Portable radios

[sal garfi]

Hello All,

 

I'm in the market for a good and not too costly portable radio for my little grp cruiser. I've found all too often that buying new radios has always been a hit and miss affair, with FM not always being easily received, so any advice from anyone would be welcome. I'll be moving my boat from Sawley to a new home on the Monty in September, so a good receiver for that part of the UK would really be welcome. I don't know anything about DAB reception, but I gather that it's patchy across the UK - I might be wrong. Again, any advice would be most welcome.

 

Thanks,

Sal

[OldGoat]

I've never found a portable that was any good...

How about a car radio - if you have 12v?

[dogless]

We have Roberts dab solar radio.

About £80 I believe.

Never had a problem with reception, although occasionally the aerial needs extending.

Can be used on mains and 12v, but ours hangs in the window and charges from the solar.

Rog

[Nightwatch]

We have a Roberts 'vintage' DAB radio. It isn't Vintage though. Very rarely without signal. Our telly sometimes effects the radio reception. It has internal recharger and we have installed rechargeable batteries. Cheapie from Aldi. Four years ago.

[Guest]

Got our DAB radio from BnM can't remember price but cheap, 240v or batteries, dab radios seem to get through batteries fairly quick, never had problems with reception and always listen to +4 for old comedy programmes, we CC the system.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Guest
Missed words

[pearley]

4 hours ago, sal garfi said:

Hello All,

 

I'm in the market for a good and not too costly portable radio for my little grp cruiser. I've found all too often that buying new radios has always been a hit and miss affair, with FM not always being easily received, so any advice from anyone would be welcome. I'll be moving my boat from Sawley to a new home on the Monty in September, so a good receiver for that part of the UK would really be welcome. I don't know anything about DAB reception, but I gather that it's patchy across the UK - I might be wrong. Again, any advice would be most welcome.

 

Thanks,

Sal

The patchy DAB reception is largely a thing of the past (though I'm sure someone will pop up to say how crap if is in there particular area) We've listed to DAB via a car radio since moving on board 11 years ago and the only place I can recall having a problem was in Salthouse Dock where we could get the local DAB multiplex but not the National, they coming from different transmitters. We use an external antenna. 

 

My wife uses a Roberts Sports DAB portable which I've modified the charging lead to plug into a USB charge socket. Occasionally when lying in he'd just  the early hours she has to hold it up to the window but other wise reception is surprisingly good. 

[Arthur Marshall]

I gave up with Roberts and bought a Pure Midi One - snall and you an either use batteries or buy their rechargeable.  From Macclesfield down to Oxford and back had no problems with DAB sgnal.

I've always previously used a car radio, but the DAB ones drain the boat's battery too quickly.

[doratheexplorer]

You don't need a radio.  Put a radio app on your phone and sync it to a bluetooth speaker.  More channels the DAB, probably better coverage too and you can also play itunes/spotify/deezer etc through the speaker.  You can even use the speaker to link to a laptop/tv anything really.  There are some excellent small bluetooth speakers now with 20 hours or more battery life.

[sal garfi]

We don't have a smart phone at present (that's a long story to do with the fact that we get no phone signal where we live in the Welsh mountains) so for now the radio is our best option. I shall look into some of these suggestions - it's good to know that dab seems to have improved.

[doratheexplorer]

A smart phone is at its best compared to a dumb phone where there is no phone signal but you have WiFi. These days you can do anything you need with just the WiFi. Audio calls / video calls / messaging etc. None of these is possible on a dumb phone. It’s best to think of a smart phone as a tiny, very versatile, hand held computer. 

 

My old old iPhone fell in water and the aerial was damaged. It meant that the phone signal was almost non existent. I carried on using it as normal using the WiFi connected to a mifi device in my pocket. 

[sal garfi]

Yes, I agree that a smart phone is a tiny computer and it's something I need to get (and will have to) but I just haven't made the investment yet since I spend so mch time in a blackspot. Nevertheless I have been talking to people who've been telling me just what you say, so I'm inclined to get one sooner than later. I'm no Luddite on this (I work on GIS and GPS etc) but I'm also about to retire on a very meagre overall pension so I want to keep my 'call plan' cheap. Any advice would be welcome.

