{"id":57504,"date":"2023-08-15T06:04:24","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T10:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=57504"},"modified":"2024-01-05T11:18:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T15:18:58","slug":"guest-post-a-review-of-the-chaoyuan-lc90-hybrid-shortwave-4g-internet-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/guest-post-a-review-of-the-chaoyuan-lc90-hybrid-shortwave-4g-internet-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: A review of the Chaoyuan LC90 Hybrid Shortwave\/4G\/Internet Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Michael Ye (BD4AAQ)<\/a>, for the following guest post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

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

The LC90, a Great Radio Spanning Two Worlds<\/b><\/h1>\n

by Michael Ye (BD4AAQ)<\/b><\/p>\n

It is an awkward era for radio receivers. Although technology becomes more and more advanced and increasingly sophisticated radios are made, there are fewer and fewer stations to listen to. But hardcore radio hobbyists, mostly hams and shortwave listeners, would not give up the hobby. They continue to look for and enjoy stations among noises in the airwaves. Although Internet radios have been around for a long time, I never thought seriously about them. Perhaps I was stubborn, but in my mind, radios were noises and noises were radios and it\u2019s the stations among the noises that I enjoyed. Receivers without noises were hardly real radios.<\/p>\n

Until I got my first full band radio with Internet features. The LC90 was a pleasant surprise, completely changing the way I look at radio receivers. The LC90, or \u201cfull band smart Internet radio\u201d, is my first shortwave radio AND Internet radio in one. There may be other radios with Internet features, but I have heard of few receivers that integrate the traditional radio (shortwave in particular) and the Internet. The LC90 was launched in China in early 2023, and quickly became popular among hobbyists thanks to the unique combination. News has been confirmed that the overseas version of the LC90 will be launched later this year. It provides more options for users at a time when shortwave broadcasters continue to shut down transmitters and bid final farewell.<\/p>\n

Chaoyuan Company<\/b><\/h3>\n

The manufacturer of the LC90 is Chaoyuan, an electronics company based in Shenzhen, China, known for mobile phone design and Hi-Fi equipment. In recent years they started to design and make radios. And they are serious about the business, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The LC90 full band smart Internet radio<\/p><\/div>\n

The Radio at a Glance<\/b><\/h1>\n

The radio is of regular size. A computer mouse is placed in the picture above, so you have an idea of not only the radio\u2019s looks but also its size. The exact dimensions are 200x122x40mm. Its weight is 640 grams. The radio has a built in 4G SIM card, with 3G prepaid data. You have to add credit to the card in time by scanning a QR code on the screen before the built-in SIM card expires. You can also use your own SIM card by inserting it to a slot at the bottom of the radio. And of course, you could use Wi-Fi at home.<\/p>\n

Although the radio is a combination of the traditional radio and the Internet, it is very ingeniously designed and does not put off the user with too many bells and whistles – you could press the tuning button to change the shortwave band and the fine tuning button to change the band width. The tuning button also serves as an \u201center\u201d key. These are clever designs that effectively save extra buttons. I have not seen a similar design in other radios.<\/p>\n

For those who do not read Chinese, the upper five buttons are, roughly, \u201cConfigure\u201d, \u201cTimer\u201d, \u201cSetup\u201d, \u201cHistory\u201d and \u201cFavorites\u201d. The four buttons on the left: \u201cConfirm\u201d, \u201cStations\u201d, \u201cNews\u201d and \u201cMenu\u201d. The four buttons on the right: \u201cBack\u201d, \u201cSequence\u201d, \u201cRewind\u201d and \u201cFast Forward\u201d. The button with a globe says \u201cInternet\u201d.<\/p>\n

The radio has excellent audio quality, rich bass, with a well-balanced frequency response. It is powered by two 18650 rechargeable lithium batteries. The radio has no back stand.<\/p>\n

Traditional Radio<\/b><\/h1>\n

All three modes (or bands) are available, FM, MW and SW, as shown in the three buttons on the upper right (to get LW just press MW again). The FM band covers 64-108MHz, which includes Japan\u2019s FM band. During the FMDX season you could have stations from Japan and other countries to explore. The SW band covers 2300-26100KHz, continuous, almost the entire shortwave band, more than enough for broadcast listening. The antenna jack works for all three modes (or bands).<\/p>\n

Excellent Shortwave Performance<\/b><\/h1>\n

As a shortwave listener of many years, I am most interested in the radio\u2019s performance in shortwave reception. Well, it is indeed very good in terms of sensitivity, selectivity and audio quality, with no compromise although the radio has an Internet section which requires additional space and resources.<\/p>\n

When you use the radio indoor, reception could be poor and you can insert an external antenna to the antenna jack. Unfortunately, I cannot connect my AOR LA400 loop antenna to it as the antenna jack is too close to the tuning knob and so there is not sufficient space for the plug (see picture). Generally, a 3.5mm plug with a wire should work well if you extend the wire outside.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The external antenna jack<\/p><\/div>\n

If there is a disappointment, its shortwave reception does not decode SSB signals. If the user is not a ham radio hobbyist, SSB reception may not be really needed anyway and the buttons, circuits and space can be saved accordingly.<\/p>\n

Fair FM Reception<\/b><\/h1>\n

FM reception is good, but there is no obvious improvement of reception when an external plug is inserted in the antenna jack.<\/p>\n

Mediocre MW Work<\/b><\/h1>\n

Reception on the lower bands, e.g., the medium wave band, is always a challenge in cities. It is not surprising that medium wave performance of the LC90 is mediocre at best. I don\u2019t do much MW DXing but nowadays for each MW frequency there is almost always an FM frequency. Let\u2019s face it – we should perhaps forget about medium wave reception in cities where there is excessive low band EMI.<\/p>\n

