Category Archives: Radios

Which is the best? Sony ICF-2001D/2010 or ICF-SW77? Part two

What radio would you grab in a fire?

Lately, fires have been on my mind. No doubt, this is because there are so many wildfires in the greater southern Appalachian region right now, which is in the midst of a record drought. Brush fires start up almost daily, and no rain is in sight. In the mountains, the air is hazy with smoke, and it’s become a struggle for fire departments to contain these blazes, even with help from outside the region.

Living, as we do, in a forest, we’ve always had to think through contingency plans if a forest fire should threaten our home: with only a two hour (or so) warning, what items would we grab and load into our truck?

Of course, we’d likely focus on those things that are irreplaceable and thus essentially invaluable: our few family heirlooms, boxes of photos, documents––you know, stuff you can’t buy.

But what about radios? I hope I’ll never be forced to choose the one thing I should save from my shack, because there are several to which I’m rather sentimentally attached…There’s my Zenith Transoceanic, for example–the first proper shortwave radio I ever owned. There are also a number of vintage radios as well as some SDRs which have become my staple receivers.

In the end, though, there’s no question which radio I’d grab. It would have to be my Scott Marine Radio Model SLR-M, affectionately nicknamed “Scottie.”. True, she’s not even close to portable at a solid 90 pounds, but I’d strap her to the roof of my vehicle, if I had to.

Why? Well, it’s the most pristine vintage radio I own, and I use it daily. If it’s not tuned to Radio Australia in the morning, it’s tuned to my AMT3000 AM transmitter on 1570 kHz drawing in any of a number of stations I relay from my WiFi radio.

Scottie simply isn’t replaceable. Even though my Elecraft KX3 probably costs more in terms of monetary value, I could eventually scrape together the money to buy another KX3. But I couldn’t buy Scottie again. Not this one.

So, there you go: after we’ve saved those things important to our family, I’d grab a 1945 receiver and haul it to safety.

Post readers: Now I’m curious–if your home was threatened by fire or other disaster, what radio would you save? Please comment!

Which is the best? Sony ICF-2001D/2010 or ICF-SW77? The halfway score

4 Replies

Hi there, here is a summary of the first half of tests comparing the Sony ICF-2001D against it’s replacement the ICF-SW77. Both receivers are widely acknowledged as being amongst the best shortwave portables ever made, but how close are they in performance? Is there a clear winner after the first 8 reception tests? I hope you enjoy the summary video. Links to the first half of reception tests follow again, below, whilst the second half will follow in a separate post. Thanks and good DX to all.

Possible Tecsun PL-880 hidden feature: Noise reduction adjustment?

5 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul, who writes:

While putzing around with my new Tecsun PL-880 that I got while browsing at Universal Radio’s store in Columbus OH, I found what appears to be an adjustable noise reduction function.

Firmware level: 8820
Mfg date: probably August 2016 (201608 from the serial number inside the tilt stand)

Here are the steps to check it out;

When in a shortwave band, press “4” until either “ON” or “OFF” appears in the display.
If it displays “OFF”, press 4 briefly to clear, then long press again until “ON” appears.

Then, long press “9” until a two digit number appears.

Use either tuning knob to increase or decrease the number.

The number appears to correspond with the DbM threshold of the received signal.

Perhaps someone can play with the feature and elaborate on its function.

Hope this is useful, let me know.

Thank you for sharing, Paul! I do wonder if this adjustment could affect the DNR setting (check out this previous post as well).

Post readers: Has anyone else been able to replicate and test this hidden feature? Please comment!

Oxford Shortwave Log: DXing in the tropical rainforest of Pará, Brazil – part 2

2 Replies

Hi there, here is part 2 of my reception videos taken in the tropical rainforest of Pará, Northern Brazil. As I mentioned in my previous post, I took a Tecsun PL-680 with me on the trip because I didn’t want to risk losing or trashing one of my precious vintage portables but also because of the following:

It can handle a longwire very well without overloading (I actually only used a 5 metre wire)
An excellent synchronous detection circuit and audio bandwidth filtering options
Excellent sensitivity, as demonstrated by the many DX reception videos on YouTube
If it got lost or damaged it would be a pain, but not difficult to replace

So, what can you hear in the jungle? Part 2 of my group of reception videos follow below – I hope you enjoy them.

