Category Archives: FM

Any reviews of the HanRongDa HRD-737 portable radio?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jamie Anderson (KM4WYO), who writes:

I have been browsing around eBay too much and was trying to put together a do-it-all radio for camping/backpacking that is small.

It is hard to find SW/broadcast/weather/air band together (for good reason, of course). I did run across this radio that is interesting: the HRD-737 which retails around $40.

  • Internal 700mah 3.7v lithium, with 5v usb charge
  • Air 118-138 MHz
  • FM 87.5 – 108 MHz
  • AM 520-1720 kHz
  • CB 25-28 MHz
  • SW 2-30 MHz in 5 kHz steps
  • VHF narrow/wide FM – 30-223 MHz (10,6,2,220)

I’m not sure if it would pick up NOAA stations as I think they have a slightly different FM bandwidth.

It seems interesting for a do it all point of view, you could possibly monitor ham repeaters on 2 meters, just a little too short of frequency coverage for 220.

Click here to view the HDR-737 on eBay.

Have you seen one of these or something similar in your reviews?

I have never used the HDR-737, but thanks for bringing it to our attention, Jamie!

I should think, assuming the stated VHF frequency coverage is correct, that you should be able to hear weather radio on this receiver. NOAA weather frequencies are on 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, and 162.550 MHz.

The manufacturer isn’t clear about the frequency steps on VHF however–it’s possible tuning increments could be too coarse to get a good lock on the station. That specification is omitted altogether even though every other band has stated frequency steps.

I should mention that the original C. Crane CC Skywave meets all of your specifications save the ability to potentially tune in the 2M ham radio band.

Post readers: Is anyone familiar with the HanRongDa HRD-737?  Please comment!

Radiwow offers deep discounts for R-108 unbiased reviews

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, The Professor, who notes that Radiwow is offering free and half-price units to consumers willing to review their R-108 receiver. All of the details are on the Radiwow R-108 product page at AliExpress.

Here’s a copy of the statement:

Dear friends

Are you still struggling to find a cost-effective radio? Now the FREE  opportunity is coming!

Recently ,our store have launched a RADIWOW® R-108 Radio which has  great sound quality, selectivity and sensitivity .R-108 Radio is a good world receiver with great FM Stereo/LW/SW/MW /AIR/DSP. It will start selling on January 30, 2019.You deserve it!

We are looking for 20 people from Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, France to test and write an unbiased and honest review for our latest radio.

In addition, we need friends from Spain, Italy, France to help us translate R-108 English user manual into Spanish, Italian and French.

In all top three users who apply for the test will enjoy the radio for free, and the 3-20 will enjoy it at half price. Please indicate in the subject when contacting us: your country; product model; leave review or translate user manual.

Click here to read this statement on the Radiwow R-108 product page.

Please comment if you’ve successfully ordered a unit under this program. I’m currently evaluating the R-108 here at SWLing Post HQ.

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Bedside radio: Jeff ousts the Sangean WR-2 in favor of the Grundig G4000A

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(Source: The Herculodge)

Our friend, Jeff McMahon, over at the Herculodge blog has just replaced his bedside radio–he writes:

Inexplicably, the Sangean WR-2 wasn’t getting 89.3 KPCC without static, distortion, and bleed-in from another station, over the last few weeks, even with the wire FM antenna attached to the back of it. Who knows why FM reception is subject to variation. It could be the weather.

In any event, I put the Sangean WR-2 in my daughter’s room (she gets her pop station MyFM 104.3 very easily, with the pigtail antenna on the back) and put the 13-year-old Grundig G4000A by my bedside. With the telescopic FM antenna alone, KPCC has a weak signal, evidenced by the Grundig’s reception meter, but when I put the wire SW antenna to the side SW antenna port, the reception is strong and clear.

Over the years, I’ve had many portables, including the Degen 1103, and some old Tecsun models from about 10 years ago. They all suffered from weak tin speakers. Not so with the Grundig G4000A. The speaker sound is very pleasing.[…]

Continue reading at the Herculodge.

DE1DGK reviews the affordable Tecsun R-9012

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, DE1DGK, who shares the following mini review of the Tecsun R-9012:

I also have the Tecsun-R-9012, the little analog brother of the R-920c with digital display, and like to tune over the given bands with it. The sound is loud and clear and speaker-quality seems to be quite good as well. With earphones you can listen FM in stereo sound.

Either on Shortwave and Mediumwave, selectivity and sensitivity are fantastic for such a little 20€ worldband receiver. On FM, the bigger stations come in fine but it’s not very selective for weaker signals or FM-DX.

For shortwave, an external antenna like Tecsun AN-05, often overloads the receiver. It’s not recommend to use it for such low cost receivers at all.

In fact, the serial telescopic antenna works good enough in most of the situations. It could be helpful to shorten telescopic antenna a bit so reception might be better when there is too much RFI around. It depends from band to band. Battery life is amazing. It only needs two AA-batteries and works over months.

