rylhwk

looking for any info on am/fm shortwave pocket radio. would like one to put in pocket when riding bike or just out and about. never had a shortwave but think it would be fun. not really into downloading music so not looking for anything in that catagory.
also looking for under $75. thank you all and have a great weekend.

no1mad 

Amazon has quite a few am/fm personal radios. Also, some mp3 and mp4 players also have FM tuners built-in- a Sansa Clip is a good choice for that. You can use it to listen to your own music files, the radio, or use it as a voice recorder.

WonderMonkey

Larger battery and data use but I use the IHeartRadio app when I want to listen to the radio at camp, etc.

bikepro

There's plenty on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/bhp/antique-radio

TiBikeGuy

I have used a number of AM/FM/SW portable radios and so far I have found that those with manual tuning, the batteries last the longest. I had one with LCD display that is accurate when tuning, able to preset the radio stations, and sleep mode, alarm mode...but it is bulky and the battery life is pathetic.

The smallest one that I am using is National RF-B10. Don't know if it is still available as I bought it more than 20 years ago and have been with me on many of my tours. It runs on 2 AA battery and is manual tune with FM/MW/SW1-6. I don't like to use ear buds while riding as I feel it is not safe, but sometimes I will put this in the handlebar bag to provide some music on long rides. When I'm camping or at the hotel room, I can tune in to BBC or VOA to listen to news. No worries about running out of battery as it lasts for many months.

You can view the different National models here : https://www.shortwaveradio.ch/radio-e...ic-reise-e.htm

Dahon.Steve

IHeartRadio is an incredible App with hundreds of radio stations around the world! I also like the Tunein app and it's almost the same. You can hear ESPN, 60 minutes, Meet the Press etc. I love listing to talk radio, NFL, technology or even bicycling podcasts. Loads of interesting stuff there so if you have a good data plan, this is a good way to go.

I recently purchased a portable XM radio. I only purchased the limited talk stations because you can't get many of them online. Besides, there are tons of free music stations I can listen to with IHeartRadio. I didn't think I'd like Satalite radio but now I love it. It's only $10.00 dollars a month and if you have good reception, a great way to go. I have traffic and weather, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, Old Time Radio etc.

WonderMonkey

When I have my speaker going I use two external batteries to keep things charged. One is just a battery and the other has a solar panel on it. I can use the solar panel to charge its internal battery as well as the battery only device and generally that keeps me limping along on a hard day.

MEversbergII

So. What kind of speakers work well for bike mounting?

M.

fietsbob

https://www.ccrane.com/radios/pocket-radios/

https://www.ccrane.com/radios/shortwa...x#.UmJHJFpESR0


look around the site , this is looking good too,just no SW/LW.. but + recording capability
[and more capacity using, say, a 4G SD card ] for MP3

https://www.ccrane.com/radios/am-fm-r...x#.UmLIf1pESR0

Dahon.Steve

Those are good radios! I might buy one.

One of the reasons I stopped listening to radio was the fact that Sony's Walkman was disposable. After about 6 months, you had to toss it in the garbage because all the stations developed static and you could no longer listen. The Walkman had bult in obsolescence which is one of the reasons people gave up on radio and started listening to IPODS and Ipones.

Dahon.Steve

I want to add one more option.

I purchased this portable HD radio from Insignia and liked it alot. There are lot of stations in the New York City area. It does charge using USB only so you'll have to buy a battery charger that has a USB port.

