TWO MORE SMALL RADIOS COMPARISONS

   Two more small radios are SONY SRF-M37V and SONY SRF-86.  Again, at the same place and about the same time, I checked the reception of the Middle East stations referred in the previous post. The digital SONY performed quite near to the SRF-59. It is worth to note that this handy radio is not selective at all.  Being in Marathon area, which is about 10 Km to the transmitting site of ERT, 729 KHz, Aghios Stephanos, I could receive that signal, in a range of 150 KHz, of the dial.

   The analogue SONY, was the clear winner as it managed to receive better all programs and what’s more in the difficult lower part of MW band, it caught  Kol Israel, 531 KHz, Tel Aviv. The other four radios could not detect even the carrier. This radio is also very quiet compared with the SANGEAN which emits some noise from the digital display. Also its tuning knob is soft and easy to use, contrary to the stiff feel of SRF-59.  The SRF-86 outperformed also in FM reception, being sensitive, selective and musically rich. Regarding FM stereo reception SRF-M37V demonstrated a hiss sound in many programs.

   Finally Sony SRF-86 is the best small radio regarding its overall performance, as a receiver. Nevertheless, Sangean DT-250 comes close, but as it provides more facilities such as PLL tuning, memories and speaker, maybe it becomes the first choice.

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