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Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte
1 Level
436 Review
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Review on πŸ“» Retekess TR105 Air Band Radio Receiver - Portable FM AM SW Full Band Radio with CB Receiver and Digital Alarm Speaker by April Nelson

Revainrating 2 out of 5

Great little radio but mostly useless

This is a unique little radio that covers all the bands I'd like to listen to. But unfortunately it has very low sensitivity and selectivity in the non-FM/AM bands, making it practically unusable for these applications. It can only pick up powerful commercial radios like NOAA (but it transmits sound over a wide range of frequencies, so it's difficult to determine the actual channel frequency) and WWV (I live 50 miles from the radio station and can barely hear it). So don't expect to pick up planes, radio amateurs, SWs, CBs, etc. Here's the good and the bad as I see it. good1. The FM and AM bands are exceptionally good. I think it's even better than my $150 C. Crane radio that is 5 years old. This radio probably uses a radio-on-a-chip (Silicon Labs) like most of the latest radios in this price range, so it's probably not that different from other half-price radios. The buttons and user interface are fairly logical and easy to use for a radio with so many features. Bad.1. Speaker. I wasn't expecting much from a radio this small, but it's exceptionally awful. It's even smaller than the suitcase would allow, and it's cheap, cheap, cheap! I'm listening to FM stereo through the headphone jack of a large, externally powered speaker and the sound is really great.2. Antenna. This thing is terribly fragile. Very thin and will surely break within a week. Even an attachable wire antenna contributes little to reception on all bands. For easier use, a more complex antenna system with preamplifiers and filters is required. Battery. This design was an afterthought! The battery compartment was designed for two AAA batteries, and they didn't even bother changing the shape to one big battery. They just stuffed a little rechargeable coin cell and called it a good one. This lasts approximately 7 hours at low volume between charges4. All bands except FM/AM are useless. It's a great idea for a multi-band radio, but obviously the company didn't spend much time thinking about the design.

Pros
  • Great price
Cons
  • Big and bulky