I have always enjoyed listening to far away AM stations at night (DXing) and this radio is one of the better ones for that purpose, even compared to much more expensive radios. It is simple to use with a large internal ferrite antenna. I have never connected it to an external antenna (screws for this are on the back) or antenna tuner, which I imagine would improve reception. Most new radios have digital synthesized tuners and while that adds tuning accuracy, it often adds noise that is bad for DXing. This radio is not the best built and has known quality control issues such as tuning inaccuracies that can be rectified. It isn't tiring to listen to because it has good sound quality due to the large main speaker, tweeter and bass/treble controls. The FM section works very well too. I do not DX FM so can't comment on it's long distance capabilities but it sounds good and holds the stations well. It uses long running D cells but I use the internal AC power supply - the AC cord is permanently attached.