[sachu]

I am fortunate to be living in a part of the country that has immense cultural significance especially during this current generation. Its all about Indie when it comes to the music scene here albeit there is an impressive stage for classical, folk, jazz and damn well any genre you can think of.
 
Radio has always been the forefront of accessible media for the masses. Its what your folks were listening to and probably danced to while the water flowed over the half done dishes when that Frank Sinatra song came on.
 
I've noticed the past 4 months my listening material has largely been the local FM stations. Not that i didn't use to listen to FM prior, but the amount i listen to it has just spiked to a colossal 50-60%. So lucky to have both a classical and Jazz station along with an Indie and local community radio station that brings all sorts of music from across the world to my ears. Radio to me is still cutting edge when it comes to source material. Its all about the music after all and crap..
 
So lets see how serious you are about listening to the airwaves..
 
Feel free to discuss tech as well cause signal modulation/demodulation is a fun topic.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Good to see another radio geek here!

My primary FM tuner is an old H.H. Scott 350B. Awesome piece of gear. If you get a chance to pick one up, so so. It is an all tube multiplex FM - full stereo with only tubes. Manufacturers only made full multiplex tube sets for a few years before they started using chips. The sound is sweet and wonderful. A good antenna picking up a good signal of a good recording is surprisingly good.

I also run a Sony XDR-F1HD tuner. Got it for $50 a few years back - there are still good deals out there. These have a cult following thanks to it's fine quality. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in radio. Cheap, available, and an outstanding receiver. Though the 350B is pure magic, restoring FM sets is a bit tougher than an AM set. The XDR-F1HD can be had new and sounds exceptionally good.

For all the other frequencies out there, I use an Icom IC-756Pro II. This is amateur radio gear, but it has some excellent DSP and will dig out weak signals. Not something to buy unless you're a ham since it has a transmitter, too. If you want to get the full radio spectrum, you'll find nice sets with just tuners from Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood.

Waiting for restoration is a serious boatanchor - an old Hammarlund HQ-129X from 1946. It works, but is tired and needs to be gutted and given new caps and resistors throughout followed by a thorough alignment on a 'scope. I'll get to it, but the thing has about 100 components that need replacing. I have them all in a bag, but want to get through a few amp builds before tackling it. The HQ-129X will be my AM (and some SW) set, because the 350B only does FM.

The other major restoration I need to knock off is a Hallicrafters Skyrider 23. It's the crown jewel of my radio collection, but needs a thorough restoration. I found it for $50 some years back and was just going to do enough to get it working. Then I found out that these are not so easy to come by and that I practically stole it for $50 (for the record, I paid the asking price.) Because of the rarity, it'll be carefully restored and rarely used.

 

[mtntrance]

Great thread thanks for starting it.
 
I live about 120 mile East of LA in the desert-Palm Springs area.  Fortunately there are two radio stations that re-broadcast here from LA, KUSC classical of USC which is just simply outstanding.  For more modern non mainstream we also have KCRW of Santa Monica also public radio.  I used to live in Austin, TX where the commercial and public radio were great and reflected local culture and music.
 
My tuner is a newly refurbished Magnum Dynalab FT 101A.

 

[googleborg]

i recently sold my Onkyo T9090II, was a very nice tuner indeed, nicest i've heard/used and built very well.  use internet radio now.
 
that said I still have an old Ultra valve tuner i use when my PC/hifi is down for modification too  not worth much at all, but it's pristine and makes me smile every time i use something that was made in 1958 in 2011 alongside my fancy-schmancy PC that will become useless after a fraction of the radios life  

 

[zotjen]

Here is a link to my comments I posted on the Sony XRD-F1HD.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/351803/sony-xdr-f1hd

 

[sachu]

Well it is quite agonizing to be sitting here looking at my new Kenwood KT-5020 tuner and not be able to use it as it came devoid of an antenna. And i can't make a simple dipole as i had done with an earlier yamaha CR820 receiver that i had with speaker cables.
 
The kenwood uses an F type connector instead of terminals. Will pick one up locally and fashion a simply dipole antenna and give it a whirl in the next day or two..
 
This is supposedly one of the top 10 tuners out there, so can't wait to try it out.
 
Also have a Sanyo T35 Plus on its way to me. Apparently this is another very strong performer that i plan on using at work along with my Cavalli Audio Liquid Gold prototype.

 

[sharkz]

Sorry to dig this thread up, but I am super excited to have a Tecsun PL-380 AM/FM/SW ultralight receiver inbound to me. I am surprised there aren't more threads about radio receivers or shortwave considering what prolific collectors of gear most everyone here is. This will be my first foray into shortwave and I am excited to see what I can tune up. I figured now was a good time considering the number of cheap and decent Asian receivers that are out there at the moment.
 
I do also have a Sony XRD-F1HD but I really haven't had the space to fashion a legitimate antenna for it.
 
Anyone else out there do any shortwave listening?