[Richard10002]

12 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

You don't need a radio.  Put a radio app on your phone and sync it to a bluetooth speaker.  More channels the DAB, probably better coverage too and you can also play itunes/spotify/deezer etc through the speaker.  You can even use the speaker to link to a laptop/tv anything really.  There are some excellent small bluetooth speakers now with 20 hours or more battery life.

Surely this relies on your having a smartphone, a reasonable internet connection, and a data plan with enough bandwidth. A relatively small amount of money on a radio means you dont need any of these things to listen to radio.

 

I know that radio uses a relatively small amount of data but, if you have it on 24/7, it mounts up.

[Robbo]

4 hours ago, sal garfi said:

Yes, I agree that a smart phone is a tiny computer and it's something I need to get (and will have to) but I just haven't made the investment yet since I spend so mch time in a blackspot. Nevertheless I have been talking to people who've been telling me just what you say, so I'm inclined to get one sooner than later. I'm no Luddite on this (I work on GIS and GPS etc) but I'm also about to retire on a very meagre overall pension so I want to keep my 'call plan' cheap. Any advice would be welcome.

You may find Podcasts the “smart” radio.  Think of what Netflix is doing for TV watching where you now watch your programs when you want.  Well that’s Podcasts on the radio side.

 

Also look at iPad (and equivs) if thinking going smart phone just for the “smart” bits, you get a screen size you may be more comfortable using.  They even have 3/4G options so you don’t need to connect to WiFi.   They can also connect to TV’s, either wirelessly or via a cable so you then play Netflix and such to your TV.  I use Three for my data, 100Gb+Go Binge (basically Netflix not counted against the 100Gb) for £28/month.   I rarely use the 100Gb and regularly stream stuff.  

 

If you have nice WiFi, a smart speaker like the google home is the future smart radio. I just ask mine to play a radio station or podcast and it just does it.

[Robert B.]

I use one of these for serious AM long wave/medium wave listening, but it works very well for FM too. Great battery life (6 months or so of daily use), sensitive receiver and a handy 'easy tuning' feature that scans all available stations in a band at the press of a button then allows you to rotate through them. I'd highly recommend it other any DAB set I've ever tried.

 

 

[sal garfi]

On 24/06/2018 at 20:49, Robert B. said:

I use one of these for serious AM long wave/medium wave listening, but it works very well for FM too. Great battery life (6 months or so of daily use), sensitive receiver and a handy 'easy tuning' feature that scans all available stations in a band at the press of a button then allows you to rotate through them. I'd highly recommend it other any DAB set I've ever tried.

 

 

Ooohh.., the frugal minimalist in me likes this. I'm a mean bugger, and with my broadband and telephone costing more than enough at home, I'd prefer to just stay with my pay as you go phone on the cut.

[harrybsmith]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-Hybrid-Radio-Rechargeable-Charger/dp/B002D9FKDS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530047726&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=duronic+radio

 

I've got one of these and I'm chuffed with it, sits in my window charging in the sun and picks up FM no problems

[Momac]

I have an ordinary and probably 15 year old car radio on the boat (with CD player) . It does provide good reception possibly helped by the antenna being fairly high up.

Also receive quite a few radio channels via Freeview on  the TV (which will be DAB) but don't use it for that (for no good reason). 

Wife has a portable DAB radio at home from John Lewis with seems to me not very good.

[sal garfi]

11 hours ago, harrybsmith said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-Hybrid-Radio-Rechargeable-Charger/dp/B002D9FKDS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530047726&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=duronic+radio

 

I've got one of these and I'm chuffed with it, sits in my window charging in the sun and picks up FM no problems

This might even be better for a penny pincher like me, but not being able to pick up DAB might cause me to go for the Tecsun. Hmmm?

[Robert B.]

On 27/06/2018 at 09:34, sal garfi said:

This might even be better for a penny pincher like me, but not being able to pick up DAB might cause me to go for the Tecsun. Hmmm?

I should probably clarify that the Tecsun doesn't pick up DAB either. It does have shortwave though..

[sal garfi]

Well.., actually, I've ordered one and just got it yesterday, and yes, I discovered it doesn't pick up DAB. Ho hum..! Anyway, it souinds good so we'll be using it. Thanks for the update!