The Collins R 390 A was the choice military radio from the early 1960s till the last one was made in something like 1884. they are very good and collectable. They are not a starter radio, for the original poster I would look up Sangean, Sony or Grundig portables they are good quality. But they cost more then you may want to spend.


Sangean 803A is good and can be found for $40.00 on the used market.


Grundig YB 400 may work for you, it’s small and can be special ordered through Radio Shack
A Grundig Satellite 500 is also good as is the 700

Sony 2010 is also an older radio that is very good, but it still commands a higher price.

Radio Shack made a desktop radio (the last one they made) it was a DX 394, it works ok (as long as you don’t put a big antenna on it) is priced good on the used market and also doesn’t consume a lot of power when hooked to an external power source.

I had a Timewave DSP filter, it sucked, it made things all distorted and really clipped the audio. I made my own audio filter out of an old under dash car power booster with an 11-band equalizer ( I know I have too much time on my hands) but it works better then the Timewave piece of junk. I should buy a new DSP filter to see if they improved since I had the Timewave filter 4-years ago.

The R-70 has no filter adjustments, they are all pre set at the factory, but they knew what they were doing, as it works great. I’m going to keep this radio forever.


I’d like a new Icom R-75, but the one I have works so well it would be a just another toy.

The Grundig 400 Yacht Boy was replaced by the G400A

G400A was replaced by the Eton E5

Eton E5 was replaced by the Grundig G5

I have had a YB 400 for 8-9 years and listened to 1000's of hours on it but the internal power supply recently went south. I just bought and received a Grundig G5 ($149.00).
This is essentially the same radio as it's predecessors which all trace their lineage back to the Grundig YB 400. The Eton G5 has many new features and enhancements and I expect it to last just as long at the YB 400 has.

This site has a good review on the G5

Don't forget to send out QSL cards, especially when the conversation was humorous.

I still remember the QSL card wanting to know, "Did your buns get chopped off?" That was based on the conversation that he overheard between myself and USCG Commsta New Orleans, La (Commanding Officer). I was in GTMO harbor at the time.

Love that date.

Anyway, I'll stick with my original opinion that a cheap AM/FM is sufficient for the original poster's needs.

In fact, if you want to see your cherished Icom R70's successor (the R75) compared to a $10 Sony radio, see this review. A bit disheartening, no?

I have a Kaito KA009, and it is a decent radio overall, but the SW bands don't pick up much. It will accept an external antenna, which I haven't yet tried, but I suppose that would make a big difference. I haven't been motivated to pursue it based on the results so far.

How well will that Sony do listening to USAF aircraft in the Gulf, or stations Wait it can’t receive shortwave or sideband. Also put the right antenna on the Icom that it was made for and then re-due the test. The results will come out different.

My Sangean 803 (now worth $40.00 will out perform my R-70 if you put a short stick antenna on both. But put a long wire on both and the Icom picks up things the other radio doesn’t even see at all.


They are really made for 2 different markets, even though they both pickup the same frequencies. It’s the same way with that Sony and it’s comparison with the R-75 on the AM band.

For a BOB the Sony will do fine for information, but at home hooked up to the right antenna I would guess that the R-75 will easily out perform it.

Another thing to take into account is that my R-70 was from the factory purposely made less sensitive on the AM band, an internal amplifier was turned off to prevent it from overloading the radio in the presence of strong signals. The guy that tuned up my radio turned this amp back on (the owners manual tells you how to do it) The R-75 may have this same feature, I don’t have one so I don’t know.

Icom’s also excel at digging out a single (quad conversion, and great filters & selectivity) that is buried among other signals, I’m sure that Sony will pick them all up at the same time and send the whole mess to the speaker.

The above doesn’t apply to the Ic R72, it was Icom’s only junk radio.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just having some fun with you. Never let it be said that expensive radios or antennas aren't worth their cost or I'll be in a whole lot of trouble...

But these things are really for radio nerds like us. I think they're overkill for casual users.

I'll admit to being a casual SW radio user.....We have the Grundig (now Eton) 200? I can't remember the number...it has an anolog tuner. It makes it a pain to return to a particular station....my suggestion...get a digital tuner....especially if you want repeatability.....

I have one last suggestion......about antennas.....All I did was take a 30 (or so) foot long hank of wire and using an alligator clip, clipped it to the telescopic antenna.....just doing that resulted in an amazing increase in reception and clarity.

The whole thing set me back less than $50 dollars.

Hope this helps.

Stations change frequencies constantly, based on time of day, current propagation, etc. And officially announced frequencies are updated every year but certainly not stuck to. For the few stations you can easily pick up in the ConUS, it's not too hard to find them.