(Almost) All-in-One in a Box
By Robert Gulley K4PKM
The RADDY RF320 is a rather attractive, if not slightly curious-looking radio, which breaks from the more recent offerings from Raddy and other small portable radios. Compact, but not pocket-sized, the radio comes in at roughly 3-3/4” x 4-1/2” almost square (not counting the tuning dial on the side, the slightly raised antenna on top, or the light on the side).
The radio can receive AIR, FM, VHF, MW(AM), SW, and Weather Band signals. (For those interested in the U.S. Aircraft Band, this model does feature AM modulation, so civil aircraft can be monitored). While the radio does have AM SWL bands, there is no SSB reception. SW bands run from 90m thru 13m, with tuning in 5kHz single steps and scan mode.
This is the IOS version of the Bluetooth App. Clean layout, keyboard frequency entry and radio control
There are four tuning methods if the user includes the Apple or Android app which feature direct keyboard entry in addition to the three modes found on the radio. As a rather cool feature, the QR scan codes are imprinted on the back of the radio for both IOS and Android apps, so if you are out and about you can easily download the app to your phone or tablet. A nice touch! No having to type an esoteric web address or search for the app. (I tried both codes and they worked just fine.)
In addition to the usual tuning methods, the RF320 has what they refer to as “fine tuning knobs” on the side and front of the radio, with the knob on the side a continuous tuning within a band mode. The knob on the front is something, well, a bit unusual. While it is a fine-tuning knob, it is designed to manually tune in search mode. A little explanation is in order.
Most radios which feature a search mode, this one included, allows the user to long-press a directional button or rotate a tuning dial a given distance to activate a search mode. When the typical radio finds a station, it may stop momentarily or completely, depending on the design. The search modes in this radio all do the latter- they stop completely. However, unlike most radios, this radio features three different methods of searching. The up/down arrows can be pressed for a second or two to start a search, or the tuning knob on the side can be rotated some distance quickly, and a search will begin. The third method is the tuning knob on the front. By manually turning the knob the radio will attempt to find the next signal within the current band or sub-band without stepping through each 5kHz frequency (of course it is doing this internally, but it is not really obvious visually).
For example, when in FM mode, this tuning method will jump to the next usable station. In SW mode, in a given sub-band (13m, 90m etc.), this knob will jump to what it senses as the next usable signal, rather than scanning every 5 kHz as done in the other modes. This allows for a very quick check of a given band (or sub-band).
As with any search mode on a radio like this, there will be false positives. Life is not fair – static crashes and birdies and digital signals can all fool a radio’s search mode.
Changing lights, Bass Boost, and QR Codes for Downloading Android or IOS Apps
The radio features excellent sound for its size, with a rather large front-facing 5W speaker, and a bass port on the back. I can crank the volume louder than I would ever want in a room and the audio remains clear.
Reception on all the bands is quite acceptable, keeping up with typical portables its size, and even ones with longer antennas and larger ferrite bars for AM reception. This is not a Panasonic RF-2200 or a GE Superadio, but for what it is designed to do, it does quite well.
The radio also has an abundance of memories, allowing you to save up to 995 stations, including 199 each for AIR, FM, VHF, MW, and SW.
Like some of the other radios from RADDY, this one has Bluetooth connectivity to Android or IOS for the App functionality, and takes a TF memory card to allow for playing music, podcasts etc., as well as having a flashlight and S.O.S. capability. There is a headphone jack and Aux. jack, as well as a USB-C charging port for the replaceable 18650 2000mAh battery (whoo-hoo!). Sleep mode, timer, wake to music and six sound effects are added features.
Lights, lights, and more lights. ‘Nuff said! (See images)
Pros and Cons
Pros: Good audio, AM receive for aircraft band, good sensitivity, multiple ways to tune, excellent App connectivity on my iPhone with direct frequency entry, good form factor, unit seems solid, replaceable battery, 18-month warranty(!), carry strap, aux. input to allow the radio to act as a speaker, included wire antenna and charging cable.
Cons: Telescoping antenna a bit frail, side tuning knob feels a bit wobbly (but I experienced no problems), back colored lights seem unnecessary (nit-picking and just a personal opinion, YMMV), EQ effects seem weak as only a few seem to make much of a difference (and not needed in my opinion, since the standard audio is quite good), no SSB (not a problem for me but will be a deal-breaker for some), and typical for this type of radio soft muting while tuning.
