Dear Dave,

You and your wife may wish to purchase "used" (the ultimate recycling)
but I STRONGLY discourage purchasing for a portable AM/FM/shortwave
radio that will be used on a daily basis. Most of these radios are not
designed to last for a long period unless treated with a great deal of
care. Those owners who DO treat their radios carefully are generally
not apt to sell them.

You say that price is not a huge issue. If that is the case, then why
not buy new? You can buy a Kaito KA-2100 NEW from Universal Radio for
only $89.95 plus shipping. And from Amazon you could buy the Sony ICF-
SW7600GR, in my opinion the best currently available compact AM/FM/SW
portable, for $157.24 with free shipping, or, for even less from
Amazon, you could buy the Sony ICF-SW35, a radio which will fulfill
your desired usage, for only $80.06 again with free shipping. There
are other radios priced in that range as well. All would suffice for
AM and FM; it's only in their shortwave performance that they differ
greatly.

As you can, you are not talking about a great deal of money to buy
"new."

When you are considering items that are priced so low, buying "used"
is, again in my opinion, somewhat foolish. When you buy "new," you
have a manufacturer AND a dealer who are interested in you and will
stand behind you with a warranty.

I hope this is of some use to you and that you will consider this
carefully.

Best of luck,

Joe

On Dec 5, 4:13 pm, Dave wrote:
Hi all,

My wife and I are big public radio fans and we're looking to purchase
a portable world radio. While price isn't a huge issue for us, we
generally prefer to purchase used when possible. Having searched the
online classifieds in my area the contenders, in order of asking price
(highest to lowest), a

1) Radio Shack DX-398 / Sangean ATS-909
2) Radio Shack DX-440 / Sangean ATS-803A
3) Grundig YB 400 PE

At a minimum, the radio will be used as an alarm for 1.5hrs each
morning while I get ready for work (local FM station) and general
listening during the day/evening. The radio will be run with an AC
adapter and will replace both an inexpensive clock-radio that has poor
FM reception and a dead travel radio. Having spent a little time as a
youth listening to SW broadcasts, it would be interesting to try it
again now that I'm a little older.

Thanks,
Dave