Firmware Updates: New Radio?

When I get a new radio, I’m fairly active checking for new firmware. When they’re old, not so much. I do hope that my Zhiwhis ZWS-A320 and LiJiANi RD-239S radios will get firmware updates to fix some bugs in these new products. The older LiJiANi Rd239 updated easily by just putting a file on a MicroSD cart, inserting in the radio and pressing Play.

ATS25 max-Decoder

I was going through some stuff and needed a detail about the ATS25 max-Decoder. The radio was taken down from the shelf, turned on and it connected to my home Wi-Fi, told me that there was new firmware dated 30-Sept-2026 and popped up a dialog asking if I wanted to update. The firmware downloaded, the radio rebooted, and I was read to go with some release notes on the display. One thing I noticed is that the radio can now download station lists from EiBiSpace.de and the radio displays possible station matches for the selected frequency and time. That feature was also added last year through a firmware update on my Si4732 ATS Mini radios.

Si4732 ATS Mini

It looks like there were firmware updates for my Si4732 ATS Minis just 5 days ago. A year ago I wrote: “I’ve flashed the firmware enough times that I don’t need to refer to the documentation” 🤣. Now I don’t have a clue. Actually I do have a clue — read the detailed instructions I put on this blog 😲.

I was at version 2.30 of the firmware and the update is 2.42. The amazing news is that as of V2.40, this radio goes to the Internet, then downloads and installs its own updates.

Malahiteam MLite-880

This is another radio that has gone through numerous firmware versions. Elecevolve provides a one-click installer that downloads and installs the latest version. I put on V1.59 a few days ago. What I really need there is not a software update, but a user manual update.

Zhiwhis ZWS-C919

Some months after purchase, my ZWS-C919 started acting up, losing all sound on some of the bands. I contacted Zhiwhis customer service and they suggested I update the firmware, which I did some months ago. One thing I didn’t that radio’s recording feature is that every file is dated the same day with non-descriptive file names. Today I recorded something on the radio and was shocked to find that the recording date had changed to December 30, 2025, and the file names now have the correct recording date, time, band and frequency! My new firmware is V1.910.

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Incoming Radio: Zhiwhis ZWS-777

I already talked about the Zhiwhis ZWS-777, aka HanRongDa HRD-777, aka Raddy RF750 Plus in Looks Cool: Zhiwhis ZWS-777. I said I wasn’t inclined to buy one. A few bits of new information piqued my interest. First, it appears intended to be a successor to the HRD-700 — a radio I passed up years ago because there was no digital display, opting for the HRD-701 instead (a treasured yellow radio with a great speaker).

Raddy RF750 (original)
Zhiwhis ZWS-777 (Product photo)
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The Battle of the Repeaters ZWS-A330/W3 vs RD-239S/W2

At least 3 new shortwave-capable radios have come on the market supporting bundled or separately-sold “repeaters.” As best I can determine, these are Bluetooth-linked radio receivers with no controls, display or speaker. What the receiver picks up is relayed back to a controlling device via Bluetooth. The controlling device in this series is itself a radio that provides controls, display and sound. The three radios of this type I know of are:

  • Zhiwhis ZWS-A330 (aka HanRongDa HRD-A330)
  • Zhiwhis ZWS-802 (aka HRD-802)
  • LiJiANi RD-239S

Each has a separate, incompatible across models, repeater.

Back row: ZWS-802/W3, ZWS-A330/W3
Front: RD-239S/W2
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Flashes

I’ve added a new item to the site’s Resources menu. It’s called “Flashes” and the purpose is to host bits of breaking news, not worth an article, but still of possible interest.

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Product Review: Zhiwhis ZWS-A330 — Part 2, Testing and Conclusions

Welcome to the conclusion (almost) of a long series of articles about the ZWS-A330, journey from a product that wasn’t available yet, to one received, to one that is as of this writing sold out.

Here’s the history:

This post covers actual testing and presents my summary evaluation.

Coming soon will be a test of the ZWS-A330/W3 repeater in comparison with the RD-239S/W2 repeater. That should be interesting.

The ZWS-A330 is also sold as the HanRongDa HRD-A330 and the Raddy RF780

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First Impressions: Zhiwhis ZWS-W3 (for ZWS-A330)

One of these appeared on Amazon yesterday, and it was delivered today.

W3 Repeaters
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Product Review: Zhiwhis ZWS-A330 — Part 1, Features

I’ve had an opportunity to use the Zhiwhis ZWS-A330 and here are my thoughts.

ZWS-A330 in hand
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