Category Archives: Radios

Soldersmoke: Mattia Zamana’s Amazing Direct Conversion Receiver

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and Soldersmoke host, Bill Meara, who shares the following from the Soldersmoke blog:

Mattia Zamana’s Amazing Direct Conversion Receiver

Thanks to Ed KC8SBV for sending me this awesome video. It looks like Mattia built this receiver way back in 1995. The tuning indicator is very cool, and I had not seen a similar indicator before (could this be a way for us to escape the clutches of the San Jian counters or the Arduinos?) The Italian ham magazine articles are great, and you can follow the rig description even if you can’t read the Italian. The pictures in in the attached drive are also very good.

I have been in touch with Mattia via YouTube: He reports that he has done other electronic projects, but he considers this to be the most interesting. He does not have a ham license — he has a Shortwave Listener license. His father was a ham: I3ZQG.

This is one of the rare cases in which the builder should — I think — be issued his ham licence purely on the basis of this build. [Continue reading for details about this direct conversion receiver…]

Readers, if you haven’t already, you should bookmark the Soldersmoke website and listen to the Soldersmoke podcast!

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The Sony ICF-SW800: A Most Unusual Sony Radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post:

A Most Unusual Sony Radio

By Bill Hemphill WD9EQD

Over the years, I have owned many of the various Sony shortwave radios.  From analog to digital, I would buy the latest and sell my current radio.  For the past few years, I have been using mainly Tecsun radios and didn’t own any Sony radios anymore.   This changed last year.  I got the urge to acquire a few of the Sony’s that I remember so fondly.  Over several months I bought off eBay four ICF-2010 (one of which works), two ICF-SW100 (one of which works), four ICF-SW1 (none of which works).  After spending way too much money just to acquire two working Sony radios, I started realizing that any Sony radio was probably going to need re-capping – a chore which I am not skilled at.  I could have saved money by just paying the high price for a radio that had already been completely re-capped and working.

During the many hours spent watching eBay, I would occasionally come across a Sony radio that I was not familiar with – the Sony ICF-SW800.  This is a very unusual radio in that it has only two bands – FM and SW.  And the SW band only covers 3.7 to 17.9 MHz  It also has these small credit card size pre-programmed memory cards.  I ended up buying a couple of the radios just to learn what was going on with the memory cards.

The radio is very plain and simple.  Dull black plastic, telescoping antenna, nice flip out tilt stand on the back, very small LCD display that shows time when off or in stand-by and band (FM or SW), frequency and card Preset memory number when card is inserted.  Following are photos of front of radio, without and with card inserted:

Removing the battery cover reveals a storage area for the cards when not in use:

The cards are slid into the slot on the right of the radio.  There is a plastic cover over the keyboard.  This cover is touch sensitive. The plastic has imbedded in it small dots which can detect which part of the screen is being touched.  Without a card inserted, you can select the band (SW EXEC or FM EXEC) and directly enter a frequency using the 0-9 keypad.  Or you can use the manual +/- tune keys.

I had originally thought that the memory cards must be storing the memories in circuitry within the cards.  When I got the first radio and looked at the cards I was really surprised to see that they were just cardboard cards – no circuity.  So how was the radio knowing which card was inserted and what was stored in the memory.

The radio comes with four double side cards. Three of the cards are for the memories while the fourth is a card used to set the clock.  Following are photos of the “L” series cards:

As you can see some cards are pre-programmed for Radio Stations and some are Free Memories for you to program your own station.  But since the memories are NOT stored on the cards, how does the radio know which card is inserted and which memory on the card is selected?

Each card has one or two white tabs on the left of the card.  There are three possible tab locations.  A review of the service manual and the wiring diagram shows that the locations of these tabs make up a binary code for 1 to 7.  (only 7 is needed since the clock card is single sided while the other three cards are double sided)  The clock card has all three white tabs and is thus seven (Tab 1 = 1, Tab 2 = 2 and tab 3 =4 for 1+2+4 = 7).  Then each of the other cards are 1 thru 6 depending on the tab locations.  The radio has infrared leds along with sensors.  By shining a LED light onto the card, the radio can sense which card is inserted and then reference the correct ten memory locations in the storage..

