{"id":39947,"date":"2019-10-01T06:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T10:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=39947"},"modified":"2019-10-01T08:19:11","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T12:19:11","slug":"dan-seeks-a-comprehensive-travel-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/dan-seeks-a-comprehensive-travel-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan seeks a comprehensive travel radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Dan Srebnick, who writes:<\/p>\n

Here’s a question to put to your blog readers. I’m looking for a compact portable receiver for travel purposes.<\/p>\n

It must have AM, FM and shortwave coverage. It should support SSB and RDS. Synchronous AM is a plus, as is FM band coverage starting at 76 MHz (trip to Japan in the near future). Accurate digital readout is a must. But most importantly, MP3 and or wav recording at 48k should be supported. This last point seems to be a showstopper.<\/p>\n

But, I’ll be in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina soon and hope to capture some hard to hear signals. So, any ideas would be most appreciated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Digitech AR-1780 (left) and XHDATA D-808 (right)<\/p><\/div>\n

The XHDATA D-808<\/a> should fit the bill with two exceptions: synchronous detection and audio recording. The very similar Digitech AR-1780 should as well, although I’m not certain you can switch it to Japan FM frequencies (I bet there’s a hack to do it, although I’ve never tried).<\/p>\n

As you suspect, built-in recording is certainly the feature that’s most difficult to find in a portable shortwave radio. The only shortwave receiver I’ve tested recently that has decent built-in recording is the Audiomax SRW-710S<\/a> (a.k.a. Tivdio V-115<\/a>). However, it lacks many of the other features you noted and isn’t on par with the D-808 in terms of receiver (it is quite cheap though). I’m not sure I’d rely on it for extended travels.<\/p>\n

In your shoes, I might combine the XHDATA D-808 and the Zoom H1n<\/a> to achieve all of your goals. True, it’s not all-in-one, but it should perform well and the H1n would allow you to do other types of field recording.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> One more thought… Although this isn’t a traditional portable radio, you might also consider grabbing the new AirSpy HF+ Discovery<\/a> SDR and pairing it with a tablet or laptop. It’s a phenomenal receiver and ticks all of the boxes above.<\/p>\n

Post Readers:<\/strong><\/em> Can you think of other options for Dan? Has another recording shortwave radio hit the market?\u00a0 What radio or kit do you use for travel and field recordings?\u00a0 Please comment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Srebnick, who writes: Here’s a question to put to your blog readers. I’m looking for a compact portable receiver for travel purposes. It must have AM, FM and shortwave coverage. It should support SSB and RDS. Synchronous AM is a plus, as is FM band coverage starting at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,1154],"tags":[2700,4715,3461,2701],"class_list":["post-39947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-travel","tag-best-radios-for-travel","tag-dan-srebnick","tag-travel-radios","tag-travel-shortwave"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-aoj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8511,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/eton-introduces-two-travel-portables-the-eton-traveler-iii-and-mini-400\/","url_meta":{"origin":39947,"position":0},"title":"Et\u00f3n introduces two travel portables: the Et\u00f3n Traveler III and Mini 400","author":"Thomas","date":"January 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In addition to the shortwave portables we mentioned earlier this morning, SWLing Post reader, Tom, points out two more radios Et\u00f3n will introduce at CES: [Et\u00f3n is] showing off 2 other models all under the label of the World Travel Radios at CES. They posted the others on the following\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Products"","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eton-shortwave-radio-family-001","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Eton-shortwave-radio-family-001-1024x805.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Eton-shortwave-radio-family-001-1024x805.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Eton-shortwave-radio-family-001-1024x805.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9401,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/yaesu-ft-817-as-a-travel-receiver\/","url_meta":{"origin":39947,"position":1},"title":"Yaesu FT-817 as a travel receiver","author":"Thomas","date":"April 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post reader, Anil, comments on Traveling light, SWLing right: \"I would like to suggest another candidate that is really hard to beat and is fantastic value when you buy a used one - The Yaesu FT-817 Low Power Transceiver. It has outrageously good General Coverage performance and a massive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yaesu-FT-817","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Yaesu-FT-817.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38036,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/radio-travel-rob-enjoys-a-shortwave-capable-rental-car-in-namibia\/","url_meta":{"origin":39947,"position":2},"title":"Radio travel: Rob enjoys a shortwave-capable rental car in Namibia","author":"Thomas","date":"June 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rob Gray, who writes: I recently returned back from a three-month trip in Africa (Namibia, South Africa, and Morocco) and had a couple of shortwave-related items that you might be interested in. The rental car in Namibia had shortwave capabilities in the in-dash radio!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile Shortwave"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile Shortwave","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/mobile-shortwave\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Shortwave-Car-Stereo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Shortwave-Car-Stereo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Shortwave-Car-Stereo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Shortwave-Car-Stereo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8502,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/eton-introduces-two-new-shortwave-portables-the-field-and-satellit\/","url_meta":{"origin":39947,"position":3},"title":"Et\u00f3n introduces two new shortwave portables: the Field and Satellit","author":"Thomas","date":"January 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Many thanks to The Herculodge and SWLing Post reader, Gary, for pointing out these two new portables from\u00a0Et\u00f3n Corp: the\u00a0Et\u00f3n Field and\u00a0Et\u00f3n Satellit. 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