Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
I thought you and your readers might be interested in this […] a cool little radio I learned about from the YouTube channel of a drone flyer I follow.
I like the craftsmanship:
I’ve actually been following the Muzen OTR for several months via Indiegogo thanks to my buddy and radio-enabler, David Korchin (K2WNW).
If the name Muzen sounds familiar, it’s likely because we featured the company last year in this post. After publishing the post, I was so interested in Muzen products, I reached out to a retailer who used to be a US distributor. Sadly, he no longer carried Muzen products, though he was a big fan.
The Muzen OTR is $69 US shipped. For an FM radio, Bluetooth, AUX-in speaker that’s handcrafted, with serious audio fidelity, in such a small size, I think it’s quite a good deal. On top of that 10% of the funding will go to Radio Caroline.
Even though I’m going through a serious down-sizing at the moment, John’s note prompted me to back this campaign, so I bit the bullet this morning and ordered a Muzen OTR. [In a sarcastic tone: “Thank’s a lot, John!”] Ha ha!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Vance Thompson, who writes:
Thought you might be interested to see that several SRF-39FP radios have been up on eBay recently at a fairly reasonable price.
I picked one up when they first were posted, but the price has gone down the last couple of days and even has a “make offer” option with free shipping.
The description indicates that they are pre-owned by inmates at a Tennessee federal prison. As of this writing, there are 8 left.
The one I got was in pretty good shape cosmetically, all things considered, and works perfectly. Given that a brand new FP version of the SRF-39 is not likely to be seen again at $20, a used one such as this with a bit of history is not a bad deal for those of us that missed out when snagging one new was an option.
Although it makes me wonder what they are being swapped out for and if we might see an increase of these pre-owned ones coming up on eBay now.
Thanks for sharing, Vance! Twenty dollars (or possibly less through a Best Offer) is a fantastic deal, in my opinion, for the elusive SRF-39FP. Click here to read out previous posts about the SRF-39FP. Indeed, I’m mighty tempted to drop $20 on a spare unit myself. (Thanks for enabling me, Vance!)
It appears the seller has a stellar reputation on eBay too.
Many of you know I’m quite a fan of the Elecraft KX2. I take this little transceiver along almost any time I travel. Not only is it a full-featured ham radio transceiver, but it’s also an exceptional shortwave broadcast receiver.
The KX2 is a quality US-built rig (like all of Elecraft’s gear) but I’ve never been a fan of its plastic encoder knob. It lacks a finger dimple and feels cheap compared to the rest of the radio. Don’t get me wrong: the stock encoder knob gets the job done, but it’s not nearly as nice as the one on the slightly larger Elecraft KX3.
Comparing the Elecraft KX3 (top) and KX2 (bottom) at Elecraft’s Dayton Hamvention booth.
The price was $24.95 US shipped. I didn’t hesitate to place an order.
You might think $24.95 is a lot to pay for such a small item, but third party Elecraft vendors tend to charge much more for comparable items. I’ve also considered adding a heatsink to my KX3, for example, but those can total upwards of $100!
My new encoder knob arrived in only a couple of days via the USPS–installing it was a breeze.
It took me all of thirty seconds to pull the plastic knob off of the KX2 and replace it with the new aluminium one. The seller even includes an Allen wrench to secure the new knob.
The new knob is slightly larger in outer diameter, but fits the KX2 like a glove. The slightly larger size makes the finger dimple a practical addition for smooth band-scanning.
If you own an Elecraft KX2 (or the Elecraft KX1) I highly recommend this simple encoder/VFO knob upgrade!
I’ve been following this listing the past few days–the seller actually launched the item with a very low starting bid.
eBay unearths so many products that I would have never known existed. This military receiver is certainly a case in point.
As the seller states, I imagine the original price tag for this receiver was hefty–likely thousands of dollars. The front panel lacks many of the controls we’d like to see on an HF radio (bandwidth, RF gain, notch, etc.), however, I imagine there are a number of functions on the backlit screen and possibly accessible via an external monitor and/or keyboard.
I’m curious: are there any SWLing Post readers out there who can comment about the performance of this receiver? Have you ever put one on the air? Please comment!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Anil Raj, who writes:
I wanted to share a small but useful hack with your readers.
I use a common garden variety smartphone “Powerbank” 10,000 mAH Li Ion pack to power my Sony 7600GR which is perfectly happy with the 5V which the pack supplies. [See photo above.] I see no reason why this won’t work with other radios which require a 6V supply.
As you can imagine, the setup typically lasts for many weeks of extended daily listening and recharges in a jiffy. However, one needs to sacrifice a USB cable by soldering a DC plug at the other end. Haven’t bought AA batteries in a long time…
Thank you, Anil! What a simple but useful hack. The best part is, battery packs/banks are very inexpensive these days and, I for one, have a number of USB cables I could sacrifice for the job!
