{"id":66516,"date":"2026-07-07T01:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=66516"},"modified":"2026-07-07T01:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:52:32","slug":"pocket-sized-dx-marks-roberts-sports-995-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/pocket-sized-dx-marks-roberts-sports-995-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Pocket-Sized DX: Mark&#8217;s Roberts Sports 995 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Many thanks to <em>SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Mark (M7MHY), who shares the following review:<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1>Impressive Pocket Performance!<\/h1>\n<p>&#8216;Shirt pocket&#8217; radios are one of my favourite aspects of the hobby. For me, nothing quite beats the enjoyment of cruising the MW band (and a little SWLing on radios that allow), with a tiny, generally inexpensive unit and pushing the boundaries of what is possible with these receivers and their mini-sized internal ferrite bars. I think there should be another subsection of the ultralight category to accommodate such radios &#8211; &#8220;super ultralight&#8221;!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_66517\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-66517\" class=\"wp-image-66517 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"816\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639-300x204.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639-1024x696.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639-768x522.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1639-624x424.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-66517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Both radios are of &#8216;ultralight&#8217; status, but note the size difference.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A couple of days ago, the mail arrived and with it, brought another &#8216;shirt pocket&#8217; radio for my ever-growing collection &#8211; a <strong>Roberts Sports 995<\/strong>, which I believe to be a rebadged <a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/jason-is-impressed-with-the-sangean-dt-120\/\">Sangean DT-120<\/a> for the UK market.<\/p>\n<p>Two AAA batteries brought it to life, and a quick glance at the manual told me how to set the clock. I plugged in my headphones and confirmed all was working before waiting patiently for the dark hours to arrive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-66518\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638-260x300.jpeg 260w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638-888x1024.jpeg 888w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638-768x886.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1638-624x720.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I live in a rural location just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland and my band scan was done indoors &#8216;barefoot&#8217; &#8211; with no passive MW loops or suchlike, anywhere in sight.<\/p>\n<p>I settled in with the new radio around 12:30 am and began to scan the medium wave frequencies.<\/p>\n<p>I have omitted the strong daytime stations from this list. Here are my results;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">648 kHz &#8211; Radio Caroline, Orford Ness, Suffolk, 4kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">327 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">882kHz &#8211; BBC Radio Wales, Washford, Somerset, 10kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">324 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">972kHz &#8211; Sunrise Radio, Southall, London, 1.6kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">323 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">999kHz &#8211; Cadena COPE, Madrid, Spain, 50kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1067 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1035kHz &#8211; Lyca Gold, Southall, London, 2.5kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">323 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1116kHz &#8211; BBC Radio Derby, Burnaston Lane, Derby, 1kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">217 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1170kHz &#8211; unable to ID foreign station<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1260kHz &#8211; unable to ID foreign station<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1296kHz &#8211; Radio XL, Birmingham, 10kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">239 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1305kHz &#8211; Premier Christian Radio, Chingford, London, 0.5kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">322 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1368kHz &#8211; Manx Radio, Foxdale, Isle of Man, 20kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">129 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1386kHz &#8211; Radio Baltic Waves International, Viesintos, Lithuania, 75kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1093 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1458kHz &#8211; BBC Asian Network, Birmingham, 5kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">239 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1467 kHz &#8211; TWR Europe, Roumoules, France, 1000 kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">930 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1557kHz &#8211; Radio Letna, Kaunas, Lithuania, 50kW<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1064 miles<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">1602kHz &#8211; unable to ID foreign station<\/p>\n<p>I am fortunate enough to own a number of this style of radio, and this is without doubt the best performance I&#8217;ve experienced with one of these. The Roberts Sports 995 truly is, in my opinion, a tiny DX machine, which will only improve further with an MW loop. I know of no better performing &#8220;super ultralight&#8221; in this price category (RRP \u00a339.99). It is well worth considering if you happen to enjoy this area of the radio hobby as much as I do.