Mini and skinny Shortwave radio

This is a review of the Grundig mini 100 PE shortwave radio. It can be purchased at a very low cost of about 20 to 40 dollars online. The radio is very tiny less than the size of a pack of cigarettes. It looks like Grundig makes another more expensive version of this radio that is gold in color and has a digital readout. Almost all electronic stores do not stock shortwave radios so it's probably best to buy the radio online.

The radio is very cute and attractive. It comes with a leather case, ear buds, and a small shortwave manual. The warranty is for one year.

The radio has AM and FM plus 6 of the most popular shortwave bands. The FM reception is decent in an urban area if many local stations are available to listen to. I live in the countryside with many hills in my area. This poses big problems for the radio receive wise. Both the FM and AM bands are not as sensitive to reception as an average high quality radio AM FM radio.

The speaker is very tiny about one inch. I suspected the speaker would be a problem because of it's tiny size and I was correct on that. The volume is way to low and the fidelity is poor from the tiny speaker. The FM stereo is very good, equal to the quality of a good walkman type radio.

The shortwave reception was passing with a good variety of stations coming in. This radio is much more affected by buildings than other shortwave radios. It really likes to be run outdoors with no obstructions to block the antennas reception.

The radio is a great bargain with it's low price and the one advantage it does have over other shortwave radios is it's extreme portability. If you need a small shortwave radio for portable use the radio is worth buying but for home use this radio may be a poor choice because of it's substandard speaker and below average reception on the AM and FM bands.