On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 22:33:29 -0400, Jim Williams
wrote:

I'm looking for a new alarm clock radio. What are some good ones, with
good reception, etc?

Since this is rec.radio.shortwave I'll mention what I use:

I have a YB-400 at my bedside. They're available all over, including
Radio Shack.

Advantages: FM receiver is very sensitive --one of the best portables
I've seen. SW AM reception is pretty good for what it is. MW AM
reception is decent but not magical. The audio section of this radio
is very good for a portable of this size.

Disadvantages: SSB is pretty much an afterthought. It works on
stronger signals where adjacent channel reception is not much of a
problem. But don't expect it to work well. Operating on six AA
Batteries I get about 30 hours of use. It doesn't come with an AC
adaptor and most after market adaptors tend to hum with this unit.

Alarm will go off in almost all conditions. I'm not sure if it works
with the power out and an AC adaptor plugged in, but the clock display
works, so I assume it will go off.

If you wake to the radio, it will power up on whatever it was tuned to
last. For shortwave, this could result on waking to dead air if
you're not certain the station will be on the air and running.

The snooze button is a bit short for my taste. I think it goes for
about six minutes and that value is not adjustable. I also find that
the clock on my radio is not the most stable. It can drift as much as
a minute over a couple months. However, it's a reasonably simple task
to tune in a time station and reset the clock...

73,


Jake Brodsky, AB3A
"Beware of the massive impossible!"