An Uninvited Guest

Arrival

When I opened the latest box of Qodosen DX-286 returns from Amazon, I expected the usual: a compact LW/MW/SW/FM radio packed in its familiar product box with hard plastic case, manual, stickers, plush bag and charging cable. What I did not expect when I opened the box was this:

Sangean DT-800 MW/FM/WX radio and AC adapter

I found a yellow Sangean DT-800 tucked inside one of those boxes, complete with its own AC adapter but missing the other accessories. It wasn’t just a packaging error — it was a big hulking question about customer behavior, Amazon return processing, and the curious coincidence of two very different radios.

The Sangean DT-800YL (YL is the yellow one) is an MW/FM/Weather radio. It’s fairly straightforward, but pricey for my buying habits ($71). The 1″ speaker is good (but just 100 mW) and features Dynamic Bass Boost. It has a few memory locations, a total of 45 presets (20 MW, 20 FM, 5 WX).

This is what the Amazon product photo looks like:

The Anomaly

In the 66 Amazon returns out of the thousands of DX-286s sold I found only 4 that had anything wrong with them, but this is the second anomaly. The other one was an SR-286 in a DX-286 box, with the serial number scratched out.

I don’t know for sure what the game is here, but I’m fairly sure that an Amazon customer was behind them. And it tells me that Amazon doesn’t look at its returns, when it’s not even the same product they accepted.

The reader is invited consider the photo below and imagine arrows and labels pointing to differences.

Qodosen DX-286 (left) – Sangean DT-800 (right)

What’s Missing?

Back to my guest. It was missing the belt clip, the ear buds, the product manual and a wire antenna that fits into the earphone jack. This radio doesn’t have a telescopic antenna of its own, only an internal ferrite MW antenna. To use FM or WX outside of a strong-signal area, the listener will need earbuds or a snap-in wire antenna. Fortunately I have more earbuds than I care to count and a perfect 4-foot wire antenna that terminates in a 3.5mm phone plug stub designed to not silence the speaker. In this radio, there is an explicit switch to select earphones or speaker.

What’s There

I installed a couple of AA batteries and flipped the switch to NIMH in the battery compartment. The speaker at a quick listen sounded good. There is also a Dynamic Bass Boost (DBB) switch. There is a clock with alarm, ATS, RDS and weather alerts.

Operations Primer

Settings

First things first. When manually scanning the radio, it sounds like a hissy machine gun. It’s awful. I’ve heard “chuffing” but this is in a whole other league. The number 3 preset button is alternately labeled S-MUTE (Soft Mute), and it works! What a relief. With the radio on, long press the Page/Menu button to enter Menu mode; in Menu mode, press the S-MUTE button and “S-MUTE” appears on the lower right of the screen (meaning that is is on). Press Page/Menu again to exit the mode. In normal operation the S-MUTE indicator remains visible.

Settings are largely controlled by 3 button, the Menu button, the Select button and the tuning up and down control. The Select function is executed by pressing the tuning control inward rather than up or down. Long press the Menu button to get into Menu mode, then press the numbered and labeled keys 1-5 to select those options, and using the tuning control to select other functions, such as setting the clock or the MW step. The clock can be set manually or through RDS (but not both at the same time). There is also an alarm and a sleep timer.

One useful setting is the FM step, with values of 50, 100 and 200 kHz. The previous owner had it set for 50, making it tedious to get across the FM band. 200 kHz works properly, landing on the odd-numbered multiples of 100 kHz.

Controls

Volume is controlled by +/- buttons on the left side of the radio, where there is also a Mono / Stereo / Speaker switch. Inserting headphones does not automatically mute the speaker, never mind what the manual says. The Dynamic Bass Boost switch is on the back.

There are 5 preset buttons and 4 memory pages per band (only one page for the weather band). That’s a total 25 each for MW/FM. Repeatedly press the Page button to scroll through the pages, and then press the numbered button 1-5 to select it. Long press the numbered button to store the current frequency.

Weather Alerts

Weather stations are identified by channel number rather than frequency. Here are the channels:

  1. 162.400
  2. 162.425
  3. 162.450
  4. 162.475
  5. 162.500
  6. 162.525
  7. 162.550

Long press the BAND button when Weather is selected to start the weather alert scan. Press it again to exit.

Tuning

There are 4 ways to tune: ATS, presets, manual and seek. We’ve already touched on presets. Manual tuning is just holding the tuning control up or down. As the user continues to hold, the tuning speed increases.

ATS is only accessible with the radio on. Enter Menu Mode and use the tuning control to locate AM Seek or FM Seek. Press select to run the ATS search. Given only 20 presets per band, it seems likely that the listener will not be able to complete ATS.

Manual Tuning is accomplished by moving the tuning control up or down and optionally holding it in the desired direction. Seek tuning is done by pressing the tuning knob up or down to establish the directing of the seek, and then pressing the control inward (Select) to start the seek, which will stop when it reaches the next station.

Battery

Battery cover opening is a bit unusual, press the open wedge towards the outside of the radio to free the battery door. The wedge has a little arrow on it to show the way. Once inside, the serial number is visible and a switch allows selection between NIHM (rechargeable) and Alkaline. It takes 2 AA batteries.

Errata

The manual describes the plug-in antenna as working only with FM, but it works for the weather band too.

Performance

Performance testing will have to wait until after the thunderstorm. I expect it to be good, given the brand reputation and the price.

Impressions

Pros:

  1. It’s yellow (my mother’s favorite color)
  2. Good speaker
  3. Compact
  4. Bandwidth control (there is a B.W. button)
  5. Signal strength meter
  6. Clock always on
  7. RDS/RBDS

Cons:

  1. No telescopic antenna
  2. No shortwave
  3. I don’t need another weather radio
  4. Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy may be jealous (my other little radios)

Resolution

I’m not sure what will happen. I may need to sent it back to Amazon, although probably not.

Update

I found out why the Amazon customer dumped their Sangean for a new radio. The earphone jack is broken. When phones are plugged in they wiggle around and for the most part don’t make contact. This is essentially a jogger’s radio and so it’s not much use without the phones. It sounds good on speaker though. I don’t have to send it back.

About Kevin

Just an old guy with opinions that I like to bounce off other people.
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