Incoming Radio: ATS25 Max Decoder

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Kevin

I haven’t acquired a new radio in a while. I have great radios already and I have been hesitant to buy something that is a step down from what I have. Perhaps not a step up, but something different is the 4.17 (firmware version) ATS25 max Decoder Si4732 Full Band Radio Receiver FM RDS AM LW MW SW SSB DSP Receiver. The difference from what I have already is obvious from the product photo:

ATS25 max-Decoder

One notable thing is the second antenna on the right that’s intended for Wi-Fi network connection. It’s used to get precise time from the Internet for FT8 signal decoding. The other is the touch screen instead of buttons. The one thing I get that I don’t have is the ability to decode some digital signals.

It’s not really a portable radio in the usual sense, but one could travel with it. A disadvantage is the lack of a replaceable battery.

If past experience any indicator, it might arrive in a couple of weeks from AliExpress. They predict January 4-11. The price is $103.53 delivered. I found them much more expensive at Amazon, but as usual, after buying, I found one on Amazon not as much more as I thought, in this case $111.84 — not sure if the software is licensed, though. Also, others appeared on AliExpress for $0 less. In any case, the dice have been rolled.

Amazon product listings

This is a manual for the older software and here’s a video I watched that helped me decide:

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Radio Manuals

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Kevin

Here are links to some radio manuals I have:

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Cloudy With a Chance of Radio

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Kevin

As the year 2024 winds down we had a warmer day (48°F) and I thought I’d head out to the yard on this cloudy Christmas afternoon for a quick band scan.

I use ATS scans on my radios quite a bit to find stations efficiently and then go through the stored memory locations to see what’s on. I have the idea that it saves time. But there are some gotchas with ATS scans besides the obvious problem that some radios have, storing more noise than stations (like my Tecsun PL-660). One of problem is that I have to be careful when scanning close to the hour or half hour; a station on the scan might have signed off by the time I try to listen to it, or another station might have signed on and I’ll miss it. A station might have faded in our out.

Today I’m not using ATS, but rather a different feature of the Qodosen DX-286, AUTO tuning mode. With AUTO mode it’s not necessary to do a band scan first — just tune the radio in AUTO mode and it will stop on the next station. There’s no problem missing a station that just signed on. The DX-286 has a setting to play the station for a set time and then go to the next, but I have set mine to just stop. The radio is silent when scanning, and all you hear is the station found. AUTO tuning can be done both with the tuning knob or the up and down buttons. While technically this is muting, the operator doesn’t perceive it that way. The perception is station, station, station….

I made a video of the scan here near Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. The radio was fed by my 20-foot wire up a tree (WUT) antenna. The scan started with CFRX, 6070 kHz in Toronto, Canada. Lower than that in the daytime doesn’t make much sense because not much is on and there is significant noise below that on shortwave where I live. The clock is set accurately for the video (patting myself on the back for remembering how to set the clock). I also used a tripod this time.

Skip to 2:35 for the stations (the first part just repeats the text above).

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Qodosen SSB?

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Kevin

You can tell from articles here at BlogOrDie! that the Qodosen DX-286 is among my favorite radios. When I went on my vacation earlier in the year I took my Tecsun PL-330 only because it supports SSB and I wanted to take a shot at some aviation weather transmissions (and that was successful). If my DX-286 had SSB, I would have taken it.

I participate in several shortwave-related groups on Facebook, and I occasionally see the comment that the DX-286 looks interesting, but the lack of SSB is a deal breaker.

So it was with some interest that I saw a comment online that pointed to the Qodosen website where I found:

Hello, we will be releasing SSB models later, so stay tuned!

Well, isn’t that interesting?

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Free Radio!

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Kevin

There may no free lunch, but there is a free radio, offered here on this blog to a lucky commenter.

Qodosen DX-286

Early on, Qodosen sent me 2 DX-286 radios for review purposes. I use one of them almost every day, but the other languishes in a box. That ain’t right, so I am giving the radio away free to a reader of BlogOrDie!

