Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Julian Stargardt, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
I thought SWLingers would like to know that the Tecsun S-2200X will be on sale from 27 August at Anon Co for US$372.00
See: https://www.anon-co.com/product/tecsun-s2200x-radio
That’s a lot of radio for a reasonable price.
The Anon site has a good description of the S2200X as well as its specifications and also has some cool photos showing the dual battery options of 4 x D cells and 2 x 18650 LiPo batteries.
All the best.
73
Julian
Thank you for the tip, Julian!
The si437 chip sounds just fine to me when i used it on the ats25
how is this radio different than the grundig radio that looks just like it?
An e-mail from Anon-Co this morning says,
“We would like to inform you that the Tecsun S-2200x will become available again on Tuesday, 3 September.
However, because stock will be very limited, it is possible that it will be sold out before you have the chance to place an order. Unfortunately, we cannot reserve units upon request. We will receive more stock around the end of September.”
So it’s available, but in limited numbers in the short term.
I agree wholeheartedly with the commenters pointing out the deficiencies of the Si473x IC used in this radio. Every receiver based on this chip delivers abysmally bad audio on AM due to the malfunctioning AGC. They’re good enough to check what’s happening on the bands, but listening for longer times can result in a headache. I think such receivers can also contribute negatively to the general public’s perception of shortwave radio – they’re often recommended for newcomers to the hobby who – without prior experience of listening on properly designed receivers – then get this sort of a distorted image of the medium and the typical reception quality it can provide.
Unfortunately, some influential reviewers are also misleading the less knowledgeable listeners by failing to emphasize the fact that throughout more than a decade, no company has managed to address these very basic flaws and the receivers that are being introduced to the market are essentially the same as they were back then, the only noticeable thing that changes is the casing (and, perhaps, some additional features like Bluetooth etc) while the differences in RF performance remain negligible (unless we’re talking about some completely failed projects like the supposedly upgraded, but actually broken Eton E1XM). It’s especially shameful in case of a company like Tecsun which has delivered very good PLL-based designs in the past.
I think it’s time to stop caring about the Si473x-based devices since the peak of their capabilities seems to have been reached a long time ago. One just cannot pretend that there’s any actual development going there and that there’s anything new in such receivers as this one – there’s not. Thankfully, the PL-680 seems still available from Tecsun and we also have companies who actually develop new designs like Qodosen. The SDR solutions have also been mentioned. I think this is where our attention should go if we are looking for some good quality listening nowadays.
I agree,thanks for sharing.It sounds like you have the 680 by Tecsun would you happen to know if there is a way of fine tuning between frequncies with the 680,like the 880.On the 680 for instance it jumps from 7100 to 7105 as an example.I know that there are broadcasts between those two frequencies but I cannot fine tune to them.THANKS
I have an older PL-660. Perhaps you should change the tuning step from fast to slow.
Si473x DSP chips tend to “suffice” for casual listening via sub-$100 receivers IMHO. For example the ATS-20+ can be a fun little receiver for $30 especially with aftermarket firmware. The Tecsun PL-330 is a decent enough portable in the ~$60 price range. I own and use both of those receivers.
That said, a Si473x receiver for upwards of $400?! o.0 One might as well spend the difference for a good condition Icom R75, Alinco DX-R8T, or similar priced desktop-class receiver. IMHO, of course.
For those not caring about knobs and dials, $400 would go a long way towards an Airspy HF+ Discovery, an entry-level x86 notebook, and whatever basic antenna MW/HF solution.
Of note ~$400 is not far from a basic KiwiSDR 2 setup as well.
not a portable radio? not a good thing. why can i buy a not portable radio if i already have a domestic HF – VHF radio?
Expensive for what is just another cheaply produced dsp radio that offers poor audio quality on SSB and poor performing SYNC.
If they improved the analogue design I would have bought it because dsp has ruined ssb and as a result exss sounds bad also.
I’ll pass on this.
The circuit description on the page sure sounds like yet another iteration of the PL-880/S-8800/PL-990/H-501 line of “triple conversion” receivers with a conventional frontend and VFO and a si473x doing demodulation/filtering etc., – in other words, I’d be surprised if that one had better functioning SSB AGC and better/different filter shapes than its older circuit siblings.
I understand how the flooding of the market with radios built around that same inexpensive family of Silicon Labs (now Skyworks) ICs for at least a decade now and calling them “DSP radios” could have given the term “DSP” a bad reputation. But besides “DSP” being the superordinate term for the whole technology – the chips in question are only “DSP chips” in a very broad interpretation of the term – they are “radio-on-a-chip”-ICs employing DSP technology for the sole purpose of making cheap radios more powerful and even cheaper, They are an actually super flexible bunch of radio circuitry modules in one package that can be used as a whole with minimal external components needed, or you can use only the parts of them like the digital demodulation/filtering – that’s how the more expensive Chinese “DSP” radios get continuous, “mute”-free tuning, and also how they all have the – more or less – same back end and controllers, making them all sound and behave very similar.
However, this at least 10 year old design is very different and quite far from what “proper” digital signal processing, actual DSP chips and the technology as a whole has brought to us – the most capable, most sensitive, stable and selective (non-“commercial”) radios in history. Even on the cheap side: One of the things that impressed me most about the Belka was when I learned that it had a smart selection of separate and very good components (with an actual, pretty powerful but affordable Analog Devices DSP chip doing all the post-mixer stuff) forming a proper SDR communication receiver with stunning signal (processing) quality… at a price (before shipping+taxes) that buys you only half of a “triple-conversion” Tecsun. So if done right, even “cheap” DSP can be “really good” and not only “good enough for most and/or for the price”. The technology just doesn’t deserve being used synonymously with “least-cost” or “same old, same old”! 🙂
Thank you Thomas for posting this.
If you, like me, are waiting with baited breath to get your paws on the Tecsun S2200X, we might have to wait a bit longer….
Update
So it’s 27 August here in Hong Kong and the Anon-Co.com website no longer says above its entry for the S2200X “Available on 27 August 2024”.
Now it says in a red bar “Notify when this product is available”….
So I guess we will have to wait a bit longer.
Fingers crossed, this won’t be a wait like the Eton E1 – probably not, after all there have been review sets circulating in China for a year and the redoubtable and lucky Dan was sent a review set, see his excellent and well illustrated review at:
https://swling.com/blog/2024/07/dan-robinson-reviews-the-new-tecsun-s-2200x-portable-receiver/
73
Julian S.