The memories are stored in an EEPROM chip soldered into the radio.  Depending on where the radio was purchased, a different set of memories would be pre-programmed into the chip in the radio.  An associated set of memory cards would be provided with the radio.  There were at least the following different set of memories manufactured with associated card sets as follows:

Area 5/AE7 Austria:

  • (Card Series “I”)
    • Card 1:  Austrian Radio 1/Austrian Radio 2
    • Card 2:  Omnibus 1/Omnibus 2
    • Card 3:  Free Memories 1/Free Memories 2

Area 3/AE7 Swiss:

  • Card 1:  Omnibus 1/Omnibus 2
  • Card 2:  Omnibus 3/Free Memories 1
  • Card 3:  Free Memories 2/Free Memories 3

Area AE6 Germany:

  • (Card Series “A”)
    • Card 1:  Deutsche Welle/Omnibus 1
    • Card 2:  Omnibus 2/Free Memories 1
    • Card 3:  Free Memories 2/Free Memories 3

Area 2/AE7: Scandinavia:

  • Card 1:  Danmarks Radio/Norsk Rikskringkasting
  • Card 2:  Sveriges Radio/ Yleis Radio
  • Card 3:  BBC/Free Memories

Area 6/AE7 Portugal:

Area 7/AE7 Europe:

  • (Card Series “N”)
    • Card 1:  BBC/VOA
    • Card 2:  Free Memories 1/Free Memories 2
    • Card 3:  Free Memories 3/Free Memories 4

Area 7/AE7 International Sales Division in Europe:

  • Card 1:  BBC/Omnibus FM
  • Card 2:  Free Memories
  • Card 3:  BBC/Omnibus SW

Area US United States:

  • (Card Series “L”)
    • Card 1:  Deutsche Welle/Radio Moscow
    • Card 2:  Voice of America 1/Voice of America 2
    • Card 3:  BBC/Free Memories

Area UK United Knigdom:

  • (Card Series “B”)
    • Card 1:  BBC (FM)/Omnibus (FM)
    • Card 2:  BBC World Service/Omnibus (SW)
    • Card 3:  Free Memories 1/Free Memories 2

It should be noted that even though a memory is preprogrammed (in the chip), you could re-program the memory using the “WRITE” feature on the card.  Most of the cards just show memory location 0-9 with no indication of the frequency.  Some cards do indicate the radio station but not the frequency.  For example, Card Series “A”, Deutsche Welle has DW 0 thru DW 9 on the card:

In the packing material that came with my US version, there is a small fold out piece of paper that lists the Memory Presets for each card along with the preset frequency, broadcast time and coverage area:

There is no way to know from the outside of the radio which memory chip was pre-programmed at the factory.  The model number does not differentiate between the regions.   If the back cover of the radio is removed, then there is a printed sticker on the circuit board denoting which region the radio is for.

For example, one of my radios has a sticker with “E” on it to denote that it for the Europe market:

At this point, Sony was trying to market to people who just wanted to listen to their favorite station, be it FM or SW.  Thus a simple to use. pre-programed radio.  Never mind the fact that radio stations may change frequencies, or even disappear entirely.   At least the ICF-SW800 allowed the user to re-program all the memories.

Sony also made two other radios that used the cards for memory.

The first was the ICR-SW700.  This was a two band receiver covering MW and SW.

The second radio was the ICF-M500 which was made for the Japanese market.  This radio was FM/AM two band radio:

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CCrane’s new C. Crane CC Skywave 2 . . . and the OODA loop

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

A software glitch at a power station, a tree branch rubbing against a transformer, a geophysical incident, a weather event, even a civil society misadventure . . . It doesn’t take much for things to rapidly go to blazes. So what do you need when Really Bad Things happen?

Back in the 1970s, Colonel John Boyd, an air warfare strategist, came up with the idea of the OODA loop. Originally designed for air combat, the OODA stands for: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. In other words, see what’s going on, understand how it relates to your situation, figure out what to do, then do it.  OODA . . . got it?

So when really bad stuff happens, once you get clear of immediate physical danger (if any), you (or me or anyone involved) need to do your OODA loop: see what’s going on, understand how it relates to your situation, figure out what to do, then do it.

And to execute your OODA loop, you need information, right?

Soooo, when the lights are out, the internet is down, and maybe cell phones aren’t working, you need an emergency radio to find out what’s going on. Rob, W4ZNG, endured three weeks without electricity on the Mississippi gulf coast as a result of Katrina. In Rob’s case, during Katrina, all of the local broadcasters were wiped out. There was a local low-power FM broadcaster who got permission to increase power to 1,000 watts and was broadcasting where to get food and water. There was a New Orleans AM station that was on the air, but all of its coverage was “New Orleans-centric.” After a few days, some local FM broadcaster, working together, cobbled together a station that they put on the air and began broadcasting news. Rob also began DXing AM stations at night to get additional news. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say radio was Rob’s lifeline to what was going on.

