Help choosing the best model

[Gold88]

After checking all that Amazon and Ebay has to offer and what exactly can be shipped all the way to Latvia I stopped at Amazon International shipping that does ship to Latvia. I first thought that German amazon can ship to Latvia since its very close, but no they don't. So I look at the offers at the international shipping. Its presents a less variety of models. Here is the best choices I can get of portable SW radios:
http://www.amazon.com/Traveler-G3-Short ... 770&sr=8-8
http://www.amazon.com/Sangean-PT-80-Pro ... 31&sr=8-20
http://www.amazon.com/G5-Shortwave-Port ... 62&sr=8-26
http://www.amazon.com/Sangean-ATS-505P- ... 93&sr=8-47
Can somebody who has experience with portable receivers of such kind can recommend what they think is better. Also judging by the specs they wont have any problem with European energy system of do I need a converter. I am living in brick apartment block on the fourth floor and if the radio's are supplied with external wire antenna I can strap it out in balcony during the summer.
Personally I prefer the G-3 Traveler, I read some contradicting stories about Sangean products, that they receive FM better than SW and that is not what I need. I will be glad for any suggestions.

[BD417]

I am surprised that you can get Amazon there in Latvia. I buy many things from Amazon here in the States and I 've had very good experiences with it.

I have some experience with portable shortwave radios. Right now I use a Grundig G3 radio and I am very satisfied with it. I would recommend it to anyone. I used a Sangean ATS 909 in the past and also a Grundig YB 400. My Sangean didn't receive shortwave that great, especially not weak stations. FM reception was good. The Grundig YB 400 was good but not as good as the G3 that I use now. I still have the Sangean and the YB 400 in the house but I don't use them. I use the G3. I bought it at a local electronics store, Radio Shack. The G3 is a newer model than the G5.

If you don't have an external antenna I suggest that you put your radio near a window for best reception. Also, I have found from experience that you should not plug the radio in the same electric outlet with other appliances. For some reason the electricity interferes with the reception. The radio should be plugged alone in the wall outlet, by itself.

Good luck.

[Gold88]

In the end I ordered Grundig Eton G6 aviator. The shipping costs made the G3 too expensive, so went for best fewer cost variant. As much as I checked it the specifications are common to G3 and its looks like good model, although as I understand older. If I lived in US I would have less problems with shipping costs. They say it will arrive in June. When it does I will tell my impressions about it.

[Gold88]

My G6 Aviator arrived few days ago. All working. Here is my impressions. Good AM broadcast reception, I can listen to my favorite broadcasts with lesser interference and better quality than my old analog Scott. I got very clear reception of South Africa radio, that was very weak with the old one. The SSB mode has some trouble with amateur reception, almost all times their voices are distorted either weak donald duck or deep voices. The slow tuning does not help. Sometimes SSB is weak, but I can still receive many SBB stations like beacons, radars and number stations if I listen closely and come outside. I haven't found much in Airband, I need some help of how I actually find some frequencies around my city. I seen in videos people receiving air traffic, but they must be close to the airport. Our airport is across the river far away. I cannot find any databases about Riga air traffic. They are mostly outdated.

Overall this my second shortwave radio, but first of its kind with all the features and I can say that no one sells these Grundig portables in my country. Radio is good for my demands and knowledge. Maybe someday I will test G3, Degen or Sangean, I just hope that they do not close all broadcasters too soon. Radio Netherlands, Radio Canada and Radio Vaticana has closed in recent months. I however hope that radio communications will not die out completely, people will see that internet is not always reliable and safe.

[Jerry]

I guess I missed out on this post and being able to give advice.

The bottom line is the best receiver is the one with the lowest SINAD and the most sensitive receive.

I note you also said portable.

I guess that your idea and my idea of what a receiver should be is not the same.

The story of the BBC is a very good example.
During the cold war, when each side was trying to out propoganda each other, every country had one or two country supported radio stations and they beamed their signals in most directions - according to schedule.
Some were real barn burners - especially the Russian stations, and the funny thing about them was the fact that it was not all lies.
Some of the stuff they said was actually the truth - things the USA did not want their people to know.

