Al Gives Thumbs Up to His Newly-Acquired Sangean PR-D5

I have had the PR-D5 for a couple of weeks now and it is so very much better reception than my old clock radio! I can get AM 720 from Chicago at night now. I do find that on many nites I still need to turn the radio's position when the signal fades. I see that Crane touts an external antenna. Do you think that it would help much? I don't have a plug in for an external antenna on my PR-D5 but I see where they talk about it still working. I also want to get a ear phone - does that under the pillow one work very well? 

Al, I also have to move the PR-D5 around a lot at night. I don't have to move my CCR-2 as much and I don't know why since both radios presumably have the same ferrite antenna. Regards to an external antenna, some readers swear by them, but they're too obtrusive for my tastes. Regarding the pillow speaker, I know about it but have never used one. 

Comments

[Ed]

Look into the Terk AM Advantage antenna. It doesn't require a connection and boosts AM signal strength. About $35.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

A $35 Terk added to a $70 PR-D5 is still far less than a $150 CCR-2.

[Gary]

But any loop antenna -- whether it's an internal ferrite bar or an inductively-coupled air-core loop -- is directional, and needs to be pointed the correct direction for the best reception.

[Tony de Korte]

I use the Ccrane twin coil AM antenna with my CCradio2. Here in Newbury Park,CA, it really helps with certain lower power stations. At night it may help some stations with fading. I find that this antenna plus the CCradio2 and great combination.

[Mike W]

I have a PR-D5 and a CCrane Twin Coil Ferrite antenna now, and have had the original CCRadio and a Select-A-Tenna AM antenna in the past.

It's been my experience that outboard antennas have generally yielded no net improvement of AM reception with radios that were already top performers, such as the PR-D5, the CCRadio, and the GE Superadio III. Other people have reported differently, however.

I regard directionality as a strength in an AM portable because it allows the peaking of wanted signals, and to a lesser extent, the nulling of unwanted 'co-channel interference'. It can get a bit distracting, though, what the speaker(s) being at a less than optimal angle to one's ears.

Jeff, I am surprised that you find the CCR-2 noticeably less directional than the PR-D5 on AM. I wonder if the new antenna tuning circuit on the CCR-2 is a factor there, although I cannot imagine why it would be.

As far as the earphone/pillow speaker goes, at least it neatly solves the problem of the PR-D5's speaker angle changing as you rotate the radio.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Mike, I have to rotate the PR-D5 a lot at night. I barely have to rotate the CCR-2. Is it the tuning circuit? Maybe.

[Tony de Korte]

The CCradio2 has a AM circuit that varactor tunes the radio for highest sensitivty for about 5-7 seconds every time you tune to a different station. I don't know if the PR-D5 has a tuneable twin coil ferrite that the CCradio2 has. The CCradio also has 1Khz tuning steps, which really helps with adjacent channel interference day and night. The PR-D5 cannot tune in 1Khz steps. The PR-D5 is less expensive because it does not have these features. I cannot atest to the sensitivity of the PR-D5 being that I don't own it.