Tag Archives: Bob Colegrove

Bob talks ergonomics and radio buttons…

10 Replies

XHDATA D-808 on a 5” × 9” neoprene pad.

Ergonomics and Radio Buttons

By Bob Colegrove

Am I being too picky?  Are the buttons on some newer portable radios hard to press?  I’ve read many reviews and watched as many videos, but haven’t encountered many complaints about this.  Perhaps it’s an age-related affliction.

The most succinct description of the problem was expressed in the review of the Tecsun PL-660 way back in the 2012 edition of the WRTH.  In referring to the buttons, “All are in our view rather too small for comfort and have breakout forces which are out of all proportion to their size; the combination of this with excessively long travel and weak tactile feedback does not give much pleasure to the user.”  The problem has only gotten worse with some newer portable radios.

I see two problems here.  First, too much pressure is required; what the WRTH called “breakout force.”  Designers may say, “that’s so you won’t accidentally turn the radio on and run down the battery.”  Well, I reply, “isn’t that what the ubiquitous lock button is for?  They all have one.”

If you’ve ever taken one of these radios apart, you’ve likely seen a pliable membrane between the buttons and the switches or traces on the PC board.  This provides some spring action necessary to return the buttons to the upright position.  Couldn’t this be thinner or more elastic?

Second, some radios have flat buttons that don’t protrude very far above the case.  By the time the fleshy part of your finger bottoms out on the surface of the case, still more pressure and button travel is required to activate the function.  Couldn’t the buttons be slightly higher?

The result, if you operate the radio on a desk or table and apply the requisite walnut-cracking pressure on a button, the radio might well rocket off its foundation.

Pads for Portables

A partial solution without violating the integrity of the radio is a stable foundation.  In today’s euphemistic world the term counterpoise is use when referring to what we used to simply call an electrical ground.  It seems some sort of mechanical counterpoise would be useful to better anchor a portable radio for operation.

Neoprene is a synthetic rubber developed by a DuPont scientist in 1930.  It is tougher than natural rubber and relatively impervious to solvents.  This stuff is virtually skidproof.  There are perhaps other materials suitable for this application, which is simply to get the radio to stand its ground while you operate it.  After some thought and experimentation, I bought a 1/16”-thick neoprene pad.  A 12” × 12” pad is more than enough.  Mine came from https://amzn.to/3XsmQDe [Note Affiliate link supports the SWLing Post].  I cut this into three smaller pads as follows:

7” × 12” for a Sony ICF-2010, which has nice easy-touch buttons and really doesn’t need a pad except to anchor the radio in place.

5” × 9” for a Tecsun PL-990 and many other similar size radios.

3” × 5”, the scrap piece can be used for a C.Crane Skywave, which already has nice raised buttons;  a Tecsun PL-330, which needs a pad most of all; and an XHDATA D-220, which doesn’t even have buttons.

A Tecsun PL-330 lying flat covers a 3” × 5” pad.  But that’s OK.

There are a couple of alternatives:

  1. You can leave a large pad uncut to accommodate various sizes of radios; or
  2. You can cut bits of neoprene and apply them as feet to the bottom rear corners of the radio and bottom of the stand.  There might be some difficulty getting them to stay in place or allowing the stand to fully collapse.  Some portables already have rubber feet.

It’s probably apparent that neoprene will adhere best to a smooth surface such as glass or Formica.  However, I have tested it on a cloth-covered, memory foam chair cushion, and it works just fine.  Pressing down the material will make it adhere to a surface even more.  I would estimate that a lateral force of at least 10 or 15 pounds is required to make a small radio break loose from three or four points of contact with the material.

Besides holding the radio in place while you operate it, much like a large table radio, neoprene offers the radio some cosmetic protection against abrasion from rough surfaces.  However, the material is so sticky it will pick up every bit of dust or dirt.  This can somewhat compromise its adherence requiring an occasional rinse in water.

Admittedly, the neoprene pad isn’t going to be very useful while you’re sitting in a beach chair using the radio in the handheld posture.  However, in the shack, a suitable pad has a purpose.

XHDATA D-220 sans buttons on a 3” × 5” pad.

Caps for Buttons

In the case of buttons which are too low, some additional help is desired.  On the Tecsun PL-330, I glued plastic caps on top of the STEP and ETM buttons, which raises them about 1/16” and helps considerably.  I am still looking for some transparent material to use as caps on the numbered buttons.

STEP and ETM buttons with caps on a Tecsun PL-330.

Further validated suggestions are solicited.

