Small portable radios?

[milkyspit]

Yes, Paul, yes. FM is fine. Everything is fine. The unit actually has a "secret" button combination that toggles the frequency steps for use in Japan or USA. It's currently configured for USA, and everything is fine. It's totally fine.

 

[avusblue]

milkyspit, I'll take it if it's still available!

PM also sent.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[avusblue]

Aaaaand . . . PayPal sent!

Thanks Scott, this radio looks very cool. I am looking forward to receiving it!

Dave

 

[tsg68]

Picked up my SRF-M37 Sony (from ebay auction) at the PO today and mine's very nice, almost new condition with only minor scrapes under the clip. Judging from the branding on the bag it came in and the print on it, they look to have likely been once preset to recieve sponsored broadcasts of the US open to viewers in the stands and provided by American Express, then resold to the ebay dealer sans headphones (probably a resale restriction due to health code issues) There's probably less than a few hours runtime on them. They recieve very well on all bands, have great sound quality and I like the presets. All in all a good deal! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Tad /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[avusblue]

My eBay Sony SRF-M37 arrived on Saturday in good order. Mine was mint and absolutely perfect. The little "American Express Radio" logo came off in a jiffy with careful application of very fine sandpaper followed up with Meguiar's plastic cleaner / polish. A pleasant surprse is that it came with an Alkaline AAA (Sony doesn't supply one). Overall I'm very pleased with the deal (I was already very pleased with the radio!)

I may put this up for sale, as I'm looking forward to receiving my SRF-M90!!

Cheers,

Dave

 

[paulr]

Heh, this old thread is still around.

I was just at the local Walgreens and found that they had not one, not two, but three different ultra-small earphone radios at $5.99 each, powered by button cells. All of them would reasonably fit in an Altoids tin PSK and each probably weighed under 0.5 ounces. So this is what I was looking for at the start of this thread, a "Photon II" class of radio.

There was an FM radio with a scan button similar to the cheap pen radios we've been seeing everywhere, probably with the same chip inside, powered by two LR44's. Then from another manufacturer, there was an AM model and an FM model, both with analog tuning. The FM model used two LR44's and the AM model used one LR44. The AM model looked like it had a tiny ferrite bar antenna. As I remember, both FM models had pieces of wire hanging from the earpiece, to act as antennas.

I didn't buy any of them so I don't have any test reports, and I didn't have a camera with me so I didn't take a photo. I might go back and buy one of the radios sometime though, probably the AM one.

 

[Aloft]

[ QUOTE ]
avusblue said:
...
I may put this up for sale, as I'm looking forward to receiving my SRF-M90!!

Cheers,

Dave

[/ QUOTE ]

avusblue. . . where are you getting the Sony SRF 90? I did a google on it, but all the sights are non-english. Is it available in the US yet? I'm very interested, and I'm also interested about your impressions of the M37. That's a pretty inexpensive radio even if it has analog tuning.

Please post or PM. . . I may have to get one (or more!) of each!

 

[Flying Turtle]

Big Lots has AM/FM/SW radios for $7.99. Of course, I couldn't resist. They are analog with a digital readout, run on 2 AA, have FM only alarm, 9 SW bands covering most everything from 5.5- 24 Mhz. This is the Coby CX-CB91. It performs at least as well as the price predicts. The readout is surprisingly accurate for AM and SW. FM is off by 0.2. Reception is fairly decent on all bands. Strong local AM does overload, but not excessively. There is a local/distance switch that has minimal effect of FM only. The first one I got seemed faulty. The radio alarm only came on in FM. I took it back for trade, and the second did the same. I guess this fact was lost in the translation. The second unit had a much smoother SW band slide switch and the batteries squeezed in bit easier, so quality control may be an issue.

Geoff

 

[freeze12]

Take a look at this radio as I ordered it & it is an excellent radio.. VERY small,great sound & very good battery life & lots of features for the price.

http://www.radios4you.com/kaito-ka105.html

 

[georget98]

I bought an SRF-M37 about a year ago and brought it back. AM sensitivity was poor, FM easily overloaded, and I don't think the battery lasted 5 hours; and when the radio decided the battery was gone it just quit dead with no warning.

 

[Lux Luthor]

[ QUOTE ]
freeze12 said:
Take a look at this radio as I ordered it & it is an excellent radio.. VERY small,great sound & very good battery life & lots of features for the price.

http://www.radios4you.com/kaito-ka105.html

[/ QUOTE ]

That looks like a nice small radio. I'm familiar with those Kaito wind up shortwaves, and they are good units.

 

[brightnorm]

[ QUOTE ]
georget98 said:
I bought an SRF-M37 about a year ago and brought it back. AM sensitivity was poor, FM easily overloaded, and I don't think the battery lasted 5 hours; and when the radio decided the battery was gone it just quit dead with no warning.

[/ QUOTE ]

My experience exactly. I've gone back to a tiny Plain Jane R Shack analog radio. Not as convenient but reliable, battery lasts forever and fades at the end rather than sudden death.

Brightnorm

 

[MicroE]

Another vote for Dave's (Avusblue) suggestion on the Sony SRF-M37V.
I have two and they are fantastic. I got them after reading an old thread here in the Cafe.
Digital tuning is the way to go!---Marc