When you look for a basic worldband receiver, the Tecsun R-9012 is one of the best analog devices in the 20€-price-range. On the internet are out many reviews and tests about this little receiver which are all positive and often outperforms much more expensive worldband receivers. I would rate the Tecsun R-9012 with all pros and cons with 4.5 out of 5. It does perform great. Ideal for shortwave beginners and listeners who like the analog-feeling or those who want a universal little radio with shortwave.

Thank you for sharing your review!  I agree–the R-9012 is a safe choice for simple and affordable radio fun.

Tecsun R-912 retailers:

Guest Post: Review of the Tecsun AN-07 whip antenna extender

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Nicolás Colla, who shares the following review:

Tecsun AN-70 antenna

 

The Tecsun AN-07 is a whip antenna extender that is approximately 65 cm long. I bought mine from eBay seller Anon-co, and it arrived from Hong Kong in approximately twenty days.

The first thing I noticed with my new antenna is that it probably works only with Tecsun radios.

The antenna on my Degen DE-13 self-powered radio is too thin for the extension; the one on my Panasonic RF-3500 kitchen radio is too thick. I have another Tecsun antenna, the AN-05, which is a 6 m wire with a clip on the end that can be put on the radio’s aerial. I hung the AN-05 indoors, in the place with the least amount of RFI (just next to a window), and decided to compare the performance of my Tecsun PL-310ET with the default whip, the longwire and my new extension, on shortwave and FM.

For that, I made a quick scan of the bands with the Easy Tuning Mode (ETM) function of this radio, between 1330 and 1355 UTC. The results were the following:

Shortwave

  • With the default aerial: 3 stations found.
  • With the AN-07 antenna extension: 9 stations found.
  • With the AN-05 longwire antenna: 23 stations found.

As you can see, the AN-05, which is 6 times longer than the AN-05 (the aerial’s height is 1 meter with the added extension), gives by far the best results. Ironically, another scan with the AN-05 AND the AN-07 at the same time, with the clip adjusted on the extension, gives 29 different stations. I don’t know why, but it works better!

FM

  • With the default aerial: 42 stations found.
  • With the AN-07 antenna extension: 57 stations found.
  • With the AN-05 longwire antenna: 35 stations found.

The AN-07 seems specifically designed for FM reception, and it really shines on this band. The signal of a local station increases approximately +12 dbµV on this set’s signal meter.

In short, if you would like to get outstanding FM reception, or if you want to increase your shortwave signal quality JUST A BIT and don’t want to mess with wires, the Tecsun AN-07 is ideal.

Click here to view the Tecsun AN-07 on eBay.

Thank you, Nicolás, for the quick review! As you say, that’s impressive performance on FM especially. What I like about the AN-07 is that it’s passive and requires no power supply or batteries.  It’s also compact and easy to pack for travels. Many thanks for sharing your evaluation!

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Video: Excellent aircraft scatter demonstration

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Robert Gulley, who shares this fascinating video from the Alps DX YouTube channel. In this short demonstartion, you can follow the flight path of an Airbus A320 and the signal from France Musique from Marseille as it is bounces off of the aircraft. Fascinating:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Description from YouTube: France Musique from Marseille / Grande Etoile on 94.2 received via Airscatter. I’m always amazed when I see and hear those signals coming out of nowhere when the plane crosses the path … Nothing a few seconds before, nothing right after. Radio is magic !

Equipment : ELAD S2 SDR + SDR# v1357, Airscout v1.1, 5 element Yagi (polar H).

I find this amazing. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never attempted FM aircraft scatter. Since I have an ADS-B receiver, and several excellent FM receivers, all I really need is a decent Yagi antenna and some careful planning.

Post Readers: Please comment if you’ve logged stations from aircraft scatter! Any tips?

Any reviews of the JINSERTA Mini portable radio?

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marc Thomas, who writes:

I was wondering if anyone has tried this $40 receiver that seems to have an exceptionally broad frequency coverage:

SW: 2-30MHZ, 5KHZ STEP
AM: 520-1720, 9K/10K STEP SEL
FM: 87.5-108MHZ, 0.1MHZ STEP
AIR: 118-138MHZ, 5K/50K STEP SEL
VHF: 30-223MHZ, FM-N/FM-W
CB: 25-28MHZ, 5KHZ STEP

Links to several sellers:

Link to the manual on this page:
http://www.beliteaircraftstore.com/radiant-pocket-radio-receiver/

Not sure I like the proprietary looking battery.

Thanks.

I am not familiar with this radio, Marc, other than I can see the physical similarities with the Eton Mini. The Eton Mini, however, does not have the VHF coverage of this radio.

Post readers: Is anyone familiar with the JINSERTA Mini? If so, please comment!