Category Archives: New Products

Stephan notes a few issues with his first production run Sangean ATS-909X2

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Update: Please read this comment from Sangean America. It seems the receiver Stephan received was actually a pre-production model that shouldn’t have been sold to him. Sangean has replaced his radio with one from the first production run. 

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Stefan, who recently shared two descriptive comments about issues his new Sangean ATS-909X2 is exhibiting. I’ve edited both comments together below:

I purchased [my Sangean ATS-909X2] from Sangean Europe and I am totally disappointed. I know that my radio is from the first production batch and I really hope that Sangean will address the following issues:

1. When I switch from FM to MW/LW/SW, I lose reception completely on these bands. However, FM works as expected, regardless from which band I switch back to it. To restore reception on the affected bands, I have to turn off the radio for a few seconds.

[Stefan then provided the following update:] Note [in this audio clip example the] first time I had to restart the radio two times to restore reception.

Audio Player

2. Lots of tones across all the bands, except FM. In fact, every receivable station has at least a minor tone. I can’t judge if these tones are interferences coming from internal components, such as the display, or there are oscillators related. If you are interested I can record some audio samples. Video is not possible because I’m visually impaired.

[Stefan shared the following update:] I am pretty confident to say that most tones across the bands are not generated by internal components. There are some birdies here and there, especially when I touch the screen, but these are acceptable. I suspect that it is something wrong with signal demodulation. I can get that tone even on strong local stations, while the sensitivity is set to minimum.

[…]The environment where I made these recordings is very noisy, but I tried the radio outside and, even if reception is much better, that tone on the affected bands is always present.

Below [is an audio sample] demonstrating that annoying tone on MW (LW, SW and air band are also affected):

Audio Player

3. The following one is not so important: The upper part of the LW is totally deaf. I can’t receive anything above 300 kHz. Tried some non-directional beacons from the nearest airport, but no luck. I also tried to induce some interference from my mobile phone, but I can’t generate any noise. Very interesting…

4. Frequency calibration is off by 2 kHz. For example a station on 540 kHz sounds centered at 542.

5. I noticed a huge sensitivity drop on MW/LW (SW not tested yet) when the batteries reach the half of their capacity. I suspected that it was bad propagation, but tested this with another radio I have and turns out I was wrong. When batteries are full, the sensitivity is ok. When the batteries are a bit discharged, sensitivity on MW/LW begins to drop. I can admit that the sensitivity is correlated with battery voltage, but on this radio the dropping curve is unusually aggressive.

That’s all for now. This is not a review. These are my first personal observations on the new ATS 909×2. I think I should return the radio for a product exchange and try another unit after a few months or maybe even for a refund, I still have not decided yet.

Thanks so much, Stefan, for taking the time to share these notes with us.

I’ll admit that this is discouraging if these issues are present in all of the ATS-909X2 units from this production run. Your points 1 and 2 are big ones. I would not enjoy hearing those het-like tones in my received audio. It sounds like it’s ever-present in AM mode regardless of frequency. The drop-off in sensitivity when toggling FM? That’s also unacceptable. These bugs should have been discovered and addressed during Alpha/Beta testing which leads me to believe it could very well be an issue with the first production run (and lack of QC check before shipping).

Issue number 5 on your list is actually a criticism of the original ATS-909X as well.

Please keep us informed, Stefan, and thanks again. I know our contributor, Dan, has an ATS-909X2 on order in North America and I’m sure we’ll hear from him once he receives his unit.

Any other ATS-909X2 owners out there? Please feel free to comment.

The export version of the Tecsun PL-330 has landed

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Tuesday evening, I picked up a package from Anon-Co with the new export version of the Tecsun PL-330 inside. Anon-Co sent this unit to me for evaluation at no charge to me. Anon-Co will start shipping the PL-330 next week and the price will be $59.99.

By request, I took a few photos of the PL-330 as I unpacked it. This should give you an idea about how the radio is packed and what is included in the Anon-Co package:

The Anon-Co PL-330 package includes:

  • Tecsun PL-330 receiver
  • an English owner’s manual
  • a brown synthetic velveteen carry pouch
  • MicroUSB charging cable
  • earphones

My first thought? It looks like a mini PL-990!

The PL-330 is powered by one BL-5C battery pack. To meet shipping regulations, the BL-5C is not pre-installed–you’ll need to do that yourself.

Note that the PL-330 lacks a fold-out back stand. That is unfortunate

On the air

Unfortunately, I’ve had no proper time to evaluate the PL-330 (comparisons) yet as this is an incredibly busy week for me.

