I need a desktop/tabletop radio with STRONG FM reception

[mb]

First,

I was told that I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven, I told Bill that if Sandra is going to listen to her headphones while she's filing then I should be able to listen to the radio while I'm collating so I don't see why I should have to turn down the radio because I enjoy listening at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven.

With that out of the way, I'd like to get a radio for my office at work. Reception indoors there is terrible, cellphones especially.
Some of my coworkers have radios in their offices, but they crackle a lot. Seeing as there are hundreds of such radios out there, I was wondering if anyone has some advice on a good one that will work well with low reception. It doesn't need to be loud of full of bass, so long as it sounds OK and gets clear reception indoors. A small/compact unit would be ideal, and I guess the antenna can be as big as it needs to be.

Oh, and under $50.

Thanks!

 

[herm0016]

check out grundig and eton they both build some of the best world band radios that i have used, though they may end up out of your price range. i have an older grundig world band receiver, it gets better reception then my HT receiver.

 

[mb]

Thanks for the reply. I checked out those two and they seem a little pricey. Oh a whim, I stopped in Radio Shack on the way home just to look at what they have (nothing), but they did have a powered FM antenna. I bought that and I'm going to hook it up to my coworkers radio and see if that helps. If it does, I'd probably be fine using that and any radio. If not, the antenna is going back and I'll look into some used grundigs or etons.

 

[Kaido]

How about Internet Radio? Just get a boombox and run a cable from your computer to it, then you can get your local radio from their website, no crackles, or else get iTunes or Internet Radio from anywhere in the world...

 

[EvilYoda]

Tivoli also makes great pieces, but they're also out of your range. around $100 for the model ones and they sound great and have tuners designed by Kloss.

 

[skriefal]

Originally posted by: mb
but they did have a powered FM antenna. I bought that and I'm going to hook it up to my coworkers radio and see if that helps.

Most of the small, powered antennas do little more than amplify the noise with the signal -- for a net improvement of zero. The cheap ones can also add electrical noise or hum, effectively making things worse. Your best bet is a passive antenna, preferably located near a window.

Also look for older radios at pawn shops, goodwill stores, etc. An early 1970s FM radio in good shape will probably outperform most new, non-high end FM radios.

 

[mb]

My local stations broadcast online, but the sites are blocked I've only got a 500k connection at my desktop anyway so that might not work too well anyway.
I probably can't install itunes because I don't have admin privileges.

I hope the antenna does something good :-\

 

[herm0016]

try pandora.com its a great internet music site. you can make your own stations. 500k? that sucks dude.

 

[uli2000]

YMMV, but I saw about 2 months ago target was clearencing out the Tivoli Ones. It was $60 at the time, but if they have any left, Im sure its gonna be less. Also check out the GE/RCA super radio 3. This is the AM/FM radio that DX'ers use. Excellent out of the box, but with a few mods, you can pull in stations across the atlantic.

http://cyg.bennettbrothers.com...mber%5Fnum=&CatCount=1

 

[angminas]

Buy.com is giving a massive discount on this:

http://www.buy.com/prod/eton-s100-bl...tml?adid=17654

I haven't heard this particular model, and I don't know about its reception. What I do know is, I heard an extremely similar radio once at Sears for $150 (I feel like it must have been the same thing with a different brand) and the sound was astonishingly good. I also know it's very small and as cheap as you'll ever see it. The rest is up to you.

 

[Modelworks]

Search on ebay for FM portable. What you are looking for is a radio from the 60's to 1970's. Don't bother with the digital radios unless you plan to spend $100+, you need the old analog design . I saw several on there for $20 shipped.

The reason current portable reception sucks is because they don't spend time on the fm tuner anymore. They use a single chip, slap on a filter and call it a high quality tuner. In the old radios they use several filters to pick out just the channel you want. Those radios were often hand tuned to have the highest sensitivity. Older radios have sensitivity in the 45+db range, most portables made now barely reach 25db.