The longer antenna has worked a treat, had no audio dropouts at all.
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Unfortunately, yesterday I managed to break the LCD screen on that portable radio. I could have just purchased the same radio but since it was meant to be a test of if I could receive DAB+ while driving a bus I decided to upgrade to a name brand model.
I had a look at Panasonic, Pure and Sangean and it seems that only the Sangean DPR-76BT ticked the boxes of what I was after. That being; portable, DAB+ and Bluetooth and rechargeable.
Now, the DPR-76BT does not come with an internal battery, you need to buy rechargeable ones (that it will charge) but at least you can replace them if their capacity drops.
First impressions of the radio itself are that it is larger and heavier than the other radio but has a bigger speaker (which sounds better overall and can get louder), preset buttons and dedicated volume buttons.
The software UI is pretty much the same but the DPR-76BT has more settings. The are 5 pages of 4 presets per mode (DAB+/FM).
Only negatives so far is that it uses a DC jack for power/recharging instead of USB although it has a USB port but that is apparently for firmware updates only. Also, in FM mode with the “distant” setting it seems to like stopping on .05 frequencies.
Personally, I prefer Panasonic and Sangean over the Pure ones. The Pure ones I’ve never found that easy to operate (eg I had one where the tuning/volume knob was the same one, you had push the knob in FIRST if you then wanted to tune).
This is the Panasonic that I considered but it’s pricey and judging by the pictures too large for use case and didn’t recharge the batteries.
https://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/home-entertainment/radios/rf-d30btgn-k.html
The Pure that I considered was this one: Elan DAB+ Stone Grey EU/UK/AU | Portable Radios | Radios | Audio & HiFi | Pure - Joyful Listening
The size is better and it’s cheaper but again no rechargeable batteries.
I feel like I got my money’s worth ($157) with the Sangean considering the better speaker and preset buttons. The antenna is also a bit thicker than you’d usually get and is the same length as the one that came with the TEF.
Used it out on the road today. No issues with reception and it looks like I only used a quarter-ish of battery.
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Good news, you may need to recharge once down to half or 40% because I don’t find inbuilt battery indicators to be very reliable.