In article , says...
Hi,

I'm looking for a miniature shortwave receiver for use in central
europe. My criteria is:

Must be small and light
External antenna for improved reception
Digital tuning
Battery and AC power
Speaker

Does anyone have any ideas? All I want to do is listen to the BBC from
a hotel room on a set small enough to carry around in a rucksack
without being too heavy.

From what I've heard of reception in Europe, an external antenna may
well be a detriment to good reception of the BBC on a portable.

I won't suggest it as competition to the Sony recommended by others, but
the Tecsun R-919 fits most of your criteria. It's small and light, yet
still pretty sturdy. It comes with a 5-meter "antenna" with a clip on
one end that will attach to the whip antenna. It's analog tuning with a
digital display. Runs for a very long time on 2 AA batteries. (No AC
power.) It has a small speaker that puts out a surprisingly big sound.
Tuning it on SW can be a bit trying due to the ratio on the tuning dial,
but it's usually not difficult to get centered on the big broadcasters.
Oh, yeah, what's probably its best feature is the $30 price tag. It's
far from a great radio, but for $30 it's not bad at all. And if it gets
lost or stolen, you're not going to cry about it like you would with a
$400 Sony.

-- Jay

Thanks for the help everyone. It looks like the Sony SW100 is the one
for me, now that they've solved the old ribbon cable problem. I find I
can get one in the UK from Amazon for 200 euros (equiv) but I'm in
Vienna at the moment and here they are 360 euros!! I'm going to be in
Budapest next week so I'll see if I can pick one up there at a good
price, otherwise I'll order one from Amazon. Does anyone know a good
shop in Budapest?

Jay Heyl wrote:

From what I've heard of reception in Europe, an external antenna may
well be a detriment to good reception of the BBC on a portable.

Why do you say that, Jay? I'm no radio engineer, so any information on
tuning is greatly appreciated!

While I can certainly see the merits of the Tecsun R-919, and I'd
probably buy one anyway at that price, it does't appear to be available
in Europe.

Thanks again, especially Paul Dwerryhouse for the review link.

Paul.

Bacchus wrote in message ...
Jay Heyl wrote:

From what I've heard of reception in Europe, an external antenna may
well be a detriment to good reception of the BBC on a portable.

Why do you say that, Jay? I'm no radio engineer, so any information on
tuning is greatly appreciated!

I've never been to Europe so this is just from what I've read, but the
close proximity of many of the broadcasters combined with the high
power transmisions is said to make overload a serious issue. Adding
more antenna is only going to make the overload situation even worse.
Of course, it all depends on what you're trying to listen to. If
you're in Vienna trying to hear Brazil or Japan, that extra antenna is
likely to be necessary. If you're trying to hear DW or BBC, signal
attenuation is likely to be a larger concern.

While I can certainly see the merits of the Tecsun R-919, and I'd
probably buy one anyway at that price, it does't appear to be available
in Europe.

I believe they're only available in Asia right now. I didn't realize
you were already in Europe. Buying from ebay and having it shipped
from Hong Kong is likely to be a problem when you're travelling.

-- Jay

Thanks for the help everyone. It looks like the Sony SW100 is the one
for me,

Huh? You're going to spend that much for what you said you'd be using it for?

DX-399: Problem solved......a lot of money saved.