I did, however, listen to the PL-330 as I worked outside all day Wednesday. Sadly, there was a lot of news to follow here in the States that day.

I was able to receive all of my benchmark local and regional AM and FM stations with no problem. For day-to-day broadcast listening, it seems to be a solid portable.

It’s still early days, but I think the PL-330 may be one of the best portables for FM I’ve tested in a while. On Wednesday, I tuned to WFAE in Charlotte a number of times throughout the day and the PL-330’s lock on the station was rock-solid. WFAE’s transmitter is just over one hundred miles from my home, so this is typically a tough catch if I’m inside my home or my car, etc.

The real test? I can also receive WFAE with the PL-330 in my kitchen window. Again, only a small number of portables can reliably grab WFAE’s signal from that spot. Indeed, the PL-330 almost receives WFAE as if were a local station.

While this is far from a laboratory test, it is certainly a real-world test for this radio enthusiast.

I’ve yet to dive into the shortwaves, although I’m incredibly curious how well the sync lock might work. I’m keeping expectations low–after all, this is a $60 radio. The price point is quite good for sporting upper and lower sideband reception, let alone synchronous detection.

For more information about the PL-330, I’d encourage you to check out the following posts:

My initial review of the new Mat-Tuner mAT-705Plus on QRPer.com

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If you’re an Icom IC-705 owner and have been waiting for Mat-Tuner to address the design shortcomings of their original mAT-705, you might want to check out my initial review of the new mAT-705Plus ATU posted over on QRPer.com. It includes a video of the new ATU in action.

In short, this upgraded model looks very promising. Not only does it address my concerns with the original model, but it also seems to tune very effectively and efficiently.

Click here to read the full review.

Radio Waves: New SiriusXM Satellite, Tour of CHU, Icom ID-52 Delay, and Grant’s Prototype Broadcast Receiver

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Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Mike Terry, Tracy Wood, John Palmer, and Greg Jasionek for the following tips:

SpaceX Launches Latest Satellite For SiriusXM Radio (Spaceflight Insider)

On Sunday December 13, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying the SXM-7 satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit. The flight came two days after SpaceX’s first launch attempt on Friday, which was aborted at t-minus 30 seconds. The company tweeted the reason for the scrub, “Standing down from today’s launch attempt to perform additional ground system checkouts.” While SpaceX did not point to a specific reason for the hold call, it can be assumed that either the onboard computers or ground controllers found something off-nominal in the final seconds before liftoff.

[…]The payload, the SXM-7 satellite, is the latest addition to Sirius XM’s constellation of satellites aimed at delivering an extensive library of music and entertainment to most parts of the world. SXM-7, along with its sister satellite SXM-8 launching in 2021, are aiming to replace the company’s aging XM-3 and XM-4 satellites. Contracted and built by Maxar for Sirius XM, the 7,000 Kilogram satellite is based on the SSL-1300 Bus and utilizes a host of S band transponders to provide satellite radio to customers in North America.

“Maxar and SiriusXM have worked together for more than two decades to build world-class digital audio radio satellites that bring entertainment to almost every new car in America,” said Megan Fitzgerald, Maxar’s Senior Vice President of Space Programs Delivery. “We are proud to have built the latest addition to the SiriusXM constellation and look forward to the launch of their next Maxar-built satellite, SXM-8, next year.”[…]

CHU, Canada’s Time Station (Radio World)

Look inside the facility that broadcasts voice time signals in two languages

It is nestled in a farmer’s field in southwestern Ottawa, Canada, in a protected area known as the Greenbelt, surrounded by miles of sprawling suburbia.

It is CHU, Canada’s own automated time station.

Operating from a 1940s-era transmitter building and three vertical antenna towers, CHU broadcasts automated voice time signals in both English and French 24/7.

Its broadcasts are transmitted on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz, and are heard through central/eastern Canada and the eastern United States, plus many other areas of the planet on a regular basis.

CHU’s time service is operated by Canada’s National Research Council, with the station being remotely controlled from the NRC’s Montreal Road headquarters central Ottawa some 12 miles away. The time signals are based on CHU’s trio of atomic clocks on-site, which are constantly checked against the atomic clocks at NRC headquarters.

“We are equipped with 1960s-era 10 kW transmitters that have been highly modified over the years,” said Bill Hoger. He is the Research Council officer who maintains the unmanned station as part of his overall duties along with two other off-site technicians.[…]

ID-52 Apology and Notice of Production Delay (Icom)

Thank you for your continued patronage of Icom products.

