Why do I have trouble receiving radio signals in the U.K.? I've taken a small portable radio to England a few times, and I always get a lot of static. Sometimes I can't get stations at all. Granted, high-tech stuff often stumps me, but this one should be simple. Any thoughts?

What wavelength does it use?
I have no trouble picking up a couple of BBC stations here in the Netherlands, but they are on LW (long live Radio 4) and MW (5live - OH's station of choice, generally poor reception but he seems to follow the sport through the hisses).
If it is an FM radio you shouldn't have too much problem finding a clear station - they are very close together but tend to be clear enough. We always take a small FM radio with us when we go back to the UK.

It's a little Sony radio walkman, both FM and AM, that I use on walks here at home. It's a mystery, huh?

Not necessarily a mystery. It would have helped if you had identified where "here at home" is.

But, assuming the US, one difference between North America and Europe is that, on the AM (MW) band, North America uses a 10 kHz band spacing, while Europe uses 9 kHz. Thus a digital tuner set to tune onto the center of North America channels would not tune on the centre of a channel in the UK.

With respect to FM, North American stations are centered on odd frequencies (103.3, 103.5, etc) while European ones are centred on even and odd (103.2, 103.3, etc). Once again a digital tuner may not grab the even frequencies, and therefore won't get half the stations.

If radio has an analogue (dial) tuner, none of the above is relevant.

Ron: So THAT explains it! Thanks. I have an <b>old</b> FM transistor radio w/ a dial that works like a charm in the UK. But last trip I took a newer, fancy schmancy one and it was a pain.

I knew it had to be something about the tuner but had no idea it was analog vs digital. Back to my ancient transistor . . . .

Here at home, is, indeed, the U.S. I did take a cassette walkman on a few trips that had a dial tuner, and I had no trouble getting reception then. Do companies make radio tuners for different parts of the world then? I'll look for a small transistor radio with a dial tuner.

Searching online, I see that there are a few pocket radios still made with a manual tuner. That will be on my shopping list for the next trip....Thanks, Ron, for explaining that.

Merseyheart wrote, &quot;Do companies make radio tuners for different parts of the world then?&quot;

It would be logical that the manufacturers would make a single tuner that is programmable for different regions. I seem to remember owning a portable radio in the past where I could do this, reprogram for European spacing. I don't currently own any portable radios, but I just checked the instruction booklet for my bedside clock radio with digital tuning; it does not mention the ability to reprogram.

So I really don't know. If you still have the instruction booklet for your radio, you might take a look.