Category Archives: New Products

Now available: DXtreme Reception Log version 8.0

All India Radio publishes a tender for 800 DRM receivers

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The DRM Consortium has posted an All India Radio (AIR) tender for 800 DRM AM/FM/Shortwave receivers.

AIR is seeking a DRM receiver with a feature set that would include:

DRM decoding on both shortwave and medium wave (AM broadcast) bands
1 kHz tuning increments on DRM bands (with DRM auto lock)
Stereo speakers and headphone jack
Four line mono/color digital display
Built-in stereo recording of DRM broadcasts–including a scheduling feature
Upgradable firmware
Built-in rechargeable battery pack with 6 hour playback time

There are more specs/features, of course–click here or here to download a scanned copy of the actual AIR tender.

Grundig G3 discontinued, Tecsun PL-880 on the way

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The Grundig G3 shortwave radio.

Not really a surprise, but I’ve confirmed that the Grundig G3 has been discontinued. They are still available, for the moment, from Universal Radio and online sources like Amazon.com. I would not advise buying from Amazon as I’ve received numerous complaints that they’ve shipped faulty units. Universal Radio, on the other hand, is testing each an every G3 leaving their shop.

With the exit of the G3, this leaves Grundig with the following selection of shortwave portables:

Tecsun PL-880

Tecsun, meanwhile, is adding to their extensive line of shortwave portables. Indeed, this morning, W4ASZ comments:

“I found this link courtesy of the manly men at Herculodge :

http://tecsunradio.com/2013/09/14/new-arrival-tecsun-pl880-fm-radio-dsp-stereo-speaker-coming-soon/9030

Looking pretty good !”

I agree and I do feel cautiously optimistic about the Tecsun PL-880. Could it be my new travel radio? Though I still happily travel with the Grundig G3, Sony ICF-SW7600GR and Tecsun PL-380, a guy can’t have too many radios to choose from!

I’ll plan to review the PL-880 once it’s available. I’m particularly interested in seeing how it stacks up against the venerable Tecsun PL-660.

Stay tuned!

Redsun RP-3100 ready for pre-order

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Radio Flynn writes:

I found some information about the release date of the Redsun RP-3100 and posted it on Herculodge – lets hope it is real:
http://herculodge.typepad.com/herculodge/2013/09/not-to-fan-the-flames-of-redsun-rp-3100-lust-.html

The Redsun RP-3100 has been rumored for ages. Glad to see it’s coming to fruition!

HackRF: open source SDR on Kickstarter

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HackRF prototype (Source: ossmann.blogspot.com)

Michael Ossmann is making a business out of developing and producing open-source hardware.

His latest creation is called HackRF, and in less than a day, it has been fully backed on Kickstarter raising over $290,000 US with 25 days left to go in the campaign (at time of posting). Backers can contribute to this campaign with some confidence as Ossmann has successfully delivered products from Kickstarter in the past.

What makes HackRF unique is the fact that the stand alone unit can operate between 30 MHz and 6 GHz; a frequency range substantially wider than any SDR currently on the market. Indeed, when combined with the Ham It Up converter, the HackRF will also cover HF bands and lower.

Additionally, HackRF is a fully open-source transceiver; applications are limited only to a developer’s imagination. You could potentially use HackRF for ham radio, radio astronomy, scanning, shortwave radio listening, remote control applications, wide band monitoring, and commercial/industrial applications. If you use two HackRFs in tandem, they’ll even work in full-duplex applications.

Though the project is fully-backed, you can still support HackRF in the Kickstarter phase and save a bit on the eventual retail cost of the unit. Production units are expected to ship early 2014. Check out the HackRF Kickstarter video below:

Additional information:

Check out HackRF technical details and development notes at the HackRF wiki.
Source code and hardware design files are available in the latest release packages or in the git repository.
Keep up to date with the latest project information by following HackRF on Ossmann’s blog.

The new Tecsun PL-880 sounds promising

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The Tecsun PL-880 (Photo: bbs.tecsun.com.cn/)

Last night, I discovered news of the new Tecsun PL-880 on Jeff’s excellent blog, the Herculodge.

Out of all of the current shortwave radio manufacturers, Tecsun seems to be one of the only companies making new models for the radio hobbyist–models with important features like SSB, bandwidth control, fine tuning steps, capable AGC, etc.

According to a comment Owl left on this post, it sounds like the PL-880 could be a performer:

Two photos of Tecsun’s new model PL880 appeared yesterday. It uses an analog+DSP architecture similar to ATS909X but has made some significant improvements (4 AM bandwidth + 5 SSB bandwidth) and better audio compared to previous Tecsun portables.

http://herculodge.typepad.com/herculodge/2013/08/new-tecsun-pl-880-on-its-way.html

I will plan on reviewing the PL-880, once it hits the market. If it’s no larger than my Sony ICF-SW7600GR, it might make for a great travel radio.

(Photo source: bbs.tecsun.com.cn)

Bonito introduces the AntennaJet AAS300 active antenna splitter

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The Bonito AS300 AntennaJet

This year, at the Friedrichshafen Hamfest, Bonito introduced the AntennaJet AAS300–an active antenna splitter that will allow three receivers to use one antenna with very little loss. Dennis Walter, with Bonito, recently contacted me with info:

The AAS300 is a 3 way active antenna splitter with excellent specifications (like isolation of 70dB!) between the outputs.

No extra power supply is necessary, because it’s USB powered– no switching, no buttons. The physical size is exactly like the Bonito RadioJet IF Receiver.

It was one of the most popular devices at the Friedrichshafen show and we already have many preorders.

The device is fully made here in Germany.

We are starting now to resell it.

The Price for end costumers is: 210,-€ / 278 US$ as an introductory offer and will be 230,-€ / 299,-US$ regular (next year)

Thanks, Dennis!

If you would like to read more about the new AntennaJet AAS300, click here for specs on Bonito’s site.

This is certainly a device I will consider purchasing. I tend to use one large multi-band delta loop for all of my receivers. I often record broadcasts on one receiver and wish that I could band-scan with the same antenna on another receiver. The AAS300 would make for a simple solution.

Dennis tells me that the AAS300 will be available through North American retailers and global distributors that currently carry the Bonito RadioJet.