Radio in France

[Robh]

I'm due to ride down through France and into Spain soon. I'll be camping, so I want to travel light, and I won't necessarily have access to power for re-charging (though I've bought a Powermonkey Explorer to take with me). Can anyone recommend a small, light radio, with a good battery life, that gives me a chance of tuning into Radio 4/World Service? I realise this is something akin to searching for the holy grail, but I thought it worth asking none the less.

[Tim Hall]

Something by Roberts? Say Sports 995? Runs off a single AAA with 30 hours run time according to their blurb. 

Linky: http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/Products/Analogue_radios/Sports_995/index.htm

[Robh]

Thanks Tim. That's interesting, because I was shying away from anything with an LCD display, thinking that it would just be an unnecessary drain on the battery. But 30 hours from a single AAA is pretty good going.

[Biggsy]

Energizer lithium batteries would be a good idea if not using rechargeables.

A basic small LCD without a backlight on all the time takes very little power.  A digital watch can run continuously off a coin cell for five years, after all.

[Cudzoziemiec]

For the World Service, wouldn't you want short wave?

[bikepacker]

I have the Roberts Sport 994 http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/Products/Analogue_radios/Sports_994/index.htm

For many years I took a short wave but transmission to Europe are no longer done by the BBC. Last year two of us sat on a campsite in Royan and listened to the test match on LW. That is about as far south you can pick it up.

[Robh]

Thanks for the replies. I've decided to bring an old Roberts out of retirement. It has SW & LW, and I've decided that the weight isn't too bad after all. I don't hold out much hope of picking up the World Service (though I would love to be able to); I'll probably end up trying to find a French classical station as a backdrop for drifting off to sleep.

[cyclone]

You'll probably end up with France Musique at various frequencies during your travels....Other types of music are frustrating to find as there now seem to be hordes of small stations playing French rap music and very little nationwide service anymore (thanks to deregulation...) Enjoy your travels!!

[andrew_s]

Radio 4 long wave only reaches as far as central France.

BBC World Service is no longer broadcast to Europe. Medium wave 648 stopped last year, and short wave stopped in 2008 (iirc). The result is that your only option is short wave broadcasts intended for other parts of the world. These will generally be broadcast in the wrong direction and on the wrong frequencies for decent reception in Europe. Whilst you can often pick up something that's intelligible, it's not exactly easy listening.

[Robh]

Just seen these more recent replies. Thanks again for the advice. All I can say is that it's very sad that it's so difficult to find an English language station more than a couple of hundred miles into France, and that I was very pleased that I took my iPod with me. Tinnitus makes sleep difficult in the absence of some sort of aural input.