Conclusion
This is a good, solid radio with lots of options in terms of modes and bands, as well as extras which make it an almost all-in-one radio. This is a radio one could take to the beach or a park, or use in an office or on the coffee table or night stand. It is small, portable, packed with features, and controllable from your phone or tablet. At a price well under $100 ($71.99 special price from Radioddity at the time of publication), this may well be the radio you have been looking for to fill that portable niche!
I forgot to mention, the only thing I don’t like is having to use the app to record. I wish there was some way of putting the radio into record mode using a button. I would gladly forgo the lock button for a record button! What were they thinking?
purchased one of these a few months ago, and have just started using it for recording 20 and 40 metres ssb. SSB??? yes I built a sugarcube vfo using an attiny85 and si5351a and use it as a BFO at the receiving frequency to insert the missing carrier. Just place it near the radio and it works as well as my xhdata d-808 but with recording capabilities.
I also fitted an external antenna input jack, routing some small coax internally to the antenna. I can now use an end fed longwire, but this needs a 4.7pf capacitor in series to prevent broadcast band overloading the front end. The vfo (bfo) can be found here:
https://www.zl2pd.com/sugarcube_VFO.html
How is the reception on Shortwave for broadcasts?
I think the reception is quite good for its size and antenna limitations. It is comparable to other small portable I have used, with particularly good audio for its size. When comparing it with several other radios, at least at my location, it kept up pretty evenly with a Sony and a Sangean I have, both of which have better antennas and a larger form factor.
Thanks for a great review! Shame about the lack of SSB. Still considering to get one. The electrobanana channel on YouTube has done a teardown, he was saying it could be modded to have an antenna jack.
I just got the ZHIWHIS version of this radio. Very strange radio with some weird functions. I have one question right off which I could not find in the manual. How many memory locations does it have for each band? I just did a search and store of the full VHF band and it found 110 signals and stored them. Most of which are probably noise. When it did the search in this band it even search the FM (in NFM mode). Weird!
Thanks for your great reviews,
Tom Stiles (Tom’s Radio Room Show on Youtube)
Correction: the VHF scan found and stored 137 signals. Most of which were noise as I was in my office with a lot of RF noise and using the built-in antenna.
Tom
Note the manual says it has 995 storage location but it does not break it down by band. Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Tom
It has 199 memories in each band.
I did. They said it should not be happening. I reformatted my sdcard and copied the mp3 files over again and it is now working.
Great!!
I just bought one of these myself and like it but am having trouble playing mp3s from the TFcard. It just plays a few seconds of each song and then goes on to the next. I’ve tried every button combo on the radio I could think of to make it stop but haven’t been successful yet. Can anyone tell me how it’s done?
Hi Tim,
I can’t think of what would cause this, but I would recommend contacting Radioddity’s customer service – they are very responsive. Good luck! Robert K4PKM
Hi Jock,
Actually the radio has slightly more functionality because of the tuning dials it has in addition to the tuning arrows indicated on the app. Although, the app has the advantage of direct entry. Otherwise all the functions on the radio appear to be in the app as well.
Cheers! Robert
Robert,
Thanks for the excellent review of an interesting radio.
A question: can you operate it equally well without a smart phone? Or do you give up some functionality?
Cheers, Jock
I’m sorry, this pseudo-military look is exactly what will get dusty and hard to clean over time.
Does the antenna can be rotated when out ? if not…. you better be very careful handling it.
* Air band is AM globally
No, it does not articulate in any direction. I agree, you need to be careful with it as it is rather fragile.
Cheers!
Great review!
I’ve found with many of the HanRongDa designed radios that there are several little annoying bugs or omissions that raise the eyebrows, but the rest of the features and performance is so good that I’ll overlook the problems. For the HRD-747 for example, I’m so amazed with the sensitivity of that little radio and its wideband receiving that I’ll deal with the fact the the SSB fine tuning is backwards, and the VHF/UHF audio is sub-par (with things like Ham repeaters).
With this radio though, my biggest complaints are lack of SSB (which you mentioned) and lack of squelch on VHF. They included squelch for AIR reception, but I have not been able to figure it out for VHF. Luckily, the radio has some form of weak signal muting on VHF so the hiss when there is no signal is actually not that annoying.
I love the sound this thing puts out, and the ability to be a USB sound device when plugged into a computer via the USB port is a really cool feature. It has room-filling sound, and receives FM here better than almost any radio I have, even with that silly antenna. I also love the look. I had a soft-spot for the faux military designed transistor radios from Hong Kong in the early 70’s.
Neil,
I agree, the radio really does a great job on FM and the sound is rather amazing for such a small radio. I too like the pseudo-military look – you put your finger right on it! Cheers!