<\/p>\n<p>Best 73&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p>Mark<\/p>\n<p>M7MHY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark (M7MHY), who shares the following review: Impressive Pocket Performance! &#8216;Shirt pocket&#8217; radios are one of my favourite aspects of the hobby. For me, nothing quite beats the enjoyment of cruising the MW band (and a little SWLing on radios that allow), with a tiny, generally inexpensive unit and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[433,3,26,129],"tags":[11152,4099,2874,11151],"class_list":["post-66516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-radios","category-reviews","tag-mark-m7mhy","tag-mediumwave","tag-portable-radios","tag-roberts-sports-995"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-hiQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1413,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/ultralight-shortwave-radios-now-tagged-in-the-shortwave-radio-index-swri\/","url_meta":{"origin":66516,"position":0},"title":"Ultralight shortwave radios now tagged in the Shortwave Radio Index (SWRI)","author":"Thomas","date":"July 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I have gone through the SWRI and tagged all portable shortwave radios that are considered \"ultralights\" by the ultralight \"Definitions Committee.\" Note that \"ultralight dxing\" is primarily a Mediumwave hobby, but you will find that many of the best performing ultralights are also capable, if not best-in-class shortwave receivers. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Radios&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Radios","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/radios\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/db\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/TecsunPL-380.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56485,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/a-little-barefoot-ultralight-mw-dxing-in-which-my-mental-status-is-questioned\/","url_meta":{"origin":66516,"position":1},"title":"A little barefoot ultralight MW DXing . . . in which my mental status is questioned","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"May 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM About 10 days ago, the Better Half and I visited my wife\u2019s sister in Sodus, NY, a small town in the western part of the state near the shores of Lake Ontario. First consideration when packing was \u2013 never mind the underwear and the toothpaste \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CCrane-skywave-SSB-and-headphones-002-001-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CCrane-skywave-SSB-and-headphones-002-001-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CCrane-skywave-SSB-and-headphones-002-001-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14878,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/pocket-dx-finding-the-sony-srf-59-and-srf-39fp\/","url_meta":{"origin":66516,"position":2},"title":"Pocket DX: Finding the Sony SRF-59 and SRF-39FP","author":"Thomas","date":"October 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I have two of the Sony SRF\u00a0series pocket AM\/FM radios: the grey SRF-59 and the clear SRF-39FP. The venerable\u00a0SRF-59 has long been one of the least expensive, quality analog AM\/FM receivers on the market. I originally purchased one new for $14.95\u00a0US including shipping. Here's a short review I made of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sony-SRF-59-and-Sony-SRF-39FP","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sony-SRF-59-and-Sony-SRF-39FP-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sony-SRF-59-and-Sony-SRF-39FP-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sony-SRF-59-and-Sony-SRF-39FP-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22550,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/trying-to-chose-between-the-cc-skywave-and-tecsun-pl-310et\/","url_meta":{"origin":66516,"position":3},"title":"Trying to chose between the CC Skywave and Tecsun PL-310ET?","author":"Thomas","date":"December 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Joe, who recently asked in our comments section: \"The CC Skywave is more than double the price of the Tecsun PL-310ET. The two radios appear to have similar features and performance. Can anyone suggest a reason why one would want to pay the extra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60098,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/checking-out-the-xhdata-d-808\/","url_meta":{"origin":66516,"position":4},"title":"Checking out the XHDATA D-808","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"June 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Size matters . . . especially when it comes to antennas. In general, the more aluminum or wire you can get up in the air (presuming, of course, that it is properly designed), the more signal you are going to pull in. A radio friend has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/XHDATA-D-809-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/XHDATA-D-809-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/XHDATA-D-809-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23072,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/video-gary-debocks-baby-fsl-antenna\/","url_meta":{"origin":66516,"position":5},"title":"Video: Gary DeBock&#8217;s &#8220;Baby FSL&#8221; antenna","author":"Thomas","date":"December 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Gary DeBock (N7EKX), who shares this video and notes the following on YouTube: This is the new 3.5 inch (89mm) \"Baby FSL\" antenna, designed to provide a powerful DXing gain boost for Ultralight radios (or any other portables) despite its very small size. It has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/BabyFSL.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/BabyFSL.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/BabyFSL.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66520,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66516\/revisions\/66520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}