Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Frank, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
Last week I acquired a HanRongDa HRD-747. Really astonishing – a good receiving mini portable with wide range and many features.
Therefore the manual is very important especially because there are only a few knobs to manage all functions.
In my opinion the paper manual is too small (or my eyes are too old :-)) and without textual structure. And no way to get it online. So i have made an english manual based on the original hoping it will be helpfull not only for me.
Friendly regards
Frank from Germany
Thank you, Frank, for creating and sharing this manual!
My perception:
Negative points:
1 – Does not tune FM Stereo as promised, when I change the FM mode to Stereo, the audio remains in mono even with local signal.
2 – It promises to tune in shortwaves from 2000 kHz, but in fact the band starts at 3200 kHz, that is, it does not pick up stations from 120 meters.
3 – The DX mode does not give any difference in relation to the normal mode in any band, that is, it could tune the stations better if this function worked.
4 – WFM mode only works on the WX Band, it could also work on shortwave, VHF and UHF.
5 – CW and ALERT functions are grayed out on the screen, but impossible to activate.
6 – When I use headphones, the sound of the radio comes out louder on one side than on the other, and it’s not a problem with the headphones, because on other devices the headphones work without this problem.
7 – In SSB mode, it only takes LSB, not USB.
Other than that, the rest works as expected.
I am on my second HRD-747. I got a refund on my first one because it had many of the problems you mentioned. Also, it had a completely dead air band.
But the newer version, as well as being aesthetically slightly different, resolves most of those issues.
Stereo is fine on most FM stations, the channels are well balanced and the sound is excellent. You could use it as an FM stereo Walkman now.
Air Band now works, USB/LSB works fine.
It unfortunately still has the exact same reverse tuning bug that hampered the Tecsun PL330 prior to firmware version 3305. But once you realise this, it is easy to get USB loud and clear.
Thank you for that it sure was helpful. I do not fool around with them much just the 330 and 108.I like so much in one radio but too small and more of a tou.just my opinion.
I have 2 of these one seems to be defective….now there are so many settings it’s possible this is my fault.i I will continue to fool around with them .I appreciate very much for the English manual. Thank you.
https://swling.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/HanRongDa-HRD-747-Operation-Manual.pdf
Ook ik ben verbaasd over de het 747..het enigste wat werkt is de. FM band….op al de andere banden heb ik nog nooit iets gehoord…alleen ruis
Mvgr Gerard PA3DQC
Hi, I have just received my HRD747 from AliExpress, and have done a few tests. Not sure if anybody else has these problems, anyway here we go.
Firstly, you cannot store the memories on hf in ssb mode, i.e, if you store a few frequencies with ssb turned on, the frequency seems to stay on the same receiving frequency, even though it is changing on the dial to another memory location and lcd readout of frequency. Very weird. It does however work fine in memory mode on AM. Also the tuning on ssb very strange, I find I cannot resolve LSB properly, it is either too high or too low in pitch. The attenuator has only 2 settings, dx which is the same as normal, and local, which is absolutely useless, I think it disconnects the antenna, and I hear absolutely nothing.
I think this little radio is a marvel of engineering. I am a radio technical officer, and can do some more tests with a signal generator. It just needs a few issues looked at, maybe a firmware upgrade in the future. I wonder if anybody else has the same issues i have been having?
I’m still trying to find one for sale in the US without having to provide my credit info to a company in Communist China.
Thanks,I am trying to get a positive experience with this radio.
I’ve bought this little chap lately, after waiting for a long time for it – I could get it only from AliExpress, so I had to wait and finally it was added not long ago.
I’m not profi DX-er, but for my own usage, I’m pretty surprised how nicely it behaves, having in mind that it’s just a compact, mobile receiver.
For me the most annoying thing are multifunctional buttons. In XHDATA there’s enough of buttons, to have all the main features accessible directly. HRD-747 is small, so not much buttons could be fitted and it really needs a bit of time and practice to avoid mistakes. But I understand that it’s the necessary tradeoff, to reach this kind of compact size.
The second kind of disadvantage, which originates from the same reason, is built-in telescopic antenna, whose last segments are extremely thin and vulnerable. It is needed to fold it very slowly, starting from the top, or it might bend easily. But that’s also something, which is a needed tradeoff for size.
