SWLing Post reader, Mark, recently contact me with the following question:
“What portable shortwave radios under $300 have an option to have their memories programmed using a computer?”
I replied to Mark that I can’t think of a single shortwave portable that can be programmed via computer–at least, not a “typical” portable radio like a Sony, Sangean, Tecsun, Degen, or Redsun.
The Yaesu VX-3R HT tuned to the AM broadcast band.
I may be wrong, however, so please comment if you can help Mark identify a model.
I am aware of portable wideband communications receivers/transceivers that cover the shortwave bands: handhelds like the Icom-IC-R6, Icom IC-R20, Yaesu VX-3R, AOR AR8200 Mark III B and Kenwood TH-F6A.
Wideband handhelds are more akin to a scanner, though, and typically shortwave sensitivity is simply not on par with a dedicated shortwave portable. The AOR AR8200 Mark III B ($700+) and discontinued Icom IC-R20 may be a couple of exceptions.
Please comment if you can help Mark with his quest.
This is a nice list of rx/tx and handhelds that can communicate with a computer, and can (sometimes) be controlled over internet …
https://sourceforge.net/p/hamlib/wiki/Supported%20Radios/
Adding to what has been said above regarding the ATS-909:
The Sangean ATS-909 (and the RadioShack DX-398) could be programmed using a special cable and the ATS909 PROGRAMMER software.
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats909program.htm
Thanks for the commentary, Guys. Appreciated the info. Aside from today’s market of some fine handheld HTs, looks like it will be a while before quality portable SW receivers are available that will be ‘easily’ programmable.
Somewhat related, there was a Sony portable several years ago that came off the shelf with pre-programmed frequencies and station tags, and if I’m not mistaken, it had 200 internal memories; although never advertised, those 200 memories & tags could be amended by pressing a few select buttons and entering formatted .txt data through the audio ‘out’ jack. But I wouldn’t want to try that on my own !! Haaa.
73 de Mark W2OR
http://www.qrz.com/db/w2or
No problem, if you are interested, here is a list of all the new portable shortwave receivers that can have memories alphanumerically tagged…
Eton Satellit
Sangean ATS 909x
Kaito KA1121
Anjan DTS 10 (avoid the DTS 09)
Sony ICF SW07 (this model can still be found new on Ebay)
The models below can display text files…
Degen DE1125/Kaito KA801
Degen DE1126
Degen DE1127
Degen DE1128/Grundig G2 Reporter (the 1128H version has fewer glitches)
Degen DE1129
Degen DE1131
The Degen DE1121 (AKA Kaito KA1121) was my RX with the $%&§ user interface, see http://www.thiecom.de/thieking/de1121/.
That special version goes down to 50 kHz. But transmissions below the LW broadcast band are all quite narrow-band and therefore the filters are to wide.
A few years ago there was a Degen unit with an detachable MP3 player and an absolutely unusable unser interface. If you saved an ASCII file in a defined format on the memory of the MP3 player you could define some parameters (e.g. 9/10 kHz channel spacing for AM), including memories.
I should still have it somewhere but never use it anymore because of the *terrible* user interface and the loss of most stations I liked. That is a pity because technically this unit was not bad.
Hi Thomas
The Alinco DJ-G7T HT also tunes from 530 kHz to 1.2 GHz with the usual gaps.
I do seem to recall reading that the Grundig G2 Reporter could use the EBook function for reading Shortwave schedules with bookmarks, although not quite the same as programming, might be a useful feature.
Cheers!
I have done this with my G2 Reporter by copying the Prime Time English schedule into a text file and then downloading it. However, there is no way of seeing the schedule when the radio is in use. I mentioned the KA1121 earlier because the pages on it (containing 4 memories each) can be labeled with 8 character alphanumeric tags using a laptop computer.
Tough question, however, I think the $150 Kaito KA1121 has that feature.