Zhiwhis sent me an email in reply to some manual corrections I provided them about their ZWS-802 radio and they thanked me for my input and reviews with a gift card. They also included a note about a new radio they said would be available soon on Amazon (hint, hint). Well of course I’m going to use the gift card to buy the radio.
They included this product photo:
I reasoned that if it was coming soon to Amazon, it was probably already available in China, and a quick visit to AliExpress uncovered the HanRongDa variant, the HRD-A330; and then things became more interesting. The HRD-A330 comes in two options: the radio, and the radio + W3 repeater — yes the same W3 model repeater that came with my ZWS-802 radio. This hints that perhaps HRD will start including repeater support its products just as it previously began including app support.
The HRD-A330 radio itself is priced at $85.20 (less $12 coupon) with free shipping. The version with the W3 repeater is $109 (less $12 coupon). My feeling is that the price will increase.
This radio is definitely interesting, even though it lacks a flashlight 😲. I found a 32-page Operating Manual deep in the bowels of the Internet. Some things that stand out:
- Direct frequency entry
- FM/MW/SW/USB/LSB/VHF/UHF/AIR/CB/WB
- Single sideband support
- App control (Radio-C / Radio CT)
- Can record onto MicroSD / TF card, storing date in file name [date _ number _ frequency _ band]. The date gets set through the app.
- Sound equalizer profiles
- UHF band tops off at 999 MHz
- Battery is BL-5C
- Squelch
- Separate volume control knob (top)
- The manual does not mention the W3 repeater
- Computer access to TF card via USB cable
- Belt clip
- CB band supports NFM
It comes with an external MW antenna:
I immediately noted “LW” on the antenna diagram, a band the radio doesn’t cover according to the manual. On the HanRongDa HRD-747 radio, LW is a “bonus” feature that appears as an extended lower end to MW when the external antenna is plugged in. There is nothing in the manual for the HRD-A330 suggesting LW support. Also, there is nothing in the manual that suggests the antenna jack can be used for any band beyond MW.
There was one curious thing in the manual’s list of package contents. Under “Manual”, it says quantity 2. We’ll have to wait and see.
Scanner Radio?
One might think that something advertised as a “Wide Frequency Scanner Radio” would be a scanner radio, but this appears not to be the case. “Scanning” for this radio is nothing more than garden variety auto tune storage (ATS). It makes one pass through the band and stores what it finds in one of 200 memory slots. Real scanner radios rapidly scan the frequency, quickly enough to catch brief transmissions found on CB and VHF/UHF transmission.
Reviews
There were 3 reviews at AliExpress, a 3-star review and two 5-star reviews. The lower review focused on build quality and said: ” if you drop this thing it will break, period. the antenna is perhaps the most fragile i have seen and i doubt it will last.” A 5-star review noted the operational similarity to the HRD-747 (the same as my Raddy RF760), and praised the recording feature.
Expectations
I’m expecting something along the line of the HanRongDa HRD-747/Raddy RF760 with the addition of app control, direct frequency entry, music play/record, Bluetooth and maybe W3 repeater support. It is bigger at 136 x 60.46 x 35mm, compared to 111 x 60 x 20mm for the RF760.
The manual is full of controls to fine tune step and bandwidth. It looks like normal use cases are covered.
What I don’t know is how noisy the electronics will be and how sensitive the radio is. That’s what testing is for.
Tracking
With a little help from AI I found a website that will ostensibly track Amazon for a new product daily and send me an alert. The site is VisualPing.io and the query I used there is “https://www.amazon.com/s?k=zws-A330”. Their free tier will supposedly search once a day for a product matching “ZWS-A330.”