Regarding the 144 / 430MHz dual band 5W digital transceiver “ID-52” released in October 2020, there is a delay in the supply of parts from external partner companies, and additional production is significantly delayed. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers and retailers who are waiting for ID-52.

We will inform you about the timing of resuming production as soon as it is confirmed.

We are doing our utmost to resume production as soon as possible, and we appreciate your understanding.

New Type of Broadcast Receiver (LinkedIn Post)

There has been a lot of testing over last few month, with the new working prototype AM receiver. It has taking almost two years to get to this point with a lot of testing to find out what works and what does not.

The performance on Long wave and Medium wave is outstanding with the external loop configuration, this has many advantages over a ferrite rod antenna design. The Short wave performance is OK, where the front end RF transformers need to be improved with more testing. It out performs my Tecsun PL-398 that uses Digital Signal Processing (DSP), and comes close to what is possible within the high noise floor that you get in buildup areas.

The adaptive processing works very well, where you can set in software to work based on the signal level and if there is a pilot tone been detected (stereo indicator), this works for both the AM bands and for FM. As with the adaptive processing the noise reduction also works with both AM and FM bands, that has been use with Short wave and Long wave stations. The de-emphasis cave is design for 50 ?s, to pass a wider modulation bandwidth through up to 12.5 kHz.

The Denon TU-680NAB has been the reference receiver throughout all the testing to get to this test point. As this was designed for the high end audio market in the 1990’s, to provide the best possible performance for HiFi systems of the day.

[…]This will be marketed as a high end broadcast receiver, the aim is to stay well clear of low cost products from China, that are all too common these days. This is a Canadian product, showing that there are many new ideas and what possible in this area of development. With all these advancement it possible to provide a high quality music programming using AM radio that sounds as good as FM, with the advantages of larger coverage areas.[…]

Click here to read the full post with specifications.

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A first look at the new C.Crane CCRadio Solar portable self-powered AM/FM/Weather radio

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I remember when I first laid hands on a self-powered portable radio. It was the Baygen FPR1 designed by the amazing Trevor Bayliss. The FPR1 was a large portable radio with a black plastic body, large front-facing speaker, and large hand crank on the side. It was a clockwork radio, meaning you’d use the hand crank to wind up an internal spring that would slowly release and provide enough dynamo power to bring the radio to life for a few minutes at a time.

The FRP1 had a very utilitarian feel to it and was incredibly basic.

After the introduction of the FRP1, radio manufacturers jumped on self-powered radio technology and we’ve seen many different designs and iterations on the market for nearly two decades.

Introducing the C.Crane CCRadio Solar

Back in October 2020, C.Crane sent me a pre-production sample of the CCRadio Solar to evaluate. This was before C.Crane had published their new print catalog that features the CCRadio Solar on the cover, so I really had no idea what to expect. I assumed it might be a refreshed version of the CC Solar Observer.

Man…was I wrong!

Most self-powered radios these days either look like a flashlight, a portable analog radio, or they sport “high tech” styling (like the FRX3).

I can honestly say that the CCRadio Solar is the first self-powered radio that my wife actually welcomed into our kitchen!

 

This is a huge.

Out of all of the radios I’ve owned or tested over the years, my wife only tolerated their temporary presence in our living spaces.

There have been a few notable exceptions:

The CCRadio Solar’s design is very simple and clean.

The radio body measures 6″ x 3″ x 2.25″ and weighs about one pound. It’s easy to hold in your hand, but is also incredibly stable on a surface due to its low center of gravity, flat base, and UV-resistant rubber perimeter/jacket. (Note that the rubber jacket is in no way associated with rubberized coatings found on legacy portables that could break down over time and become sticky.)

I can place the CCRadio Solar in a window sill and not worry about it getting accidently knocked off.

On the top of the radio, there’s a large built-in solar panel, power button, flashlight button, and band button (to toggle between FM, AM, and WX radio).

The solar panel is large for a radio of this size.

On the back, you’ll find a fold-out hand crank and battery compartment for the internal Lithium-ion rechargeable battery and optional three AA cells. Yes, this radio can be powered from standard AA batteries!

On the right side of the radio, you’ll find the volume control and a cover that protects the headphones, micro USB charging port, USB power-out port, Aux In port, and a mechanical switch that allows you to toggle between Li-Ion and AA batteries.

On the left side of the radio you’ll find the attachment point for the supplied hand carry strap (I haven’t attached mine), and the built-in LED flashlight.

