music is all I need (plus a backpack guitar now and then), and I get all the news I need in town, and my weather reports from the clouds or other hikers.
I'm carrying a Yaesu vx-8r these days.
AM,FM,Shortwave, 4-ham bands, Air,TV,Weather, Weather alerts,Marine Band, etc.
With it I carry a j-pole ant. and a superflexible (can almost tie in a knot) 2-m ant.
The 8r is APRS capable and can text or e-mail to an APRS station, it's got built in GPS and modem.
I still like the challenge of hitting stations from the trail knowing a cell phone will often do, just don't like cell phones out there (on me)...radio science is fascinating and could take up a lifetime of learning, never know, someday cells may not work for one reason or another.
Just read this thread. I haven't been paying attention to HT's lately since I have a pile I don't use. Probably would get some use out of this baby though.
Does anyone do an APRS to Trailjournals link? ;) Might work better than SPOT. :D