How to participate:

  1. Leave a comment below that says you want to be considered for the free radio.
  2. Include your working email address on the comment form. Note that email addresses left on comments are not visible to the public. Your email address will not be used or sold for any purpose except arranging your prize delivery. You do not have to use your real name on the comment.
  3. You do not have to pay any fee or do anything beyond expressing interest to get the radio. You just have to be lucky.

Note: Comments do not appear until your first comment is approved. Don’t worry if you don’t see your comment. I’ll approve all of them before picking the winner.

How it will work:

  1. One entry per person.
  2. I will randomly select one entry from the comments left by midnight December 31, 2024, Eastern Standard Time.
  3. I will announce the winner as an update to this post.
  4. I will contact the winner by email, requesting your real name and shipping address. Addresses must be located somewhere with regular mail service from the USA.

Note: Batteries not included

Update 1:

At midnight (unless I fall asleep and it’s in the morning) I’ll make sure that all comments are approved. Then Microsoft Copilot will generate a random number between 1 and the number of comments there are. If the comment is mine or from someone who didn’t ask to be included, I’ll just generate another random number until I get an eligible comment.

I will reply to your comment announcing that you’re the winner and send you an email, requesting your name and shipping address. It will come from my Gmail account. Once I have the address I will ship the radio within a day or two, and email you the tracking information.

Update 2:

Well, I did fall asleep. Happy new year. Congratulations to reader Safak, who is the winner.

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XHDATA Releases First Two-Way Radio E-100

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Kevin

XHDATA is expanding its product line with a two-way radio, the E-100.

I’ve had the privilege of testing the radio for a few weeks in advance of product release and I had some input into updates of the user manual and product description.

In the United States, this is an Amateur Radio band unit. It’s 6W power output requires a license to operate, something that XHDATA has made clear in its product advertising. I was pleased to see it competitively priced at $24.98 on Amazon.

Since I’m not a licensed ham radio operator, I wasn’t able to test transmission, but I could receive Aviation band, Weather band and GMRS radio signals. The radio has a good feel to it. USB-C charging is very convenient.

If they come out with a GMRS version, I might buy a pair.

Posted in Product Reviews, Radio | 5 Comments

Visiting New Zealand – Part 2

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Kevin

Yes, there is more to the “Visiting New Zealand” story than just pointing the shortwave radio at the distant target.

Part 2 of the story goes the other way, taking the radio to New Zealand and finding out what I can pick up from there — maybe even an elusive station in the United States! CFRX in Toronto is probably too much to hope for. I’ll definitely shoot for WWVH! I hope WRMI will be back on the air soon (currently shut down for Hurricane Milton).

I’ve selected the radio for the trip, the experienced traveler Tecsun PL-330. It’s lightweight, demodulates SSB, and covers the entire shortwave spectrum. It also has modest power requirements. I didn’t decide on my Qodosen DX-286 mostly because it’s heavier and I don’t like taking 18650 batteries on airplanes.

I’ll expand the story as it happens.

In New Zealand

The travel schedule hasn’t given me much time for shortwave, but I did take a shot in Rotarua on the southern island. One station I had little success with was Radio New Zealand. WWVH in Hawaii was a solid signal, and I got a booming signal from Radio Exterior de España. I also received Republic of Yemen Radio and a very weak signal from WMLK in Bethany PA. The most interesting catch was VOLMET aviation weather 07:53 UTC on 6679 USB.

VOLMET Auckland, New Zealand
Republic Yemen Radio 11935 kHz 2010 UTC

Today I’m in Queenstown and I hope for some listening tomorrow.

Arghhh! The city is surrounded by mountains! So I went part way up the mountain on a gondola ride. I picked up Radio Exterior de España, Radio Romania and WMRI in Okeechobee, Florida (not in English).

WRMI, Okeechobee, Florida, 15770 at 22:32 UTC (midday)

OK. One final try. My hotel has a balcony ang it’s 9:32 PM local time (08:33 UTC). I would expect a lot of radio noise.

Not much, WWVH on 10 MHz, WBCQ and Radio France International.

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