Spread the radio love

U Twente WebSDR: New Tablet/Phone Interface Option

5 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

U. of Twenty Site for Phones and Tablets

by Bob Colegrove

I’m not sure if this is new.  It may have been around for a while.  Very recently, while accessing the WebSDR site at the University of Twente, it detected that I was on a tablet and offered redirection to an experimental version of their site:  http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/m.html.

Besides being an interesting site to surf radio stations, I use it regularly as a ‘spotter’ tool to see what’s on shortwave.  Admittedly, it is more than 3,900 miles from my receiver, but I like to see how well my antennas are doing.

The experimental version was accessed using the Silk browser on a 7-inch Kindle Fire.  It is slimmed down from the main version, and much easier to use with a phone or tablet, particularly the zoom in and out feature.

Spread the radio love

A Band Aid for the XHDATA D-220

15 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

A Band Aid for the XHDATA D-220

By Bob Colegrove

In the olden days of analog radios, we would have generated a graph plotting frequency against a 0 to 100 linear bandspread scale. That permitted determination of a station’s frequency with varying degrees of accuracy.

The case of the charming little D-220 requires a simpler approach. The dial covers 5.6 MHz to 22 MHz in less than two inches. They could have cut off coverage at 18 MHz and gained a precious half inch of dial.

With the shortwave scale well below the pointer, I needed some additional guidance indicating where I was. Best not to get too fancy. I cut a strip off a sticky-back label and attached it to the dial right below the pointer. Using the left edge of the pointer as a guide, I marked off the location of each international broadcast band and a couple time stations. The width of each band isn’t much more than the point of a sharp No. 2 pencil. Any further resolution is hopeless, but at least you know what part of the spectrum you are in.

Red lettering is not part of the band aid.

Again, going by the old logarithmic analog dials you would expect the frequencies to be increasingly mashed together as you go higher. This is not the case with the D-220, nor do the increments appear to be very linear. At any rate, it is now relatively easy to tune from band to band.

The sensitivity and clarity of the D-220 is amazing. Perhaps it’s the green one.

Spread the radio love

The Tecsun PL-990/PL-990x as an MP3 Player, Bluetooth Receiver, and PC Speaker

8 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

The Tecsun PL-990/PL-990x as an MP3 Player, Bluetooth Receiver, and PC Speaker

By Bob Colegrove

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual

Sometimes after a medium wave or shortwave DX session I just like to kick back and listen to good music.  Perhaps this is an age-related malady.  I recently did a scan of the FM band and came up with 60 listenable stations in my area.  By listenable, I only mean they can be received clearly.  In practice, I only listen to a couple stations.  Although, my tastes in music are quite varied, apparently, they do not coincide very well with local FM broadcast station formats.  No matter, I can still indulge myself listening to diverse favored artists.

The Tecsun PL-990/990x offers a ready solution having both an MP3 player and Bluetooth connectivity.  Actually, there are several compatible audio formats available on the player, but for simplicity I will merely refer to them as MP3.  I really didn’t buy this radio purposely for these additional features.  I bought it as a follow-on to the PL-880, which I still like very much for all its well-known features as a multiband radio.

I spent some time on the Internet reading all the reviews and watching many YouTube videos.  Among useful things, I learned how to take the radio out of its box.  The aggregate of all this information was thorough coverage of all the salient features of the 990 – all except the treatment of the MP3 player and Bluetooth connectivity.  These generally appeared at the end of each review in a by-the-way fashion with little detail.

I bought a PL-990x with expectations that it would be a good radio performer, and that has proven to be the case.  During its setup and checkout, I realized the potential for its MP3 and Bluetooth capabilities.  A few years ago, I digitized all our vinyl recordings and cassette tapes, so I had many hours of material readily available for inclusion on a micro-SD card, which can be inserted on the bottom of the cabinet.

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual

The radio, MP3 player, and Bluetooth modes are available by toggling a single switch.

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual

As an MP3 Player

Unfortunately, the display does not have a multi-segment set of characters for text.  This is the way random RDS information is displayed on radios such as the XHDATA D-808 and Eton Elite Executive.  So, selecting albums and tracks on the 990 is limited to numeric representation, which doesn’t provide much of a clue identifying the musical selection.  The user must either remember where favorite files are stored by number or keep some sort of number-title log.

Files are stored on a micro-SD card having up to 128 GB in capacity.  That’s a lot of content.  The radio comes with a 16-GB card, which will probably be large enough for many users.  There are some details to consider when setting up the card.  This information is lacking in the manual, but I have tried to fill in the blanks below.

