12-Band AM/FM/Lwith SW1-9 Highly Sensitive Multi-Band Radio

Somewhere during my adolescence I became extremely interested in shortwave (SW) radio. In the years as the internet was still a cultural seedling,it seemed like a way to bring the rest of the world a little closer for the non jet setter. Also there just seemed to be something very fascinating about hearing the opinions,voices and music of other worlds and languages. Now this little device is by no means my first shortwave receiver,it's actually the first radio I've owned in a long time. And note that during my life I've never been without a radio. And I didn't even buy this. It was won in a contest. That being said I was expecting next to nothing in terms of quality. I was actually pleasantly surprised. Usually I avoid personal stories when reviewing anything. Sentimentality is not something I think is wholly necessary for even an amateur product reviewer. But in this case it's really essential to this radio's performance in my life. During the end of August this year my area was ravaged by Hurricane Irene. I've never been one of those people who reacts well in power outages. And everyone was warned this hurricane could cause that. For a long time it didn't. But eventually that night,around dinner time it did. It was honestly a very frightening experience for me. Even as an adult. Seemed as if the world I knew had gone dark and disappeared. I had almost forgot I had this radio and it was laying around dressed up with nowhere to go. Honestly........hearing it not only took my mind completely off of the intimidating storm but I was amazed at the audio quality and receivability of the stations,especiall FM and SW. Now shortwave signals,even on the best radios are difficult to pick up. But on this one? Very happy with the performance. Because I am hardly an expert of radio quality,I suppose an experts example of a "good" sounding radio might be "great" to me because I judge the medium from a somewhat different criterion. No matter how you get around it though this is an excellent budget priced radio that will do the trick if you want an easy to operate,and sleekly retro looking AM/RM/SW radio in your kitchen,office or just by your bedside wherever you are.