Tropical rainforest DX in Pará, Brazil: RMI Overcomer Ministry 11530 kHz

Tropical rainforest DX in Pará, Brazil: Radio Tamazuj 11650 kHz, Madagascar

Tropical rainforest SW in Pará, Brazil: Radio Nacional Brasilia 11780 khz

Tropical rainforest DX in Pará, Brazil: R Aparecida 11855 khz (TX distance 2430 km)

Tropical rainforest SW in Pará, Brazil: R Brasil Central 11815 kHz, Goiania

Tropical rainforest DX in Pará, Brazil: Voice of Turkey 11980 kHz

Tropical rainforest DX in Pará, Brazil: Radio Dabanga 13800 kHz, Madagascar

Jon reviews the VITE VT-111 receiver

7 Replies

Image: jontabor.tk

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Jon Tabor, who writes:

I’m new to SWL, but found your site a few months ago, and have been loving it ever since.

I recently picked up, for about $11 off eBay, a cheap MW/SW/FM radio called the VITE VT-111, which appears to be a rebadged (updated?) Basbon DS-858, which I know you’ve seen before.

Okay, it’s not a great radio, but it was $11! I know, I know, it’s a terrible way to get started in SWL, but did I mention it was $11?

Anyway, I opened it up and found some differences between the photos you posted of the Basbon, as well as what appears to be an I²C bus in there; I’m not familiar with I²C busses, but I thought maybe some of your readers might find it interesting to see the guts of this radio and how it differs from the Basbon, or at least see the insides of yet another cheap radio.

Image: jontabor.tk

Here’s the link:
http://jontabor.tk/wordpress/?p=31

Thank you for sharing, Jon!

You’re reminding me that I have a VITE SRW-710S sitting on the shelf and must review it soon. One reader was curious if its on-board recording feature would be effective on shortwave. We’ll soon know!

Oxford Shortwave Log 200 metre Beverage antenna: further MW and SW reception videos

3 Replies

Hi there, further to my previous post regarding the initial testing of the Medium Wave Circle-design 200 metre Beverage antenna at the woods in Oxford, UK, I am pleased to share further reception videos for both the medium wave and shortwave bands. For medium wave, I operated the FDM DUO via a laptop and the FDN-SW2 software, recorded the entire band at the top of the hour and retrospectiively analysed the signals. For shortwave I utillised the FDM DUO as a standalone receiver, routing the audio via the excellent Bose Soundlink Mini 2 speaker.

As a quick recap, the antenna was terminated at the ‘front end’ with a 650 Ohm resistor into a 1 metre-long, permanent copper earthing rod that I had previously driven into the ground, away from the route taken by the general public. The actual wire was orientated in a generally westerly direction, and thus nulling signals propagating from the east. At the receiver end, I utillised my self-built transformer, wound for a 50 Ohm input impedance (14 turns on the primary), thus making the entire set-up suitable for the Elad FDM DUO. It was quite a pain to set up, taking over an hour to deploy, however, the results were very promising. A scematic diagram follows below.

Links to the next group of reception videos follow:

The reception from VOCM St. Johns, Newfoundland & Labrador and WRCA Waltham, Massachusetts was unprecidented and another indication that the 200 metre Beverage configuration is demonstrating excellent SNR performance. Similarly, the reception of Radio Nacional Brazilia was an improvement on any signal I’d previously recorded with any receiver or antenna. Finally, the signal received from Radio Huanta 2000 – one of the more exotic stations on the Tropical Band and rarely heard in Europe – delivered discernible audio with this set-up, whereas previously I had only ever observed a carrier. All-in-all a very pleasing result, with more reception videos using this antenna set-up to follow in the coming weeks.

Right now I’m uploading SW and MW reception videos to my YouTube channel, recorded during my two week trip to Pará in Northern Brazil – it was really interesting to check out what can be heard on the radio in the middle of what is a very remote area of tropical rainforest. I hope you find the time to take a look. In the meantime, thank you for watching/ listening and I wish you all good DX.