So, at the most basic level, an emergency radio needs to receive AM and FM stations. If you live in the U.S. or Canada, you also want NOAA weather radio channels, and, if things are really horrible, the ability to receiver shortwave radio might be useful.

Recently I had a look at an excellent candidate for an emergency radio.  CCrane has brought out a new and improved version of their super-versatile pocket-sized Skywave radio, and they sent me one for review without charge.

The new radio, the CC Skywave 2, covers FM from 87.5-108.0 MHz, AM from 520-1710 kHz, National Weather Radio Channels 1-7, air band from 118-137 MHz, and shortwave from 2300 to 26100 kHz. Small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, the Skywave 2 measures 3 inches high, 4.75 inches wide, and 1.1 inches deep and weighs about five and one-half ounces before you insert 2 AA batteries. (It can also be run off an optional CCrane power adaptor that can charge optional NiMH batteries. The manual warns: DO NOT USE LITHIUM BATTERIES).

According to CCrane, improvements to the Skywave 2 include a new micro-USB connector for external power and battery charging, a better speaker with slightly more amplification, circuit noise reduction, long feet for better stability, and a socket for plugging in an optional wire antenna adaptor available from CCrane.

I found the Skywave 2 really easy to operate. At the simplest level, select a band, then press one of the up or down buttons, and the Skywave 2 will scan to the next strong station. There is also an ATS (automatic tuning system) that programs all receivable AM, FM, or shortwave stations to memory buttons. Just select the band you want (AM, FM, or shortwave), press the ATS button, and the ATS system will scan the entire band and automatically set all available stations in sequence 1-10. If there are more than 10 stations are available, then the remaining stations will be stored on the next memory page and so forth. Each band has its own set of memories.

Everything is clearly labeled, and a gold label above a button indicates that if you press and hold that button, the function labeled in gold will be activated. If you want to directly enter a frequency (once you have selected the band you want), you must press the FREQ button first, then punch in the numbers. Otherwise, pressing any of the number buttons will activate the memory assigned to that number. To store a station in memory, press and hold any number button for two seconds.

Although I have no equipment for formally measuring things like ultimate receiver sensitivity, I found the performance on all bands to be typical of what I have come to expect of CCrane radios: excellent.

Full points to CCrane for writing a superb manual. In fact, I’ve found that the manuals for all the CCrane radios I have owned or tested have been well-written. I don’t know who is writing those manuals, but a big thumbs-up for clear manuals that are easy to use. The Skywave 2 manual even includes a section on “Hidden Settings” . . . ya gotta love it! Well done.

One other thing deserves mention: the Skywave 2 comes with CC Buds Earphones. I found they fit my ears comfortably and sound great . . . waaay better than the cheap-o earbuds I bought at a big box store.

The bottom line is: the Skywave 2 is a pint-sized powerhouse, and I can easily recommend it for anyone who needs an emergency radio, a travel radio (it has an alarm you can set), a weather radio with alert, or an ultralight MW DXing radio, or who simply wants to have a lot of fun with radio in a small, easy-to-handle package (An aside, listening to air band is pretty entertaining).

I found the performance to be excellent (for the radio’s size) on all bands, comparable to the CCrane Skywave SSB 2 that I own. In addition, with the new model (and the optional adapter), you can now plug in an external long-wire antenna for longer-range reception. That’s just great and could prove really useful.

The chief difference between the Skywave 2 and the Skywave SSB 2 is that the Skywave SSB 2 receives single sideband signals, making it possible for the listener to hear amateur radio and utility signals (like transoceanic flight control) that operate in upper or lower sideband mode. In addition, the SSB 2 includes (as well as the radio, carry case, and ear buds) a shortwave antenna and the CC wire terminal antenna adapter. In addition, the SSB 2 also has some software capabilities not available on the Skywave 2. For example, on the SSB 2, the Automatic Tuning System can also be used on the AIR band, and once AIR band frequencies have been stored, the SSB 2 can scan them. You can find my review of the Skywave SSB 2 here: https://swling.com/blog/2022/11/checking-out-the-new-c-crane-cc-skywave-ssb-2/

To conclude: I sincerely hope you never have to “do” your OODA loop, particularly not when things are going to blazes, but if you do, the CCrane Skywave 2 just might be helpful in getting the information you need. And, in the meantime, it is a very enjoyable radio to use, and I can recommend it without reservation.

