The new 2022 “Belka” (generation 3) general coverage receiver
by 13dka
Since its introduction in 2019, the super-tiny Belka (back then called “Belka DSP”) shortwave receiver sure gained an enthusiastic followership among SWLs and hams. The main reason for this is certainly the way how the Belka is incredibly small yet playing in a different league than the various consumer grade, Chinese mass-production radios, particularly the DSP-based ultraportables: The Belka is an all-mode shortwave communications receiver with a completely different (direct conversion SDR) architecture, developed and produced by a radio enthusiast (Alex, EU1ME) in a small mom&pop shop in Belarus.
In case you’ve never heard about it amidst all the buzz about more popular brands, here’s the skinny:
The Belka offers true allmode (including NFM and CW) reception with a proper 400 Hz CW filter and individual settings for the low and high filter slopes for AM, FM and SSB. It has an AM sync detector and comes with a 0.5ppm TCXO-controlled local oscillator for absolutely spot-on, calibration-free frequency precision and stability, which makes SSB or ECSS reception of broadcast stations a pure joy. The second iteration “Belka DX” brought a slightly extended coverage down to 1.5 MHz and an I/Q output for panadapter display and/or processing via your favorite SDR software.
All Belkas are quiet and very sensitive radios with a surprisingly robust front end, the filters are better and its AGC works like you’d expect it from a communications receiver, without the artifacts and distortion the DSP radios are infamous for, and of course smooth, non-“muting” tuning in variable steps down to 10Hz.
The Belkas have no built-in speaker (available as option tho) but really excellent audio on headphones and external speakers and they actually give my Icom IC-705 a run for its money in terms of reception quality, and they do that for up to 24 hours on a single charge of the internal Li-Ion battery. This stunning feature set is crowned by the best performance on a telescopic whip antenna ever – the Belkas have a high-impedance (>10 kOhm) antenna input optimized for this whip and taking it on a walk is (really!) like having a big rig with a big antenna in tow…
Despite all this goodness setting the Belka(s) quite fundamentally apart from most (if not all) current and former, even much higher priced portables and simultaneously putting it solidly into pricey tabletop territory, it hasn’t put Tecsun et al out of business for a couple of reasons: One reason is that it can only be obtained from Alex in Belarus, which is now often assumed to be impossible (it isn’t, more on that later). Another reason is that it doesn’t try to compete with aforementioned multiband radios from China, so there is no FM broadcast band and – until now – no AM BC band, but most owners and potential buyers particularly in the US really wished it had at least the latter. Well, Alex obviously heard us! After the Belka DSP and the Belka DX, the new Belka is just called “Belka”, so in order to avoid any ambiguity I’m going to refer to this model as “Belka 2022”.
What’s new?
The most prominent addition to the Belka 2022 is the extended 0.1-31 MHz coverage, the previous version only started receiving at 1.5 MHz. With LW and MW included, its “pseudosynchronous” detector (as featured in venerable radios from Harris, Racal or Drake), the great filtering and the great frequency precision for hassle-free ECSS reception are promising that the “squirrel” is now an ultra-ultraportable companion for MW DXers as well.
The second new feature is 4 additional memory slots (36 instead of 32) and a way to “preview” the memories – if you hit the [MEM] button it will let you select the memory slot as before, but if you press [PWR] after [MEM} the Belka will let you hear the memories while you browse them, indicated by a little speaker symbol in the display. Hitting [PWR] again leaves the preview mode and to change back to VFO mode, just load the memory as before or escape the memory page by hitting [MOD]. In fewer words, the PWR button dubs as a “MEM/VFO” mode toggle on the memory page, just like on most other amateur rigs.
There are also a few minor changes under the hood concerning the tuning steps: First off, the list of available tuning steps sacrificed the 10 kHz steps in favor of implementing 9 kHz steps for the region 1/3 MW band. It’s certainly easier for region 2 users to use the 5kHz steps to tune in their “even” AM frequencies than EU/AUS/AS users having to memorize the correct frequencies in the 9 kHz grid (well, actually it’s not that hard: Any region 1/3 MW frequency has a cross total of either 9 or 18!). Secondly, the predecessors memorized the tuning step setting per mode while the Belka 2022 also stores the step size in each memory slot (together with mode and sensitivity settings), so you can have memories for specific tasks (in the same mode) with a fitting step size.
Minor cosmetic changes include new rubber button caps instead of the 3D-printer caps previously used, and a slightly larger VFO knob which seems to be attached to a new encoder as well — tuning seems a little bit more sensitive. Also, the BNC jack is now attached to the side with a nut to prevent excessive forces on the PCB.
