Portable radio

[Dave2002]

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

It wouldn't but if the gain was marginal on R3, and less marginal on the others, then the battery level could influence the observed behaviour.

dover's comment about it almost seems as if R3 is hidden behind the others might have something in it. Could there be an unmodulated carrier on the same frequency which would jam it? If so it would probably either be accidental or illegal. As far as the set goes, why not take it out and about, since it's a battery portable, and see if the behaviour is the same in other locations?

I noticed that Radio Kent has two frequencies - would it be worth searching to see if by any chance R3 is available on another frequency? Probably not.

Next step after this might be to let the BBC technical dept. know - maybe "nobody" listens to R3, so they switched the transmitter off, or the modulator anyway, or maybe it's a test by some genius in BBC admin and forward planning to see if anyone will notice if R3 drops off on specific transmitters.

Keep vigilant!

[Old Grumpy]

Does the radio have an analogue tuning dial or strip? Inside the radio there may be a wheel on the back of the tuning knob which is attached by a rotational thread system to the tuning display. Is it possible that this fault is due to something mechanical happening with the thread, such that the display does not represent the actual frequency being recieved?

OG

Edit: Another thought - do you have another receiver you can use to check that you are able to receive R3 on 92.4 MHz from the Swingate transmitter?

[Old Grumpy]

Radio Listener's Guide 2019 lists 5 Analogue portable radios under £50.01 (at the time of going to press).

All are Roberts, namely:

• R9993
• Classic 996
• Classic 997
• R9954
• R9928

Each receive FM, MW and LW and Classic 997 has stereo reception. This set is awarded 4/5 in the review, the others 3/5. The last 3 in the list have a speaker diameter of 92mm, the others are ~76mm. None of these have an alarm function. The cheapest set listed with an alarm function is an XHDATA D-808 @ £70. This is the only set in the list awarded 5/5.

OG

[cloughie]

Radio Listener's Guide 2019 lists 5 Analogue portable radios under £50.01 (at the time of going to press).

All are Roberts, namely:

• R9993
• Classic 996
• Classic 997
• R9954
• R9928

Each receive FM, MW and LW and Classic 997 has stereo reception. This set is awarded 4/5 in the review, the others 3/5. The last 3 in the list have a speaker diameter of 92mm, the others are ~76mm. None of these have an alarm function. The cheapest set listed with an alarm function is an XHDATA D-808 @ £70. This is the only set in the list awarded 5/5.

OG

Why would anyone these days buy a radio without DAB, even if they are only going to use FM for now - buy a DAB/FM!

[Old Grumpy]

OP requested details of FM/AM portables. Point taken though. Should also include DAB +, I would have thought.

OG

[doversoul1]

I spent not quite an hour but almost, at 4.00 am the other day with Through the Night on my main FM tuner, the portable radio pressed against my ear and moving the tuning dial very carefully up and down, back and forth. I could snatch the matching sound of the music with that of coming from the tuner from time to time but never managed to ‘catch’ it. Then I caught it, or it did itself, although the sound quality was poor. So I left it there and switched off. I turned it on in the morning but it was gone; back to the same state.

Dave
I’ll try it somewhere else and see what it does.

cloughie
Re: DAB. I won’t need it if more choice of the stations is the advantage, as I only listen to Radio 3 on this radio.

Anastasius and OG
Many thanks for your concern and suggestions.

[cloughie]

If you can’t get FM radio 3, you may just be able to get it on DAB, maybe a stronger signal. Also there is a possibility, maybe sooner with Boris than later, that the government pull the plug on FM! But doversoul you have boosted my credentials on these boards as jane and bryn have me down as the Chief Backwoodsman in regard to the sophistications of new technology - you now have the crown!

[doversoul1]

If you can’t get FM radio 3, you may just be able to get it on DAB, maybe a stronger signal. Also there is a possibility, maybe sooner with Boris than later, that the government pull the plug on FM! But doversoul you have boosted my credentials on these boards as jane and bryn have me down as the Chief Backwoodsman in regard to the sophistications of new technology - you now have the crown!

Oh, I have been openly a Backwooder from the day one. My needs are fulfilled and I have no interest in anything extra.

As for FM, yes there has been a worrying rumour which may be now a step nearer to become real.

