Marmaduke Posted February 23, 2019 Report Share Posted February 23, 2019 Hi all, my husband likes to take his portable radio with him (just a normal FM/digitial one) when we go on holiday. Will it work in our stateroom? We have a balcony stateroom. Just wondering, as I've seen posts saying that walkie talkie radios don't work well due to the large amount of metal on the ship and thought we may have same problem with a radio Thanks everyone ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted February 23, 2019 Report Share Posted February 23, 2019 55 minutes ago, Marmaduke said: Hi all, my husband likes to take his portable radio with him (just a normal FM/digitial one) when we go on holiday. Will it work in our stateroom? We have a balcony stateroom. Just wondering, as I've seen posts saying that walkie talkie radios don't work well due to the large amount of metal on the ship and thought we may have same problem with a radio Thanks everyone ! If I drive 40 miles out of range of my FM station I can't get it in a car, so I doubt you'll get anything out at sea. I did use IHeart Radio to listen to my FM stations in my stateroom on the ship, but that requires the internet package. love2cruiseonwheels and Marmaduke 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NS8VN Posted February 23, 2019 Report Share Posted February 23, 2019 If your balcony is facing land then you have a decent chance, but certainly no guarantee. Depending on how far out to sea you are it might also be a pain to get reception and keep it for very long. Advertisers don't sell to fish so transmitters are positioned to to cover as much land as possible, not so much the ocean. Marmaduke, Fuzzywuzzy and 4ensic 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThyriC Posted February 23, 2019 Report Share Posted February 23, 2019 I think it depends on how many sea days you have and your destinations. You'll likely be many miles away from land in international waters and even farther from the closest radio tower. When in port you may have a limited number of selections as well because ports usually arent in the middle of where residences and local businesses are (which is who the advertisers are selling to) Instead if you dont have a smartphone or tablet to load up with what he prefers to listen to, you can get an ipod usually pretty cheap, and a small portable speaker for it, and load that up with his favourite listens. Maybe even create playlists for specific destinations or events for the ship (embarkation day, sea day, island music, new england music, all canadian playlist) Or if he prefers spoken word radio, you can load up the device with podcasts (like Matt's!) Marmaduke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmaduke Posted February 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2019 Thanks for the replies and great ideas for iPod etc Thyric! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 On a recent cruise an older man brought an AM radio onto the sun deck (deck 12). We were quite enjoying the music of the pool deck below and relaxing in the sun when he cranked up his volume and proceeded to search for AM radio stations as we sailed past Cuba. He found a news cast from Cuba and listened to it at full volume. After the news was latin music. It clashed with the DJ's music on the pool deck and was quite annoying. It was a large radio, something like my parents had 30 years ago. If you bring music, don't be that guy. Use headphones in public places. 4ensic, SpeedNoodles, Allen2 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmaduke Posted February 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Hi there, it was for cabin use only!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constable145 Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 On 2/23/2019 at 12:02 PM, Marmaduke said: Hi all, my husband likes to take his portable radio with him (just a normal FM/digitial one) when we go on holiday. Will it work in our stateroom? We have a balcony stateroom. Just wondering, as I've seen posts saying that walkie talkie radios don't work well due to the large amount of metal on the ship and thought we may have same problem with a radio Thanks everyone ! There are a number of reasons why terrestrial radio won't work on a cruise ship. I've got some experience in this area as I've worked as a broadcaster, broadcast technician and audio mixer.. 1. You're in the middle of the ocean. Ok, maybe not the middle.. but you're far enough away from the transmitter that reception would be shoddy at best. Many radio station transmitters are further inland in hopes of mitigating damage from nasty weather so you'd need to have a real flame-thrower of a station to get from where the transmitter is out into international waters. A NY/NJ/Baltimore departure would assuredly have more success than a Caribbean voyage just due to the amount of stations. 2. Metal. Radio Frequency ( RF) signals and metal are not friends. The ship is virtually all metal ( don't believe me, stick a magnet above your bed...) Walls are hard enough to penetrate but when they are made with metal, they are even tougher. 3. RF interference. There are a TON of RF signals on the ship... maritime communications equipment, proper portable radios used by the crew ( not the gimmick walkie-talkies that people try to use), wireless mics, cell phones, wifi... A few years ago I did a test and the amount of wifi signals I was seeing on my graph was alarming. While each of these devices use different frequencies within the spectrum, there is only so much room. 4. Electrical interference. Not only is the entire ship metal, but it also has hundreds of miles of cabling running through it. Even devices such as a microphone carry low voltage.. that's enough to wreck havoc with a weak RF signal. If you want music, you can get a spotify premium account and download your music. If you want to listen to the radio, get the voom package ( get the surf and stream) and download the Tunein Radio app. Good luck Marmaduke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcarney Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 I'm a "DXer" which is basically a hobby of hunting down and logging radio stations. Yes, I am a nerd/geek. There is a lot of noise (QRN) generated by the ship and the electronics on it, but if your hubby is really into it he can go topside and find a location that is a little less noisy, like the front of the ship or the helicopter deck. A lot of the comments above say you really can't hear anything, but it's not true, especially in the southern Caribbean. And if he switches from FM to AM, you can hear stations all over the Caribbean while onboard, especially at night. I brought my SDR (software defined radio - think a device like a DVR or TiVO, only for radio, and it can record the entire AM radio band at once) and let it record all day while I was in port. It gave me a lot of joy after the cruise listening to the recordings and being able to listen to every station broadcasting at that port was fascinating. Barring that, he can use http://radio.garden/ and listen to streaming stations around the world. Marmaduke, 4ensic and Allen2 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmaduke Posted February 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 22 hours ago, bcarney said: I'm a "DXer" which is basically a hobby of hunting down and logging radio stations. Yes, I am a nerd/geek. There is a lot of noise (QRN) generated by the ship and the electronics on it, but if your hubby is really into it he can go topside and find a location that is a little less noisy, like the front of the ship or the helicopter deck. A lot of the comments above say you really can't hear anything, but it's not true, especially in the southern Caribbean. And if he switches from FM to AM, you can hear stations all over the Caribbean while onboard, especially at night. I brought my SDR (software defined radio - think a device like a DVR or TiVO, only for radio, and it can record the entire AM radio band at once) and let it record all day while I was in port. It gave me a lot of joy after the cruise listening to the recordings and being able to listen to every station broadcasting at that port was fascinating. Barring that, he can use http://radio.garden/ and listen to streaming stations around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmaduke Posted February 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Thanks for the very detailed and informative replies, I will pass all the advice onto hubby... thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLed007 Posted August 27, 2023 Report Share Posted August 27, 2023 So, just curious, but would a weather band radio work on a transatlantic cruise ship? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USFFrank Posted August 27, 2023 Report Share Posted August 27, 2023 18 hours ago, JimLed007 said: So, just curious, but would a weather band radio work on a transatlantic cruise ship? Like on land they would only work as far as the signal will go. Other countries may not use those frequencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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