By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM
In the run-up to the Nutty Idea XHDATA D-200 DX Contest, I really thought that sorting through the data might take a while. Why? Because I heard from so many people who said they had bought the D-220, were pleasantly surprised at its performance, and thought the contest sounded like fun.
But it turned out not to be so . . . only two “official” entries were received, plus an email from a ham radio friend who participated.
So I thought I would like the participants speak for themselves.
Don
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 its price point and portability.
*****
William, KR8L
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.
*****
Lou, KD2UHG (via email)
I could not spent as much time as I would have liked scanning the waves. I was picking up more SW then I imagined possible. Most noteworthy was the Music Through The Decades. From Akron Ohio, and Radio Romania. I heard all of the usual Christian preachers. Brother S was booming from Florida.After receiving the 220, I also bought the 219.
*****
So, thank you Don, William and Lou for your participation and your comments.
I hope William’s observation sums it up for all of you: “Fun!”
Thanks to your encouragement I recently purchased the radio from A_li E_pr__s .I am awaiting arrival .Many moons ago I used to be a big SWL fan on my old FRG-7 .I really enjoy your blog and and finally as I am approaching my pension years seriously considering getting into Ham and back to SWL. Saw somewhere that you have a Ham blog as well ,why don’t you publicize this hear ,it looked excellent to be .
Best Regards and Thanks for rekindling the interest .
I like the D-220 a LOT (it is striking in green/gray!), but I’m disappointed with its MW performance. It really struggles with any but the strongest MW stations, and I seriously doubt that it truly tunes in 10kHz steps. As you dial across the AM BCB, stations become louder and softer, suggesting that we are not always dead-on a channel. At the very low price, however, I’ll try not to complain too much.
Chuck E,
” I seriously doubt that it truly tunes in 10kHz steps.” Interesting. Perhaps someone with more MW expertise than mine can comment. FM seems hot, though.
Thanks for your comments.
Cheers, Jock
Chuck,
From the picture it looks like the non digital age design. ie there is a mechanical dial which turns a variable capacitor to tune the radio. There is a more recent update to this which is to use the mechanical dial to turn a potentiometer. The potentiometer varies the voltage on a variable capacitance diode tuning in the same way.
Both these methods are analog ie they are continuously variable without steps.
Outside of the Americas, Medium Frequency stations are separated by multiples of 9 kHz instead of 10 kHz. If there are steps for this reason there must be a switch to select 9 kHz or 10 kHz. Otherwise it will not receive stations on frequencies which do not end in a zero. The manufacturer does not claim that this radio uses Digital Signal Processing which causes the steps and ‘perfect’ tuning. Software Designed Radio also tuned in steps.
It’s not true that “The manufacturer does not claim that this radio uses Digital Signal Processing”. It’s stated i.e. on their Amazon product description page.
I managed a few hours with some success. Heard WRNO Worldwide (~7 MHz) for the first time in a long while. Even added a new one to the log WTWW although I’m not sure if it’s a WRMI rebroadcast or from Lebanon, Tenn. Plenty of AM and FM locals. I wanted to log WCBS 880 kHz one last time before it signs off. Didn’t hear ’em, though.
All in all, the D-220 will be a handy radio on my upcoming travels in Europe.
SamA,
Glad you had fun.
Godspeed on your upcoming Euro travels.
Cheers, Jock
In Europe DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting) is wide spread in many European countries. Norway and soon Switzerland will not have any AM or FM broadcasts. Many AM stations have either gone to DAB+ or FM.
Remember that a single DAB+ transmitter can transmit 18 programs. All vehicles manufactured from the start of 2020 must have a terrestrial digital receiver ie at least DAB+
Mangosman
This comment has not anything to do with the topic of the blog post, which is the reception parameters of the XHDATA radio – a purely analogue portable receiver, so the information about digital broadcasting or technical requirements for car audio systems sold in the EU has no relevance here. Moreover, it is a misleading information. The fact is that FM stations operating in Norway have licenses valid until 2031. They have been already extended twice at the request of license holders. They are mostly local stations which deem DAB+ financially unsustainable and want to continue their analogue broadcasting. This means that the end of of FM broadcasts in Norway will not happen “soon”.
I would have liked to take part in this contest for the pleasure of testing this new receiver, to listen and exchange with you …
Unfortunately, the D-220 only went on sale on amazon.fr (and other European sites) on August 20; I immediately ordered this radio and should receive it today, Friday August 23. Given its success, the Vibrant Yellow and Elegant Green versions are not yet available in Europe. Only the Classic Black version is on sale.
So, as some people have suggested, why not organize a “zany” worldwide listening contest? With results by continent, for example, because the radio landscape is different for all the wavebands that the D-220 can receive.
Station identification can, of course, be carried out with an XHDATA receiver with digital display (R-108, D-808, D-109, D-109WB, D-608WB). Comparisons can also be made with other XHDATA dial receivers, in particular the D-219, not forgetting the D-328 and D-328.
I can’t wait to test this D-220… It’s bound to hold a few surprises, isn’t it?
What’s next?
Paul,
Good to hear from you.
It’s rumored that the black version is possessed of certain special qualities sooooo secret that you would have an unfair advantage. Perhaps you are in for a treat!
