[Request] Portable Transistor Radio

Submitted by sheerfire96 t3_127pwel in BuyItForLife

Looking for a portable transistor radio. There’s a lot of cheap options out there and while I’m sure most of them work it would be nice to get some other input

AM/FM: I listen to both AM and FM

Portability: I’m looking for something small that I could easily put in my backpack

Power: Battery powered is fine, I can get rechargeable batteries and recharge my own, though I’d be interested to see if any exist with built in rechargeable that you can replace

Audio: looking to be able to plug in 1/8th inch standard headphone jack, but also having a small onboard speaker that I could play sound through would be nice.

Additional info:

Something with a built in cassette player would be neat. although this would increase the size I wouldn’t be wholly opposed.

Bluetooth would be nice but I don’t mind using wired headphones or ear buds.

I can be flexible on the budget. Radios these days feel a little hit or miss sometimes, so if you have something where you can really speak to it’s abilities as a receiver I’d be interested.

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Comments

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Bongos-Not-Bombs t1_jefe84i wrote

Sangean has a line of portable AM/FM radios that are the same footprint as the old '50s ones. They've been in the radio biz a long time.

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edcculus t1_jefm0g0 wrote

Sounds like a fun project to learn to solder and build your own!

I build guitar pedals and amps, I’m sure there is a kit out there for a good usable transistor radio vs a toy.

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CamelHairy t1_jefasf2 wrote

Walmart.com. prices from $11.99 up. The Panasonic for $39.99 looks nice.

My search at walmart.com was am/fm radio

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MonkeyDashFast t1_jefdc3b wrote

they don't really make modern transistor radios from what I understand.

this is probably the most high end pocket radio

https://ccrane.com/products/cc-pocket-am-fm-noaa-weather-radio-alert-with-clock-and-sleep-timer

this is probably the best budget AAA battery radio that functions like a transistor radio

https://www.betta.com.au/techbrands-portable-am-fm-transistor-radio-0-667060

i like this a lot its small.

here is a review of the pocket transistor radio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKYFmubMQHA

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psimian t1_jefost5 wrote

If you're willing to throw a little bit more money at it ($80), something like the Tecsun PL368 will let you listen to just about anything (AM/FM, Amateur radio, worldband). It has a built in rechargable battery that can be replaced. The weak point in the design is the slightly flimsy antenna, but this is true of most transistor radios.

Edit: I'm assuming by "transistor radio" you mean something small and portable, not an actual vintage transistor radio because those are hard to find and have significantly lower sound quality than modern chip-based radios.

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sheerfire96 OP t1_jefr7k1 wrote

You’re right that I mostly mean small and portable. Another user rec’d the SONY ICF P26. Sony makes this and one with a P27 chip the difference being (as far as I’m able to research) is the P26 model is all analog and the P27 is digital.

On the SONY website the P26 was a little cheaper and I know that digital tuners can sometimes have issues so I went with the P26.

What you recommended though? That looks fantastic. I’m not about to spend that kind of money but at some point I plan on building out a bugout kit and that looks like a nice one to have for when shit hits the fan.

For other folks on here if you have the money I’d tell you to check that one out.

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psimian t1_jefzbre wrote

This is probably beyond what you want to do, but if you have a soldering pencil and some very basic knowledge of electronics it is pretty easy to add external antenna connections to a portable radio. There's lots of info on amateur radio sites about this, but it is usually just a matter of identifying the antenna connections on the circuit board, disconnecting the stock antenna, and soldering in the new one.

Antenna length is a function of wavelength. TL;DR, an ideal antenna is half the wavelength of whatever frequency you're listening to, which works out to about 1.5m for FM, and 100m for AM. Most inexpensive portable radios use 1/4 wavelength for FM (or less), and some clever stuff with wire coils for AM.

Most chip based receivers (even the cheap ones) are pretty reliable these days. If you're not getting good reception, take a look at the antenna.

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sheerfire96 OP t1_jeg0jmz wrote

I’m comfortable enough soldering and tinkering unfortunately I just don’t have the equipment right now in life.

I have my ham license but was just utterly overwhelmed when trying to mess around with it. It’s something I’d like to try and return to at some point for the sake of being prepared for emergencies (and just science/engineering fun).

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psimian t1_jeg418n wrote

Well in that case, grab a Baofeng UV-5R for $25 off amazon, and start calling in to your local nets. You can also pick up a copy of The Guerrillas Guide to the Baofeng Radio. (AKA how to have a lot of fun with a cheap radio)

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sheerfire96 OP t1_jeg5v8r wrote

That’s an interesting looking book.

I had one of those UV-5Rs somewhere but it’s gotten lost in several moves. I should see if I can find it again. That book looks like it could be more useful than the user guide that came with the radio

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psimian t1_jegfquf wrote

Totally. Maybe 2/3 of the book is useless unless you're really into prepping or something, but the other 1/3 is worth the price by itself. It walks you through all the programming options, gives you a list of all the standard walkie talkie and general communications frequencies, explains how to build an antenna, and how to make a repeater out of 2 radios.

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sponge_welder t1_jegtky3 wrote

Techmoan and VWestLife are good resources for stuff like this. When a technology has already had its heyday, the models that are still produced tend to be cheap and crappy: modern cassette players are a good example of this. I find Techmoan videos especially helpful when trying to find "modern retro" devices like these that aren't just bottom of the barrel trinkets

I would recommend something by Sony

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5spd4wd t1_jefs8pr wrote

Did you look on Ebay?

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