Kaito PLL Synthesized Dual Conversion SSB Shortwave Radio with Recordable 256MB MP3 Player, KA1121

by Kaito

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches ; 10.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000MEI592
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,131 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

The Kaito portable shortwave radios such as KA1101, KA1102 & KA1103 are well known for their outstanding sensitivity & selectivity by radio listeners worldwide, this newly released KA1121 is no exception and it has much much more to offer than a traditional radio. It is the world's first AM/LW/FM/Shortwave/NOAA Weather Band/SSB Receiver with a detachable 256MB MP3 player/digital recorder, both the radio and the MP3 player can work independently flawlessly. There are three different recording modes (sampling rate) to choose from, 32 Kbps/80Kbps/128Kpbs, the higher the sampling rate, the better the sound quality. You can easily set up the timer and record up to 32 hours of radio program and transfer it to your PC via a USB cable so you will never miss your favorite talk show, music program or sports event again. You can operate the radio and the MP3 player using the AC/DC adaptor or using the included rechargeable batteries that can be charged through the built-in battery chargers. For your convenience, 100 stations and 400 frequencies can be stored in the memories for easy tuning, you can also program the memories via your PC after you install the software. Frequency coverage: 1. AM: 140 Khz -520Khz ( Long Wave), 520 KHz- 1710Khz ( MW) 2. FM Stereo: 70Mhz- 88.0Mhz ( Low FM), 88.00Mhz - 108 MHz( Upper FM) 3. SW: 3000 KHz - 29,999 KHz 4. 7 NOAA Weather Band Accessories: 1. AC/DC adaptor 2. AA NiMH rechargeable batteries 3. DF6 NiMIH rechargeable battery 4. USB cable 5. Software CD 6. Soft antenna 7. Earphones 8. Carrying pouch 9. User manual 10. Quick reference guide 11. Warranty registration card

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ground breaking product, February 7, 2007

By 

John Bloch - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kaito PLL Synthesized Dual Conversion SSB Shortwave Radio with Recordable 256MB MP3 Player, KA1121 (Electronics)

They must have read my mind. I have a KA1102 which I consider a classic, and I had been hoping that Kaito would make a radio similar to the KA1102 that would also play MP3s. Needless to say, I was more than overjoyed when this product magically appeared. I previously listened to my MP3s on my cell phone which has a speaker that sounds like a cheap tin can. The sound quality of the KA1121 is very good for a radio of its size, and there is little need to mention the legendary Kaito reception that is significantly better than most portable radios. The radio performs very well so long as it is unplugged from the wall and running on the batteries. There are lots of nice features that you would expect from a Kaito radio, including SSB, line in, and tuning knob. I particularly like how I can recharge the batteries without removing them. It has a cool flat black finish that feels rubberized. The MP3 player supports USB 12Mbits/second Full Speed(not V2.0 480Mbits/second High Speed) and file transfers are fast. You plug a USB plug into the KA1121 MP3 player and it shows up in Windows Explorer as a removable drive, so you can simply drag and drop files to it. The MP3 player has a cool green glow which stays on all the time you are using it, although there is a time out setting to automatically turn off if you wish.

Now for some of the issues that need some improvement. The LCD on the radio is too small. You need some sharp eyes to see the tiny battery indicator. The buttons do not light up like they do on the KA1102, and the size of the radio is outside the pocket category. The MP3 player display truncates long MP3 file names, and even though it scrolls the MP3 name across the LCD, the scroll rate is too slow and requires too long a wait to scroll to the end, and despite the scrolling, very long file names still get truncated. In the case where the MP3 is playing, the information stored in the MP3 title tag gets displayed instead of the MP3 file name. File name truncation is a problem if you want to listen to a sequence of MP3s with long file names. I have to manually rename and shorten the MP3 file names and tags. I use a freeware program called Mp3tag to do this. I also feel that the method of timed recording to the MP3 player is too complicated and the manual is not clear enough on this. A couple of times, I ran into serious problems where the MP3 player became corrupted during download of MP3s or while deleting MP3s. When the corruption happens, the MP3 player will not work and all the MP3 files are lost. My computer has never had any USB issues with any other USB devices, so I am blaming Kaito for the corruption problem. Kaito does mention that if the MP3 player stops working, to use the included utility disk to reformat it, so Kaito apparently is aware of the issue. I'm not sure why they did not fix the problem before release. The included utility disk reformatted the MP3 player, but the MP3 player still would not work, so I then formatted the MP3 player from Windows Explorer as FAT32 and then it worked again. The MP3 player certainly needs some improvements, but I will still give the KA1121 five stars simply because I consider this product to be ground breaking and competing radios don't even have an MP3 player.