CCRadio Solar features at a glance

  • Multiple power options:
    • Solar
    • Windup
    • USB
    • AA Batteries
  • Multiple bands
    • AM
    • FM
    • Weather radio with an alert alarm
  • Auxiliary input allows you to use it as an amplified speaker
  • Five one touch memory buttons with a total of 50 presets
  • Clock
  • Alarm
  • Sleep timer
  • Rubber jacket is UV resistant

Impressions

This CCRadio Solar is a pre-production model and it’s my personal policy to not comment in detail about performance as this model comes from a very limited pilot production run.

Here’s what I can say…

This is one of the first solar radios I’ve ever used that actually works as a daily driver.

Since I took delivery of the CCRadio Solar, it’s primarily lived on our kitchen window sill. This window faces due south, so the CCRadio Solar gets ample opportunity to take advantage of solar charging.

I like to listen to the news when I cook, so the CCRadio Solar gets daily use. I’ve used it to listen to both my local NPR station and my “benchmark” distant NPR station on FM. I’ve also programmed a preset for my favorite daytime AM station which is a good 25 miles from my home.

This prototype, at least, shows promise in terms of its ability to receive distant stations with a great deal of stability.

Solar chops

Last week, I realized that I’ve never had to charge the CCRadio Solar via the micro USB port. I’ve been using it since October for up to a couple hours a day–the solar gain from our kitchen window has easily kept the battery topped off!

I wanted to test this further, so a few days ago I moved the CCRadio Solar to another south-facing window in our living room area. I hooked it up to our SiriusXM receiver via the CCRadio Solar’s AUX IN port. (FYI: when you insert an AUX IN source, the radio automatically switches to auxiliary input.)  This SiriusXM receiver is typically paired with my CCRadio3 and plays a variety of stations throughout the day for hours at a time–sometimes from early in the morning until the early evening.

The CCRadio Solar has been doing a brilliant job of playing all day long just on solar power and at a volume level that is room-filling, though not too loud to be distracting. Most impressive!

I should mention here that the built-in speaker provides (surprisingly) pleasant room-filling audio. The audio isn’t as robust as, say, my CCRadio3 or KLH–obviously–but it’s good enough that my wife has suggested we start using the CCRadio Solar as the speaker for our SiriusXM receiver because it’s powered by the sun instead of the power grid. I’m in agreement with her: it works.

There are a couple of caveats here:

  • First of all, we’ve been having mostly sunny or partly cloudy days since I started running the radio all day long and
  • secondly, our home is passive solar so our south-facing windows, by design, do not have “Low-E” coatings that block UV rays.

I’m not sure if Low-E coatings affect solar panel performance, but I think it’s worth mentioning.

Summary

If this prototype CCRadio Solar is any indication of how the production units will operate–and, in theory, it should be–I think the CCRadio Solar will become a very popular radio in the C.Crane product line.

At time of posting, there is no product page for the CCRadio Solar on the C.Crane website. When they do add it, it should appear on their Emergency Radios page.

I believe the price is projected to be $99.99 US–which is on the high side of the self-powered radio market–but if the production units function as well as this prototype I think it’ll be worth it.

I believe C.Crane hopes to start shipping the CCRadio Solar sometime in the first quater of 2021. Since we’re still coping with all of the logistics issues of the Covid-19 pandemic, assume that date could change. I’ll continue to provide updates here in the SWLing Post. Just follow the tag: CCRadio Solar

The new Belka-DX speaker option

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Belka-DX Speaker

Many thanks to  Alex (EU1ME)–developer and manufacturer of the Belka DX  and Belka DSP shortwave receivers–who shares information about a new version of the Belka-DX:

[Based on customer feedback, we’ve] added a built-in speaker to the Belka DX version. It’s an option that I believe also can be useful when listening this radio (broadcasts for example).

The dimensions of the receiver remain the same. See photos attached.

Belka-DX Speaker

Battery capacity is reduced from 2200 to 1250 mAh. Still, the built-in LI-Ion battery [will power] it for about 12 hours.

As far as battery and speaker are connected to the device with sockets, it is quite easy to change batteries and back covers with or without speaker depending on situation.

When back cover with speaker is installed one may still listen to the device with headphones (speaker will be muted).

Many thanks, Alex, for sharing this announcement. While I do most of my DXing with headphones, I love the idea of a speaker option for the Belka-DX especially for casual broadcast listening. The speaker appears to be an option you can purchase separately, or you can purchase the Belka-DX with the speaker option installed. I look forward to checking this out!

Click here to check out the speaker option for the Belka-DX on Alex’s website..