{"id":14275,"date":"2015-08-18T06:55:21","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T10:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=14275"},"modified":"2015-08-19T07:13:39","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T11:13:39","slug":"the-aiwa-fr-c33-amfmwx-portable-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/the-aiwa-fr-c33-amfmwx-portable-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"The Aiwa FR-C33 AM\\FM\\WX portable radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aiwa-FR-C33-Front\"<\/a>A few weeks ago, SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Ron, sent me an eBay listing for a radio with which I was not familiar: the Aiwa FR-C33<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ron wrote:<\/p>\n

“I know you are primarily HF but here is something\u00a0rather special and unique and inexpensive:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Fullscreen<\/a><\/p>\n

Aiwa’s response to C-Quam in the late 90’s was “AM Wide.” Apparently all this meant was a somewhat wider Murita ceramic filter.<\/p>\n

But…the bandwidth just matches the 10,200 cycle limit imposed on AM stations today…try a Sony SRF-42 or SRF-A1 C-Quam receiver at night on today’s band and note that they’re just too wide.<\/p>\n

I have one of these and can tell you the build quality is great…it has a tone control and on Sony Walkman headphones stations like WSM are just flat-out unreal in sonic quality…the speaker isn’t bad, either.<\/p>\n

A nice big ferrite bar makes it a bit of a DX machine, too.<\/p>\n

FM is also very good; even the weather-band add-on works too.<\/p>\n

Very much worth a go for your collection and enjoyment[.]”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Aiwa-FR-C33-Back\"I’ve been enjoying the FR-C33 for a few weeks now;\u00a0Ron’s assessment is spot-on.<\/p>\n

The FR-C33 produces clear audio via its internal speaker, but where it really shines is with a pair of good headphones plugged in. Though it has no “Mega Bass” feature like many radios of its era, the Aiwa produces great bass tones\u00a0via a good set of “cans”\u00a0(I’ve been using my Sennheiser HD 428<\/a>s).<\/p>\n

\"Aiwa-FR-C33-RightSide\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The FR-C33 has a very useful tone control with a smooth, wide spread between the full bass and treble settings.<\/p>\n

All of the FR-C33’s controls are fluid and functional.<\/p>\n

AM (mediumwave) reception is truly fantastic. I find that the analog tuning wheel is easy to use and there’s enough room for the needle to easily travel across the dial without skipping stations inadvertently (a problem I often find with smaller analog portables).<\/p>\n

It really shines, however, when you can center on a local broadcaster with a quality AM signal. While the FR-C33W doesn’t receive C Quam stereo, of course, its wide AM filter offers up excellent fidelity.<\/p>\n

FM reception is also sound. While I haven’t done a formal comparison on FM, it receives my benchmark FM stations with ease and produces great audio fidelity via headphones. Sensitivity-wise, it might lag slightly<\/em> behind some of the better DSP-based radios out there, but for an inexpensive analog receiver, it\u00a0must be at the\u00a0lead of the pack.<\/p>\n

Ron, I really appreciate the recommendation–thank you! The FR-C33 is a keeper for sure.<\/p>\n

Though these don’t pop up regularily on eBay, you can search for an\u00a0Aiwa FR-C33 by clicking this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, SWLing Post contributor, Ron, sent me an eBay listing for a radio with which I was not familiar: the Aiwa FR-C33. Ron wrote: “I know you are primarily HF but here is something\u00a0rather special and unique and inexpensive: Aiwa’s response to C-Quam in the late 90’s was “AM Wide.” Apparently all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,433,3,129],"tags":[3871,4056,4058,4076,4057],"class_list":["post-14275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-reviews","tag-aiwa","tag-aiwa-fr-c33","tag-aiwa-fr-c33-review","tag-aiwa-fr-c33w","tag-fr-c33"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3If","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8445,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/listening-rewind-radio-australia-rings-in-the-millennium\/","url_meta":{"origin":14275,"position":0},"title":"Listening Rewind: Radio Australia rings in the millennium","author":"Thomas","date":"January 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday\u2013New Year's Eve, 2014\u2013I spent some time listening to a few broadcasters as the new year passed through their time zones. While I missed hearing Radio New Zealand International (the first to welcome the New Year on the air), I did manage to catch Radio Australia, and the New Year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Source: Wikimedia Commons","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13431,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/james-vintage-transistor-radio-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":14275,"position":1},"title":"James’ vintage transistor radio collection","author":"Thomas","date":"June 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to my recent post about the vintage\u00a0Arvin 68R58 transistor radio, SWLing Post reader, James Patterson, has shared photos of his collection in New Zealand. James has captioned each photo below: Many thanks, James, for sharing photos from your collection! You certainly have some gems in there. I was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sanyo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sanyo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sanyo.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sanyo.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35392,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/from-the-archives-radio-australia-rings-in-the-millennium\/","url_meta":{"origin":14275,"position":2},"title":"From the Archives: Radio Australia rings in the millennium","author":"Thomas","date":"December 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear SWLing Post Reader, It's New Year's Eve and as I do each year, I've been spending time on the radio tuning around the bands--crossing borders and time\/date zones at will. Most broadcasters spend this day going over events of the year, playing music and looking back. Some even have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13831,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/jon-spots-a-yaesu-fr-101-on-ebay\/","url_meta":{"origin":14275,"position":3},"title":"Jon spots a Yaesu FR-101 on eBay","author":"Thomas","date":"June 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Jon, who writes: \"Just noticed this very clean Yaesu FR-101 this morning on eBay.\u00a0 When I first saw the FR-101 in the search results, I thought it was the more popular FT-101 series transceiver. Not sure where the price will go on this one,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"YaesuFR101","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/YaesuFR101-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/YaesuFR101-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/YaesuFR101-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7915,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/mikes-review-of-the-commando-r-777-self-powered-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":14275,"position":4},"title":"Mike’s review of the Commando R-777 self-powered shortwave radio","author":"Thomas","date":"November 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mike Kitchen, a volunteer at Ears To Our World, purchases and tests radios for us. 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