This is battery or mains, in battery mode you would need 6x'C' cells. I am lucky enough to have good DAB reception in my area but before you go out and buy why not check yours by inputting your postcode at www.ukdigitalradio.com

I think the quality of DAB radios has improved considerably since the early units. Now I find good reception wherever I use it in the house. It looks rather conventional with a carry handle and all the knobs and buttons on the top along with a 6cm two line LED display. The dimensions are 24x8x18cm and the weight (without batteries) is 1.6kilos or close to 2kilos with the batteries. The Portal 3 has a retro look.

See also: DAB Radios

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On first switch on autotune will take place, however if you move to a new area a press on the autotune button will quickly find you all the available stations. It is also just a single button press to switch between DAB and FM.

There are a total of ten buttons and two knobs all clearly labelled as to their purpose. It is possible to set six presets on both FM and DAB and I doubt anyone listens to more than that number of stations on a regular basis. However the slightly notched tuning dial makes finding any station quick and easy.

The left side has a very strong rubber bung to cover the connectors for earbuds or auxiliary connections. The right side has input for the mains and the on/off switch. The bottom has a cover over the battery bay and the rear the storage point for the eight section 70cm rod aerial. The built in stereo speakers hide behind the grill on the front of the Portal 3.

There is a sixteen page manual that should answer any questions a novice may have. The feature of being able to rewind live radio is not new but there are still only a limited number of radios that support it. Let me give an example you are listening to a play and the phone or door bell rings, it takes you two minutes to get rid of the double glazing salesman, now you press a button and rewind for two minutes and continue listening from where you left off. All that happens is that what is being transmitted now is being recorded for replay in two minutes time. So your play ends two minutes after everyone else's, you miss nothing.

To run any radio on batteries is not cheap and the recently reviewed Oasis from Pure Digital solves that by working with a solid rechargeable battery but at a price. A lot of people require a clock in a radio as they also expect it to be an alarm clock and sleep timer, if you do, then this will not be for you.

This is a good solid basic DAB/FM radio with extra features that is very easy to use and perhaps an ideal unit for someone less nimble as once set the preset buttons require a single press to change station.

Doing my normal Internet search could not find it as it is very new, however I found the Portal 2 that outwardly looks very similar and that is just over £80. I am told with the extra features expect high £90sThis prices it well above entry level offerings but it does offer more and is easy to use, why not check the Acoustic Solutions site for details.