Corbin, I'm glad you're happy with your radio, and you should know that your
very fine evaluation of that radio played a major part in my decision to buy
one. I prefer not having to deal with a converter when plugging-in (or
travelling with) a portable radio, so the American-market Kaito fits my
needs better.

However, I have to tell you that I'm not a fan of PayPal, and that I prefer
to buy radio electronics from reputable dealers -- not Ebay "stores."

Chinese electronics are always a crapshoot, and though I've heard good
things about Lipyn -- he's still no RadioLabs. If I somehow get a "lemon,"
the only emotion I'll feel will be disappointment as I returned it for
another. However, if I'd ordered from China and got a "lemon," the
disappointment would be tempered with quite a bit of anxiety.

-- Stinger

"Corbin Ray" wrote in message
...
I got my Degen 1102 directly from China from Liypn through eBay. Even
though
the brand says Degen (which is the company that actually makes both the
Degen and Kaito versions), it is fully American-friendly. The owners
manual
has an English section and a Chinese section. It has rechargeable
batteries
(Degen brand 1300mAh Ni-MH) and are chargeable inside the radio with a
220-110 adapter supplied at no cost by the seller. The MW band comes
preset
as 522-1620 with 9kHz spacing, but when you set the radio to 10kHz
spacing,
the MW band atomically expands to 520-1710. And the pretty blue light is
right here on my Degen, just like it is on the Kaito version.

There has been lots of misinformation being put out by Kaito dealers
versus
Degen dealers. But from what I can tell, my Degen is exactly the same as a
Kaito. And if there's a difference, then I haven't found anything
obviously
missing from mine, so it must not be a very important difference.