Update: There’s a little change I forgot to mention regarding the CW mode: The Belka DSP and DX radios have an offset frequency display in CW. That means if the CW station’s transmit frequency is 14,020 kHz, the radio needs to be tuned nnn Hz lower, whereby nnn is corresponding to the CW tone pitch set on the [MOD] page. Accordingly, to log a correct CW transmitter frequency you need to add what you’ve set as pitch in the [MOD] menu. A lot of ham transceivers used to work this way and some still do.
The Belka 2022 is correcting the displayed frequency for the offset in accordance to the set CW pitch. So far so good… but this also comes with a feature that when you switch modes, it sets the frequency so you get the same pitch as in the other mode. Sounds confusing? Let’s say you hear a CW station while in USB, tuned so it beeps around 600Hz (meaning the correct nominal frequency is actually 600Hz lower in SSB mode), now when you switch to CW mode the station will keep its pitch and the frequency shown will be 600Hz higher (because it’s supposed to show the CW transmit frequency).
Making it work this way is actually pretty logical, you don’t need mental math to tune in to published CW frequencies and the radio will stay tuned to the same place when you switch to CW, so this is all a plus.
Tuning to the 14,100kHz IBP beacon frequency on both radios. Same pitch, different frequency display.
MW Performance
Since the the impressive shortwave performance of the Belkas has been reviewed and demonstrated a lot already, I’ll focus on the performance on MW and LW compared to other radios. Well…what other radios could even be compared to the Belka 2022? After some considerations I picked the XHDATA D-808 for these reasons:
1. The D-808 is a 2 and 1/2 star rated radio on Jay Allen’s MW radio shootout page, right in the middle of the crowd. It performs better on AM than a lot of its currently popular colleagues and I have kind of reproduced this rating while doing my own shootouts between the CCRadio 2E, the Tecsun S-8800, the old Grundig Satellit 400 and the D-808.
2. That the Belka will perform brilliantly with apt external MW antennas goes without saying, but I had doubts about the performance on the whip. However, the whip is usually all it has when you take a walk or do some front porch listening, so it seems fair to compare it to an average radio with an internal loopstick antenna and the D-808 is a small enough radio that served the same purpose (“wearable shack”) before I got the Belka, so I felt the D-808 might be an appropriate benchmark.
The following “daytime/groundwave DX” audio clips were recorded via the headphone outputs of both radios into a little field recorder. Both radios were set to use the 3kHz filter, with the D-808 rotated for best reception. In each clip I switch radios every 5 seconds. As per usual, please use headphones or speakers with a good bass response if possible, to let the radios speak for themselves in all parts of the audio spectrum:
1449 kHz BBC Scotland’s Redmoss 2kW transmitter near Aberdeen, 790km/490mi. (B)*
1449 kHz again, an hour later when the station faded in a little more. (X)
1566 kHz, BBC West 1kW transmitter in Taunton, Somerset, 875km/543mi. (x)
1548 kHz Greatest Hits Radio, Skew Hill, Sheffield, 0.74kW, 679km/422mi. (X)
1467 kHz Radio Eldorado from Holland, 100 Watts, 208km/129mi. (X)
NHK via Radio Baltic Waves Internation, Viešintos, Lituania, 75kW, 1050km/652mi. (B)
When the stations are strong enough, telling the difference is a little harder. Surprisingly, the “louder” stations I recorded are among the most distant but not exactly the strongest transmitters:
1593 kHz “Bretagne 5” in Saint-Gouéno, 10 kW transmitter in 1026km/637mi. (X)
SRR Romania on 1530kHz, unclear if that’s the 15kW Radauti (1383km/859mi) or the 15kW Nufaru (1753km/1088mi) transmitter, or both. (B)
* (B) = Clip starts with the Belka, (X), clip starts with the D-808, just in case it wasn’t obvious enough. 🙂
Below the MW BC band
The D-808 does receive the NDB band but it more or less ceases to function below 300 kHz. Here’s the Droitwich transmitter on 198 kHz, I included the clip because you can hear a little bit of the Belka’s display noise (described below) on it:
Droitwich 198 kHz with the D-808 starting the clip
The D-808 does still work in the beacon band, but using the Belka’s CW filter to dig out weak NDBs is clearly something different:
NDB through the Belka’s CW filter and the D-808 “1 kHz” filter
I hope you could hear that there’s more sensitivity on LW/MW, less quirky noise and way better IF filtering with steeper slopes and a voice-friendly passband, and a generally more graceful signal processing in the Belka.
Of course the point of this comparison was benchmarking the Belka’s sensitivity on MW/LW with its 74cm/29″ short telescopic whip and not to point out the shortcomings of the D-808. To be fair, the sensitivity difference seems not that big on the low end of the MW band, the D-808’s loopstick is likely tuned towards that end to avoid even more catastrophic deafness on LW. However, even when sensitivity is equal the difference in the just as important signal processing quality remains.