Some rules:

1. There is no purpose in trying to alphabetize or otherwise edit album or track titles to locate them in a specific sequence.  The 990 doesn’t understand this.

2. Generally, albums and tracks will be assigned numbers by the 990 in the order in which they are saved to the SD card by the computer.

3. Albums equal folders.  Tracks equal (MP3) files within each folder.  You can mix and match the content in albums and tracks any way you want to.  It does not have to conform to the publisher’s album content.

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual

4. An album/folder can contain both its own tracks/files and nested folders containing other albums.  A nested album/folder will be numbered in sequence after the containing folder.  Any previously saved album/folders will be renumbered higher in sequence.

Rule 4 offers some flexibility.  You can come back later and prioritize any album/folder by simply nesting it with another album/folder.

The table below is an example of five different musical genres compiled into separate albums.  On the computer, the polka album was transferred to the SD card first, then classic country.  At that point, the polka album was A01 and country A02 on the 990 display.  Later, Dixieland and waltz albums were added to the tracks in the polka folder.  They then became A02 and A03 respectively, and the country album advanced to A04.  Finally, the chorus album was added in the root directory and became A05.

  • The 990 recognizes the SD card quickly after it is inserted into its slot.
  • The number of tracks and albums (files and folders) is only limited by the SD-card format, which for all practical purposes, won’t be a limitation.  By way of example, I used the default exFAT format and loaded an album with 657 tracks; I don’t recommend that many.
  • A single track can be repeated by long-pressing the PLAY/PAUSE button.
  • The tracks in an album will be repeated continuously.
  • There does not appear to be a way to shuffle tracks.

I did encounter some difficulty with micro-SD card compatibility, which was independent of brand.  A couple micro-SD cards were prepared on a computer using an adapter card and a micro-SD card reader and operated correctly in the computer, but the content was not recognized by the 990.  I suspect this might be due to the early manufacture of the cards, but I’m not sure.

The 990 manual picks up the explanation from there describing operation of the control keys.  I found it most convenient just to scroll through the albums with the FINE TUNING knob and through the tracks with the main TUNING knob.  The number pad buttons will also work for direct album or track selection.  Their application depends on the last tuning knob turned.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a hidden feature of the 990.  Activation is partially covered on the hidden feature sheet.

  1. With the radio off, press and hold the PLAY/MP3 button.  If OFF (for Bluetooth) appears in the display, press and hold the button again until ON appears in the display.
  2. Turn on the radio.
  3. Toggle the PLAY/MP3 button until “BT” appears in the display.  The display will have a horizontal, animated dashed line for a few seconds, then it will change to an animated rectangle indicating that the Bluetooth feature is on.
  4. Follow the procedure for your tablet, computer or phone to pair the device with the 990.  “Tecsun PL-990” should appear on the device as a choice for pairing.  The 990 only pairs with one device at a time.  If you have trouble, ensure that the 990 has not inadvertently paired with another device.

Bluetooth, of course, opens Internet streaming from a phone, tablet or computer.  These ‘remotes’ have the convenience of full text capability and offer easier selection of content.  I paired my PL-990x with a Kindle tablet; it has a range of at least 25 feet.  The same micro-SD card could in theory be transferred from the radio to the tablet and function the same way.  A smart phone would add cellular connectivity.

Control:

Three of the four player control buttons above the display are active in Bluetooth.  The stop button has no effect.  As with the MP3 player, the main TUNING and FINE TUNING knobs will also advance or reverse the track selection.  Interestingly, this works with audio player apps as well as services such as YouTube, where it advances or reverses videos on the tablet, computer or phone.  In addition to the RADIO/MP3 button, pressing any of the band buttons will immediately exit Bluetooth and tune to the selected radio band.

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual

In MP3 or Bluetooth mode, there is no noise from a USB wall wart.  It might be a good time to charge the battery.

As a Computer Speaker

Finally, there is what the 990 manual calls the computer speaker mode.  Sounds inconsequential.  Why would anyone want to use a monaural radio on a computer that’s likely outfitted with stereo speakers?  Actually, it’s more than that.  By plugging your 990 into a USB port on your computer you have the normal charging feature, but you will also have complete USB connectivity with your PC.

Turn on the 990.  You may have to press RADIO/MP3 button until “PC” appears in the PL-990 display.

