Kaito WRX911 AM-FM-SW Radio
Pros:
Really compact shirt pocket sized.
Surprisingly good build quality.
Surprisingly good overall performance.
Cons:
Susceptible to hand proximity.
Small speaker - tinny audio.
Analog dial.
The Bottom Line:
If you want an inexpensive takealong shortwave radio, this is the one to buy.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Purchased from J&R for $16.99 plus shipping. Earlier I returned a blue WRX911 to Amazon.com because the dial calibrations were so far off as to be meaningless. J&R offered the same radio for a price low enough that I thought, "What the heck, I love that analog dial".
The WRX911 from J&R was not the nice metallic blue model sold by Amazon and others; J&R's is PURPLE. Well, that's a dissapointment; but the dial calibration on this WRX911's is good! You can dial up a frequency and the station - if it's on the air - will be there or not far away, tuning-wise.
On the shortwave bands, the sensitivity and selectivity of this little radio are both good - picking up many stations usually well-separated for their neighbors. Compared side-by-side with my Grundig G6, this little radio picks up stations nearly as well. On the stronger stations, there is no noticeable difference.
The sound quality of the WRX911 is good especially considering the size speaker it has. The G6 by contrast has outstanding audio quality for a radio essentially the same size as the WRX911; but, the G6 costs $100.
On FM I am unable to hear any of the NPR stations (all 60-80 miles distant) that come in well on the Grundig G6; but I do hear one of our local (20 miles away) station all up and down the dial <g>. Nevertheless, the WRX911 does pick up all of the local FM stations just fine.
On AM the sensitivity is just so-so. Only one of the stations within 30 miles comes in real well, WINC at 1300 on the WRX911 dial (the station is actually on 1400 khz).
This radio has a nice, solid feel in the hand. The tuning and volume knobs are solid - not wobbly.
So, while not a top performer, the WRX911 is a quality product that is useful on all bands - performing many times better than the price would suggest.
