Author Archives: Kevin

About Kevin

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

Incoming radio: Zhiwhis ZWS-C919

Posted on October 6, 2025 by Kevin

Decisions, decisions. Recently I’ve been thinking about a radio: the HanRongDa HRD-C919 / Zhiwhis ZWS-C919 / Raddy RF919 / Retekess TR113. Here are some reasons I’m interested:

Posted in Radio | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

2 Radios, 4 Ways

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Kevin

The fellow with the hard hat standing next to one of the three big power company trucks parked in front of my neighbor’s house said they were working on the transformer and the power would be off for a couple … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Phase Locked in Battle: Tecsun PL-990 Against All Comers

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Kevin

Someone made a comment on the Official SWL Channel Facebook group: So I’ve got the modern raft of DSP and SDR radios, just the same as anyone else. I was wondering whether, in 2025, there’s any point in picking up … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rambling on some old and new radios

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Kevin

I usually talk about radios I’ve used or intend to buy. This is is different, mostly about radios I didn’t and won’t buy. Retekess V115 The Retekess V115 radio has been a very popular “starter radio” because of its low … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Battle of the Sixes (DX-286 and DP-666): Part 2

Posted on September 17, 2025 by Kevin

Continued from The Battle of the Sixes: Part 1. In this part I discuss reception performance and audio quality, with my final conclusions. Performance MW The first barrier in comparing MW performance is that the DP-666 doesn’t have an internal … Continue reading →

Posted in Product Reviews, Radio | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Battle of the Sixes (DX-286 and DP-666): Part 1

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Kevin

A Comparison of two radios based on the TEF6686 DSP chip This post title was inspired by my new Sparkelec DP-666 radio based on the NXM TEF6686 DSP chip. That’s a lot of sixes. Here I compare two radios based … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Upgrading the Sparkelec DP-666 Firmware

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Kevin

Don’t That’s my advice. There is a newer version with the Megatron M17 mods and I was led to get it from the Deepelec website. After installation, the new version showed a Deepelec logo when I boot the device, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Radio | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment