Good Portable Radio

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Biggkidd

Biggkidd

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Do any of you have experience with job site radios? Something like this maybe.

Milwaukee M18 Jobsite Radio # 2890-20 45242364244 | eBay

We live way out from any stations and get terrible reception around here. Plus I am HARD on stuff like radios. I'm tired of having cruddy reception and a radio I can't hear. Looking for something that can get decent reception and take a beating that can go where I go around the place as I work. I already have a couple of batteries.
 
We need a new radio too,but also wondering how long the radio be on air? So many old host have gone the way of podcast and internet. Lavine is all but gone,Savage been off for a couple years,Rush is gone now and looks like Ben Shapero is just hanging in there.We have a weather radio .But I may be wrong so may see about buying one too. Hubby uses it for tinitis at night.Its get his mind off teh ringing.I don't care politicing all the time but if it helps him I'll have to listen to them.Music keeps me up singing along so thats out!
 
If better reception is your goal, the antenna plays the biggest part in that. You want to move around, so you will have to compromise on the antenna unfortunately. I don't know if jobsite radios have external antenna connections. If they do, you could get better reception with an external antenna, but at the expense of portability.

Do you have WiFi access out where you need to go when you're mobile? An app on a smartphone streaming music to a bluetooth connected speaker might be an option then. You could stream over a cellular connection as well, but that could get expensive if you have low data limits and high "over limit" charges. You could also download the music you want directly to your smartphone (so you have a local copy), and then send that music out to a bluetooth speaker of sufficient size to meet your volume needs.
 
Cell service is sketchy at best unless I am inside the house where the signal booster is. Mostly there is none! Same problem with radios they just can't get much signal way back here.
 
A friend that died a few years back really liked Sangean radios, he claimed they were the best for picking up stations that other radios couldn't. He bought his through C.Crane 1-800-522-8863 or ccrane.com . They also sell a Terk Antenna that can be connected to your radio by wires or just put near your radio which improves AM reception by a process called inductive coupling, I've seen this antenna work and it's amazing how good it can make poor reception so much better.
 
AM or FM stations? The other issue is "high sensitivity" radios tend to be less robust in a jobsite environment. I have no experience with the Milwaukee, but it might be better to get an amplified speaker and try less expensive radios till you find one that suits your need.

Cincinnati is not a great test site for bad radio reception, there are high watt clear channel stations within not many miles.

Only you know your location and terrain, but FM is pretty much line of sight.
 
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FM Line of sight is terrible due to terrain and distance. We're 30+ miles from okay radio stations and 70 miles from a good one. Worse they are at slightly lower elevations. Since my old one that did get all the stations died most of the radios I've tried won't even reliably get the closer stations.
 
Biggkidd said:
FM Line of sight is terrible due to terrain and distance. We're 30+ miles from okay radio stations and 70 miles from a good one. Worse they are at slightly lower elevations. Since my old one that did get all the stations died most of the radios I've tried won't even reliably get the closer stations.
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You might have to go shortwave.

My dad used to have an enormous boom box type radio, probably from the early 80s. It had AM/FM/SW1/SW2. FM reception wasn't better than any other radio but the AM was top notch, and the SW was amazing. I recall being in Canada, 300 miles from anywhere, and getting a station called Midnight Sun that played music on SW. Sounded just like good FM...
 
I got tired of looking at all the reviews and such must have looked at several hundred different radios. Went ahead and ordered this Milwaukee today. Almost ordered a couple extra batteries too but then decided to hold off until I see how the radio works here. Paid a little extra for the squaretrade warranty so if it doesn't work as I want it to I will send it back! I have owned a LOT of different cordless tool brands over the years and the Milwaukee brand far surpasses all the others in my opinion. My 1/2 inch cordless drill batteries in the drill I had before switching to the M18 style lasted over 14 years. The M18 style I have now are going on 5 years old or maybe a little older and they still work as good as the first time I used them. So hopefully this radio will live up to those expectations!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353416465596
P.S. This is the first unnecessary purchase I have made in YEARS praying I don't regret it!!!
 
dademoss said:
Let us know how it works for you :D
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I certainly will once I get it here and try it out. I seriously doubt I am the only one on here that lives so far from the masses they have trouble getting reception.

I feel a bit like a kid waiting for christmas now! This is the first thing I've bought in YEARS that wasn't a need or a prep. . .
 
Got the new radio in today, great shipping. Down side the radio is obviously used as it has a name on tape inside the Aux compartment and some mostly dead generic batteries for the clock and a few scratches in the finish. On the plus side it does get better reception than all the other newer radios I've tried here. It's nowhere near as good as my OLD radio was. Sound quality is WAY better than the rest! The aux port and charging port both work and for some odd reason my phone's hotspot actually works better inside the compartment than outside. Over all even though it is used I'm fairly happy with it so far. It's loud enough and clean sounding!
 
Glad it works well. As far as the used part, I would definitely pursue that. How sellers think they can say "new", charge for "new", then give you "used" is beyond me. If you bought it from the eBay seller you listed in your first post, they definitely say "new" and they also say "Milwaukee Authorized seller". I would give them the ultimatum, (1) I'll keep it if you refund half of the price paid, (2) You can cross-shop a new one and issue a prepaid "will call" UPS/FedEX ticket for the used one, or (3) Deal with my complaints to both eBay and Milwaukee.

You may be happy with the radio, but the people that sold it to you really took advantage of you. Not something that I would put up with personally. There are probably plenty of reputable places to get that radio from. No need to coddle the scammers who will just go out and do this to someone else next time. I would cut them no slack for their obvious, intentional deception. A piece of tape with someone else's name on it? Mostly dead batteries inside? Come on.
 
Haertig said:
Glad it works well. As far as the used part, I would definitely pursue that. How sellers think they can say "new", charge for "new", then give you "used" is beyond me. If you bought it from the eBay seller you listed in your first post, they definitely say "new" and they also say "Milwaukee Authorized seller". I would give them the ultimatum, (1) I'll keep it if you refund half of the price paid, (2) You can cross-shop a new one and issue a prepaid "will call" UPS/FedEX ticket for the used one, or (3) Deal with my complaints to both eBay and Milwaukee.

You may be happy with the radio, but the people that sold it to you really took advantage of you. Not something that I would put up with personally. There are probably plenty of reputable places to get that radio from. No need to coddle the scammers who will just go out and do this to someone else next time. I would cut them no slack for their obvious, intentional deception. A piece of tape with someone else's name on it? Mostly dead batteries inside? Come on.
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I've got an email in to them now I'll give them till end of business tomorrow to respond. I partial refund is exactly what I was thinking since it does work.
 
Just checked my email and the seller already responded. They offered a $40.00 partial refund or I could send this one back for a full refund. I agreed to the partial refund and think their customer service is pretty good seeing as they came up with a passable solution in reasonable time.
 
Were the un-filled-in warranty papers for the radio included in what they shipped you? I would definitely want the manufacturer's warranty on an expensive radio like that.
 
No and no owners manual either I did purchase the Squaretrade warranty with the radio through Ebay though so I do have some coverage. I really like the fact the controls are simple and easy to figure out. I already set the preset stations and the clock.
 
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