{"id":60243,"date":"2024-07-21T06:15:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T10:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=60243"},"modified":"2024-07-21T00:54:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T04:54:58","slug":"xhdata-d-220-a-throwback-to-a-simpler-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/xhdata-d-220-a-throwback-to-a-simpler-time\/","title":{"rendered":"XHDATA D-220 – A Throwback to a Simpler Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Gulley<\/p>\n

XHDATA recently contacted me about a new portable radio, saying \u201cXHDATA is planning to launch a new portable radio, the D-220, which has good reception and excellent sound quality. Not only can it receive FM\/MW\/SW bands, but the price will be surprisingly good value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, well that sounded somewhat interesting (especially the bit about being \u201ca surprisingly good value\u201d). So within a few days I had a pre-release copy of the radio after choosing the color I preferred (black \u2013 what can I say, I am a traditionalist!).<\/p>\n

The radio is small, 5\u201d tall, 2-1\/2 inches wide, and about 1 inch thick, very reminiscent of my first transistor radio in the (ahem) 60s. It has an analog tuning dial, volume control, and slider switch to go between FM1\/2, MW, and SW. It also has a headphone jack. It takes 2 AA batteries (very old school!), and, unlike my transistor radio of old, a swing-out stand. That\u2019s it. And, interestingly enough, that\u2019s all it needs.<\/p>\n

As my wife and I like to say about life sometimes, \u201cIt is what it is.\u201d And, unlike life so often, in this case that\u2019s a good thing. The radio is simple to operate – no menus, no bells and whistles, just the basics. You, an antenna, and a tuning dial.<\/p>\n

For some, the tuning dial will be an aggravation, because just like my transistor radio of old, the tuning dial covers a lot of ground in a relatively short rotation. This means you will want to turn the dial slowly, very slowly<\/em>. While this does not bother me, I realize this may not be everybody\u2019s cup of tea. To get the best reception out of this radio, you need to turn the dial in millimeters, not even fractions of an inch.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the tuning dial is very firm and yet responds well to a light touch. I had no problem tuning between stations, even on a very crowded FM band or on a tight SW band covering 5.6 to 22MHz.<\/p>\n

As for reception \u2013 well, I was rather surprised by this little radio. AM and FM delivered many, many stations in the rural area which I call home, and the biggest surprise was the shortwave reception. I waited until I had a storm-free evening (not always easy this summer here in the Midwest), and fired up the radio expecting to hear some of the more powerful stations, but not expecting to hear a large number of stations 10MHz and below on such a small (10-1\/2\u201d) antenna.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the antenna, it is solid and one of the better antennas I have found on this size of radio. Yes, you can break it I am sure, but flimsy it is not. The same goes for the battery door, it closes with a resounding \u201cclick,\u201d and I do not believe one could open it unintentionally.<\/p>\n

As for the sound, it is surprisingly clear, and loud. One of the advantages of modern radios is smaller components, which in turn allows for bigger speakers. This speaker punches above its weight class for both talk radio and music. Both sound good with a reasonable signal.<\/p>\n

As the radio has not been released to the general public yet, the XHDATA website does not have a listing for the radio, and therefore no price information. However, and this is a bonus for those of you who have read this far, Thomas\u2019 readers will be eligible for a 40% discount<\/strong> when the radio becomes available for sale from XHDATA, the current projection being sometime in August. They will send out a shopping link and discount code when available.<\/p>\n

Pros <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Great sound<\/li>\n
  2. Solid antenna<\/li>\n
  3. Impressive reception on all bands<\/li>\n
  4. Analog dial tuning, solid and easily turned slowly (see Cons)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Cons<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Very tight tuning dial with little space between stations (see Pros)<\/li>\n
    2. Not available quite yet<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is a solid little radio you can carry in a shirt pocket or jacket pocket easily, and since it runs on AA batteries with no significant draw of power, should provide hours and hours of enjoyment. The addition of the shortwave band, along with its decent reception, is a nice bonus, especially since I prefer SW to most anything I hear on MW and FM (wait, did I say that out loud? Oops!).<\/p>\n

