Incoming Radio: Si4732 Pocket Mini (again)

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Kevin

I already have an Si4732 Pocket Mini, aka ATS-MINI radio, but there is an improved version with some important advances:

  1. Hi-Z antenna input for greater sensitivity
  2. Separate headphone amplifier circuit
  3. Improved speaker

Here’s a video about the new version:

I’m assuming it will have the latest firmware on it and I will likely keep this one on the main firmware track and the one I have now on the G8PTN branch. [Update: I decided to keep both on the main firmware branch.]

I hope what I ordered is an “official one” (I think the previous one was not). The picture looks like it:

I selected the one with the black donut antenna labeled 10 kHz – 18o MHz. The previous one was the red version. I already have a telescopic antenna for it.

The arrival date is set for May 27, which taking into account recent experience with AliExpress, means it should be May 26.

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Stereo! – Degen DE23

Posted on May 13, 2025 by Kevin

After circling central Virginia one time in a USPS truck, my Degen DE23 finally landed and was delivered a day early from eBay. Why spend $35 for a 13-year-old radio? The simple answer is stereo speakers with an AUX input. That’s a combo I don’t have among the 50-something radios lying about (yeah, things are getting out of hand again), and something I’d like to use to enhance the sound of some other radios, notably the Si4732 Pocket Mini.1 And it looks cool.

“DE23 All-Band Radio Sound System”
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My Amazon Product Reviews

Posted on May 10, 2025 by Kevin

I’ve written product reviews on Amazon for years, over 300 of them. It’s not unusual for a product I write about here to have a corresponding Amazon review. I recently changed my public name on Amazon to “Blog or Die!” and here I am publishing a link to my Amazon content:

Blog or Die! Product Reviews on Amazon.com

The reviews are often simplified, and I write them for a different audience.

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Voyage of Discovery: Degen 1131

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Kevin

The radio arrived today from eBay seller Hisonic, costing me a paltry $19.99 plus tax. Here’s the stock photo again:

Degen DE1131 MW/FM/SW radio, MP3 Player

To tell the truth, I was contemplating sending it back as defective. Nothing worked. The radio came on and the buttons beeped when I pressed them, but nothing happened. I finally got “Radio” on the menu, but the SW, MW, FM buttons did nothing. It kept freezing up. I really thought I had a badly defective radio.

Second Impressions

I was wrong. The radio isn’t defective; it’s buggy and weird. I was prepared for some of the weirdness based on my experience with the Degen DE28 and the Kaito KA29, contemporary menu-driven radios from the same manufacturer. One important concept is delay. There is a delay sometimes between when you hit a button and when the radio responds to the button. This can result in the radio getting behind. You can hold down the tuning slider for a little and release — the radio will keep tuning until it catches up. Sometimes, the button just doesn’t work and it requires multiple presses. Sometimes it starts tuning in the opposite direction from the button pressed. It can be frustrating to use.

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Incoming radio: Degen DE23

Posted on May 4, 2025 by Kevin

I was surprised to learn that this radio is still for sale by Amazon in Mexico at a price equivalent to $117.25 USD. I was fortunate enough to find an unused one on eBay for $35.

Degen DE23 Stereo MW/FM Radio / MP3 player (manufacturer photo)

This unit, introduced on May 23, 2013, will, I hope match or exceed the sound quality of its contemporary Kaito KA29/Degen DE29, but in stereo. The two images above and below should be roughly to the same scale. I rather like the retro look of the DE23.

My intention is to use it as an external speaker for other radios rather than a radio itself. Nevertheless, when it comes, I’ll do the obligatory daytime AM/MW band scan.

The Amazon Mexico product description doesn’t mention that it has AUX input (panic), but the Tecsun product description does (relief).

The size is 160 x 65 x 40 mm (6.3 x 2.6 x 1.6 inches). It uses a BL-5C battery. Additional controls plus the input and output jacks are on the top. It’s supposed to arrive by May 14.

Update:

After a USPS misrouting, that May 14 date still looks likely.

Since placing the order my Degen DE1131 arrived. I hope this one is better. I’ve owned 4 of these 2012-2014 menu-driven radios/MP3 player-recorders. It would be interesting to compare their firmware and operation.

While we wait, you can chew on the Degen DE23 Operations Manual.

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Amazon Returns

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Kevin

This is my personal point of view.

I buy radios on Amazon. I review them here. Some I like and some I don’t like. If I don’t like the radio and I think it performs poorly, I don’t return it. I feel that if I buy something I don’t like, that means I did inadequate research before purchasing. If the radio is defective or is different from the product description, then it’s returned in a heartbeat. If I just don’t like it, I donate it to the local Goodwill store.

People have told me that that they pay for Amazon Prime, which gives them a liberal return policy, and that they are paying for the return. That may pay for the return shipping, but it doesn’t compensate the merchant. If you return something with the seal broken, Amazon will not resell it. The seller has the option of paying Amazon to ship it to them (prohibitive if the seller is in China) or have it destroyed. I’ve had the opportunity to handle about 35 radios returned to Amazon and only 3 of them had any defect whatever.

That reflects what I knew up until I watched the CNBC video below. I hope Amazon shoppers will watch it.

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Stumbling around with the SI4732 Pocket Mini: Updated again

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Kevin
SI4732 inside (click to expand)

What you see is a circuit board, a battery (lower left) and the speaker lower right.

The story starts with how weak the speaker sounds. I thought some earphones might help but they didn’t; in fact, I could barely hear anything on earphones. Perhaps an obvious flaw in the earphone jack could be found. Opening the radio proved an adventure. One can see a rather substantial screw pillar on the lower right; this is coming from the back of the radio. Three screws came out with some effort, but the 4th screw just spun around with no effort. It turns out that the screw head was broken off (not by me), leaving the rest of a very long screw holding both parts of the case firmly together. The only solution that worked was to use a fine-tipped soldering iron to heat the screw enough to melt the plastic to release it.

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