Today, it is all done via sattelite and internet and there is no reason to burn up massive amounts of electricity or bombard the ionosphere with the radio waves to get the information out to the public.

Places like Africa is the last vestigial - since it is so remote and so large that single television stations or even sattelite dishes are not available to everyone everywhere.

You will find with time that most if not all of the commercial broadcasters - with the exception or reverend send more money, are going to go off the air in the next couple of years.

The Donald Duck sounding stations - are the ones which are transmitting in single side band.
Either your transceiver does not include single side band or you do not know how to operate it properly...

The bottom line is - there is a whole world out there and the best receiver is the one that receives everything equally well.
With all the sunspot activity - it is very hard to exclaim any band as reliable communications right now.

But, what I would look for is a resonant antenna on the band you most desire to receive.
This will greatly increase your opportunities to listen to what is out there.

Use a online calculator to determine the length of the dipole needed and get it at least one wavelength high if possible and it should receive verry well.
Remember - as the antenna becomes more sensitive, so too will the receiver.

You might be bombarded by a lot of noise, electrical noise, power line noise etc.
And overload might be a possiblity with nearby stations dominating the airwaves.

I could not whole heartedly endorse any of your choices as the right one.

Me personally, I probably would have went with a Icom or Kenwood receiver...

[Gold88]

I live in apartment, small room no place to install a Icom receiver or other stationary receiver. Right now I am satisfied with my Grundig. I can receive pretty much of the all broadcast stations, and I have SSB I just need to regulate the voice messages so they give a clear voice.All the armatures I receive across the Baltics are Russians, I even received a Russian cordless phone conversation. I love listening to Radio Liberty, Voice of Korea, Voice of Iran and other stuff. Also I monitor the number station broadcasts and most of the time I can receive them with my radio.
Its bad that Vatican, Canada, Netherlands closed down their broadcasts, many will do in future, but as long as Russians and Chinese are in to it shortwave will not end so quickly. Yes the qrm at my place is bit to0 many, because of computers and TV''s, yesterday I was at my grandfathers house and he only got a old TV from early nighties no other electronic stuff and my radio worked like a charm.He has an old Sharp Hi-Fi component system that still works and receives shortwaves like a charm. But yesterday the reception of the Voice of Korea in big my city house was good and listened to whole hour broadcast.
No spare place in my apartment for stationary equipment, because of my working field its all filled with books and papers that does not seem to go less but more every year so portable receiver its best for me. Maybe when I will move to another place I will find place for it but its not a option right now. Right now I am just thinking how to improve the reception, either use my home made wire antenna, or order indoor loop antenna. I also considering to get a handheld radio scanner to check out the VHF spectrum.
The Grundig G6 its not a bad radio, G3 its probably better because its improved. Right now my sole complaint, that its too easily turned on, I traveled in a train, blocked the keys in put radio in a bag. After I reached the destination I discovered that it has unblocked and was on draining the batteries for three hours. Probably the lock button was accidentally pressed of by moving and putting the bag somewhere. Also the air band is empty, but that is not a big issue for me. So I am not much complaining I wrote that months ago, I getting used to it and understand it more better.

[Jerry]

Plasma televisions, some florescent lights, fence chargers, electrical brush noise, automobile and internal combustion ignition noise, electrial power line noise will always be an issue with SSB and AM communications.

My point being - if you want something that is good, or the best, you need to invest in the best equipment.

I had a friend who had a old Heathkit 80 - 10 meters receiver that was such a good receiver, he used the metal table the radio was sitting on as the antenna, inside of his first floor livingroom.
It worked well on 40 meters - which isn't suprising, since you can pretty much pick up 40 meters during the day here where I live with just about anything and almost nothing at all...

I have heard people 100 miles away with just a coat hanger stuck into the SO connector in the back of the radio.
And I have heard Russian stations without the coax even being hooked up on 20 meters..

The point is - you do not get that type of reception on a daily basis, and when you want something reliable, you have to spend more money and you have to use a bigger antenna.