However, if you go outdoor with the radio, medium wave reception can still be a lot of fun. And, contrary to FM reception, an external antenna significantly improves its performance!<\/p>\n

Internet Radio<\/b><\/h1>\n

Admit it or not, the best days of traditional radio are gone, and while we continue to have fun on the old time radio, we should not hesitate to embrace newer technologies such as the Internet. By launching the LC90 and combining the two, Chaoyuan has made a significant move.<\/p>\n

The Internet radio is an integrator of many online stations on the Internet, and more. It is completely different from the traditional radio which receives radio signals transmitted on air. The Internet radio, which relies on the Internet, provides much better audio quality, no noise, customizable and replay-able.<\/p>\n

If you want to kill time and look for signals from noises, turn to shortwave and enjoy DXing. If you feel like listening to solid content or enjoying noise-free music, the Internet radio is there for you. This Internet radio integrates major web stations in China and on that basis the user can further select and configure their own favorites. Among apps that are built-in is Ximalaya FM, the leading audio platform in China. Due to requirements of policies and regulations in China, the user does not have much discretion to include foreign stations in the radio. However, Chaoyuan has indicated that they are working in an effort to secure authorizations from Spotify, Alexa and Pandora which they hope could be incorporated in the overseas version of the LC90. The future overseas version is expected to give the user more discretion to include online stations of their own choice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A closer look at the display of the Internet Radio<\/p><\/div>\n

Two buttons, Ai1 and Ai2, are voice assistants. Activate and speak to them and the radio directly plays the content (Ai1) or displays their findings for you to choose from (Ai2).<\/p>\n

Finally, this is a radio with the most accurate time. There is no need to set the time for it, as it is based on the Internet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Ye (BD4AAQ), for the following guest post: The LC90, a Great Radio Spanning Two Worlds by Michael Ye (BD4AAQ) It is an awkward era for radio receivers. Although technology becomes more and more advanced and increasingly sophisticated radios are made, there are fewer and fewer stations to listen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[373,3781,3194,433,836,3,3196,26,129,43,154,4652],"tags":[10290,10291,10289,9182,965,4724,5297],"class_list":["post-57504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-fm","category-guest-posts","category-mediumwave","category-new-products","category-news","category-portable-radio","category-radios","category-reviews","category-shortwave-radio","category-shortwave-radio-reviews","category-wifi-radio","tag-chaoyuan-lc90","tag-hybrid-radios","tag-lc90","tag-michael-ye-bd4aaq","tag-shortwave-radio-review","tag-wifi-radio","tag-wifi-radio-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-eXu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58771,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/michael-compares-the-choyong-lc90-export-and-chinese-versions\/","url_meta":{"origin":57504,"position":0},"title":"Michael compares the Choyong LC90 Export and Chinese Versions","author":"Thomas","date":"January 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Michael Ye (BD4AAQ), for the following guest post: Twins, Yet Each One Unique - A Comparison of the Worldwide Version of LC90 with its Chinese Counterpart by Michael Ye (BD4AAQ) The export version of the LC90 is now available in the market [affiliate link]. Previously, we examined\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/LC90-Export-and-Domestic-Comparison-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/LC90-Export-and-Domestic-Comparison-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/LC90-Export-and-Domestic-Comparison-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/LC90-Export-and-Domestic-Comparison-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/LC90-Export-and-Domestic-Comparison-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61373,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/johns-updated-review-of-the-choyong-lc90-multi-band-internet-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":57504,"position":1},"title":"John’s Updated Review of the Choyong LC90 Multi-Band & Internet Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"December 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Further Review Update on the Choyong LC90 By John Figliozzi, NASWA Journal Shortwave Center Editor Prepared December 12, 2024 Having previously reviewed the overall performance of the Choyong LC90 and then updated that review to include firmware upgrades the radio\u2019s manufacturer has implemented to address some initial problems or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64334,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/michael-reviews-the-choyong-wt2-multifunction-handheld-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":57504,"position":2},"title":"Michael Reviews the Choyong WT2 Multifunction Handheld Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"October 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Michael (BD4AAQ)\u00a0who shares the following guest post: WT2 Mini Handheld With Everything Radio by Michael Ye (BD4AAQ) What Exactly Is the WT2? No exaggeration. The WT2, a recent radio developed by Choyong, includes nearly every type of radio imaginable: ham radio, traditional shortwave and medium-wave radio, internet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Products"","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WT2-Mini-Handheld-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WT2-Mini-Handheld-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WT2-Mini-Handheld-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WT2-Mini-Handheld-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WT2-Mini-Handheld-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59139,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/johns-in-depth-review-of-the-choyong-lc90-export-version\/","url_meta":{"origin":57504,"position":3},"title":"John’s In-Depth Review of the Choyong LC90 (Export Version)","author":"Thomas","date":"March 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and WWLG author, John Figliozzi, who shares the following review: A Review And Analysis Of The Choyong LC90 (Export Version) By John A. 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I'm writing to you today as I want to let you know that the LC90 has just released its 4.7 firmware version. Based on user feedback so far,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LC90.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63794,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/choyong-lc90-a-multiband-internet-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":57504,"position":5},"title":"Choyong LC90: A Multiband Internet Radio","author":"Robert Gulley","date":"August 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"(This Review was originally published in The Spectrum Monitor in the April 2025 issue, and is used by the kind permission of Ken Reitz) The Choyong LC90 is, to my knowledge, the first of its kind: a portable Wi-Fi\/4G\/E-SIM FM\/LW\/MW\/ SW\/SSB radio. 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