  • You will not be able to use the radio.
  • The content of the micro-SD card in the 990 should appear as a USB drive in the computer’s file directory.  You can transfer files on or off the 990, but the process will be very slow.  Transfers from the computer to the 990-installed SD card follow the same rules listed above for the MP3 player.
  • The computer will provide the MP3 play function through its own app.  You can select files from either the 990 SD card or those on the PC and play them through the 990 speaker.
  • You can switch speakers between the 990 or those on the computer by selecting the speaker icon on the computer task bar, then selecting the available speakers.

  • The pause/play button on the player controls will work, but the reverse, stop, and advance buttons will not.

Final Thoughts

Some disappointment was registered in the reviews that the 990 does not have a recorder.  Yes, this would have been nice.  One thing it does have is a line out jack which has adjustable gain.  This makes my outboard recorder much happier than when it is used with some other radios.

Since we are talking about audio, I have noted that some reviewers still prefer the sound of the PL-880.  To my ears, the 990 sounds every bit as good.  Remember, these are mid-size portable radios.

The inclusion of MP3 player and Bluetooth capabilities on the 990 adds very useful functionality to this radio.  After nearly four years of consumer availability, I must wonder why they haven’t received more attention.

Spread the radio love

Bob Reviews the Model L87 Digital Voice Recorder

12 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

The Model L87 Voice Recorder

Reviewed by Bob Colegrove

L87 Voice Recorder (Source:  Amazon)

Introduction

Whenever I read a radio product review, the author invariably says whether the device has a line-out port.  This seems to say a lot about the importance attached to this feature by a great number of our fellow radio enthusiasts.  Besides audio recording, the port can be used for computer processing of facsimile and teletype signals.  For basic recording, it seems to boil down to three purposes:

  • to provide a permanent archive of some things we have heard,
  • to replay portions of a weak signal to determine its identity, or
  • to share our catches with fellow enthusiasts.

There was a time before cassettes (BC) when I used a mini reel-to-reel tape deck to record radio broadcasts.  This was not much bigger than a cigar box.  It used 3-inch magnetic tape reels.  There was no capstan.  The take-up and supply reels rotated at constant speeds to provide tape motion for recording and rewinding.  Thus, the tape would gradually accelerate past the heads as the diameter of the take-up reel increased.  Consequently, a recorded tape did not travel at a constant speed and could only be played on the original recorder.  I never used it much, and when it stopped working, I never bothered to replace it.

This winter I seem to be focused once again on medium wave DXing, and I began to think a recorder would be useful to help identify stations.  I couldn’t get much of a consensus as to what recorders other hobbyists were using, so I went on the Internet to explore the market.  Long story short, I wound up with an unbranded voice recorder.  Neither the hardware nor the manual gives much of a clue as to who made it.  The state of today’s small electronics market is replete with anonymous items.  Anyway, the price was reasonable, and I have it.

There are probably a dozen or more equally capable recorders currently available, including those from Sony.  So, this is not a model versus model comparison, but rather an enumeration of salient features of the Model L87 Voice Recorder and a conclusion as to its usefulness as an accessory for radio listening.

My recorder is marketed by Amazon [affiliate link] under the brand name of “G” (http://gtoptc.com/).  It has 8 GB of system storage and 64 GB on a removable SD (TF) card.  If you Google “L87 Voice Recorder” you will see that Amazon, Walmart, and eBay sell, what are by all appearances, identical recorders with greater or lesser system memory and different size SD cards.  Some include an external microphone.

Description

To say the voice recording industry has come a long way since my reel-to-reel experience is an understatement.  Digital media, miniaturization, and functionality pretty much sum up the improvements.

This device is billed as a voice recorder.  It is intended to be used in dictation or brought into a classroom, conference, or other meeting to gather an audible transcription of the proceedings.  Attaching it to the line-out jack of a radio is not an application that is listed in the promotional literature.  So, in selecting a device a radio enthusiast must be assured that line-in capability is available.

Also, there is a matter of compatibility.  The L87 voice recorder works very well with the Eton Elite Executive, Tecsun PL-880, Sony ICF-SW7600GR and Grundig Satellit 800.  The recorder was tested on a Sony ICF-2010 and did not work.  Apparently, the 2010s were designed to operate with older recorders having high-impedance microphone inputs.