[LezLee]

I can only get stereo FM on my 20 year old little portable Sony radio in the bathroom (it's waterproof). However I can get good quality DAB on a £35 Polaroid 2 speaker mains radio/CD player. Perhaps the signal frequencies are completely different and you could be OK?

[Dave2002]

I'm almost betting on batteries being the problem. Is there any sign of batteries having deteriorated inside the battery case? If so, scraping the terminals inside the radio (a knife will do for this) if they are accessible, and putting in new batteries should improve the gain enough to pull R3 in. Remember that R3 has a wider dynamic range (or should have) than most other channels, which means that it can often sound quieter. It is plausible that R1,R2 and R4 will be noticeably louder - or conversely that R3 might be relatively inaudible in comparison.

I'm also guessing that no checks are done on the batteries. I note that sometimes one battery will perform badly, and ruin the whole thing. This happens quite often, and I nearly always check batteries individually - even new ones. One bad battery with a few others possibly good - won't work, and they'll probably all end up with low outputs.

[LezLee]

I've had some success with WD40 on batteries, specially ones with green mould on them!

[Dave2002]

I've had some success with WD40 on batteries, specially ones with green mould on them!

Interesting!

I don't actually think it's green mould. It shouldn't be there though, or on the terminals, and should be removed - scraped off if necessary. Blackened flat surfaces can be rubbed with sandpaper. Batteries which are left in unused equipment are quite likely to cause problems if left for long enough, so should be taken out. I was asked to look at a camera recently, and the lithium based battery wouldn't come out. The owner took it to a camera shop. The battery had bloated, and was jammed inside. It was removed, though I'm not sure how well the camera is doing now.

[Old Grumpy]

I spent not quite an hour but almost, at 4.00 am the other day with Through the Night on my main FM tuner, the portable radio pressed against my ear and moving the tuning dial very carefully up and down, back and forth. I could snatch the matching sound of the music with that of coming from the tuner from time to time but never managed to ‘catch’ it. Then I caught it, or it did itself, although the sound quality was poor. So I left it there and switched off. I turned it on in the morning but it was gone; back to the same state.

Dave
I’ll try it somewhere else and see what it does.

cloughie
Re: DAB. I won’t need it if more choice of the stations is the advantage, as I only listen to Radio 3 on this radio.

Anastasius and OG
Many thanks for your concern and suggestions.

I realise that we actually have a Roberts Classic 996 in the bathroom - nice little set with reasonable sound. Not future/Boris proof though as only AM/FM, no alarm, either.

OG

[Serial_Apologist]

One thought which occurs to me is to enquire of dovers whether any new, especially tall buildings, have been put up in her immediate vicinity since the problem began, between where she lives and the transmitter? I have intermittent problems with my AM/FM radio alarm tuned to Radio 3, but in my case I put this down to being on the ground floor of a 4-story block of flats, with a longish wing projecting to the south-east. The receptor even seems sensitive to people moving around! I tend to get quite a lot of interference from low-flying planes, and especially if lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers etc are being used within 50 metres. These problems also applies to my freeview TV, the signal often being cut off or unavailable, and to re-establish it I have had to resort to dangling the attached aerial out of the nearby window, which is obviously inconvenient especially in winter! "House rules" dictate that we are not allowed to fix external aerials, which in my case would involve a long cable connection to the roof. This has been "explained" to me as down to the proximity of the Crystal Palace transmitter tower and the associated angle of signal reception. We are heavily wooded around here too, and I don't know if arboreal density is a contributory factor.

[vinteuil]

Radio Listener's Guide 2019 lists 5 Analogue portable radios under £50.01 (at the time of going to press).

All are Roberts, namely:

• R9993
• Classic 996
• Classic 997
• R9954
• R9928

Each receive FM, MW and LW and Classic 997 has stereo reception. This set is awarded 4/5 in the review, the others 3/5.

OG

... thank you, useful.

FM reception here is variable, and sometimes I find it necessary to switch from 'stereo' to 'mono' to get rid of interference. Earlier radios always seemed to have a stereo/mono button to do this : recently I've found they don't seem to do this. It's not always clear when looking to buy on-line whether a stereo/mono switch is available, which is irritating...


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