A snippet of discussion occurred on the OfficialSWLChannel YouTube channel. Someone commented in the chat that the Zhiwhis ZWS-C919 had a telescopic antenna almost a meter long! I replied, to some surprised reactions, that the Tecsun PL-990 telescopic was the same length. And did you know that some radios have a telescopic antenna more than a meter?
I handle telescopic antennas all the time and sometimes wonder about whether their length makes much difference. So just how long are they?
In classic Blog or Die! style, here’s a big table. Data +/- 1 cm due to rounding. Antenna under the plastic doesn’t count.
| Brand | Model | Antenna Len. (cm) |
|---|---|---|
| Sangean | ATS-909 | 104 |
| Tecsun | PL-880 | 98 |
| Tecsun | PL-990 | 98 |
| Zhiwhis | ZWS-C919 | 98 |
| Grundig | G4000A | 94 |
| Tecsun | PL-660 | 88 |
| Tecsun | R9700DX | 85 |
| Eton | Elite Executive | 79 |
| Panasonic | RF-085 | 78 |
| SPARKELEC | DP-666 | 76 |
| Kaito | KA1101 | 73 |
| Sangean | ATS-405 | 72 |
| XHDATA | D-808 | 66 |
| HanRongDa | HRD-757 | 61 |
| LiJiANi | Rd239 | 60 |
| Tecsun | DR-910C | 55 |
| XHDATA | D-109 | 53.5 |
| XHDATA | D-109WB | 53.5 |
| Kaito | KA29 | 53 |
| Raddy | RF760 | 53 |
| XHDATA | D-219 | 53 |
| Ongteed | SM-616 | 53 |
| Sansui | F50 | 52 |
| Degen | DE23 | 51 |
| Tecsun | PL-330 | 49.5 |
| Kaito | WRX911 | 49 |
| Sihuadon | R-108 | 49 |
| Zhiwhis | ZWS-2415 | 48.3 |
| Qodosen | DX-286 | 48 |
| Qodosen | SR-286 | 48 |
| Evche | EC-2110BTS | 47 |
| Kchibo | KK-959 | 47 |
| Zhiwhis | ZWS-603 | 46 |
| Kaide | KK-MP903 | 45 |
| Kchibo | KK-9615 | 45 |
| Kchibo | KK-MP903 | 45 |
| LiJiANi | Rd908 | 45 |
| Degen | DE1131 | 44 |
| HanRongDa | HRD-908 | 44 |
| JWIN | MXM17 | 44 |
| Rysamton | YK-M03 | 42 |
| XHDATA | D-608WB | 40.5 |
| Raddy | RF75A | 33 |
| Tecsun | PL-118 | 33 |
| Jazmm | 213 | 28 |
| HanRongDa | HRD-701 | 27.5 |
| Mesqool | CR1015 | 27.5 |
| Degen | DE15 | 26 |
| Polyconcepts | Streamliner | 26 |
| Prunus | J-429SW | 26 |
| Baofeng | GM-15PRO | 16 |