On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:18:54 +0900, H. Dziardziel
wrote:
Any suggestions for a good quality compact, preferably true
portable of say not more than ICF2010 size, unit that covers the
standard 1620 to 30MHz, or at least most if it, would be
appreciated. I'm tired of digital chugging and mediocre
sensitivity. Many thanks.

I'd thoroughly recommend any of the Roberts range. I have a Roberts
R862 (recently replaced by the R9962) which I use when in the garden;
battery life is superb on 2 AA batteries, size is 14x8x3cm (5.5x3x1")
- somewhere between a packet of cigarettes and a small paperback book.
It covers 60m-13m (4-21MHz) split into 9 bands, plus FM-VHF, AM-MW and
AM-LW.

It just screams quality. You just have to hold it in your hand, tiny
as it is, and play with the tuning knob.

Sensitivity is stunningly excellent when combined with a
crocodile-clip random wire. It's not got a lot of controls (band
selection, tuning, volume, a dual-mono headphone socket and - er,
that's it), but what it lacks in buttons it makes up for in ability to
bring in a signal.

I've had a number of cheap/small multiband pocket analogue shortwave
radios before, none of them get anywhere close to what this can pull
in and none of them are as well built. It does lack a gain control and
don't get me wrong, I have other larger SW radios I use for serious
DXing (including my ageing Sangean ATS-808a), but for the portability
I'm not complaining. It's something I can easily shove into my hand
luggage without worrying about ruggedness or battery life.

All Roberts shortwave radios:
http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/worldband.htm

Manual for R9962 (almost identical to my R862):
http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/downlo...es/r9962ib.pdf
(you really don't need a manual on something this simple, mind)

Roberts radios are usually BBC World Service or BBC Radio 4/5 branded,
and often come with a plastic case and a BBC World Service frequency
chart.

--
Andrew Oakley andrew/atsymbol/aoakley/stop/com
Gloucestershire, UK