RetekessTR110 Portable SSB Shortwave Radio, Emergency Radio, Full Band Radios MW FM SW Air CB with NOAA Alert, FM Stereo, Clock, Sleep Timer

Awesome little radio

First, I deducted one star because this radio came without the industry standard protective film applied to the display. Ouch! Did the quality control step miss this, or did Retekess cheap out on the film.Anyway, the screen is okay. The radio was in a plastic bag and protected with a foam surrounding inside the box. The fit and finish of the radio is superb. The finish of the radio is a nice gray color and has a slight stippled finish. Meaning that the radio doesn’t readily show fingerprints. Yeah!Now as far as operations. I didn’t time how long battery took to charge. Oops. The battery was almost dead initially. It took just over 2 hours as an estimate to charge up. I ran this radio at 50% volume for 10 hours over 2 days. The battery indicator shows 3 bars when full, and showed 2 bars after 10 hours of play time. Very nice play time so far.The speaker sounds like a small speaker. A little tinny. But the sound is very intelligible. So because of the tinny sound from the built in speaker, I tried Etymotic ER3se IEM’s to see if the sound quality improved. The sound quality was the same through the IEM’s. So that means in my opinion, the sound chip inside is impacting the sound reproduction more than the small size speaker. It’s a shame that a little better sound circuit and integrated IC chip wasn’t used. I think that Retekess could have had a premium radio if they had done a little more work with the audio. Retekess did add some sound ports on the back of the radio. I would call them “bass ports” if there was any bass coming from the speaker.Now as far as the reception. Retekess did a really decent job with the receiver of this radio. Just using the built in telescopic whip antenna, reception on all of the band was impressive! You do need to read the included manual to operate this radio. After reading the manual it’s not too bad to remember how to go through all of the functions. I was surprised at how well reception is on the VHF Air band and CB band.Reception of the shortwave band also impressed me. I found I could receive many commercial shortwave stations and even listen to many SSB transmissions from ham radio stations around the world.Conclusion: For a pocket radio to listen to AM and FM radio on the go. This is a fantastic option. Adding on all of the other bands on top of the AM and FM bands makes this radio so much better and more exciting. This would even make it a great emergency radio.I am very glad that I took the chance on this radio.This is a great little radio to use on the go and to add to a collection if someone collects SW radios.

First off, I like the way this small receiver is on SSB. Listening to SSB on the shortwave frequencies locks in the voice without drift, but when you power off the radio, and back on, it's off frequency and needs to be retuned. The SSB is 5khz off frequency and needs fine tuning. Otherwise, I like the wideband coverage, it's portability, and memory storage. Has great filters for SSB.

But in general I like it. Bearing in mind its small size and comparing it with various radios like Tecsun or Xhdata it is not inferior. Of course, if you wish to listen to SW you'd better go to the countryside, but it's ok on ssb. You have to get used to using those knobs to set it in different modes, but once you get the knack, then there is no problem. It is a radio for those who know what they need. I wouldn't think it's suitable for a those who need radio just like a toy for FM or MW, but those who like scanning frequencies while staying in the woods will find it as a very nice one, though I wish the telescope antenna was much sturdier, you have to be careful with it. Besides this, readings on screen are difficult to read without reading glasses, but there's probably no way to make them bigger. I've been using it only for 2 weeks and so far no complaints. It works great with external antenna as well. As for sensitivity, it's quite sensitive on SW, but external antenna would be recommended if you are using it indoors. Overall, it's really not bad for the price, I wouldn't say excellent but it's OK.

Bring your reading glasses. Aside from the small display this is great value for the money. Performance is pretty good, not great, but the versatility and small size outweigh any shortcomings. I travel with this.

After I requested a replacement I gave it a work out and it gave me one back. The CB band is a farse, it will not lock on the signal of a CB 's transmission, definitely doesn't work well for that.Additional info, thumb wheel adjuster stopped working. Very fragile radio with poor reception due to weak antenna. I can pick up CB signals with a handheld 40 channel without a problem but, this will not even with sqeultch function turned off. It is sad to me that it is difficult to purchase solid products.