Specifics

  • Memory – built-in system 8 GB, plus an included 64-GB SD (TF) card, 72 GB total.  This we are told will produce 3,343 hours of recording at 32 kbps.
  • Battery – 500 mAh rechargeable lithium ion, having up to 13 hours continuous recording at 512 kbps, and 24 hours of playback with earphones.
  • File formats – Recording:  WAV or MP3; or it can act as a player for any uploaded MP3, WAV, FLAC, APE, OGG, or WMA file.
  • Recording bit rates – for WAV:  512, 768, 1024, or 1536 kbps; for MP3:  32, 64, 128, or 192 kbps.
  • Gain settings – seven.
  • Voice activation – auto recording begins once the sound reaches a settable decibel level and stops when there is no sound.  Probably of minimal use for the radio monitoring purpose.
  • File management – files are named with a time stamp (year, month, day, hour, seconds).
  • Optional password protection.
  • A-B repeat function – a portion of recording can be blocked for repetition.  The A and B start-stop points do not alter the file and disappear when the file is closed.
  • Physical – dimensions:  4.13 inches long × 1.06 inches wide, × 0.39 inch thick; weight:  2.8 ounces.
  • Numerous other recording settings, including those for noise reduction.
  • First available – April 26, 2022.
  • Website – https://gtoptc.com/.

Experience

Being quite small, ergonomics is a consideration, and may take some practice.  As I am right-handed, I unexpectedly realized that I grabbed this little device in my left hand, like a cell phone.  That leaves my right hand free to press buttons, but I also tend to operate the controls with my left hand.  Like many small travel radios, many buttons are dual purpose, and one must get used to short presses, long presses, and correct button sequences.

As an example of complexity, a change in volume requires a quick press of the VOL button, then repeated presses of the up/down buttons to arrive at the desired level.  Fast forward and rewind are somewhat problematic.  A short press of either button will quit the file you are listening to and queue up the preceding or next file, while a long press will incrementally rewind or fast forward the file you are listening to.

As it is marketed, this is a “voice recorder.”  It provides a line-in capability, but you will have to supply your own stereo patch cord.  Once programmed to line-in, you will not have to reset it when making follow-on recordings.  Although it comes with an internal speaker, you can also swap out the patch cord with earphones for playback without changing any settings.  Just to try it out, I used the built-in microphones to record a radio at normal volume.  While the recording was acceptable, it was prone to any noise produced in the room or pressing recorder buttons.

L87 Buttons and Ports (Source:  L87 Voice Recorder Instruction Manual)

Battery and storage capacity will not likely be a problem, as this device will continue to operate for many hours when properly prepared for use.

The device records in stereo, which likely doubles the file size for our purpose of generally needing only monaural recording.  I have not found a way to change it.  On the other hand, I recorded some classical music content from a local stereo FM station and connected the recorder to a nice set of shelf speakers for playback.  The sound quality of the MP3 file at 128 kbps was excellent, at least to my ears.

The display is quite small, but very sharp and colorful showing essential information such as file name, time, file format, bit rate, and volume setting.

File management is neither intuitive nor very versatile.  I could not find a way to create new folders or move files using the recorder.  Connecting the recorder to the computer, I could create new folders which were recognized in the recorder’s folder function, but the display would indicate an incompatible format when I tried to save a new file to the computer-created folders.  The recorder would however play prerecorded files transferred to the new folder by the computer.  Lesson:  just stick with the basic file functionality and save the manipulations for the computer.

The recorder comes with a USB-C cable which is used to recharge the battery and transfer files to or from a computer.  Or, if the included SD card is used for storage, it can be removed and used on the computer for file transfer.

As a retired technical writer, I tend to be quite critical of user manuals that come with appliances and electronic gear.  This one is only fair – no better or worse than most others I have come across recently.  We’re not just talking picky grammar issues here.  Some explanations are entirely missing, for example how to properly set the recorder input gain.

File Processing

A few years ago, I used an open-source audio file processing program called Audacity to digitize our collection of vinyl and tapes.  Such applications serve as a quick way to process or edit the recorder files, for example, trimming the files to a desired size or normalizing their amplitude.

Conclusion

In retrospect, there are some things I should have recorded off the radio back in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  But the fact that I’ve enjoyed the radio hobby without a recorder all these years probably does not qualify it as essential equipment in my radio shack.  Useful?  Yes.  If you are interested in recording from your radio, and are a frequent traveler, these recorders are convenient, requiring very little space in the bag.  Because of its small size, hand dexterity and attentive thought processes must be developed to use it effectively.  This recorder has amazing capability, is well constructed, and appears to work as intended.

The Model L87 Voice Recorder on Amazon.com (Note: This affiliate link supports the SWLing Post at no cost to you.)

Spread the radio love

Guest Post: Bob’s conundrum with the Radio Data System (RDS)

33 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

A Conundrum with the Radio Data System (RDS),
or Why I Set the Clock Manually

By Bob Colegrove

There’s an old story about a man who owned two watches.  One watch ran but lost a minute every hour.  The other watch didn’t work at all.  He always wore the watch that didn’t work, because as he said, “At least it will have the correct time twice a day.”

