Portable radio

[doversoul1]

Do radios age and lose the audibility to tune in? I can no longer tune into Radio 3 on my Sony AM/FM portable radio which I’ve had for 20+ years. Maybe time to buy a new one. Can someone recommend a simple (no extra gadgets) FM/AM portable radio? I have reasonably good reception of R3 on my tuner.

[Anastasius]

Do radios age and lose the audibility to tune in? I can no longer tune into Radio 3 on my Sony AM/FM portable radio which I’ve had for 20+ years. Maybe time to buy a new one. Can someone recommend a simple (no extra gadgets) FM/AM portable radio? I have reasonably good reception of R3 on my tuner.

I can't advise on any particular model as they change so often. But I went through the motions to get one for my wife as a backup to her trusty Sony. I came to the conclusion that sound quality was paramount and so looked for the smallest, lightest radio with the largest speaker. Sony are a good starting point.

Out of curiosity, can you tune in Radio 2 and Radio 4 OK ?

[doversoul1]

I can't advise on any particular model as they change so often. But I went through the motions to get one for my wife as a backup to her trusty Sony. I came to the conclusion that sound quality was paramount and so looked for the smallest, lightest radio with the largest speaker. Sony are a good starting point.

Out of curiosity, can you tune in Radio 2 and Radio 4 OK ?

I have not tried actually to tune in to any other stations but other than R3, most stations seem to have signals strong enough to be picked up.

[cloughie]

I can't advise on any particular model as they change so often. But I went through the motions to get one for my wife as a backup to her trusty Sony. I came to the conclusion that sound quality was paramount and so looked for the smallest, lightest radio with the largest speaker. Sony are a good starting point.

Out of curiosity, can you tune in Radio 2 and Radio 4 OK ?

I agree there, I bought a good little Sony DAB/FM radio - battery or mains - small and perfectly formed, used daily to listen to the Radio Cornwall breakfast programme alongside my first cup of tea of the day. From memory I think it was just under £40 from Sainsbury.

[Anastasius]

I have not tried actually to tune in to any other stations but other than R3, most stations seem to have signals strong enough to be picked up.

I'm afraid I don't follow the logic in your reply ! You say you've not tried to tune in to other stations but their signals are strong enough! How do you know ?

Confused am I.

[doversoul1]

I'm afraid I don't follow the logic in your reply ! You say you've not tried to tune in to other stations but their signals are strong enough! How do you know ?

Confused am I.

I’ll try again. Please excuse my tech-less explanation. When I move the tuning dial, I can hear the stations I must be passing loud and clear but no matter how many times I move the dial up and down (left to right) where Radio 3 is supposed to be (90.2 – 92.4), I can’t hear anything recognisable as R3 (often Through the Night). Does this make sense?

The radio was working perfectly until a couple of months ago.

[Anastasius]

I’ll try again. Please excuse my tech-less explanation. When I move the tuning dial, I can hear the stations I must be passing loud and clear but no matter how many times I move the dial up and down (left to right) where Radio 3 is supposed to be (90.2 – 92.4), I can’t hear anything recognisable as R3 (often Through the Night). Does this make sense?

The radio was working perfectly until a couple of months ago.

Absolutely! So actually this is good news as if the radio picks up Radio 2 and Radio 4..which are on either side of where Radio 3 is ..then that, in my mind, eliminates the radio and points to a transmitter fault. Do you know which transmitter you pick up ? Whereabouts in the country do you live ?

[doversoul1]

Absolutely! So actually this is good news as if the radio picks up Radio 2 and Radio 4..which are on either side of where Radio 3 is ..then that, in my mind, eliminates the radio and points to a transmitter fault. Do you know which transmitter you pick up ? Whereabouts in the country do you live ?

According to the search, my nearest transmitter is at Swingate and my reception is green; Transmitter with good BBC coverage prediction. It’s really only Radio3 I can’t receive, and only on this radio.

[Dave2002]

According to the search, my nearest transmitter is at Swingate and my reception is green; Transmitter with good BBC coverage prediction. It’s really only Radio3 I can’t receive, and only on this radio.