Other than that, I like it alot before I purchased my XM radio. The sound on HD stations is clear with no static when you can pick them up. It surprised me how bad AM and FM stations sound compared to the HD stations. A number of stations offer both HD and FM and if the radio can't pick up HD, it will revert back to FM.

https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Straig...ignia+hd+radio

Looigi

Yeah. For awhile I used a little AM/FM radio, but I now use Tunein with my smart phone. It gets just about anything including virtually all broadcast stations worldwide, web stations, police and emergency comms, if you're into that sort of thing, ... Of course it does use cell data so you need consider that expense, and you can lose reception in areas of poor cell/data coverage.

rylhwk

thanks everyone for the info. so far i like some of the ccrane and the kaito brands, but keep the ideas coming. i do lots of research before i purchase certain items.

wahoonc

I do plenty of research too... sometimes it takes me so long the products I was looking at are NLA

My recommendation would be the Eton/Grundig G8 Traveler. I have a couple of the older Grundig radios and they are good. One belonged to my grandfather and is still working today some 45 years later. I have a G3 that I have used for several years. They also make the Mini 400 which might work for you.

Aaron

kingsqueak

C Crane uses good specs for sure. Old time, quality radios. They might be a bit too nice to have on the bars of a bicycle, just mount it carefully.

I had a few Toshiba AM/FM digital walkmen radios that work on AAA batts that worked well but used the headphone cord as the antenna. I just don't much like headphones in while on a bicycle.

Hangtownmatt

Research this little gem:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICF-S10MK.../dp/B00020S7XK

How can you go wrong? I've been putting mine through almost daily use for the last 4 years. My only complaint is the volume adjustment is a bit touchy. In the evening I choose this radio with earbuds over my GE Super Radio because it is so much easier to rotate for better reception. I sometimes drool over those CCrane radios, but cannot justify the price when this one works so well. With earbuds the two AA batteries last forever!

Matt

Hangtownmatt

I just reread your original post and see you also wanted shortwave. Unfortunately this radio is AM/FM only.

Matt

fietsbob

The goals of commercial radio changed as their target market for their advertisers changed ..

One thing the Web and Ipod changed was your radio signal no longer had to come either
line of sight from the transmitter .. (fm) or bouncing off the upper atmosphere (am)

so you can collect stuff you find world wide

[ found a :45', BBC interview
with the author, a historian on the Philosopher-mathematician Pascal,
and astronomers about the discovery of exoplanets around other stars, etc. ]

Nightshade

There are a lot of name brand pocket radios that will do a good job but SW (shortwave) is mostly dead or only at night. Spend money on good headphones to get the most out of your radio..

A decent radio for your needs. https://www.amazon.com/Grundig-Compac...portable+radio

Dahon.Steve

I remember back in the 1970's, everyone used to get good reception with a cheap portable radio. Today, that is no longer the case and I suspect it might be because there are so many signals in use making it very hard to get good reception.

rylhwk

after about 3 weeks of being on backorder my new radio should be here friday or saturday. purchased a tecsun pl360 am/fm shortwave from universal radio. kind of like xmas and cant wait to open it up and put batteries in it! thanks to all who gave suggestions and ill give an update on it after been used awhile. now the question is how to hook it on to the handle bars.

fietsbob

Any how Short wave seems to need Long Antennas, I have a Sony am.fm.mw.sw,
but it was more than the OP wants to spend. and is the size of a decent paperback book.

Used 2 AA for preset memory, 4 to run it.

Reception from distances, is better at night, so I put the antenna up and the earphone in,
and listen from my sleeping bag.

Standalone 

My little Grundig dial tuner gets great FM and AM. 2AA's last a nice long time. Shortwave reception on it is basically a novelty.

Altair 4

It's been a long time since I spent any listening time on the shortwave bands. As a kid, I listened for hours but that was before the collapse of communism, the advent of the internet and the cutback of funding of many national SW broadcasters. Is there anything actually worth listening to on shortwave? The last time I spun the dial it seemed that most of what I heard were evangelical religious stations.

RPK79

I also use the iHeartRadio app on my phone. I use it when listening to the radio at home where I do not have any other source for radio and I also often use it in my car during my commute since I like talk radio and the AM station I listen to often has spotty reception in parts of the commute and during different times of the day. It works well and I have never had any issues hitting a bandwidth cap.