I got one of the new Sangean U1 utility radios. First impression: BIG,
yellow, black, solid. Did I mention "BIG?"

The radio is built well. It is shock resistant (they claim it survives a
six-foot drop without injury) and water resistant up to JIS 4 standard
(whatever that means). It weighs several hundred pounds and it causes my
floor to sag when I set it down (well, maybe a little hyperbole there).
Despite its heft, the radio is really easy to carry around, thanks to a soft
rubber grip inside its hard plastic handle. The radio has a six-foot heavy
duty power cord inside the back, or it can be operated on 9-14 Volt DC, or
with 6 D-cell batteries.

The radio has very nice sound. Bass is very solid and substantial (much like
the radio itself). Comparing its sound to that of my SRIII and BCL2000 (all
on batteries), the U1 has by far the most bass, the SRIII distant second,
and the BCL2000 distant last. On treble, though, the SRIII has the most, the
BCL2000 second, and the U1 the least. When I turned up the radios, the
BCL2000 and the SRIII started distorting pretty soon, but the U1 just kept
getting louder and richer as I cranked it up. The radio truly fills up a
room without working up a sweat. I love the sound of the U1, but some people
might like more treble. Sound quality is arbitrary. This one happens to suit
me best.

AM Sensitivity: Since my home is so full of RF, I took my new radio out into
the country to test its AM sensitivity away from power lines. (I wish I had
taken some other portables for comparison, but I forgot to). Wow, I was
totally impressed! I have an excellent car radio, and the U1 picked up
nearly every AM station that my car did! To the best of my knowledge, none
of my other radios could have gotten some of the stations I was getting. One
example, the radio was easily able to separate 840 WHAS (Louisville) and 850
WUTK (Knoxville). Both stations came in clear and strong and there was even
some space between them. The U1 was very quiet. I turned it up very loud on
AM, and there was no noticeable internal noise between stations (thanks in
part to its analog tuning). One thing I did notice, though... the U1's AGC
is not strong. Weak stations were lower in volume than stronger ones. My car
radio has strong AGC, and it pulls the sound of weaker stations up to that
of the stronger ones. This isn't a criticism of the U1. It's just an
observation. The weaker stations were there, and it was very easy to turn up
the radio to hear them, especially since the U1 has so little
internally-generated noise, and so much available volume to spare.

FM Sensitivity: I came home and tried the U1 against the SRIII and BCL2000
on FM, extending the whips on each (the U1 doesn't have a whip, just a
5-inch flexible "duckie" antenna that looks like it might sit atop a police
scanner). The U1 kept up with the BCL2000, both picking up distant stations
equally well. The SRIII was much lower in FM sensitivity. The U1 slightly
beat the BCL2000 in rejecting noise on FM. The SRIII was very noisy.
Overall, the U1 seemed to be the best of the three on FM sensitivity, but
the SRIII and BCL2000 both have external FM antenna inputs and the U1 does
not. This isn't a factor for me, because I never use an external antenna,
but I offer it as an aside for anyone who does.

So I am very satisfied with my U1. I won't be taking it for long walks, nor
will it be my nightstand radio. But the U1 will now be my personal workhorse
radio that I will be using at the pool, on the patio, and while working in
my shop. And maybe I'll sneak and do a little AM dxing on the side with it
as well.