I hope Jay Allen won’t mind if I adopt his ranking system and estimate the Belka 2022 to be at least in the 3 to 3 1/2 stars range. I found myself gobsmacked about the unexpected MW performance on the unusual antenna for MW. Of course, after sunset the omnidirecionality of the whip is often a disadvantage on crowded channels but for casual listening on the move it’s just fine.
Other bands
I have briefly compared the Belka DX and the Belka 2022 on some indicator stations and as expected, I couldn’t find any noticeable differences. For comparisons between the Belka DSP and other radios (including the D-808), overload test etc. please refer to my 2020 review of the Belka DSP. Just so much — none of my portables (Sat 400, S-8800, PL-660, D-808) are capable of delivering such clean (particularly SSB) audio paired with that kind of sensitivity in any band, now including MW/LW.
However, here’s a short clip I recorded while I was out there, I think it is exemplary for the difference between the typical DSP-based ultraportables lacking a way to control gain to mitigate their problems with the AGC, and the Belka. I used the Belka’s sensitivity control to let the AGC work less hard, resulting in an even quieter and more relaxing listening experience, a tip that works with many radios with an RF gain control:
Shannon Radio 13264 kHz with the D-808, then the Belka.
That both radios hear any of the 14,000km/8,900mi distant Australian IBP beacon on 14 MHz is certainly owed to the location (my coastal listening post #2) and good condx, the Belka even has the 10W-dash briefly flaring up:
100W from western Australia: First the Belka in CW mode, then the D-808 with the 500Hz setting.
Quirks, issues and observations
The Belka DSP debut was a bit riddled with birdies but the majority of them was so very faint and narrowbanded that they were not a deal breaker in any way. The “DX” model got rid of most of them, particularly those that showed up in the ham bands. The Belka 2022 seems to to be no different. That being said, any super-sensitive wideband radio has some birdies and if you don’t go on a hunt for them you’ll probably never know all of them, so I’ll leave it at that. Also, some (if not most) of these birdies do not show up when you use an external antenna, because they are caused by the display:
The display can cause a bit of noise, the likelihood increasing with decreasing frequency so this is mostly affecting LW/MW. Now this is an issue pretty much any radio with some kind of fancy display has – for example, the same has been reported about the $2,000 Reuter Pocket when it’s used with the provided whip. On the Belka, it doesn’t show up when you hold the radio in your hand but as soon as you let go, there may be some characteristic noise on weaker stations…except under other circumstances the opposite may happen.
Tip: If you wear the Belka in a breast pocket, make sure the display is facing away from your body to avoid this noise, or just turn the display off by pressing the [MOD] button for 2 seconds. If you have locked the VFO knob, the [MOD] button blanks the display immediately. Of course, this isn’t an issue at all with external antennas.
While verifying the battery stamina I understood why some people have uttered doubts about the specified 24h endurance: The battery indicator looks “empty” after maybe ~8 hours, but the radio keeps going and going… for 16 more hours. If you look closely, most of that time it actually shows a single, narrow line of remaining charge that only disappears when it’s really an hour or so before shutting down. By the way, a full charge from there takes ~4 hours on a regular (500mA) USB-port. Update January 2023: Only the very first batch of the new Belkas had this battery meter quirk. I purchased a second one in December and that has a more “linear” charge indication. Again, if you want to maximize the battery lifetime, avoid discharging it until it shuts down and do not keep the battery fully charged over longer periods of time. For long-term storage, charge it to 50-60% only.
Made in Unobtainia? No!
Some people think that the Belka can’t be ordered currently due to the sanctions. Indeed, when I wanted to order a second Belka DX in summer my German bank confirmed that wire transfers to Belarus are not possible, however it seems a different big German bank still does wires to Belarus, so maybe that’s really depending on the bank? But credit card payments work (except for Denmark and Sweden unfortunately, which bounce goods from Belarus): I used the second option (BelSwissBank) on the belrig.by purchase page and it worked without problems, I received the new 2022 Belka after 8 days (including a few days in customs) and Alex reported that 90% of payments from the US come through. Shipping to the US may take a few weeks longer though.
Summary and verdict
With the added LW/MW coverage, the 4 additional memory slots are a most welcome addition and the memory preview function adds effectively a “MEM/VFO” mode switch, making the new Belka an even more complete and versatile radio. Once again I underestimated what this tiny thing can do, the performance on MW with just the whip is just as outstanding as on the other bands, and paired with a good MW antenna it should be also one of the best and certainly the smallest option for MW DXers now.
