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The sensitivity is very good on all bands. The main difference between it and the RF-2200 is that it is a single conversion set, so birdies show up on the shortwave bands. It has been a while since I gave it a thorough test, but here is what I had to say about its performance back in 2012:
Now let's talk about its performance. On FM, I compared it to my RF-2900 and my stellar FM performing Grundig Satellit 2400. It beats the RF-2900 hands down and gives the Satellit 2400 a run for its money. In terms of just raw sensitivity, it may be a tad more sensitive than the Grundig, but its not quite as selective and actually suffers from mild front-end overload even just on the whip, mostly from 2 local stations. It may be too sensitive for its own good if used in an urban environment. Out in the middle of nowhere, it may be the most sensitive portable you could ever get your hands on.
On AM, Hugo previously reviewed the RF-1180 and claimed it was more sensitive than the famous RF-2200. Another reader claimed the RF-1170 was more sensitive than the GE Superradios. While I haven't done extensive testing, I can fairly confidently confirm that my RF-1188 is in the same ballpark as the RF-1170 and RF-1180 - it is HOT across the entire AM spectrum. The gyro antenna is very directional (even more directional than my Terk AM advantage) and the wide/narrow bandwidth switch is very effective at reducing adjacent interference in narrow mode and improving fidelity in wide. Its probably the most sensitive AM radio I own when using just the internal antenna (My Satellit 2400 is extremely sensitive, but my testing on that radio was done with the help of the Terk antenna).
Shortwave performance is excellent as well. It was hard to do a direct comparison to my other radios since it does not have a digital display, but when I was able to locate and compare weak stations, the RF-1188 held its own. On SSB, this is the best performing of my analog sets - SSB communications were stable and intelligible. The fine-tuning knob comes in handy for tuning in SSB.
In conclusion, the RF-1188 is a stellar performer across the board, and while I have never owned an RF-2200, I suspect it meets or beats the RF-2200 in raw performance and probably sounds better too thanks to its larger speaker. Its a definite keeper and is probably the most "fun" to use radio I currently own.
Most if not all portables would do better with some kind of preselector. While it doesn't do much for selectivity, they greatly reduces RITOIE and IF Beats.
I had an FM-10 25 feet up with a rotator, connected to a Panasonic RF-2200 in Genesee County. Perhaps there was an inversion too. I heard a man of the cloth shouting and over modulating all over the dial, from one end to the other. I tuned around and found that he was on WMUZ 103.5. 103.5 was mixing with WDZZ 92.7 and producing a 10.8 MHz beat frequency, which the 10.7 MHz IF detected. Over the years, I have encountered all kinds of similar things, like an oscillator on a radio 20 feet away, tuned to the same frequency, about 2 miles from a 100000 watt FM station tower that was in full view from my location. And stories of old tube FM radios with strong radiating oscillators mixing from neighbors houses, and two beautiful music stations using tapes from Bonneville, out of synch because of spots, 10.8 MHz apart, hearing the same track mixing like a long echo several seconds apart.
"I had a job for a while as an announcer at WWV but I finally quit, because I couldn't stand the hours."
I also have a Tecsun 880 and believe the small size can not accommodate a decent AM ferrite stick antenna ! It is sadly lacking in AM and LW sensitivity. For Short Wave listening , it can make up for the poor AM/LW. You can plug in a coax fed antenna or just a wire of 20+ ft and really pull in some great DX. It excells in CW and SSB reception with a band width you can select to match the mode.
My BEST ever for AM DX is my is the rather bulky GE Superradio . It's large size houses a rather Hi-Fi speaker system, a long ferrite AM antenna and It can be narrow IF for great selectivity to hear adjacent channel DX against a strong local signal, or switch to wideband and hear HI-fidelity on local AM.
Since there is no DIGI readout, I finally put some white tape next to the "slide rule" dial and made my own ,more accurate , calibration marks.
The FM side is pretty hot and have heard some great FM Tropo DX when on vacations in the north country.
