Am Radio Reception & VHF/UHF Radio.

Hi Beach40

Maybe they can have a sat dish fitted and use all the radio stations available on there??

Or a bloody big tower with the aerial on top.

And as for UHF there are many models available from about $300 up

Regards

Geoff

Beach40

As a person in his 60's and with friends of the same era I would heartilly recommend that you DO NOT go GEMACs way with a satellite dish. Okay if you are going to sit in a caravan park or the same spot for weeks on end and vegitate. But not for touring. Too much trouble to set up and pull down for all those one night stops.

There are signal (AM & FM) boosters available. I was shown one at BDL Car Audio once for about $80 installed. Go and see them.

For UHF radio have a look at the cheaper GME radios on the internet with Google. Dont get one with all the controls in the microphone. From what you say it would be a pain if they dropped it and accidently put itnto some "strange" mode. KISS!!! Maybe even second hand 40 channel one will do. They are good for a few years yet and by that time they may decide to really get into 4WD and go up-market themselves.

Cannot help with the short wave stuff. Maybe Jaycar.

Phil

The days of long distance AM broadcasts have, to a great extent, gone, replaced by localised FM radio.

SW is a bit boring too, replaced by the internet.

However, this radio from Dickies is probably the best value for money you will get, it's $50 off at the moment too.

DSE Outback Radio

I've got one, and I'm over 60.....

Beach40
"They soon discovered that the vehicles AM radio leaves a bit to be desired once they get away from populated areas"
If this is the case they will also disapointed by the portable AM radios also.
I was told by a radio tech that adding an external ariel to a $200 portable radio won't improve the range and that you get a better reception with a good vehicle AM radio.

They need a loop antenna.

There is an Australian one that looks a bit home made and is about $80 or this one from China.
Tecsun 200 Loop antenna

If the radio they have has an external antenna socket you plug it in, otherwise like I do you put the radio in the middle of the loop. It doesn't need batteries and works unbelievably. i use it int he high county all the time and it takes a weak signal buried in noise to a very listen able signal.

It sounds too good to be true but loop antennas are recognised as about as good as you can get. - Google loop antenna.

It will blow them away.

Hi beach40

As a graduate of the sixties (I outgrew them), I have to say that AM radio gets pretty problematic once you get out where you want to go.

Our solution is generally to take a stack of CDs and listen to music, confining radio listening to towns, and that generally on an FM band. These days we take all our CDs on an iPod and that works well, but if they are not willing to learn a bit of new stuff then that step may be too far. Talking book CDs have worked well for us on those long stretches too.

If their Disco is a few years old, a new radio may be the go. If you / they go into somewhere like Dick Smiths or JB Hi Fi (we have found them good), and explain to the sales person that they want something for long distance listening, they will find quite a range of radios. They need to be shown how to use it, especially the "seek" function, but if they look for quality over price, they can get it and have it installed.

In all honesty though, AM radio is getting harder to pick up.

Max

One option often overlooked - add a length of wire to the vehicle's aerial and throw it over a tree. Not much help when mobile (!) but a few metres of insulated wire ending in a clip to clip onto the aerial works wonders.

For a very sensitive portable AM/SW/FM/SSB radio it's hard to go past the Degen 1103. The downside is that you need a teenager to drive it.

HTH

Cheers

John

Hi there Beach 40
We are with Boobook.
Car radio is hopeless unless you are in town.
We have a Tecsun PL-600 radio and a Tecsun AN-200 loop antenna and it drags in the most distant AM stations. The radio was $82 and the antenna was $15 post was free.
We have never missed the footie or the cricket.
Signals are loud and clear.
Comes with rechargable batteries X 4 and a 240v. powerpack.
Runs for days on four batteries.
Still go for a vhf/uhf radio.

Gidday

Quite a few people have mentioned poor reception on AM with in-car radios. It begs the question, what antenna does the car radio have? My experience when is that a old fashioned fender, pillar or roof mounted antenna provides far better reception than the in-glass antennas favoured by many manufacturers these days.
Out of the car I use a Sangean portable which has short wave which is good for listening to sport on Radio Australia at weekends. Last time I looked they even broadcast Macca on a Sunday morning, though I passed on that.
If you are truly remote broadcast band AM is patchy to non existent in the day but at night you can pick up a huge number of stations. It's also worthwhile to have a look at the ABC website for a full list of their frequencies as many small towns and remote settlements rebroadcast capital city programs on local FM frequencies.



Cheers

Just lost my whole reply trying to edit a link (not happy Jan) so here's a summary. My experience only - not definitive, and I've generalised to keep it brief (forum narks please take note).

- Changing radio aerials will only make a small difference (say 10-20% as a very rough guide) unless the existing one is rubbish. The head unit is much more important. Been down that path.

- There is no holy grail of car radios for Oz conditions since Eurovox died.

- Like many others I have a portable multi-band Degen De1103, and a loop antenna. Works well enough.

- Plenty of good info on here re UHF. Stick to a reputable band - Oricom, GME, Uniden etc - and get it car mounted (no batteries, smaller mic, better reception).