Click here to check out the C. Crane CC Skywave 2 at C. Crane.

For more of my musings regarding the CCrane Skywave radios, please consult:

 

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Guest Post: A review of the Chaoyuan LC90 Hybrid Shortwave/4G/Internet Radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Ye (BD4AAQ), for the following guest post:

The LC90, a Great Radio Spanning Two Worlds

by Michael Ye (BD4AAQ)

It is an awkward era for radio receivers. Although technology becomes more and more advanced and increasingly sophisticated radios are made, there are fewer and fewer stations to listen to. But hardcore radio hobbyists, mostly hams and shortwave listeners, would not give up the hobby. They continue to look for and enjoy stations among noises in the airwaves. Although Internet radios have been around for a long time, I never thought seriously about them. Perhaps I was stubborn, but in my mind, radios were noises and noises were radios and it’s the stations among the noises that I enjoyed. Receivers without noises were hardly real radios.

Until I got my first full band radio with Internet features. The LC90 was a pleasant surprise, completely changing the way I look at radio receivers. The LC90, or “full band smart Internet radio”, is my first shortwave radio AND Internet radio in one. There may be other radios with Internet features, but I have heard of few receivers that integrate the traditional radio (shortwave in particular) and the Internet. The LC90 was launched in China in early 2023, and quickly became popular among hobbyists thanks to the unique combination. News has been confirmed that the overseas version of the LC90 will be launched later this year. It provides more options for users at a time when shortwave broadcasters continue to shut down transmitters and bid final farewell.

Chaoyuan Company

The manufacturer of the LC90 is Chaoyuan, an electronics company based in Shenzhen, China, known for mobile phone design and Hi-Fi equipment. In recent years they started to design and make radios. And they are serious about the business, too.

The LC90 full band smart Internet radio

The Radio at a Glance

The radio is of regular size. A computer mouse is placed in the picture above, so you have an idea of not only the radio’s looks but also its size. The exact dimensions are 200x122x40mm. Its weight is 640 grams. The radio has a built in 4G SIM card, with 3G prepaid data. You have to add credit to the card in time by scanning a QR code on the screen before the built-in SIM card expires. You can also use your own SIM card by inserting it to a slot at the bottom of the radio. And of course, you could use Wi-Fi at home.

Although the radio is a combination of the traditional radio and the Internet, it is very ingeniously designed and does not put off the user with too many bells and whistles – you could press the tuning button to change the shortwave band and the fine tuning button to change the band width. The tuning button also serves as an “enter” key. These are clever designs that effectively save extra buttons. I have not seen a similar design in other radios.

For those who do not read Chinese, the upper five buttons are, roughly, “Configure”, “Timer”, “Setup”, “History” and “Favorites”. The four buttons on the left: “Confirm”, “Stations”, “News” and “Menu”. The four buttons on the right: “Back”, “Sequence”, “Rewind” and “Fast Forward”. The button with a globe says “Internet”.

The radio has excellent audio quality, rich bass, with a well-balanced frequency response. It is powered by two 18650 rechargeable lithium batteries. The radio has no back stand.

Traditional Radio

All three modes (or bands) are available, FM, MW and SW, as shown in the three buttons on the upper right (to get LW just press MW again). The FM band covers 64-108MHz, which includes Japan’s FM band. During the FMDX season you could have stations from Japan and other countries to explore. The SW band covers 2300-26100KHz, continuous, almost the entire shortwave band, more than enough for broadcast listening. The antenna jack works for all three modes (or bands).

Excellent Shortwave Performance

As a shortwave listener of many years, I am most interested in the radio’s performance in shortwave reception. Well, it is indeed very good in terms of sensitivity, selectivity and audio quality, with no compromise although the radio has an Internet section which requires additional space and resources.

When you use the radio indoor, reception could be poor and you can insert an external antenna to the antenna jack. Unfortunately, I cannot connect my AOR LA400 loop antenna to it as the antenna jack is too close to the tuning knob and so there is not sufficient space for the plug (see picture). Generally, a 3.5mm plug with a wire should work well if you extend the wire outside.

