by Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
Here are the rules:
- You must use a D-220 with native (built-in) antenna (no hooking it up to your two-mile-long Beverage antenna)
- No use of other radios or SDRs as “spotter” radios.
- You must ID off the air.
- Any band the D-220 receives.
- Any location.
- Contest starts 6 pm your local time on Friday, August 16, 2024 and it ends at 6 pm your local time on Sunday, August 18, 2024.
- Log the time, the estimated frequency, the station ID and what you heard. In addition, provide the total number of stations you logged on each band, as well as the distance to your longest logging on each band.
There are no prizes, just bragging rights.
Feel free to report in lavish detail on your experience during the contest . . . especially if you had fun!
There are two ways to report your results.
1. If you simply want to report your total number of logged stations on each band the D-220 receives, as well as the distance to your longest logging on each band, do it in the comments section of this post. (This will save some bandwidth for Thomas.)
2. If you want to report your detailed loggings for each band, you can post them in response to this message on the SWLing Post Message Board: https://swling.net/viewtopic.php?t=206
Finally, if you find any of the above confusing or unclear, please let me know immediately. You can post here in the comments or reach out to me here: [email protected]
Remember, the whole point of this is to have fun!
I don’t know where to reply about my results so I’ll just do it here:
First setup. I used a trimmed printer label and pen on my D-220 to mark the SW bands and key frequencies – so marks on WWV, CHU, FT8 on 7, 10, 14, 18 and 21mhz (nice I could hear them all) and some marks of the key SWL bands. I spent Friday trying to do everything indoors on my second floor and Sat outdoors. Of course, waiting for station IDs became the big roadblock. I didn’t get a lot of time over the weekend with events so I did what I could.
Identified Stations:
WWV 10 and 15 mhz (680 mi)
CHU 7.9 and 14.9 mhz (850mi)
WRMI on 17.5-18mhz (1410 mi)
WWCR on ~5.9 mhz (700 mi)
WGN Chicago – 720 khz (350 mi)
KBGG Des Moines – 1700 khz (240 mi)
KCNZ Cedar Falls – 1650 khz (180 mi)
??Radio Exterior de Espana?? – I think so but couldn’t be sure 16m band
Friday evening – all times local CDT in midwest:
• 41m band – 3 stations – 2 in spanish, 1 in english (no IDs)
• 49m band – two religious stations and one hispanic (that was 2-3 khz above the 2 english stations – no IDs )
Saturday – started a more systematic approach.
• really tried hard to hear WWV on 20mhz scanning down a bit from 21mhz FT8 – nothing
• pretty sure I got Radio Exterior de Espana – but not sure
• hear loud stations in the 31, 25, 22 and 16m bands but only a couple of IDs – noted above
• heard a ton of MW stations but only picked out a few with IDs – noted above
Here are some key observations:
1. As a simple portable, the D-220 is a nice, very lightweight travel companion. FM and MW are sufficient for listening to games or music. I would definitely take it on a bike trip or camping or even to a game.
2. Headphone plug on the side??? Why?? Not good for a pocket or case. Should be on the top.
3. Outdoor use is moderate to excellent – performance improves dramatically. MW at night seems very good as does SW. This really is an outdoor portable with just the whip!
4. SW noise level is very good. Much better than Retekess or others.
5. SW overloading from MW is bad in the city yet just touching the whip with a finger removes it completely (changing impedance, grounding and antenna characteristics) allowing for clean SW.
6. FM audio sounds good but bass is severely attenuated. Hooking up the headphone jack to a stereo demonstrates how much low frequencies are cut whereas other cheap portables have great lows.
7. Audio tuning bandwidth drowns out stations close to each other if one is more powerful – fine tuning isn’t an option.
8. Tuning is general takes patience and a very sensitive touch to change the frequency.
9. SW is doable outdoors – need some testing with antenna mods – but the whip would give you some of the big SW guns.
All-in-all I was generally pleased with the radio at it’s price point and portability.
Sorry, Jock, I didn’t post in the forum – but I don’t want to be yet another radio forum – I’m in too many already and need to get out of some. Hope this works.
MWBC = 5, DX = 130 miles (WSM)
FMBC = 10 , DX = 50 miles (WCIL)
SW SFTS = 3, DX = 900 miles (WWV)
SWBC = 6, DX = 8000 miles (RNZ)
Amateur (CW) = 4, DX = 1010 miles (K1YAN)
Amateur (AM) = 2, DX = 1110 miles (W7YO)
Fun! Heard a lot more but no ID due to language and time constraints.
I was thinking, do I need another radio? The answer would no. The title kinda sucked me in, ‘A Nutty Idea.’ So, radio arrived today, and … it had no volume control knob, just a hole where it should be. I’m sending it back. In the mean time I may use it anyway will make it more Nutty I suppose.
Rich,
Just out idle curiosity: does it work anyway, despite a non-adjustable volume?
Cheers, Jock