I just got an email from XHDATA. They’ve released their long-awaited update to the D-808 Portable Digital Radio manual (direct download).
Readers may remember that I was critical of the old manual — to the point that I even wrote my own. I sent it to XHDATA and they incorporated some it in their revision (preen).
A quick review looks very good.
I often go searching for technical information on consumer electronics. I want to get a look at the user manual for a new radio before I buy it, or I want a searchable electronic copy. Persistent digging has led me to a website, Device.Report, with a phenomenal database of information, including FCC type certification test results, product teardown photos and user manuals.
There are a multiple ways of searching the site. I use a Google search on the model number like this:
site:device.report “HRD-701”
It returns what I want most of the time.
There is a search built in to the home page, https://device.report/, but it required the brand. There there are also index pages for many brands, including these:
So welcome to the HanRongDa HRD-757 (aka Raddy RF757, Zhiwhis ZWS-757), what appears to be a relatively new entry in the Swiss Army Knife™ radio class (see feature list below), and my first radio with UHF coverage up to 999 MHz. It completed its FCC type acceptance testing on March 1, 2024.
I got my HRD-757 from AliExpress at the Jai Ping Bo store. It cost $71.02 including sales tax and shipping to the US. It took 15 days to arrive (1 day late). It’s around $90 with a coupon on Amazon (the Raddy and ZHIWHIS logo versions). The Amazon versions have different packaging and accessories. Update 8/4/2024: the ZHIWHIS version with coupon is around $81.
The radio comes with:
The radio came with the battery installed and the radio key lock setting on. The correct time and date were already set, but for a 12-hour later time zone.
Continue readingI post lots of articles comparing radios and recently I came up with a list of particular radios I’m calling my “Keepers.” I briefly thought I might compare them side by side. How many comparisons would that be? The old math major in me immediately pulled out the formula for the number of combinations of n things (in this case 17) taken r at a time (where r = 2 for side-by-side comparison).
C(17, 2) = 163. If I throw out the less serious entries, the list becomes 12 long, and I’m still left with 66 combinations for these radios:
(*) Radio has SSB
I could divide the radios into two groups: those with single sideband (5) and those without (7) and compare only within groups. Comparisons now are down to C(5,2) + C(7,2) = 31, but that wouldn’t be useful for the international shortwave broadcast enthusiast who doesn’t care about SSB.
Continue readingIt’s time to downsize — again. I’ve talked about having too many radios before under the topic, “Sharing the love.” Gilles Letourneau over at the OfficialSWLChannel on YouTube gets out an old radio from time to time and renews the relationship for a couple of weeks. I can see the value of that, but I have radios that really don’t aren’t worth it. It’s time to go through things and pick out what’s good. What’s not good will likely end up at the local Goodwill store or on eBay.
I visited this topic a couple of years ago in another article called “Keepers.” The original keepers list was:
Of that list the E1100 died and was replaced with a similar Tecsun DR-920C and the PL-380 was sold in the Great Downsizing. The Tecsun PL-660 was far and away the best of show.
To be on the Keepers list, a radio has to have something special that might lead me to actually get it out and use for something, rather than just occupy shelf space.
I refer the reader back to my original Keepers article for descriptions of these radios and why they were original keepers.
Continue readingIn a moment of weakness, I ordered a HanRongDa HRD-757 (aka Raddy RF757, Zhiwhis ZWS-727) from AliExpress for around $72 including tax and shipping.
I expect a good bit of similarity between this and my shirt pocket Raddy RF75A (aka HanRongDa HRD-787) with its record capability and app control (same app).
Continue readingThe oldest working radio I have is a Panasonic RF-085 that is almost 50 years old. Panasonic radios are known for their superb MW performance. Now, in addition, I have a Qodosen DX-286, another radio that has made a splash for MW use. I thought I would take some time to compare the two.
I made a video a year ago showing the performance of the RF-085 on WHBG in Harrisonburg, VA, demonstrating the effectiveness of an antenna with ground on this radio.
