James Fields | The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, James Fields, who writes:

Something I always appreciate on the SWLing Post are articles and comments suggesting bags and cases. A while back I wound up with an account on wish.com – a site that sells “stuff from China” for lack of a better description. Some things are junk, some are not quite what is advertised, but one area where I’ve had remarkably good luck is bags and pouches of varying sizes.

If you search wish.com for “tactical waist bag” you should see a bunch of entries for a smallish canvas bag. The prices will range from $1 to $3, with shipping varying from free to about $3. These are canvas bags with some snaps and fasteners and compartments, and they are a near perfect fit for various travel portables.

The Skywave (and Skywave SSB). Tecsun PL-310ET and PL-380, and Digitech AR-1780 all fit well in this bag. The XHData D808 would be tight as it’s slightly wider than the AR-1780 but it might go. There is plenty of room for spare batteries and a wire antenna. The bags are padded nicely.

If you want to see one of these without visiting the wish.com site, there are some Amazon resellers that have them, usually around $10 (which is not bad with free Prime shipping).

Click here for one example on Amazon.com (affiliate link).

I have several of these bags in various colors – they’re very convenient for travel, and for me they work better than hard-shell cases.

Thank you for the suggestion, James! I love the fact this pack has Molle attachments on the back. That’s huge for those of us with tactical packs!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Glen and James Fields who shared their experience after publishing a post about the HannRongDa HRD-737 portable radio.

Glen writes:

I received one Saturday I had ordered from Aliexpress. In one word, avoid. The performance is really terrible everywhere except the FM broadcast band. Reception there is OK, but it is prone to overload more than my other radios. Aircraft reception is terrible. Only very strong shortwave signals are present. Same with AM broadcast. VHF performance is abysmal. To illustrate, my closest NOAA transmitter is so strong it trips the “close signals” quick scan in my Whistler TRX-1. On the HanRongDa, the NOAA signal is present, but it’s weak. All my other weather band receivers can get signals on all 7 frequencies. The HanRongDa hears only the very close one. This is easily the worst receiver I’ve ever gotten. Perhaps it’s defective. Eager to hear experiences from anyone else.

James Fields writes:

Received mine yesterday. Have only tested in my office which is a challenging, RFI-rich environment, so trying to withhold final judgement. However so far my experience matches Glen’s. Can only pick up the strongest shortwave signals. MW AM so far terrible. FM broadcast passable but not at all remarkable, and most stations have a LOT of hiss in the background. Have yet to pick up AIR band transmission on frequency that I can get on every other receiver I have. Nothing on CB yet. Cannot receive any NOAA frequencies, including two that I get solidly on other radios. Interestingly I can receive local police dispatch frequency pretty well.

Construction is pretty cheap.

Positives? I got mine for $37 shipped from a reseller on Ali Express . If I had paid over $40 I would feel worse about the value. And it really is a shirt-pocket portable. Super small and light.

At this time I cannot recommend this for anyone, for any purpose.

Thank you for sharing! I think I’ll pass on the HanRongDa HRD-737!

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