Wildly changed currency exchange rates likely contribute to the price having increased some dollars for the new version, so it could be had for maybe $170-180 including shipping to the US, a little less in the EU (but taxes/customs fees may be due). Considering the conceptual and mechanical quality of this tiny “spy radio”-sized communications receiver, the added bands/functions and how its performance rivals some famous tabletop receivers, this remains the same mind-boggling value for the price. I really don’t like walks but since I have a Belka I’m taking walks to escape the RFI at home and play radio in a way I never deemed possible. If you want such a wholesome radio too, you can order it here: https://belrig.by
Edit: You can read more about MW reception with the Belka, a review of an active ferrite antenna for the Belka and a short comparison with the CCRadio 2E in part 2 of the MW shootout (click!).
Picked the new 0.1-31MHz 2022 version up last month, my problem now is what to do with my original 1.5-31MHz Belka DX. Nobody is going to want the older model.
If your selling your Belka DX please contact me. I have been looking for one. Would be happy to purchase via PayPal
That depends – if someone is not interested in MW/LW anyway, he gets almost the same radio and they usually sell well. I gave away my Belka DSP but I kept the DX to be deposited in the car for spontaneous remote listening sessions without bringing my jacket (where one of the new Belkas is living). 🙂
For your information, the version sold by Mobimax.bg now covers the extended range 0.1 – 31 MHz.
Mobimax’s model is a bit more expensive but it feature
– the screen protector,
– a built-in speaker that has been added externally so as to make use of the larger capacity battery,
– the nice foldable “legs”,
– a cable for the IQ output.
European union customers don’t have to pay import taxes and the shipping is very quick.
Where can you buy this type? Only from the manufacturer? I cannot refer to a Belarusian account number. I would like to order for Hungary.
The generation 3 Belka is available on http://www.belrig.by
In case anyone is wondering where the latest comments about a Belka with problems went:
Well, someone commented about his disappointment with the Belka and Alex not replying to emails, FABRIZIO VALDIROSA and I then asked him some questions to pinpoint the issue. On Sunday I emailed Alex as well (just in case something went into spam on his side or something) to point him to the issue/the comment, because, well, we’re glad to help!
Today another user commented, claiming to have the same experience and same malfunction. Turns out it was posted with the same credentials as one of the first guy’s comments – in other words, it was the same person, who then asked about the other two comments as a third person while I was typing this. Needless to say that whatever the motives for that may have been, it instantly destroyed the credibility of the whole issue. I emailed Alex right again and asked him to disregard my previous email.
Everyone here is glad to help with whatever problems people have with their stuff, as much as it is possible on a platform like this and as much as I understand frustration and the urge to vent it, trying to doctor it this way for whatever is on someone’s agenda and wasting everyone’s time is just not acceptable.
Alex may not always be the fastest in responding to emails but of the 2 defective Belkas I got knowledge of in 3 years of closely monitoring all things Belka, both were rectified by Alex as soon as it’s possible within the constraints of having to send stuff forth and back. There’s a YouTube video about one of them (display problem), the other one was my 3rd Belka which had developed a bad solder joint. Both issues were resolved of course.
I am a comitted BELKA Fanboy. I own 3 of the beasties.
A Belka-DX, Belka-DX with speaker and a Gen-3 Belka.
All 3 were purchased direct from the belrig.by website in Belarus. Ordering was painless and on each occasion the goods arrived in the uk in 7-10 days, tracked delivery.
The Belkas are brilliant for shortwave, most definitely the “dog’s bollocks”. The latest Belka is pretty good on medium & long wave as well.
Sorry to hear that! First off, have you checked if any replies have could have ended up in your spam folder? This is very common nowadays if an email address is not in your regular contacts, the email providers treat that as “spam suspects” even if you contacted that address in first place.
Re the problems you’re having with your Belka — your radio could just have acquired a defect of some kind. If you describe what happened in as much detail as possible I could maybe try to help you pinpointing the malfunction?
Can you elaborate on that? Did you maybe use a mono plug (or a stereo plug with ring and sleeve connected) to connect a speaker?
Hi
Thanks for the review (which I saw before buying) and the reply.
No, there’s nothing in the Spam folder – I regularly check this.
The socket issue sounds like a poor connection, and yes it was a Stereo (gold-plated) plug which was used – I did see the warning in the PDF before I’d even received the radio. I came across some users with the same issue in a Facebook Belka group yesterday, and one said that Alex is aware of this and said “there was a problem with the headphone jack in the most recent batch of Belkas”. He (Alex) suggested opening up the Belka and scraping some metal off inside the jack and even sent one user a video about how to do it, but I’m not too happy doing this as if I damage something by mistake, it’s on me.
