Best cheap shortwave reciever?

I know that a lot of folks here are into radios and I was thinking of getting a cheap shortwave radio for my dad. He's into this sort of thing. The only problem is that there seem to be a lot of choices out there and some are obviously better than others but what is the best for under $50.
The only real stipulation that I have is that I realy need a digital tuner on it. Not the analog dial type. Other than that, I guess anything goes. I don't think that it has to be realy easily portable because it will probably just sit on his desk. If it's available at like radioshack or target or maybe Walmart or something, that would be great but it's not a christmas gift so it can come from the internet.

Here's one I got off ebay earlier this year:
http://cgi.ebay.com/JWIN-JX-M14-AM-FM-SW-9-BAND-WORLD-BAND-RADIO-NEW_W0QQitemZ290046021855QQihZ019QQcategoryZ16702QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

They're cheap but really nice for the price. The only thing you didn't say in your post is whether it needs SSB or not. I don't think you'll find anything under $70 with SSB, though.
Check this page out, it was alot of help when I was shopping for shortwaves:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/8?ehamsid=9c5ab1faaf2067693f2ea450a5c7f6e1
And don't write off some of the china made Ebay radios, they're surprisingly good, which you'll see after reading some of those reviews.

And I saw this one in RadioShack flyer:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...=&origkw=grundig&kw=grundig&parentPage=search
Review- http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4761

Thanks for that link and review, Omega Man. I also like SW radios, and I like the looks of that little Grundig Mini 300. Found it at Amazon for $20.43, and if your order totals $25, you can get free ship. Seems like a very nice deal.

Yeah, the Grundig really is tempting at that price and size. Say's it's "shirt pocketable" in one of the ham reviews. Too bad I don't need one!

Omega Man said:

Yeah, the Grundig really is tempting at that price and size. Say's it's "shirt pocketable" in one of the ham reviews. Too bad I don't need one!

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Me neither. But, I'm not sure that's gonna stop me!

Thanks for the links and advise Omega Man. I don't need SSB. The reviews and info are very helpful.

Jaygnar, I've looked for that sort of thing in the past and I wound up buying something similar to the Radio Shack/Grundig radio. They're great for tinkering around in SW but they don't have "true" digital tuners; they use an analog vernier tuning knob that's linked to a display which simulates a digital tuner. The way that you can spot these types of radios is by their lack of preset buttons.

This might not matter to you, but it does make it a little tricky to return to the exact spot where you found a station the day before. Some people actually like this feature because it allows you to dial around to reach anything that's out there even if it doesn't fall on an exact frequency assignment. I'm just pointing this out because you asked for a digital radio.

The only "true" digital SW radios I've found start in the $90 range. Look for the preset buttons to verify that it's truly digital.

A long time ago I found a small Sangean digital SW radio at Radio Shack for around $100. They still carry models similar to the one that I bought.

This is my current SW receiver...
http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-ICF-PRO-80...ryZ15051QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I mean...I have a pro-80, but the one in the auction isn't mine. It's great...it is old, but still a great little receiver and has SSB. It's a little more than you were looking to spend, but it's a lot of radio for the money. If you look around, you can find ones without problems for a reasonable price. I think I paid $150 for mine and there were no issues with it.

JM-99

I know you will not consider this "cheap", but a very good shortwave radio for the money is the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Amazon has it for $122.00. It is very sensitive, has excellent SSB and synchronous detection that helps reduce fading.

Sometimes it makes sense to pay a little more for a higher quality product. Read some of the reviews on Amazon. It is very impressive.

Here's another great site for radio information. Somewhere in there is a comparison test of a bunch of cheap receivers.

http://www.radiointel.com/

Geoff

planex said:

I know you will not consider this "cheap", but a very good shortwave radio for the money is the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Amazon has it for $122.00. It is very sensitive, has excellent SSB and synchronous detection that helps reduce fading.

Sometimes it makes sense to pay a little more for a higher quality product. Read some of the reviews on Amazon. It is very impressive.

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I really love this one too. It has outstanding reception using only its own little antenna. It searches well and it really locks on to signals. There are lots of presets too, which are organized into "pages". On the negative side, the preset mechanism takes some getting used to.

W.

Photon, you're absolutly right about the cheaper ones having a digital frequency display, but still using analog tuning. I should have said that in my post.

Omega Man said:

Photon, you're absolutly right about the cheaper ones having a digital frequency display, but still using analog tuning. I should have said that in my post.

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It fooled me the first time I saw this type of "digital" receiver at Circcuit City. They've got a couple of cheap-o house branded shortwave receivers that work this way. I picked up one of the demo units, started operating the tuning wheel and immediately noticed that it acted like a regular old-fashioned vernier style variable-capacitor tuner.

I don't mind it at all, I knew it was that way when I bought it. I just wanted the numerals as a visual aid when finding certian stations. When I've gone camping I've found 2 stations that come in great in Western MD, and I wanted the abilty to just dial them in specifially rather than twisting a dial and trying to zone in on them.

Flying Turtle said:

Here's another great site for radio information. Somewhere in there is a comparison test of a bunch of cheap receivers.

http://www.radiointel.com/

Geoff

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Here, also ---

http://www.tjtdesign.com/radios/Radio.htm

I recommend Degen DE1103.
Nice and cheap radio. AM/FM/SSB
You can order here: http://stores.ebay.com/V-COM-COLLECTIONS
Mike

I think I'm gonna go with getting him the Grundig mini 300pe. It seems like it has gotten good reviews and is very reasonably priced.
Thanks for all your help guys.

Let us know how you like it, I know I'm curious.

Like I said, It's not for me but i'm sure I'll have a chance to play with it.
I'll post my opinion but I'm not all that experienced with SW listening.
Yet.

Just flip around at about 2am, and you'll hear lots of neat stuff.