      I suspect this will be a good radio to put on your to-buy list, especially with a 40% discount!<\/p>\n

      73, Robert K4PKM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By Robert Gulley XHDATA recently contacted me about a new portable radio, saying \u201cXHDATA is planning to launch a new portable radio, the D-220, which has good reception and excellent sound quality. Not only can it receive FM\/MW\/SW bands, but the price will be surprisingly good value.\u201d Okay, well that sounded somewhat interesting (especially the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":60245,"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":[373,3781,3,3196,154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-am","category-fm","category-news","category-portable-radio","category-shortwave-radio-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/d220-01.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-fFF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65548,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/xhdata-d-221-a-d-220-now-with-weather-band\/","url_meta":{"origin":60243,"position":0},"title":"XHDATA D-221: A D-220 Now with Weather Band!","author":"Robert Gulley","date":"March 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"By Robert Gulley K4PKM XHDATA recently contacted me about a new portable radio, the D-221, which will look very familiar, as it is based on the popular D-220 pocket radio. While not exactly listed as such, this is basically a radio intended for the American market with the inclusion of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"XHDATA D-221","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/D-221.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/D-221.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/D-221.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/D-221.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60449,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/nutty-idea-xhdata-d-220-dx-contest-results\/","url_meta":{"origin":60243,"position":1},"title":"Nutty Idea XHDATA D-220 DX Contest Results","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"August 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM In the run-up to the Nutty Idea XHDATA D-200 DX Contest, I really thought that sorting through the data might take a while. Why? Because I heard from so many people who said they had bought the D-220, were pleasantly surprised at its performance, and thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contests"","block_context":{"text":"Contests","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/contests\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"XHDATA D-220 available in three colors","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/d220-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/d220-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/d220-01.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30009,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/short-videos-the-xhdata-d-808-portable-ssb-receiver-on-mw-and-sw\/","url_meta":{"origin":60243,"position":2},"title":"Short Videos: the XHDATA D-808 Portable SSB Receiver on MW and SW","author":"Guy Atkins","date":"January 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently received a new XHDATA D-808 SSB portable receiver, after AliExpress had a $69 USD introductory sale. I'm intrigued by this new model, as it uses the SiLabs Si4735 DSP chip, the same \"brains\" that powers the Eton Satellit (and Executive version), and C. Crane Skywave SSB. I believe\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\/2018\/01\/d-808group-1024x744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/d-808group-1024x744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/d-808group-1024x744.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64843,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/rediscovering-simple-radio-joy-with-the-xhdata-d-219\/","url_meta":{"origin":60243,"position":3},"title":"Rediscovering Simple Radio Joy with the XHDATA D-219","author":"Thomas","date":"December 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Thomas (K4SWL) It\u2019s been a long while since I\u2019ve written a receiver review. Years ago, I cranked them out several times a year and genuinely loved the process--evaluating performance, quirks, economics, and overall user experience. Writing reviews is, to this day, one of my favorite things to do. 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The promised exclusive XHDATA 40% off code is here! The Radio is available to pre-order at Amazon today, and is supposed to be in stock at Amazon.com on the 1st of August. The discount code is : 40D220NEW While the detail page shows a 15% coupon, ignore that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"XHDATA D-220 Portable","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/D220-03-e1722855811256.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/D220-03-e1722855811256.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/D220-03-e1722855811256.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/D220-03-e1722855811256.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/D220-03-e1722855811256.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/D220-03-e1722855811256.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62440,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/radio-deals-the-xhdata-d-808-and-d-220-via-prime-spring-sale\/","url_meta":{"origin":60243,"position":5},"title":"[Updated] Radio Deals: The XHDATA D-808 and D-220 via Prime Spring Sale","author":"Thomas","date":"March 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Please note that two excellent shortwave portables are on sale during Amazon\u2019s Prime Spring Sale: XHDATA D-220 ($9.95 on sale) \u2014 A compact, ultra-affordable pocket radio. 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