The external antenna jack

If there is a disappointment, its shortwave reception does not decode SSB signals. If the user is not a ham radio hobbyist, SSB reception may not be really needed anyway and the buttons, circuits and space can be saved accordingly.

Fair FM Reception

FM reception is good, but there is no obvious improvement of reception when an external plug is inserted in the antenna jack.

Mediocre MW Work

Reception on the lower bands, e.g., the medium wave band, is always a challenge in cities. It is not surprising that medium wave performance of the LC90 is mediocre at best. I don’t do much MW DXing but nowadays for each MW frequency there is almost always an FM frequency. Let’s face it – we should perhaps forget about medium wave reception in cities where there is excessive low band EMI.

However, if you go outdoor with the radio, medium wave reception can still be a lot of fun. And, contrary to FM reception, an external antenna significantly improves its performance!

Internet Radio

Admit it or not, the best days of traditional radio are gone, and while we continue to have fun on the old time radio, we should not hesitate to embrace newer technologies such as the Internet. By launching the LC90 and combining the two, Chaoyuan has made a significant move.

The Internet radio is an integrator of many online stations on the Internet, and more. It is completely different from the traditional radio which receives radio signals transmitted on air. The Internet radio, which relies on the Internet, provides much better audio quality, no noise, customizable and replay-able.

If you want to kill time and look for signals from noises, turn to shortwave and enjoy DXing. If you feel like listening to solid content or enjoying noise-free music, the Internet radio is there for you. This Internet radio integrates major web stations in China and on that basis the user can further select and configure their own favorites. Among apps that are built-in is Ximalaya FM, the leading audio platform in China. Due to requirements of policies and regulations in China, the user does not have much discretion to include foreign stations in the radio. However, Chaoyuan has indicated that they are working in an effort to secure authorizations from Spotify, Alexa and Pandora which they hope could be incorporated in the overseas version of the LC90. The future overseas version is expected to give the user more discretion to include online stations of their own choice.

A closer look at the display of the Internet Radio

Two buttons, Ai1 and Ai2, are voice assistants. Activate and speak to them and the radio directly plays the content (Ai1) or displays their findings for you to choose from (Ai2).

Finally, this is a radio with the most accurate time. There is no need to set the time for it, as it is based on the Internet.

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RADDY RF320

A review of the Radioddity RADDY RF320

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(Almost) All-in-One in a Box

By Robert Gulley K4PKM

The RADDY RF320 is a rather attractive, if not slightly curious-looking radio, which breaks from the more recent offerings from Raddy and other small portable radios. Compact, but not pocket-sized, the radio comes in at roughly 3-3/4” x 4-1/2” almost square (not counting the tuning dial on the side, the slightly raised antenna on top, or the light on the side).

The radio can receive AIR, FM, VHF, MW(AM), SW, and Weather Band signals. (For those interested in the U.S. Aircraft Band, this model does feature AM modulation, so civil aircraft can be monitored). While the radio does have AM SWL bands, there is no SSB reception. SW bands run from 90m thru 13m, with tuning in 5kHz single steps and scan mode.

IOS APP

This is the IOS version of the Bluetooth App. Clean layout, keyboard frequency entry and radio control

There are four tuning methods if the user includes the Apple or Android app which feature direct keyboard entry in addition to the three modes found on the radio. As a rather cool feature, the QR scan codes are imprinted on the back of the radio for both IOS and Android apps, so if you are out and about you can easily download the app to your phone or tablet. A nice touch! No having to type an esoteric web address or search for the app. (I tried both codes and they worked just fine.)

In addition to the usual tuning methods, the RF320 has what they refer to as “fine tuning knobs” on the side and front of the radio, with the knob on the side a continuous tuning within a band mode. The knob on the front is something, well, a bit unusual. While it is a fine-tuning knob, it is designed to manually tune in search mode. A little explanation is in order.

Most radios which feature a search mode, this one included, allows the user to long-press a directional button or rotate a tuning dial a given distance to activate a search mode. When the typical radio finds a station, it may stop momentarily or completely, depending on the design. The search modes in this radio all do the latter- they stop completely. However, unlike most radios, this radio features three different methods of searching. The up/down arrows can be pressed for a second or two to start a search, or the tuning knob on the side can be rotated some distance quickly, and a search will begin. The third method is the tuning knob on the front. By manually turning the knob the radio will attempt to find the next signal within the current band or sub-band without stepping through each 5kHz frequency (of course it is doing this internally, but it is not really obvious visually).

