Perhaps you got a bad one that slipped past quality control
inspection. My KA11 gets quite a bit on AM, as well as FM and SW for
the size of radio that it is.
The telescopic antenna and extra wire is only for FM and SW. There
is an internal ferrite bar antenna that is for AM as in most radios of
this type. You must turn the radio around to get the best reception as
the ferrite bar is directional.

Among my collection of radios, the KA11 is one of my favorites in
the "tiny" category. Along with the Eton E100. My KA11 pwerforms very
well for its size and I'm very happy with it.

As for sound.. the smaller the speaker the worse the sound. This is
the same for all radios. And remember that the KA11 is about the size
of a deck of cards. Take any tiny little radio with a tiny speaker and
compare the sound with a radio that is much bigger and has a lot
bigger speaker. The smaller the speaker... the worse the sound. 99
times out of a 100.

If your money is limited... you might want to look at the Kaito
KA1101 which has great reviews on the internet and in Passport to
World Band Radio. Passport to World Band Radio is a book you shoulde
get hold of. They test all the radios out there and report on them.

Another one, with SSB is the Kaito KA1102. A great little radio.
Both the 1101 andf 1102 are bigger then the KA11, and being bigger
with more controls they sound better and pull in more stations.

Degen has these same radios with the DE prefix instead of KA.

I don't have the Kaito KA1103... but I have the Eton E5 which was
the replacement for the 1103. Katio sold the design, but it is still
produced in the same Chinese factory as the rest. Grundig also has
this radio.. selling it as the G5

The internals of the E5 and side panels and back panel is the same
as the 1103 and come out of the same molds. The difference is that the
E5 gets rid of the fake analog dial, making room for a common sense
control layout. It is much more friendly ergonomically.

All these radios are radios I own, along with others like the Sony
ICF7600D, the Eton E100 and a Panasonic RF2200.
They all perform very well for me, including the Kaito KA11. Just
don't expect a tiny little single conversion radio to perform and
sound like a larger more expensive radio that has a larger speaker,
dual conversion, multiple bandwidths etc. They won't.
Best of luck.