The KA1121 is a high performance AM/FM/SW weather radio and MP3 player/recorder with many features and few shortcuts. If you need MP3 capability then buy this. If not, you might consider the KA1102 or KA1103. I listen to MP3s often, and I enjoy the KA1121 very much. I have upgraded the batteries from the included 1300 Mah NiMH batteries to higher capacity TENERGY 2300 Mah NiMH with good results.

UPDATE: A fix for the MP3 player corruption issue above seems to have been found. A comment from passband.com Thursday, May 8th, 2008 - "What causes this is the `1121's electrically noisy AC adaptor. To get around this, either remove the adaptor plug from the radio or undock the MP3 module before starting an upload." or they recommend replacing the power charger with a less noisy one. Jameco P/N 283573 $6.95 with a Radio Shack Size H Coaxial DC Power Plug $2.99 Model: 274-1571 they say is effective.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thank you,Kaito.But......, February 23, 2007

By 

Kenneth Reynolds (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kaito PLL Synthesized Dual Conversion SSB Shortwave Radio with Recordable 256MB MP3 Player, KA1121 (Electronics)

I bought the Kaito 1121 mainly because I've been looking for a portable,full-range(3.000-30.000m)sw radio that also has the NOAA weather stations.Thanks to Kaito,the search is over.I no longer have to use two radios while listening to sw and NOAA stations.

The sw reception is very good(much better than my Grundig 300).AM/FM reception is good,and the sound quality is very good,considering its size.Most of the outer casing is rubberized,making for a comfortable feel and for damage protection if dropped.The suede carry-pouch has a thong,so one can carry the radio like it's in a shopping bag.The LCD remains on when the radio plays,and its color is a moody green.A great asset of this radio is the push-button volume control.I had my doubts about this feature,for some radio volume-controls do a poor job of controlling volume,i.e.,there's too much of a jump between volume intervals.But this is not the case with the 1121,for the screen-displayed volume control is terrifically coordinated.When the number buttons are set to frequencies on different bands,you don't have to change bands for the desired stations,for the radio does it for you.I can't comment on the mp3 player because that's another world to me right now.I'll be asking my 18-year-old nephew to assist me on this one the next time I see him.

To me,there are two main drawbacks:the LCD is too small;and at times the user manual is poorly written.It took me about 4 days to figure out how to set the buttons to selected frequencies,mainly because the instructions

omitted the last step in the process and I figured it out by trial and error.There's also no signal-strength meter.

But all things considered,the Kaito 1121 is a great choice for a sw/am/fm radio.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Has it's quirks but overall I'm happy with it...., May 30, 2008

By 

S.F. DVD watcher (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kaito PLL Synthesized Dual Conversion SSB Shortwave Radio with Recordable 256MB MP3 Player, KA1121 (Electronics)

I'll list my pros and cons:

Pros:

-Great radio reception.

-Can be programmed to turn on, record radio, then turn off. That's the main reason I bought it.

-Can do line-in MP3 recording

-Has a detachable MP3 player.

-Great speaker for unit it's size.

-If you use rechargable batteries (AA size), they can be recharged in the unit.

Cons:

-The user manual is awful. For several of the functions it "put me in the ballpark" but I had to figure out the rest myself. Very frustrating. An owner's manual shouldn't be so bad.

-The programmed radio recording doesn't give you as much time as the Pogo. Your only given three recording slots and each goes 99 minutes maximum for a total of 297 minutes. The Pogo can record all day long if you have a huge SD memory card and a low memory record setting.

-Memory of MP3 player is small and there is no expansion slot.

-Programming the unit for auto turn on and record is clumsy and can be frustrating.

Other issues:

I have had the MP3 player hang up on me. I had to format it with the computer's built in software to get it to work again. Since then it hasn't had a problem. (The included disk is almost worthless!)

If you import your own frequencies by editting the FREQ.TXT off the desk, make sure you chop off the notes from the bottom of the text or it won't work. The manual doesn't tell you this. I like how you can load up your own frequencies with your own ID's for each.

Keep in mind that there is difference in short press and long press for the radio on/off button. Long press off keeps the radio on but shuts off the screen.

In summary: If your impatient then I don't recommend this unit as the user manual is terrible. If you're patient and like to fiddle with things then eventually you'll figure this unit out and will be able to enjoy it. I'm glad I made the purchase.