[morzh]

Well, still may be a part of the problem. At least I know for a fact this happened to my father. And here in Jersey the reception was just fine with a mere 3 feet of wire.

Let me ask you this: do you know anyone nearby (or in Palm Coast) who has an AM radio and does get good reception without using an aerial tower for an antenna?

I can ask my father to ask a friend of his who is also there, in Palm Coast, and who recently got into radio restoration, if he gets good reception in his part of the town.

In the meantime you could try to elevate the wire.

But short of doing alignment and the thorough check by yourself I do not think you can reliably say that the radio should perform well where you are and that it does not do it as a result of misalignment or damage in shipping.

If you are equipped to do that, great. Otherwise you could try to return the radio, but it may be a perfectly good radio nevertheless.