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April 16th 04, 07:44 PM

(GO BEARCATS) wrote in
:

What I'm talking about is everyone (it seems) jumping on all these
little plastic toys of radios? If you add up the money of the three
of four or more (in some posters in here) that purchase these, you
can go out and get you a real nice piece.

I hate to say "a real radio." But it kinda-sorta amounts to that. Or
is it that it's easier to justify spending 20/30/50 on a radio than
spending over $185/200/300?

I'm just curious is all. I have a Bell+Howell that was traded/given
practically to me. I use it here and there when I'm out in someones
driveway waiting on them or I take it to the Shoemaker Center at UC.
But you can't do 'real' listening to it, not 'real' listening.

I suppose the answer is in what constitutes "real" for a given situation.

I don't expect to do real dxing on a small portable, but that's not why
I'd buy one. For dxing I have two tabletops at home and I often use them
in tandem in case one hears what the other doesn't.

For travel or for situations where I'm away from the home set-up, a
smaller portable is fine, and for me a compact radio and the cost of same
are more important than its ability to pull in rare catches. When
travelling I need something packably small that will let me pick up my
regular stations, check up on international news, and provide a more
appealing counterpoint to local television. Even the Sony 7600GR and
Grundig 400PE were too big for me.

The Kaito 1102 costs a little more than the "toy" radios, I guess, but
it's just perfect for what I need. Last week I was in Indiana and was
able to tune in Sweden, Tunisia, Nigeria, Vietnam, Kuwait, Turkey and all
the regular powerhouses. Being a hybrid listener anyway (combo DX/SWL) it
was enough to keep me feeling connected while I was on the road, and for
me it was "real" listening, albeit a different sort of real.

I do a different type of real listening when I use my Tecsun BCL-2000 as
my "garden" radio---sitting out among the roses listening to Brazil or
New Zealand is a real treat on that thing, and it costs about what I paid
for the Kaito. And it's distinct from the pleasure I get when really
listening to the Beeb or Korea or Spain just after coming home from work
in the evening; I use an old tabletop tube unit (a Blaupunkt 'Paris'
model c. 1958). This radio has really expanded my horizons, so to speak;
the fidelity is terrific, it locks into a signal like nobody's business,
and it *still* cost me less than a Sony 7600GR.

Little plastic toy radios have their place too, I guess. I gave a Grundig
MiniWorld 100 to my nine year old son; I'm hoping he gets the SW bug at
some point...maybe he can graduate to some of my other radios in time.
:-)

----

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