OK that helps boiling it down. Alas the Facebook group is private and can’t be read without an account so I can’t assess how bad the contact problem and how doable the fix is. The blinking LED has a logical explanation (my 2 first batch v3 Belkas don’t do that yet) so there is the poor performance left to check:
For that it would be great if you had some other portable radio with MW. There could be 2 issues: 1. The Belka has a defect causing it to lose sensitivity. 2. The sensitivity is OK but you have a lot of noise where you try it. In that case, the whip is fully hit by any noise sources, more than a ferrite antenna would.
Hence the suggestion to take both the Belka and your other portable outside, as far away from any houses as you can get it during daytime and compare the reception there. As you can read here (click) in what’s kind of part 2 of this review (scroll down to the “Whipped it all into relation” paragraph) I found the Belka’s sensitivity on the whip surprisingly close to one of the current benchmark MW radios so it should at least as good as your other portable (unless that’s a Panasonic RF2200 :)) outsides in the absence of RFI when you compare ideally some weak stations.
Hi again
I unfortunately don’t have another MW radio to check performance against, but I did take the Belka out to a remote forest park last week to try it, and although there was absolutely no QRN, the LW/MW reception was disappointing with the whip. I also brought a 15m length wire with me (with a BNC on the end) and it was a little better thrown into a tree, but not hugely so.
Again with the whip, I have also noted that there are quite a few “birdies” on LW & MW which completely wipe-out the stations which are there, for example 252 kHz has a birdie obliterating the station and 163 kHz has a loud (strength 60-70) steady tone. The BBC Radio 4 signal on 198 kHz sounds like there’s a carrier on top of it making it unlistenable, and on many other frequencies there are “warbles”.
Also (as if the above weren’t enough!) the sensitivity seems to be different almost each time the receiver is turned on, with sometimes some stations being faint and next time they’re ok. Add to this that there may be some sort of AGC issue, as if I go from a strong station to another frequency, it takes maybe 5 seconds for the audio level to come up.
Being a DXer many years ago, perhaps my expectations for the Belka were too high despite the glowing reviews and videos, or perhaps I got a bad one.
Either way the Belka’s such a disappointment, which in itself is a disappointment for me 🙁
This is the first time I read something negative about the Belka and I think I have read hundreds of opinions and reviews. You say that reception is poor with the whip, well, do you know other receivers that are better on a whip? I agree about the flashing charging light. With Belkas of the first 2 generations, the charging light turned off when the charge is complete. With the latest Belka, it flashes when complete. I emailed Alex and he simply told me everything was ok and not to worry. As far as I know, Alex has always done his best to help customers.
Hi
Yes, all the reviews I’ve seen about the Belka have been positive, hence me buying one without hesitation, and this makes it more of a disappointment when I’m getting this lack of performance. I’m not particularly happy to write a negative review about this receiver, but if the maker’s not replying to me I do feel I have to let others know.
I don’t know of another receiver which uses a whip for LW/MW, but that’s not relevant – I’m basing the performance of the numerous views I watched before buying, plus just about being able to hear my local BBC transmitters.
Good to know that the flashing LED is normal, but I’ve been unable to find this out online, hence my emailing Alex originally.
I too thought Alex was supportive, but I am only speaking personally and he hasn’t replied to two emails regarding the issues I’m having, and there’s nothing in the spam folder, so I’m having to try find out from other users 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to review the new-version Belka. I have the previous, 1.5-31MHz version and my question is about mediumwave reception. How do the two models compare, reception-wise in the 1500-1611 region, where they overlap? I’m wondering if the performance of mine drops off on mediumwave, just as the new model drops off on longwave. Thanks
Thanks for reading! The Belka DX appears marginally less sensitive down there (on the whip that is), I cannot quantify how much of it is actual less sensitivity and not just a level indication difference right now. I was more concerned about 160m when I compared the 2 radios.TBH.
What made you think the Belka 2022 drops off on long wave? Did you confuse that with the D-808 maybe? It’s totally fine on LW as well!
73s,
Ollie
Hi Ollie, and thanks for your reply. Of course, I was reading your piece, too quickly; it’s good to know the BELKA is also good for longwave reception.
I’ve been listening on the bands for more decades than I’m willing to admit, and only rarely does any piece of equipment raise an eyebrow. The BELKA (DX, in my case) blew me away! I chopped together a little video, illustrating (mostly) the super-fine tuning on the ham bands. I recorded to audio directly to give amore accurate impression of the received audio. If anyone’s interested, go to…
Video link
I found the written instructions that came with mine, just a little lacking, so I typed up an easy-to-read guide. If anyone would like a copy, please just drop me an email [email protected]
73s – Martin
Sorry, Ollie. For some reason that link doesn’t want to play ball. Feel free to delete, to tidy up the comments thread.
