Traveler

I picked this up for my middle school son, and he absolutely loves it. What started as a curiosity has really turned into a hobby—he spends time scanning through the bands, finding stations, and learning about radio in a hands-on way. The tuner works well across AM, FM, longwave, and shortwave, and the ability to store so many presets makes it easy to jump back to favorites. The world clock feature is a neat bonus, especially for shortwave listening, and the compact size makes it easy for him to carry around. It’s been fun watching him get into something so different from the usual gadgets. A well-made, reliable little radio that opened the door to a whole new interest.

The reason I purchased this particular radio is that I owned an old Grundig YP400e that was so old and beat up it was time to replace it. However, I could only spend about fifty dollars. I knew the quality of Grundig radios and this one had the very stable digital shortwave frequency range that I wanted. So far, I'm happy with the purchase. The physical quality is just the level of quality that I expected from them. It is a radio that, even with just the whip antenna, is sensitive enough to reach out and grab FM, AM, and Shortwave stations. The Bad: I only said it would reach out and grab FM, AM, and SW stations. Only those three because, for whatever reason, I cannot get mine to go into Longwave no matter how many times I press the AM/LW button. Is it just mine or the entire production? I don't know. I don't listen to LW and, as far as I know, there isn't really anything down there except beacons. So, I don't miss it and I didn't get it for that, so I'm not disappointed. I think it might be the software, or programming, or whatever because sometimes it takes three or four presses of a button for the radio to switch over or to turn on. It won't do anything unless the screen is lit. Odd, but alright. The Good: Other than the two Bad issues, the radio works just fine. The FM and local AM reception is very good. Listening to a FM station about twenty to thirty miles away isn't a problem. In my West Texas house here in the high plains I can get WBAP 820 from Dallas, TX just fine after the sun goes down. It is a very sensitive radio. Everything else in the radio works just fine as it was designed to do. For the world traveler, the time zone knob is an easy way to change the radio's clock to the local time zone. Just open it up and turn the knob to the appropriate time zone and you're good to go. Just make sure to set the clock to the local time zone first by reading the manual. The physical build of the radio, as in the outside case itself doesn't seem to be fragile to me. It's built tougher than you think. Because it's designed to be used by a traveler it's built to take a little bit of a beating. Shortwave Reception: I put this in a separate section. This is a very sensitive radio that will pick up stations even with the short whip antenna. Reason is, and this is just a guess, is due to the DSP and some type of signal amp inside. Again, just a guess. Because the radio seems to be adjusting itself for the best reception. The volume will lower, or detune, during frequency changes. When it settles on a frequency, the signal will come back as if you're increasing the volume. So, that's why I say that. I could be wrong. But it is very stable. There is no drifting in the signal. So, you will get stations with just the whip antenna. However, there are some things to keep in mind about shortwave reception. Shortwave is AM, or Amplitude Modulation. Same as local AM, just higher frequencies. Therefore, shortwave is susceptible to interference from other electronics, or RFI. Such as: Computers, power strips, wall warts, fluorescent lights, TV's, power lines, etc. If you are in a metal building it will effect the incoming signal and not for the better. Such RFI interference will increase the background static, so turn off everything you don't need while listening to shortwave. It will help. Another thing to keep in mind is atmospheric propagation. Good stations to start off with is WWCR and WRMI, in my opinion. I say that because both of them have day time and night time frequencies that are transmitted specifically for North American listeners. Shortwave station antennas aren't omnidirectional, normally. They usually point in either one direction or two directions such as East and West or North and South. Take BBC for example. I can't here it in the USA because they don't transmit in my direction. So, no matter how good of an antenna I put up I can't receive a station that's not pointed in my direction. Normally. That's why stations such as WRMI have maps on their website which shows transmitter direction and signal strength. Shortwave radio signals are susceptible to the time of day, atmosphere conditions, and even sun cycles. Some stations will work better at night while some work better during the day. I would suggest for anyone wanting this radio, or any radio for receiving shortwave, to do research regarding shortwave propagation. Another to look up is RFI and why such electronics can add static to an AM radio. With that said, let me say this. Because this radio doesn't have an external antenna jack it helps to use a clip-on antenna. Like the CCrane roll-up portable. Personally, I made one from a long length of 18 gauge wire and an alligator clip. A length of wire of about twenty to twenty-five feet crimped to an alligator clip then attached to the whip antenna will definitely help the reception. When not in use, just roll it up and put the antenna away in your pocket along with the radio. Keep in mind that when adding antenna length, not only will it increase the radio signal but also the static. So, it may not seem like it's working. But if you change the display to show dBu and dB you can see the difference. I have a simple wire antenna strung out on my roof and when I clip that to the radio the signal can jump from a 40 dBu to around 70 or 80 dBu on the display. But it also increases the static to 25 dB as well. If you are just starting out in shortwave listening: For starting out, this is a good quality very stable non-drifting digital radio. It would help to research AM Shortwave propagation and RFI electronic interference. It will help someone just starting out to understand why you might not be able to get a station even if you are on the correct frequency. For example: Where I am in West Texas panhandle I'm at 3200 ft. above sea level. Out here the land is just like the people and the language...flat straight and goes on forever. So, with an elevation around 3200 ft. I could get signals better than someone who lives in a valley surrounded by mountains close to sea level. And to understand why turning off electronics will help reception by decreasing the level of static the radio receives thus being able to hear the station better. And be inventive with your antenna. Almost any length of wire crimped to an alligator clip will work as an antenna. Remember Slinky? Look up Slinky antennas on Youtube. Or a metal tape measure screwed onto the alligator clip. Be creative, do research, and happy listening. Update 2-7-21: I got the radio on the 26th of January and immediately put in the batteries. With the radio on for a good few hours each day and the display light on constantly half the time the batteries lasted ten days. Update 3-20-22: I've had this for a year and I've found out something about this radio. It's about the tuning knob and how it changes frequencies. The way you change frequencies quickly is by turning the tuning knob quickly. If you want to change the frequencies slowly then you turn the tuning knob slowly. Well, we have a saying in our household. "Nice in theory, horrible in practice." That method of fast scrolling through frequencies is a nice idea but for one problem. It doesn't work that well after the tuning knob gets worn in. At first it worked just fine, however, as the tuning knob gets used and worn, the programming has a hard time defining when is slow tuning and when is fast tuning. Because it gets worn the system will often see the knob and halfway between notches and will rapidly change frequencies. Even when tuning slowly, the system will think you want to fast scroll through frequencies. There's nothing really wrong with the tuning knob itself even as it wears in with use. The problem is how that worn in knob interacts with the auto slow to fast frequency change feature. This makes getting to the frequency that you want almost like rolling the dice. Sometimes you'll get to it just fine and other times it will keep fast scrolling with no way to slow it down to get to the one you want. So, in my opinion, it was a nice idea but after a while, after a bit of use, it almost becomes unusable because the system is scrolling through frequencies too fast that you can't land on the one you want to listen to. The radio itself is fine, but it would have been better to put a button that selects fast or slow scrolling rather than an automatic feature that is problematic the more it gets used.

