On Apr 26, 4:40 pm, wrote:
Check the Walgreens stores in your area. www.walgreens.com They have
some cheap AM FM Shortwave Radios for sale.Sometimes they have some of
those radios and a bunch of other thingys marked down half price.
cuhulin

The cheapy Walgreen's "Lifelong" analog-tuned radio is about
the same as the Bell & Howell model often seen in catalogs
(a different radio but equivalent performance -- both bad). The
problem with these junky radios is that they are so poor (worthless
dial calibration, many image problems, practically impossible tuning)
that they turn off a novice to the whole idea of SW listening.
Those of us who are experienced SWLs can play with these just
for fun and compare them with our better radios, but someone
without that background will think that all SW equipment is as
hard to use and irritating in operation.

There's a Coby digital-readout model which is also pretty bad (it was
actually reviewed and panned in Passport), but there IS one cheapy
digital-readout model that is sold as the Electro-Brand 839 (if I'm
remembering the number right) and the jWin JX-M14 that is
actually usable as a radio -- here's a RadioIntel review:

http://www.radiointel.com/review-jwinjxm14.htm

I have the ElectroBrand version and bought a batch more to give
as presents. They were available on the net for under $10 each
with free shipping when I got them.

For an actually usable and enjoyable SW radio, you can't beat
the Kaito/Degen 1103, and I got mine for about $80 in the Kaito
version with an English manual and power supply & packaging,
which is better in my opinion than trying to save a few bucks
by going with the Chinese-language Degen. If you can find a
deal on the Eton S350DL (some were being sold on Amazon
last year for $35 and I kick myself for not buying several to
give as presents!), even though it has image issues and is
analog-tuned with no digital memory features, it is a reasonable
radio for a novice. Fine sound, a decent-sized frequency readout
good for people with poorer vision, fine local MW & FM
performance. I use mine more for the latter than for SW, but
it gets WBCQ well when I use it for that.

73, Will