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Check out the main review here: Product Review: LiJiANi RD-239S + W2. This post is some accumulated notes.

Antenna

The W2 repeater comes with a 4.2m antenna, terminated in a 3.5mm plug. The other end is terminated with an alligator clip that’s electrically connected to the antenna. This is interesting because the clip not only provides a mounting point end of the antenna, but also a convenient way to extend it.

If you want to make your own antenna with its own plug, check the diameter of the plug. There’s a rim around the W2 connector that might be too small to get the plug in. I’m using the supplied antenna and then clipping it on to whatever I’m adding.

Mast Antenna

This little experiment uses an aluminum sailboat mast as an antenna. I’ve used the mast antenna before in an experiment with another radio. In that video I had to keep the radio in a location in full sun within the length of my antenna lead, but with the W2, of course, the location of the radio is flexible. I can sit on a shaded bench and the W2 can be close to the mast.

Introduction

I was excited about this one — my old friend LiJiANi Rd239, now with SSB. While that’s true, there is more going on. In addition to to SSB, there is app control, bandwidth settings and a new UHF band.

Check out First Impressions: LiJiANi RD-239S + W2 Repeater for the shipping box and contents. One might want to look at my review and comparisons of the original Rd239 later:

• LiJiANi Rd239: A different radio
• XHDATA D-109WB vs LiJiANi Rd239 Multiband Receivers
• Qodosen DX-286 vs LiJiANi Rd239

This is an inexpensive radio / music player. They’re selling on AliExpress today for under $23 with free shipping. It’s an MW/FM/SW radio and music player. In this short First Impressions post I’ll discuss packaging, look and feel, preliminary sound quality assessment, first look at the manual, and some questions that come to mind.

Caution: My First Impressions posts are tentative and subject to change in the final review.

What it is

It’s an AM/FM/SW radio, adding an emergency siren, Bluetooth speaker, music player (supported music formats not specified) from USB-A flash drive or MicroSD card, and sleep timer alarm. The radio has auto tune storage (ATS). There is a speaker and an earphone jack. While the radio sports digital signal processing, the user experience is purely analog. There are some LEDs to indicate band and mode. The tuning display is reminiscent of a slot machine, except that the digits don’t rotate independently.

In tiny printing around the faux speaker port on the back, visible in just the right lighting, is a feature list: “R&D: DISPU — FRULL BAND — RADIO — BT — MUSIC PLAY — SUPER BASS.” Maybe “FRULL” means “not all of MW.”

It’s a weakness. AliExpress sent me an email — 50% off, free shipping.

It cost $27.28 — that’s just $3 per band. Looks big! Actual size is 105 x 45 x 118mm (4.1 x 1.8 x 4.6 in). So it’s at least not tiny. It also comes in dark and light green color (reminds me of a HanRongDa HRD-700 back in the day). The “Service Manual“; however, is tiny. Supposedly the “9 bands” are MW, FM and SW-1-7. Usually a “W” suffix on the model number would indicate a weather band variant, but that’s not the case here.

I rate FM radio performance by counting local stations I can hear down on my patio in the middle of the day. That’s simplistic, because daytime propagation varies and E-Skip happens. Not all stations are necessarily local and consistent.

Sporadic‑E (Es) is a propagation mode where radio waves in the 30–300 MHz range reflect off dense patches of ionization in the E‑layer of the ionosphere (≈90–120 km altitude). On the FM band (88–108 MHz), this produces long‑distance reception of stations 600–1500 miles away, often with strong, local‑quality signals.

Es clouds form when wind shear and atmospheric tides compress metallic ions (mostly Fe⁺ and Mg⁺) into dense layers. When the electron density spikes high enough, the layer becomes reflective at VHF frequencies.

Key triggers:

• Summer solstice season (May–August)
• Winter minor season (December–January)
• Strong wind shear in the upper atmosphere
• Thunderstorm complexes (sometimes correlate)
• Jet stream boundaries🤖