For example, when in FM mode, this tuning method will jump to the next usable station. In SW mode, in a given sub-band (13m, 90m etc.), this knob will jump to what it senses as the next usable signal, rather than scanning every 5 kHz as done in the other modes. This allows for a very quick check of a given band (or sub-band).

As with any search mode on a radio like this, there will be false positives. Life is not fair – static crashes and birdies and digital signals can all fool a radio’s search mode.

Bass Boost, Back Lights, QR Codes

Changing lights, Bass Boost, and QR Codes for Downloading Android or IOS Apps

The radio features excellent sound for its size, with a rather large front-facing 5W speaker, and a bass port on the back. I can crank the volume louder than I would ever want in a room and the audio remains clear.

Reception on all the bands is quite acceptable, keeping up with typical portables its size, and even ones with longer antennas and larger ferrite bars for AM reception. This is not a Panasonic RF-2200 or a GE Superadio, but for what it is designed to do, it does quite well.

The radio also has an abundance of memories, allowing you to save up to 995 stations, including 199 each for AIR, FM, VHF, MW, and SW.

Like some of the other radios from RADDY, this one has Bluetooth connectivity to Android or IOS for the App functionality, and takes a TF memory card to allow for playing music, podcasts etc., as well as having a flashlight and S.O.S. capability. There is a headphone jack and Aux. jack, as well as a USB-C charging port for the replaceable 18650 2000mAh battery (whoo-hoo!). Sleep mode, timer, wake to music and six sound effects are added features.

Lights, lights, and more lights. ‘Nuff said! (See images)

Pros and Cons

Pros: Good audio, AM receive for aircraft band, good sensitivity, multiple ways to tune, excellent App connectivity on my iPhone with direct frequency entry, good form factor, unit seems solid, replaceable battery, 18-month warranty(!), carry strap, aux. input to allow the radio to act as a speaker, included wire antenna and charging cable.

Cons: Telescoping antenna a bit frail, side tuning knob feels a bit wobbly (but I experienced no problems), back colored lights seem unnecessary (nit-picking and just a personal opinion, YMMV), EQ effects seem weak as only a few seem to make much of a difference (and not needed in my opinion, since the standard audio is quite good), no SSB (not a problem for me but will be a deal-breaker for some), and typical for this type of radio soft muting while tuning.

Conclusion

This is a good, solid radio with lots of options in terms of modes and bands, as well as extras which make it an almost all-in-one radio. This is a radio one could take to the beach or a park, or use in an office or on the coffee table or night stand. It is small, portable, packed with features, and controllable from your phone or tablet. At a price well under $100 ($71.99 special price from Radioddity at the time of publication), this may well be the radio you have been looking for to fill that portable niche!

Note: Using this link to purchase the Raddy RF320 will include a $15 discount for you and a small commission to the SWLing Post.

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Guest Post: Review of an affordable, compact DAB+ portable radio

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

DAB+ digital audio/FM receiver and Bluetooth Audio Player with 2.4 inch LCD Display 

by Mangosman

Digital Audio Broadcasting with improved audio compression and error correction is called DAB+. I have had this radio for a few years.

Retail in Australia DAB+/FM radios are generally double the price and more. There has only been one model of DAB+/FM/AM radios which is now no longer trading.

This is a size comparison, the sound is very clear and is surprisingly good on music as well, despite having such a small speaker. Even at maximum volume there is no audible noise or distortion. The stereo program HE AAC compressed and FM and Bluetooth and is available on cabled headphones. Such a small speaker cannot produce much in the way of bass, but it is present on headphones.  Since DAB+ is a pure digital system, there is, full stereo, no noise as the radiated signal deteriorates, until the receiver mutes when error correction fails. The radio has a 400 mm long telescopic antenna.

On FM this receiver will decode Radio Data System data, I have had more sensitive FM reception.

This is the most sensitive DAB+ receiver I have owned. I am also currently also using two BUSH clock radios. I also have used older headphone radios, but push buttons and headphone sockets haven’t been very reliable.

This screen shows a full  colour album cover which can fill the screen and title. Smooth FM is the broadcaster’s name because it is simulcast in some other cities on FM and DAB+. The indicators on this screen are level of battery change, muting, stereo indicator, when decoded and the signal strength. Continue reading →

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