Kaito T-1 Radio Antenna

This is it. I tried everything to get reception with my weather radio. I live in the country 45 miles from the weather center closest to me. I tiredTin foil, a metal coat hanger, speakerWire and nothing worked. I bought this device as a last resort and it solved all the problems. Clipped it on the antenna and stretched out about 5Feet of the spool and the weather center sounds like it’s in my back yard.I am happy happy happy. Great product at a great price!

Nice little antenna extension, works like a charm and reels back in the case with no problem at all.

It does the job for the $$ paid. After you pull the antenna wire out all the way, you have to of course wind it back up; my issue is there is no little pop-out handle to do so. It has two small indentations to accomplish it which is a pain in the rear. Reception is good; it is compact, and except for winding it back up it’s easy to use. A small carrying or storage case would've been a plus too- hence, the 5th star. Thank you. JRL

These sleeves were perfect to use set screw-type knobs with split shaft pots.

From what can be seen on the Amazon website as well as on other sites, this Kaito reel antenna (AN-03L) is essentially the same as the Sangean ANT-60 antenna (and 50 % cheaper in price!) right down to the supplied connector for a whip antenna (for radios without an external antena jack of any kind). The only notable, albeit quite small, differences are the presence of two separate finger holds used to reel the antenna back up when finished listening and a separate small attachment for hanging the unit up on a hook in the wall or on the ceiling, etc.). This Kaito antenna is designed to improve reception on FM/SW as well as for TV (UHF/VHF) and for the Weather bands for any such radio. AM (MW) reception is separately controlled by a ferrite antenna coil that is comonly incorporated inside of most radios. I have used this Kaito antenna on my Kaito KA1102. The antenna is 7 m (~23 feet) long which should usually be placed as high as possible near an outside door or window of any building for the best reception improvement. I have found an excellent improvement for weaker signals on the FM/SW bands (too long of an antenna can overload some radios like the KA1102, but this length of wire is perfectly adequate whereas other longer external antennas will not be. Always check your radio manual first before investing in a very long external antenna!). It must be remembered that the antenna not only allows an amplification of signal, but also of the prevailing background radio noise level so if it is very noisy at the time of reception at a certain frequency, the improvement in "hearing" may not always be as good as at other times when the background noise levels are much lower. Overall I am very happy with this very inexpensive purchase which is a simple passive fix for a generally quick improvement of signal strength for the weaker FM/SW radio waves.

Pros: Compact, Inexpensive, easy to deploy with very little friction, dual connection methods (plug or clip). Cons: A complete chore to wind it back into the container, as there is much more friction in that direction. It can take several minutes. It would be so much better if there was a single knob of some type to wind with, because the two small indentations are almost useless for winding any faster than a half turn at a time, using two fingers. A built-in spring, such as those found in a tape measure would be helpful as well. I would be willing to spend a couple dollars more for those two features. UPDATE: I took it apart and added some lubricant used for phono turntables to the center shaft and flat surface of the inner spool. I also noted that the small "knot" used to secure the wire to the center spool was creating friction against the center shaft, so I "squished" that a bit to keep it from touching the shaft. So much easier to rewind. The manufacturer should have come up with this simple solution.

Well made, feels sturdy in hand . Thick cord that recoils easily.

The overall concept is sound: extending the antenna length to increase ability to pull in faint Am and SW signals. And it does do this. I ran experiments tuning in weak stations then attaching the antenna. The signal improved -- not dramatically, but noticeably.But the design is cumbersome. I couldn't figure out a good way to hang the antenna of anything. I ended up passing a thin strip of velcro thru a hole in the case and looping it around a tree branch. Very cumbersome!Reeling the antenna wire back into the casing was also tedious.