What is the cheapest radio?

I assume people who read this blog have so many things in common, one of them is a love for gadgets, especially radios and SDRs. To others, a radio is a radio, but not to us. We invest so much money and time to obtain and play and experiment with different tools and compare them. I have had so many SDRs and some traditional radios (not as much as Thomas, though) and I really get the best that I can afford for my needs.

But one day walking in a local electronics shop in Berlin/Germany, a small radio caught my eye, not because it was any special or different than other pocket-sized radios, but because of its price tag. It was the first time I had seen a single digit price for a radio!

I bought it without hesitation, for 9,99€ and later I realized it’s even cheaper in Austria: 6€ !

I’m talking about “ok. ORF 110”, an AM/FM radio running on two AAA batteries and using analog knobs and no display. Nothing special can be found on this little device; It has power on/off button, AM/FM band switch, volume knob, analog frequency knob, earphone socket and an internal telescopic antenna with a maximum 18cm length. And it does even come with 2 years of warranty.

The first thing that I did was compare it with my beloved portable radio: the Sony ICF-SW100, and I must say that I’m amazed. This little radio is on-par with Sony on FM; Unfortunately I can’t receive any AM signals from my apartment, so there wasn’t much that I could test there. But overall I’m really satisfied with the reception and audio quality. This can be a good companion for anyone who wants to have a cheap backup radio.

Here’s the link to the product: https://de.ok-online.com/de/radios/radios/orf-110.html

I wonder if you know of anything even cheaper? I would love to see and try what would be the cheapest (I haven’t searched the Chinese websites though. I was looking for something that I can buy here in Europe without spending on shipping or customs).

5 thoughts on “What is the cheapest radio?”

Neil Goldstein October 8, 2019 at 10:38 am

This is something I thought about a few times, and made it a practice of looking for and keeping the cheapest conventional pocket AM/FM radio I could find in my eBay watch list. This is currently the one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-AM-FM-Radio-Mini-Telescopic-Antenna-Radio-World-Receiver-Radio-Speaker/312778492462?epid=2276259090&hash=item48d30d0a2e:g:KbgAAOSwv2xdcIRy

Some other interesting finds though: For those of you DIYers:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-Kit-HX3208-FM-Frequency-Modulation-Micro-SMD-Radio-Kit-1-8V-3-5V/253310441781

And SW included pocket radio: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Full-Band-Stereo-FM-MW-SW-LW-Radio-World-Band-Receiver-Sound-Alarm/362728901127?hash=item547453ca07:g:k1YAAOSwypZbyFuF

Reply ↓

Mike S October 7, 2019 at 2:13 pm

Prolific YouTube poster “todderbert” has a channel called “Radio Waves” in which he reviews radios old and new. A periodic feature looks at the cheapest portables on the market, and includes teardowns, bandscans, and side-by-side comparisons at times. If you’re looking for a very inexpensive set it’s worthwhile to look at his channel. He has also posted text-mode summaries on the Amazon product listings for some of those sets, too.

Reply ↓

JAMET Paul October 6, 2019 at 1:37 pm

Hi,

The cheapest World receiver I found (and bought! for 8.81€ delivered) is the Retekess v111:
RETEKESS V111 FM Radio with Clock Alarm DSP Stereo MW SW Portable Radio Full Band World Receiver FM Radi – https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000086597492.html

I am amazed by its abilities!

Reply ↓

13dka October 5, 2019 at 9:31 am

You can find tiny FM radios in bargain bins for 1-2€ in several surplus etc. stores and I remember that I used to buy cheap little AM radios made in Hongkong for 9,95DM in my childhood, which was like $2 back then. I do appreciate a bargain radio but I don’t think it’s a good thing to buy highly redundant, very likely very bad or at best mediocre super-cheap plastic radios just to see how bad they really are. All the bad plastic radios I bought and disassembled as a kid have likely been swimming in some ocean and causing trouble for the past 45 years already, don’t we produce and consume enough plastic junk already?

Reply ↓