That is really odd - see http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1144 R3 should be on 92.4 FM. Does your portable radio have an aerial which can be positioned in different directions? Do you run it on batteries, perhaps? If you have a multi storey residence, does it work on upper floors? Does it have "digital" tuning - could that have become unset? If you have have a push button set, maybe try assigning one of the other buttons to R3, and see if you can pull it in that way.

If you are using batteries, then if other obvious possible causes don't suggest a cure, then put in new batteries. Mostly FM radios should work well enough even with "modest" batteries, including rechargeables, but if things are marginal then new non-rechargeables might solve this issue. If batteries, what does it take?

If it's a mains portable, then ignore the comments re batteries.

According to the information I found it really is on 92.4, but sometimes channels are moved to different frequencies. You could try doing a scan to see if there's another channel which can be picked up which has R3 - though in your area this is perhaps unlikely.

Can you get BBC Kent, which is on 104.2? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinga...itting_station

[doversoul1]

That is really odd - see http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1144 R3 should be on 92.4 FM. Does your portable radio have an aerial which can be positioned in different directions? Do you run it on batteries, perhaps? If you have a multi storey residence, does it work on upper floors? Does it have "digital" tuning - could that have become unset? If you have have a push button set, maybe try assigning one of the other buttons to R3, and see if you can pull it in that way.

If you are using batteries, then if other obvious possible causes don't suggest a cure, then put in new batteries. Mostly FM radios should work well enough even with "modest" batteries, including rechargeables, but if things are marginal then new non-rechargeables might solve this issue. If batteries, what does it take?

If it's a mains portable, then ignore the comments re batteries.

According to the information I found it really is on 92.4, but sometimes channels are moved to different frequencies. You could try doing a scan to see if there's another channel which can be picked up which has R3 - though in your area this is perhaps unlikely.

Can you get BBC Kent, which is on 104.2? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinga...itting_station

What made me think that it was the radio getting old was, I know it’s silly but I have been listening to Radio 3 on this radio since last century and have changed nothing whatsoever yet now the station simply refuses to be picked up. Unless this is a temporary trouble which seems unlikely.

[Dave2002]

We've got a small Sony portable AM/FM radio which dates from around 1980 I think. That one takes AA batteries, and also functions as an alarm clock. When last I checked it was working fine - that was within the last year I think. I can't see any reason why it would fail - though it does lose settings if the batteries run down - but it's very obvious. When that happens I put new batteries in, or recharge the rechargeables, and do the button setting over again - scan, then reassign the presets.

[Anastasius]

According to the search, my nearest transmitter is at Swingate and my reception is green; Transmitter with good BBC coverage prediction. It’s really only Radio3 I can’t receive, and only on this radio.

I'm stumped TBH. Swingate shows no work being carried out.

Dave2002 has made some good suggestions and pipped me to the post.

[Dave2002]

Msg 6 seems to indicate that it probably isn't a model with digital scanning and/or presets - mention of a tuning dial tends to rule that out.
Is it battery or mains powered, and if the latter, does it have a separate power supply, or is the power supply internal?

[Anastasius]

Msg 6 seems to indicate that it probably isn't a model with digital scanning and/or presets - mention of a tuning dial tends to rule that out.
Is it battery or mains powered, and if the latter, does it have a separate power supply, or is the power supply internal?

But why would the battery fail at 92.4 but be Ok for R2 and R 4 ?

[doversoul1]

Msg 6 seems to indicate that it probably isn't a model with digital scanning and/or presets - mention of a tuning dial tends to rule that out.
Is it battery or mains powered, and if the latter, does it have a separate power supply, or is the power supply internal?

It’s definitely pre-digital and it is battery run. When batteries are low, the sound quality drops. Although I noticed that the sound quality became poor without the batteries being low some time ago, it has been impossible to hear R3 for the last few days. It may be something temporary. I’ll keep on trying and report back. It looks almost as if R3 were hidden behind all the other stations!