First off, a couple of caveats.  This is not a definitive description of the Radio Data System (RDS).  I leave that to much more knowledgeable sources.  One detailed description is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System.  Second, my experience described here is confined to the Eton Elite Executive and the XHDATA/SIHUADON D-808.  Other radios may operate differently.

I have surrounded myself with several multiband travel radios over the past year and enjoy them very much – each for different reasons.  Besides listening, I like to push buttons to see what happens.  The manuals?  At best they occasionally provide a clue.  I read them, eventually filling in the blanks on my own.

XHDATA/SIHUADON D-808

Basic RDS

What is RDS? RDS is a system which enables an FM station to transmit various fields of information such as date, time, call letters, frequency, and program information in text form.  The call letters are useful, but if you have a digital radio, you already know the frequency.  The name of the song and artist are particularly helpful if the DJ won’t tell you.  As for the date and time, well, I’ll get to that.

RDS is an international standard and Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) is the official name used for the U.S. version.  So why don’t we in the States just call it RBDS?  Probably because our radios aren’t made here.

Eton Elite Executive

The XHDATA and Eton allow the user to display four of the several fields comprising the RDS standard.  They each step through the same sequence, indicating a similar or possibly the same demodulator chip.

PS and RT seem to be freeform fields with stations providing whatever information they want to share.  Often the call letters and frequency are contained here, along with program content.  Clock Time (CT) is not displayed per se, but is used to set the radio time, and is included as part of the DATA field.  DATA is important; it has four elements, which should provide the listener with an indication of the call, day, date, and time being received by the radio.  The international RDS standard omits the call letters.

The RDS information transmitted by any given station may not contain all the fields identified above, including the time.  For example, stepping through the fields you may encounter “NO PTY,” “NO PS,” “NO RT,” or “NO DATA.” Consequently, you may tune in to a station broadcasting RDS and wait a long time for the radio clock to synchronize, which it never does.  The display of any content in the DATA field is probably the best clue whether CT is being transmitted.

It is interesting that the Eton is programmed for the US RBDS system, whereas the XDATA follows the international RDS system.  For the international system on the D-808:

  • “DATE” replaces “DATA” in the display.
  • The call letters are omitted from the DATE field.
  • The terms in the PTY field differ; for example, WRBS, 95.1 MHz, the PTY element displays “SOCIAL” instead of “RELIGIOUS MUSIC.”

International PTY RDS term on the XHDATA

US PTY RBDS term on the Eton

The Conundrum

The mischief all began when I got my XHDATA D-808 and tried to program the clock to automatically update using the RDS information off FM stations.  Minutes seem to display correctly, but try as I might, I couldn’t get the hours to register properly.  Then I bought an Eton Elite Executive.  It also has the RDS feature, so I tried again.  It appeared to work OK for a day or so.  Then the hour indication started to misbehave.  In addition to the clock, the Eton allows programming of time zones and day of the week.  I determined that the erroneous indication did not appear to be related to GMT, EST, 12-hour or 24-hour format settings.  In theory, if you try to set your radio to GMT or some other time zone, the RDS time from a local station should override it.

When I tested the radios side-by-side, the DATA field was fraught with problems on both radios.  Several local RDS stations containing CT were monitored.  The whip antenna was extended a tad, as the information may not reliably register with some otherwise clear audio signals.

  • When tuned to the same station, there were occasional inconsistencies between the two radios, presumably receiving the same exact information from the station.

 

  • Sometimes the hour would not advance on the XHDATA after minutes transitioned from 59 to 00.
  • Curiously, both radios might exhibit the correct date and time during the day, then at 1900 EST, several stations on both radios prematurely advance to the next day and date, and the hour would display incorrectly, completely unrelated to local hour.  Minutes may or may not be correct.  1900 EST happens to be 0000 GMT.  Are some station clocks running on GMT?

RDS content obviously requires some attention at the station.  In the end, they are responsible for the information going out.  In fairness, with all that goes on in a studio and limited staffing, RDS content may not be a priority.  As an example:

  • Call letters in the DATA field for local WMZQ read KZQK, which is not assigned.

