On Jun 29, 4:09*pm, pixel_a_ted
Any suggestions for improving AM reception would be greatly
appreciated.
___________

Medium-wave AM reception can be difficult in an indoor environment due
to shielding provided by nearby wires and especially from the steel
frame of a building. Radio noise from light dimmers, touch lamps etc
nearby (yours and/or your neighbors) can limit AM reception, also.

This Kaito radio has a built-in ferrite antenna that is used for AM
broadcast reception. It is directional with best reception when the
longest dimension of the radio is perpendicular to the direction to
the station it is receiving. The telescopic whip is used for short
wave and FM broadcast reception, only.

According to the Operation Manual at http://www.ccrane.com/instruction-ma...1103-radio.pdf
, this radio needs a field strength as high as 1 mV/m on the AM
broadcast band. That is rather high, but some of the 50,000 watt AM
stations like WJR (760), WLW (700), KMOX (1120) etc can produce
nighttime fields that high or higher over wide areas of the US.

The "Local/DX" switch probably should be in the DX position when
listening to distant stations, unless you are located close to an AM
station with a very strong signal at your location (experiment).

You might take your radio outside to see if reception improves. If it
does you may need to use an external MW antenna such a "long wire" or
the C. Crane unit at http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/am-an...m-antenna.aspx
.. Unfortunately, the Crane antenna costs more than you paid for your
Kaito radio, probably.

RF