Hi Martin,
I took the v3 and the -DX to the dike again this afternoon and quickly compared their sensitivity on 1548kHz (Greatest Hits Radio, Sheffield 679km) and that 100W station in Hemelum, NL (whatever their name is this week) on 1602kHz, just holding them in my hand – the difference was “marginal” indeed on 1548kHz (a tad more noise) and gone on 1602 kHz (same SNR – I assume the -DX lowest bandfilter is just tapering off below and around 1500kHz. The point is however that most of my other radios can’t hear these stations at all and both Belkas can, on their whips.
73,
Ollie
Just got my 2nd Belka receiver! FYI – I ordered mine on 2/6 and it arrived on 3/17.
Can’t wait for mine to arrive! ?
Barely working on LW is a pretty accurate description of the R108 clone also!
I took the plunge and bought the new 0.1-30 MHz Belka that does MW/LW as well as SW etc.
It arrived yesterday (just 10 days from Belarus) and I am pleased to report it picks up LW well here on the English southwest coast (swanage). Both BBC Radio 4 (198 KHz) and the RTE Irish station on 252 KHz came in well. Amazing considering just a whip, no ferrite rod antenna.
198 KHz xmitter (Droitwich) is 250 Km north, 252 KHz xmitter (Dublin) is 425 Km northwest.
Thanks for the help.
Chris.
Useful review by 13dka. I assume the reception location is the Nederlands. My interest is the Daventry 198KHz broadcast – I listened to both the D-808 and Belka on the posted tape – fairly weak signals?
My dilemma is this. I have a SIHUADAN R-108 which seems to be a clone of the D-808 but with one less row of keys. Its performance on LW is is abysymal for the strong 198KHz signal here in Swanage on the UK southwest coast, barely intelligible. Any old MW LW radio will leave it in the mud, even my Russian Olympic model from 1980. These will also pick up the Irish 252KHz broadcasts and until a week or so ago, RTL on 234KHz 🙁
So is the new Belka able to do that?
What I don’t know is if the R-108 is much worse than the D108 13ska tested.
I can confirm that the new Belka receives 198 Longway very well using the telescopic antenna. I was also able to pick up the Irish station.
Thanks Mark!
That’s exactly what I wanted to know. Now to order a new Belka!
Chris.
Hi Chris,
I can speak only for the D808 but it is known to barely work on LW, so it may not be far-fetched to assume the R-108 is similar. Location is Germany, not far from the Danish border, ~770km from Droitwich.
The R-108 isn’t a clone of the D-808, iroincally the D-808 is a clone of the CCrane Skywave SSB in some ways. First and foremost, the UI of the R-108 and the D-808 are very different, especially in how memory channels are managed and grouped etc.
Here in the UK I ordered a receiver back in October and I still haven’t got it. Apparently it is at a distribution centre at Heathrow and there have been no updates since the 12th of December. Needless to say I am extremely annoyed. If you are in the UK and considering ordering beware because Royal mail are no longer fit for purpose this is a disgrace.
Sorry to hear that! After that long time in a UK distribution center I think a claim for lost post is warranted. Crossing my fingers that it all turns out well!
As a follow-up to my previous comment, I am very pleased to report that my receiver arrived on Friday, the 14th of January. I am very pleased with it’s performance and I would highly recommend it to others. I have a belka DX as well and have been using it for the past year with great success using both A magnetic loop antenna as well as the telescopic whip. The new receiver performs just as well if not better and the new frequency coverage is very welcome. Thanks to Alex for doing such a great job again.
Thank you very much,a real big help.
If the USPS Informed Delivery is accurate, I may be able to tell you after tomorrow.
Thanks for the review. Can someone who has the new radio confirm that these rubber buttons finally eliminate the vibrations that I get using the speaker on my Belka-DX with the hard plastic buttons?
Woohoo! Was notified this evening that my package was processed through the ISC New York. The ISC New York NY is the “short code” for the New York International Service Center, a major clearinghouse sort of facility where every piece of mail (and every package) leaving the United States – or arriving in the United States – is handled by the USPS. It’s getting closer. 🙂
Same here, Mike. I learned today that mine is at the New York ISC also. I ordered the Belka on October 29, and it now needs to make its way cross-country to the Seattle area ?
My Belka arrived Saturday the 26th (yessss :^)
That makes the delivery time 28 days to reach me in the Pacific Northwest.
Woohoo! Hope you like it as much as I do! 🙂
Mine is at my local post office and will probably be delivered today. It took almost a month. It took 3 days to get from the Queens clearing house to Miami.
I can’t wait.
Ed
I just received one and would like to know the best settings for am radio in northeast us.Thank you
Step size (press the VFO knob when the frequency display is showing) – 5kHz or 1kHz.