Conclusions

There are two main factors which may impinge on the accuracy of a radio clock when set automatically by the RDS:

  • Accuracy depends on the station transmitting it correctly.
    • With RDS set to the AUTO mode, there is a good chance that the clock will be updated repeatedly as the radio is tuned among various stations – not necessarily to the correct time.
      • For the Eton, the clock would reset each time when changing stations between WTOP (correct time) and WPRS (incorrect time).
      • For the XHDATA, the clock would reset each time when changing stations between WTOP (correct minutes) and WPRS (incorrect minutes).  In both cases, the displayed hour remained 00.
    • There is still the unexplained premature update of day and date by some stations observed on both radios.
  • Correct time depends on the radio’s RDS demodulator to interpret the incoming data.

Trivial?  Perhaps, but you may want to reconsider and program the clock manually, particularly if you depend on the alarm function of the radio to get to work on time.

Spread the radio love

“If Memory Serves Me Right, . . .”

24 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:

If Memory Serves Me Right, . . .

By Bob Colegrove

The radio in my ’61 Ford Falcon came with memory.

Memory features on portable radios have become increasingly popular in recent years.  I would say the subject ranks up there with antennas and batteries in many discussion groups.  Memory is really a matter of convenience; that is, the quick and easy recall of favored frequencies.

Mechanical Memory

Memory-capable radios are nothing new.  My very first multi-band radio was a Howard Radio Company Model 308 radio-phonograph console.  It was manufactured sometime in the late 1930s and came with four memories.  These were in the form of pushbuttons, which when pressed, quickly accelerated rotation of the variable capacitor to frequencies of local interest.  The radio even came with a set of call letter stickers for AM stations all over the country.  Memory in car radios goes back almost as far.  It was convenient when you were driving.

During daylight hours it wasn’t hard to find stations in the nearby radio listening area, so you could just twirl the tuning knob in the usual manner until you got to the desired station.  In lieu of push buttons, my mother marked the dial of her kitchen radio with red fingernail polish, WXLW, WIBC, WIRE, WFBM, WISH.  At night it was quite another problem, when the great ionosphereic mirror in the sky began to reflect radio signals from hundreds of miles away.  That’s when the buttons really became useful.  Being a mechanical system, you had to be careful; a hard press of a button would cause the mechanism to overshoot the frequency.

Digital Memory

The digital age brought with it the capability of adding electronic memory to the product, as well as much more precision.  My next experience with radio memory came in the mid-eighties with the Sony ICF-2010.  This radio has a matrix of 8 x 4 = 32 dedicated keys on the front panel, each key recalling one stored frequency.  Further, in the case of SW, the single-sideband and bandwidth settings can be saved.  I found the feature very useful and managed to keep many of the 32 memory locations occupied a good deal of the time, honestly never giving much thought to the need for more memory.

Memory matrix on the Sony ICF-2010.  In conjunction with the SHIFT key,
many buttons have a secondary function for scanning or band selection.

But today’s small multiband portables do not have the available real estate for a large matrix of memory buttons on the front panel.  It’s now done with a sequence of key presses or possibly rotation of the tuning knob.  Since the Sony ICF-2001/2010, there has been a race among manufacturers to include more and more memory capacity in their radios.  “If you build it, they will come.”  Below is a sample of the total memory locations in some popular portable radios.

I am reminded of a passage in Life on the Mississippi in which Mark Twain speculated about the continual shortening of the Mississippi River due to new channels flooding across its bends.  According to his extrapolation, in 742 years Cairo, Illinois will be joined with New Orleans.  Similarly, we may soon reach the point where memory capacity of a multiband radio exceeds the total number of available channels.  But memory is cheap these days.  I suppose it’s already on the chip, so why not make it available and tout it as a feature?

As a result of this large memory capacity, recalling a saved station can quickly become a problem.  First, if you have band-specific paging, you must ensure you are on the appropriate band.  On page memory radios, it requires that you first recall the page number and button on the number pad where you have saved the frequency.  In any event, you navigate through the stored locations mentally correlating location numbers with frequencies.

There is no standard by which manufacturers implement memory.  On the Skywave SSB 2, D-808, and ICF-SW-7600GR, the number pad defaults to memory tuning.  For direct frequency tuning, you must first press FREQ on the SSB 2 and D-808.  The Tecsun radios on the other hand have toggling VF and VM modes, and you best be careful which one is active.  To recall memory on the PL-330, you can either spin the tuning dial to the channel or key the channel on the number pad if you can remember it.

To directly enter a frequency Sony ICF-SW7600GR, there are two extra key presses:
DIRECT before the frequency and ENTER after.

At this point I must ask, at what point does it become more convenient just to directly key in a 4- or 5-digit frequency?