What’s next? Hmmmmm. . . .
Cheers, Jock
I was able to spend about 30 minutes playing on Friday night. Inside my den in the aluminum sided house, I heard all the FM stations that I can normally receive, half dozen AM stations, and 3 Spanish language MW stations. Even my non-techie wife who tolerates my radio hobby was impressed. Hopefully we can do this again when I have more time to log station IDs.
Joey
KI4DUK
FWIW, I did try on and off over the weekend to hear stations on my D-220, but I had trouble with definitely IDing some of them while some I knew what they were but didn’t hear a call or anything while listening so I didn’t know if that counted for the contest. Here’s a brief summary:
* Heard IDs while listening: 18 FM, 2 MW/AM, 0 SW.
* Recognized without call: 2 FM, 0, MW/AM, 2 SW.
* Heard but unsure of ID: 0 FM, 2 MW/AM, 4 SW.
What I wanted to do for IDing was to hear something on the D-220 first, then use another radio to figure out what frequency the station was on, and go look up that frequency somewhere (e.g., app, book, online) to get the station. However, I thought that might be against the rules, so I didn’t, meaning some other stations I heard but couldn’t really figure out aren’t included in the counts above.
It was a fun thing to do, especially since I don’t have particularly fancy equipment and we were all limited to just this one, inexpensive radio here. It seemed to perform reasonably well (at least outdoors; inside can be iffy for me), which was nice to hear, but tuning was tricky and IDing wasn’t always easy with how I tried to do it.
James,
“It was a fun thing to do . . . but tuning was tricky and IDing wasn’t always easy with how I tried to do it.”
Sounds like you really embraced the spirit of the Nutty Idea.
Well done.
Cheers, Jock
Hi Jock,
Sadly the weekend ended up being filled to the brim (and not with fun stuff). Maybe we can do another one in the fall or winter?
Thanks for heading this up – Cheers! Robert
Robert,
“Maybe we can do another one in the fall or winter?”
In the depths of winter sounds like a good time to try for something fun.
Remind me, OK?
Cheers, Jock
William,
Clearly, you had fun, and I’m glad you did. You may be right: young whippersnappers may not have the right context to appreciate the D-220. I did visit your blog and enjoyed your comments about the D-220.
In addition, I read some of your other posts and was intrigued by your FM DXing. Again, sounds like fun!
I recommend others check out your blog here: https://kr8l.wordpress.com/
Thanks for your comments and participation.
Cheers, Jock
Thank you! I’m afraid I’ve had a rash of DX QSLs arriving lately, usually my blog is more likely to have postings about QRP portable, POTA, and SWLing. 🙂
I’ve tuned in Radio De Amazonia from Seattle Washington USA outside on the whip!
Gary,
Way cool!
Cheers, Jock
This *was* fun! I occasionally see negative comments about the D-220 and I have to assume they are from young whippersnappers who don’t appreciate the nostalgia factor of this tiny little radio! 🙂
For the “contest” I didn’t spend as much time on medium wave as I probably should have. Just after I got the radio I sat down with it in the evening and logged WBAP (Fort Worth), WSM (Nashville), WTAM (Cleveland), WSB (Atlanta), WBBM (Chicago), WHAS (Louisville), WLS (Chicago), KRLD (Dallas), WLAC (Nashville), and KCJJ (Iowa City). However, during the “contest” I did more daytime MW listening except for catching the two Nashville stations at night.
My shortwave catches were CRI (once in English and once in French), R. Marti, RRI (two different frequencies), and RNZ. And, of course, WWV and CHU (two frequencies). I definitely made a point of catching RNZ and spent several minutes standing outside in the early morning listening for their ID before they switched frequencies. Earlier in the week I had heard W7YO on 17m AM and was glad to catch him again on the weekend, in addition to a 40m AM station. I was surprised and pleased that I was able to copy four CW stations!
The D-220 is definitely no slouch! Last week using the built-in whip I logged the following (I ran back inside to confirm the frequency on my R-1000 so I could look up the station IDs):
Sound of Hope from Taiwan, 21490, Mandarin
CRI from Kashi-Saibagh, 17735, Chinese (dialect not specified)
VoA Radio Ashna from Kuwait, 15575, Pashto (directed to Afghanistan)
(Click my name and callsign above these comments to go to my blog and scroll down a bit to see my posting about the D-220.)
73 All!
I got 2- 220’s, gave one to a neighbor for his birthday. Just sent the article/results to his Dad’s email. I had fun the designated night with it, got on late though. I could still send my results. Maybe we could all fire them up in the dead of Winter and send in MW results. Might inspire some to upgrade their receivers. I usually chase NDB ‘s, they are slowly shutting down so probably will return to dxing MW.
I’m glad you had some fun with the XHDATA D-220. I purchased the “Black” version several weeks ago and found its performance dismal. On the Shortwave Band it suffered from muting during any tuning, making it very difficult to tune in anything. The only stations I was able to receive on the Shortwave Band were images from local AM and FM Broadcasters. I do live in a large city, within several miles of local transmitters. I own the lesser price XHDATA D-219, which performs quite well. KG7M