For local stations: Mode AM1 or AM2 (doesn’t matter), Bandwidth 50Hz-4kHz
For distant nighttime stations with good signal: Mode AM2 (sync), bandwidth 50Hz-4kHz unless there are stronger stations on a neighbor channel, reduce to 3.5 or 3kHz (or even less, as required).
For weak signals: AM1 mode (regular), bandwidth 3 kHz or less as required to maintain intelligibility. You may also want to try USB or LSB if there is interference from a neighboring channel.
Well yes, I have six R75’s.
Four of them are used as standby receivers on my home shack. The others are located, one in Thailand and on at my Cabin.
Geir
Mike and Geir,
Have either of you two gents received your radios? Mine was shipped on October 24 and I am getting impatient. It will be well worth the wait.
73,
Ed
N4EJG
Hiya Ed,
Can’t speak for Geir, but short answer here is no. I went to the tracking site with Google Translate up and running and all it tells me is that my shipment left Minsk on 02 Nov.
I’m keeping the attitude that it will get here when it gets here. Not much more I can do. 🙂
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Mike
FWIW, my Belka DSP took 17 days to arrive in the Seattle area, the Belka DX was 11 days in transit, and right now I’m at 13 days and counting for the new Belka gen 3 to arrive.
Guy
Hi Mike,
I see the same message on the same tracking site. You are right, it will eventually show up.
Meanwhile, I have my R75 and a slew of other portables to keep me busy.
Thanks for getting back to me.
Ed
Ed,
The R75 is an excellent radio, as Geir can attest to. 🙂
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Mike
Mike, as a member of your R75 group, I can certainly attest to that.
I do find myself using my portables more and more often, though, especially the Sony ICF2010, SW07 and SW100. It will be interesting to compare them with the Bella.
Ed
Not meaning to lower your hopes for a speedy delivery but I’ve read somewhere that someone had to wait for a month, I hope this was only due to the big difficulties USPS had a while ago.
@Everyone – the BelPost tracking site isn’t great, IIRC they are not updating the status much once the parcel has left the country. There are numerous tracking sites like 17TRACK https://www.17track.net that may give you a more detailed status update.
I hope you all get your radios soon! The good stuff is always hard to find and once you found it it’s hard to get. 🙂
And once you got it, don’t forget to connect it to a nice big speaker or a proper set of cans at least once to appreciate what it really does! (Just sayin’ because I watched a lot of YouTube videos demonstrating the new Belka with the super-tiny built-in speaker in the past weeks and while it’s certainly useful to have that, it doesn’t do the radio justice at all, it makes it sound much less capable than it really is. With a proper transducer of some sort: Bam! Tabletop goodness all around!).
Hi Ollie,
It’s good that I didn’t have hope of a speedy delivery then. 🙂 We just completed a EU trip and posted cards from London, Krakow and Paris. Those times were much longer than I had originally figured. 🙂
As said earlier, it will get here when it gets here. I still have a few others I can listen to.
Take care and stay safe.
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Mike
Hi Ollie,
Thank you for the helpful information. I am familiar with the front end design of this radio, having used a similar design in a 20 meter monoband QRP rig. I think that this is what pushed me to order it. I plan to use my Sennheiser 650’s with the Bella while at home. In the field, I have other more portable options.
73,
Ed
Thanks also for an excellent review.
I have been enjoying my new BELKA for the past 10 days. I am very satisfied.
What strikes me the most are:
The audio. It is easy on my ears for hours on end, whether on CW, SSB or AM. I think this is due to the direct conversion quadrature front end as well as the audio stage.
The smooth, analog-like tuning. Signals just jumó out when one tunes.
The hot front end.
The easy to use user interface.
This was well worth waiting for.
Ed
N4EJG
Hi Ed,
Thanks for the feedback! I’m really glad you like it! It’s not like there isn’t plenty of praise for the Belka out there but that’s also true for just about any radio, particularly in reviews. That’s why I’m always a bit anxious that people miss the point of the Belka when I try to keep my enthusiasm for this thing in check in reviews. It’s not just good “for the price”. It’s just good, and on top – of course – pretty inexpensive and incredibly small for what it does. 🙂
Hi Ollie,
You are right. Many radio reviews and comments cross the line between enthusiasm and hyperbole. I think that your review was balanced and if anything, understated.
Every ham or SWL should have one.
Ed
Bedankt voor deze review. Ben benieuwd hoe ik deze kan bestellen vanuit Nederland.
Ik heb vorige week besteld en is onderweg. Betaling liep via visa naar alphabank
Will do Geir.
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Mike
I updated the post a little to include the nice changes to the CW mode frequency display in the “What’s new” section. 🙂
I have the Belka DX the usage of the word DX is no joke. I have Icom kenwood alinco transeivers, and other ham receivers.This rado is amazing.
