Kaito Electronics Inc. KA1102BLK Digital AM/FM/SW World Receiver with SSB by Kaito Electronics Inc.
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Digital camera reviews of Kaito Electronics Inc. KA1102BLK Digital AM/FM/SW World Receiver with SSB
Digital camera Review: A little disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
I received the Kaito KA1102 a couple of weeks ago, and although it seems to be very well made and easy to use, I am a little disappointed. It may be that my expectations were too high. I bought the radio primarily to use the AM and shortwave bands. I like to listen to sports events at night as I am relaxing in bed and I was hoping to be able to pull in some AM stations from outside of my area (I live in the Detroit area and sometimes the local stations don't carry national games). However I have not had much success in doing that. I was also hoping to listen to some shortwave stations. I have never had a radio that receives shortwave so I don't have any experience with that. However so far I have not been able to pull in any English speaking stations clearly enough even with the supplied external antenna connected and strung outside a window. Maybe I'm just in a bad location. Based on my experience, if you are considering buying this radio in hopes of getting great AM reception and a variety of shortwave stations, you may want to look at another radio.Digital camera Review: A mini-portable Worldband radio that actually works well.
Summary: 5 Stars
Since the features of the radio have been covered already by the other reviews, I'll just review the performance real quick. I've owned countless SW radio over the years, and never had a mini-portable that worked well. Until now. The KA1102 simply works very well. Will it replace my Sony 2010? No, of course not. But I will be taking my KA1102 with me when I need a small portable. SW reception is surprisingly very good. The narrow filter is better than on radios I own costing 3 times as much. Even when the bands are crowded, the narrow filter allows me to listen to stations 5kHz apart. Amazing on a radio costing $75. The only slight negatives are: MW performance is average, and the radio's functions take a little time to get used to. ..This radio will be one of my "keepers".Digital camera Review: A pleasant surprise....
Summary: 5 Stars
Being a novice at shortwave listener, I really shopped around to find the biggest *bang* for my dollar. Having experienced shortwave first with an old Zenith Transoceanic (which still sits in my livingroom), and then with a mid-80's Unitech, this purchase went above and beyond my expectations...
Despite the cheapness the photo might imply, this is a solid piece of technology...it certainly looks sharper when it's in your hands... Though it's much smaller than I thought it would be, it definately lives up to the hype. Within minutes of installing the batteries, I was receiving Radio Beijing with astounding clarity.
I primarily purchased this radio to listen to at home, but because of it's portability, I take it to work every night...although I work in a pretty high radio interference call center, my AM reception is dimished, but I still get all the major local broadcasters...the FM is absolutely solid (when many of my co-workers can only receive one or two FM signals on their cheap AM/FM/CD players, I can recieve all the channels, and because this unit goes all the way down to 70.0 FM, I get a handful of TV channels also...)
At home, AM/FM reception is stellar...in the evening hours I switch to the shortwave and I can pull in MANY major broadcasters...I've been able to pull in stations as far away as Italy, and India...
Although sound through the speaker is weak, it is acceptible...through the headphones it ROCKS (though not as loud as I would like), and at home, I use the "line-out" jacks to connect to my amplifier..the tuner on this unit is precise...with it's ability to pull in weak channels make it more valuable than my Kenwood receiver...I have yet to find anything on SSB to listen too, but given the reception I've received thus far, I doubt I'll be disappointed...
I would certainly recommend this receiver to anyone who is curious about Shortwave radio, and would like something that's portable. **Also, the rechargeable batteries are a SUPERBIG plus...this radio will actually recharge the batteries! A really big incentive if portability is your thing....
The only detractor I can find is that the manual that came with the radio is a bit hard to understand, and not very clear...but I've had the radio for a week now, and many of the functions are intuative, and became clearer to me with regular use...At this point I don't refer to the manual at all...
Digital camera Review: Awesome portable for the money
Summary: 5 Stars
The Kaito/Degen 1102 is a fantastic bargain. I paid less than $50.00 for mine and I listen to it all the time. Its many features allow for a wide range of listening options, including all shortwave bands, AM/FM (with excellent performance on both the MW and FM bands) and it has an SSB function which is quite easy to tune and very stable. However, unlike the review above, please note that this radio does *NOT* have synchronous detection.
I have owned many shortwave portables and a couple of tabletop radios in my life, and I must admit that I've never gotten such an excellent radio for such a low price as the DE/KA-1102. Order one; you won't be sorry.
Digital camera Review: Below Expectations
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought the Kaito KA1102 - Worldband radio off Amazon about a year ago for around $100 bucks. I wish I could get my money back.
For starters, for $100 bucks you'd think that it would just recharge itself when you plug it in like a cell phone, but it doesn't. I don't use it all the time, so I have to look in the manual to remember what buttons to press to get it to recharge the batteries. It will not do so automatically, which is bizarre in this day & age.
Secondly, the radio uses electricity even when turned off, so the charge on the batteries doesn't last long. Making this the least reliable radios I own. On countless occassions, I would pull this out of a drawer and it would be dead. Two things fix this - get rid of the rechargable batters and just keep some fresh AA with, but not in the radio. OR, forget portability, and just use it plugged in.
Then there's the weak attenna. I'm not referring to signal strength. The attenna on my radio fell off about a month after carrying it around. I've tried various ways of fixing it and nothing works. Very dissapointed in that wonderful feature.
Lastly, it is clear this radio was designed by someone who loves buttons and making things as complex as possible. Just setting the thing to AM takes a bit of figuring out as there is no button that just says AM. There's one for FM, but you have to read the manual to figure out the code for AM. The S/W stuff is easy to figure out, but nothing else is intuitive.
This radio is the worst purchase I've ever made on Amazon.