I ordered this Eton Elite Traveler radio as an Amazon Warehouse bargain. It arrived in like-new condition in its original box with its leather flip cover and instructions. Reading through the instruction booklet and setting it up took me all of about 10 minutes. The radio is powered by 4 AA alkaline batteries, not supplied, or an A/C adapter, not supplied, and probably not needed for most people. This beautiful looking small radio sounds great and provides a big sound. The radio receives AM/FM/SW and includes RDS which is a fun feature that displays scrolling station and song information for stations that support it. Finding stations is easily accomplished by either manual tuning using the radio's tuning wheel, or by using the radio's ATS pre-sets feature. This radio has many desirable features such as a wheel for dialing in and displaying local times from around the world, a selectable temperature/signal strength/clock display, adjustments for display brightness, a choice for 9/10 k tuning, fast/slow tuning, and can be set up as a bedside alarm. The main features that made this radio shine for me were its size, ease of operation, a bright readable display, RDS, ATS, good receive sensitivity for FM stations supporting RDS, and a big clear sound. This radio checks all the boxes for me. Things I would wish for would be an external antenna jack, a local/DX choice button, a microSD slot, and a longer antenna. I haven't tested the radio's SW receive capability, but I would strongly recommend anyone intending to buy this radio for that purpose to add a clip-on roll-up wire antenna to their purchase. Also, as nice as the provided leather cover is, I took it off because it prevents me from using the kickstand on the back of the radio. Instead, I ordered an inexpensive generic hard case (6x4x2) for transporting and storing my radio. The Eton Elite Traveler is a fun and feature rich little radio. I suspect people rating it poorly may have had trouble understanding the setup instructions. I found this small radio to be reasonably priced considering it includes RDS, and for me an exceptional value as it was Amazon Warehouse purchase.

Eton took over when Grundig left us… almost nobody can replicate the quality of radios by Eton. This one is no exception.

He's pretty smart! I don't like the color of the screen! In the AM band is incredible! Look like a DX AM: i received a radio channel from 1.416 miles!!!

Lo compré motivado por la buenas opiniones de su desempeño en AM. En esta banda es más bien mediocre, en cambio su sensibilidad en FM es extraordinaria, es perfecto para hacer DX en FM.

Dei de presente de Natal para meu pai! Ele gosta muito de rádios. Excelente produto ETON!

No power cord...

Bought it to deter burglars - the plan was go out at night but leave the radio on...but the radio has a timer which turns it off automatically. I, and others, have tried to follow instructions which are rather complicated, but to no effect. I believe the instructions need simplifying.