I’ve got a XHDATA D-808 receiver and I’ve bought additionally ATS-100, which should arrive in a week or two. I might try to do some comparsion at my location, but since I’m not a professional guy in these matters, it might not be very helpful 😉 I’m just an amateur, who loves to travel through the world in this way – by listening to the radio 😉
Hi thewre,
i have published the docx and pdf on goggle drive. You can get it with the following link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZGp3d_pgyhNh8pA-9IdDn4tHZAXphsrt?usp=sharing
It would be nice if anyone could continue the manual, i am really curious.
By the way: i love swl since several years but i am not a technician (and to write in english is a bit difficult for me too). Therefore i can’t give a suitable/ professional cmpoarison to other radios i own. But in short words:
i could compare the HRD-747 with the Tecsun PL-330. On FM and SW both seem to receive similar. Of course ma PL-990 is better. But thr HRD-747 has some more features (especually VHF/ UHF), and it is estonishing how fast it does a scan. Also there are a lot of different bandwidthes an steps. What ist missing? Direct frequency input, but of course it is a very small device (halfe of PL-368). It is not a toy, and HanRongDa could become a new player for us SWL’s.
Thanks for sharing these originally Frank.
I’ve placed the PDF and the DOCX Versions in a repository at:
https://github.com/DialupDownload/HanRongDa-HRD-747
I hope to try to convert the DOCX into Markdown soon, and invite any others to contribute any resources they have for these radios
Frank, you might add to your manual that this radio also picks up Long wave.
You plug in an external aerial and the AM range now becomes 153 KHZ to 1710 KHZ.
This means you can now tune in Long Wave stations.
HanRongDa probably excluded the internal Long Wave ferrite to save space.
I have an external LW ferrite and it works perfectly with this radio.
There are 4 or 5 European stations left on Long Wave.
BBC Radio 4, RTE Radio 1, Luxemburg and I think Iceland.
Once again, I obtained good reception with this TECSUN ferrite antenna:
https://www.tecsunradios.com.au/store/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PL365-Ferrite-Antenna.jpg
Cheap, small and steerable
Thanks Frank,
I pretty much have it figured out, or I think I do and I lock it up or can’t remember what icon means what on the display, my old eyes can’t read it well at all without a magnifyng glass. The tiny display is my main complaint about the radio. A thought about the HRD-757, if they make it is a keypad and a little bigger display, with maybe green backlighting instead of amber?
The 747 does amazingly well, considering the price, and so far I’m pretty happy with it.
Is this radio sold in the US? Alibaba has it, but you have to buy 2 and shipping is very high.
I bought a single one on Aliexpress (71€, no delivery cost, no tax).
Not sold by that website in the US. Only the 737. Anyone in the US find a vendor?
Does the 747 have an internal Medium Wave ferrite bar?
And, How good is AM-MW reception out of the box?
Excellent idea … Thanks. I’m thinking of buying this receiver… From your side, could you tell us what you think about it ? Have you compared this receiver to others?
Despite some very negative reviews on this site, I bought the HRD-737 (31€) last year and I am very happy with it. Considering the weight and size, the price/performance ratio is very good. A simple wire antenna with an alligator clip improves the reception of stations with weak transmitters.
I am waiting to see if the HDR-747 offers better reception.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Please consider putting this on GitHub in a non-PDF format so it can be further improved.
nicely suggested. In this manner, the manual could be updated in a collaborative fashion. eventually translated to other languages.
73s
Godd Idea! I have made a docx.
What i do not know: where should i leave Iinternet adressee)? Any proposal?
Thanks!
Frank
If you can provide some kind of public link (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box) to the DOCX I’d be happy to make a GitHub Repo for the file and PDF, share it here, and evaluate options for getting document into an more collaborative format like Markdown.
I’m a newbie to Shortwave, decided to get a HanRongDa 747 due to it price point, the compact size & it rich features. It just got delivered last week, I am very happy with it overall design especially it size.
No so happy with it Chinese Manual. I am a Chinese Singaporean that has no issue reading Chinese that isn’t too technical or sophisticated… smoke was coming out of my ears when i am reading it manual.
So happy to have found your English Manual~ 😀
I have saved a copy and will sure to refer to it when I am out DXing.
Looking forward to a Multilanguage community manual~
Helaas …behalve FM..op geen enkele band respons..alleen ruis
Mvg Gerard ex PA3DQC