Welcome to our 20th episode! In this revamped show we conclude our look at innovative amateur radio products from Hamfest 2017, and Bob goes back to basics with an overview of setting up an inexpensive SDR dongle.
We have two great prizes to give away in our free-to-enter draw. An RSP1A SDR receiver from SDRplay and a copy of the best-selling book ‘SDR’ from the RSGB. Plus we look back at the past four years of topics covered by the TX Factor team. We hope you enjoy it! http://www.txfactor.co.uk
Click here to view Episode 20 on TX Factor’s website, or click here to watch on YouTube.
Thanks for yet another excellent and informative episode, TX Factor!
I’m currently spending the better part of a week at Cape Lookout State Park on the Oregon coast, with a great view of the ocean through tall evergreen trees. This is one of my favorite parks in the Pacific Northwest, especially when DXing during the blustery winters from one of the nice cabins at Cape Lookout.
The view from the beach near my cabin; the turbulent waves were a precursor to the gale force winds at the park during the night of the 23rd!
https://youtu.be/EYUSU_gzgu4
Although I’m at the park for trans-Pacific medium wave DXing, I’m also comparing receivers, both SDRs and portables. This morning I sought out a few weak shortwave signals, pitting the Elad FDM-S2 SDR ($529 USD) against the AirSpy HF+ ($199 USD). I have a pair of the HF+ receivers to cover all of medium wave (as the FDM-S2 easily does). Many SWLing Post readers already know that the upstart HF+ trades bandwidth to gain high performance in order to keep the price reasonable.
My antenna used for the following recordings was a small “Flag” antenna using a Wellbrook Communications FLG100LN module and a 2K ohm variable potentiometer for termination. The design uses crossed tent poles in an “X” formation to support the wire loop. This design travels easily in a compact package; I have Dave Aichelman of Grants Pass, Oregon to thank for this very useful “tent pole loop” implementation of the Wellbrook FLG100LN.
The Wellbrook-based antenna functions superbly, and its low-noise design helps hold down QRM from the nearby cabins (which unfortunately have been “upgraded” recently with noisy cold fluorescent [CFL] light bulbs). The area around the Cape Lookout cabins used to be superbly low noise and suitable for radio listening, but now it is more of a challenge than before. The Wellbrook FLG100LN is perfect for the situation though; Wellbrook ALA1530LN Pro and ALA1530S+ 1-meter loop antennas work commendably at the park too.
The Wellbrook FLG100LN module with a home brew RFI choke in-line
A 2K ohm variable potentiometer is protected from the elements in a small plastic bag. The “pot” is adjusted for the best nulling of medium wave stations off the back side of the antenna’s reception pattern.
The “tent pole loop” antenna is strapped to a fence railing with ultra-strong Gorilla Tape to keep the 7-ft. square loop vertical.
On with the recordings…
For the FDM-S2 and HF+ comparisons I used the SDR-Console V3 software. Every parameter was identical for the receivers–sampling bandwidth, filter bandwidth, AGC, mode and so on.
Take a critical listen to the weak signals recorded with the SDR receivers, identified as only “Radio A” and “Radio B”.A link to a poll is at the end of this article;please indicate which recording of each pair has the most intelligible audio in your opinion, and submit your choices when you’ve made up your mind on each audio clip. After a week or so I’ll post the results of the voting, and identify the receivers.
9.615 MHz, LSB, Radio A
9.615 MHz, LSB, Radio B (note: the same male announcer heard in clip “A” begins at 00:14 in this “B” clip)
9.730 MHz, USB, Radio A
9.730 MHz, USB, Radio B
7.230 MHz, S-AM, Radio A
7.230 MHz, S-AM, Radio B
9.860 MHz, S-AM, Radio A
9.860 MHz, S-AM, Radio B
Note on 7.230 MHz recording: this was an interesting frequency, as the signal was tightly surrounded by a very strong local 40m ham radio LSB station as well as a strong China Radio International signal. There were other strong amateur and broadcast stations within 30-50 kHz of 7.230 MHz, also. This A-B test more than the others may indicate receiver performance in a strong RF environment on a crowded band.
Ready for the poll? Register your votes at the Google Docs form below:
In a week to 10 days I’ll post the results in another article. NOTE: I haven’t provided a “both sound the same” choice in the poll to encourage you to ‘dig deep’ into the audio and listen critically–to find something that stands out in one clip versus the other.
Guy Atkins is a Sr. Graphic Designer for T-Mobile and lives near Seattle, Washington. He’s a regular contributor to the SWLing Post.
Please support this website by adding us to your whitelist in your ad blocker. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content! Thank you!
If the name Muzen sounds familiar, it’s likely because we featured the company last year in this post. After publishing the post, I was so interested in Muzen products, I reached out to a retailer who used to be a US distributor. Sadly, he no longer carried Muzen products, though he was a big fan.