One of the things to remember about radio memory, even the old push-button kind, is that it stores frequencies not stations.  If another shortwave station is broadcasting on a frequency you saved, that may be what you will hear when the frequency is recalled.  With some extra effort, the Sangean ATS-909X will allow you to record a memo (i.e., station call or name) with frequencies you have stored.  Just remember, this may not be the station you thought you saved.

As an aside, the C. Crane Skywave SSB 2 can scan the first page of AIR band storage (10 frequencies).  If you don’t have 10 frequencies of interest, simply duplicate some of them to fill out the page.  This is also a good way to prioritize a favored frequency.

ATS

If you use the auto tune system (ATS) the computer searches and memorizes all detectable signals for AM, SW, FM or possibly AIR – each band separately.  When it’s done, you’ve caught a net full of fish, and are then confronted with a memory bank full of frequencies, many of which you may not be interested in, but must tune through in much the same way as with conventional tuning.  Finally, there is no easier way to destroy a meticulously hand-programmed memory page than to hold a button down too long and inadvertently activate ATS.  How do I know that?

Keep in mind, ATS requires a broad-band antenna to keep the playing field level during the scan.  The whip is generally all I need.  In the dense population of FM stations along the US East Coast, a completely retracted whip is often best.  I find the Tecsuns best for adding or deleting frequencies after the ATS scan.

Enhanced Tuning Mode

Tecsun has introduced ETM in recent years.  It is interesting and useful.  The most recent incarnation is called Enhanced Tuning Mode (ETM+), and the manufacturer has dedicated 3 ½ pages of the PL-330 manual to explain it.  In essence, it operates on each band much like auto tuning storage (ATS), but protects whatever you have in the radio’s main memory, and allows you to store time-specific sets of frequencies in separate ETM pages.  This expands the total memory to whatever extent on-air stations are detected during each time period.  I haven’t been able to put a number on it.

This Tecsun PL-330 display indicates the radio captured 45 frequencies
on an ETM scan of international broadcast bands made during the 00 UTC hour.

ETM is a quick way to find out what’s currently on SW international broadcast bands.  ETM logs SW broadcast stations to memory and reports the total number of stations captured at a given time (think of it as a separate page).  The total number could be used to determine SW reception conditions by comparing it with a previously calculated average for the same period.  For AM and FM, the feature can be used to store stations at a travel location without affecting main storage.  Regardless of how you use ETM, there is a learning curve, as well as a need to be continually alert to what you are doing.

Virtual ETM

For any other radio with page memory, you can still have many of the advantages of ETM, as well as avoid the likelihood of accidentally wiping out your carefully programmed frequencies.  Here’s how.

ATS on most radios begins saving frequencies on the lowest numbered page.  Note that the lowest page on the SSB 2 is 1, while it is 0 on the D-808, and the first station on each page is at button 0 (bottom).  My experience in the highly congested AM and FM bands on the US East Coast is that an ATS scan will likely take up no more than four or five pages of memory.  Likewise, ATS for SW is limited to AM stations on the international broadcast bands and will not require many pages, even at night.  By manually programming your favorite frequencies beginning on the sixth page of a 10-page memory arrangement they will likely be out of reach of an ATS scan and your manually-saved frequencies will still be there when you want them.

The travel benefit also applies to virtual ETM.  An ATS scan performed at a different location using the lower pages will quickly put you in touch with local stations in that area and preserve your manually saved frequencies at home.

As an aside, I would also suggest that sideband frequencies be kept together on separate pages, as the SSB function must be engaged separately to detect them.  With SSB engaged, the C. Crane Skywave SSB 2 will recall the saved LSB or USB mode, but you may have to switch from one to the other on the XDATA D-808.

Example of virtual ETM for D-808 on the shortwave band.
Skywave SSB 2 would be similar.

Virtual ETM is not perfect.  This method does not provide all the time-specific paging that the Tecsun PL-330 has.  Also, there is a danger if your radio has an auto-sorting feature which might be inadvertently activated.  Lock the buttons on your radio when you turn it off or pack it up.

Conclusion

Apart from simply listening to the radio, it’s still entertaining to press buttons and see what they do – something like an electronic Rubic’s Cube.  I will go as far as to put a half dozen favorite AM and FM stations into memory.  I may enter a DX frequency or two I want to check out periodically.  That said, there are a limited number of storage locations beyond which memory ceases to be convenient, and for me the number is well short of what is generally available.

On the other hand, ETM or virtual ETM opens some useful possibilities if you take one of these small portables on travel or want to do a quick scan to see what’s currently on shortwave.

No radios were harmed in the preparation of this blog.

Spread the radio love