On a recent 10 mtr opening on the rod antenna I was getting Japan ,US , south Africa and not one or two but loads,whilst walking along I will put video on youtube soon.
With a belka in your shirt pocket and a wire antenna running down your shirt and pants terminating at your socks you could listen to DX at work,weddngs,funerals even a job interview!
Interesting idea for the antenna! I made a “wearable loop” going around my shoulders and down my back, with cable through the jacket sleeve to the hand held Belka. Very nice for a walk around the park, though a bit noisy under a led street light 🙂
Thanks for the review.
I purchased a DX and the performance is really stunning.
Compared to the Belka, some of my transceivers are deaf…
One can also use a burner credit card from privacy.com to purchase. A friend just did that successfully buying two radios, one for me and one for him…
Thanks Geir, I appreciate that feedback.
Any new R75s in the stable? 🙂
Currently in the process of replacing a cell phone that went tango uniform, so it’s the priority at the moment. Probably next week and I’ll jump on this bandwagon. Thanks for chiming in. Take care and stay safe.
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Mike
Nice review. I’m finding the MW sensitivity is far greater than my Tecsun PL-330 & PL-880. Shipping to Australia was only 15 days!
Thanks, Chris! That’s to be expected in this case, the PL-880 is a 2-star MW radio and the PL-330 is only 1 and a half stars, whereas the PL-330 can at least be connected to an external antenna to help with that. Glad to hear you can confirm my results! 🙂
Ollie, looks like you made the same mod to the Belka-DX’s whip antenna as I did– a short length of heat shrink tubing over the connector end to add friction. This makes the telescoping rod position less “floppy”, and it stays put in your desired orientation.
Are you referring to the white part in the 1st B v B picture?
Yes, that is the photo. A bit of heat shrink tubing at that spot really helps steady the antenna from unintended rotation.
Hi Guy, yes indeed that’s what I did! I have also ordered a couple of similar antennas and they all had the same problem. Luckily, when I use the Belka in the breast pocked the antenna is sticking out just straight up so this is not an issue.
Actually there’s another option (tip from Alex on the radioscanner.ru page):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Az-Y92yf0
Just tried that with one of the loosely swiveling ones and it works. Just be careful, it’s not easy to get something between the metal and the teflon.
Thank you very much! I’m going to try this on an extra, unneeded BNC whip antenna first to see if it works for me.
Here’s how I mitigated the floppy antenna issue…
First, I had already decided to leave a right-angle BNC adapter on the Belka. BNCs have a certain life cycle regarding inserting and removing a mating connector to them. By leaving the right-angle adapter on the Belka, one can replace that adapter if needed. This preserves the Belka’s BNC, theoretically preventing/delaying the need to perform BNC replacement surgery on the radio in the future.
Having said that, the adapter also allows the antenna to flop rotate past vertical. The way I mitigated that was to use two 5/16” x 7/16” o-rings on the adapter. I placed both of these, one on top of the other, in the gap in the adapter. The gap is where the adapter allows rotation. The two o-rings provide some friction between each other and also their respective surfaces that they touch on the adapter’s gap. This made a noticeable improvement in keeping the antenna from flopping as easily.
When putting the Belka in a pocket, one can rotate the adapter “inline” with the radio. This prevents the need to take the adapter on/off, which would defeat the purpose for using the adapter in this scenario.
Hope this helps Belka owners looking for a way to mitigate the antenna flop.
Duct tape, zip ties, and o-rings…Good multipurpose problem solvers.
I was looking forward to a review of the 3rd gen. Belka and I liked it very much. Just let me tell you that that the SSR Romania programme is not in Italian language. It is a Eastern Europe language, probably Romanian.
Ha! Thanks for the heads up! I was really confused by this because the schedule on MWlist.org didn’t match what I heard, but I googled it of course and found out that SRR does transmit programs in Italian on MW, so I thought MWlist is just out of date there. I didn’t know that Romanian and Italian are so easy to confuse either, so I just googled that and indeed this is a “known issue”.
you are 100% right
Another great review Ollie. The Belka has been on my short-list for quite a while, and now that it supports MW it just might be time to pull the trigger.
Again, nice job.
Thank you Mike! Yes, it sure has become harder to resist the urge to get one of those little buggers! 🙂
Hi Mike,
I pulled the trigger today. No problem using my Visa card to Alfa Bank here. Now, let’s just hope our customs does not screw it up. Crossing fingers. 🙂
Geir, LA6LU
Norway
After sorting a technical issue with my credit card issuer, mu order when in this morning. Now we wait.
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Mike
Great Mike. Let’s inform each other when they arrive. 🙂
Geir