It arrived a day early.
I can’t do an unboxing because there was no box, only a foam shell.
The contents were the Media Player/Radio, a USB-Cable and an instruction manual in Chinese. Fortunately the AliExpress seller provided me with an English language manual that I rewrote with the help of the Microsoft Copilot AI, adding the information necessary to convert the display from Chinese to English. Here is my manual: Sansui F50 User Manual.
This is the menu in English:
Some of my radios came with cases and some didn’t. When I grab a few to take to the pond or the park for testing, I put the radios in their cases or another radio’s case to keep them from getting scratched up. I also use the lock buttons/switches to keep them from coming on during transport. Then upon arrival I take the radios out of the cases, turn off the locks, use the radios, turn on the locks, put the radios in their cases, come home, take the radios back out of their cases and unlock them. It just takes time.
I thought I would make some custom cases that would hold more than one radio and that would prevent them from accidentally coming on. A product on AliExpress looked promising:
It’s designed for a walkie talkie, but I can make my own custom insert to fit in its size of 8.3 x 6.7 inches. The cost of the case is $8.19 (I ordered 3). I could easily get three small radios in there, like the Raddy RF75A, Raddy RF760, HanRongDa HRD-701, Tecsun PL-118 and a Tecsun Q3, or two larger ones. Plus I can make a case for the Grundig G4000A. It’s just an experiment. I ordered some foam inserts from Amazon.
Online videos say I can cut the foam with an electric carving knife.
Update: The cases arrived today. They seem well made.
The case itself is is advertised as 2.36 inches thick and the thickness of the foam pad is about half that, allowing significant extra space above the surface and in the pouch. In the product photo, there are cutouts specifically for the walkie talkie. In the actual product the cuts are there as well as the parts that are cut. The user can take out parts as desired. The foam is very stiff, much more so than the foam I purchased from Amazon.
While the product size is as specified, it seems smaller in person than I expected. I’ll be able to fit one larger radio (like the Sansui F50), two smaller radios (like the Zhiwhis ZWS-603, Qodosen DX-286, Kaito KA29 and Sihuadon R-108) or three compact ones like the HanRongDa HRD-701, Raddy RF75A and Raddy RF760). One could also put in spare batteries, a reel antenna and a charging cable. A big radio like the Tecsun PL-660 / PL-990 or Grundig G4000A would fit in the case but without much if any foam padding on the sides.
The Raddy RF760 shares some operational concepts with the HanRongDa HRD-701 radio. One particularly welcome similarity is a method of rapid tuning, found in the user manual Section 12 under the title: “Rotary [flying shuttle] button.” It refers to the tuning knob/wheel.
Refer to the display schematic:
Each frequency digit, except the leftmost, has an upward-facing triangle at the top, referred to in the manual as the “Flying-shuttle step mark.'” This mark indicates which digit will change when the tuning knob is rotated.
To quickly change a frequency:
With practice, this method allows for quick and precise frequency entry.
Continue readingBless the Amazon driver’s heart for getting my Raddy RF760 radio to me about 12 hours before the promised 10 PM delivery time.
I took some photos. One can’t do an unboxing without a box.
The box comes with a radio
Shortwave radio remains a vital source of information in regions where government censorship, conflict, or limited infrastructure restrict access to other media. Its ability to transmit signals across vast distances and bypass local restrictions makes it a lifeline for uncensored news. For example, during conflicts in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and the Israeli-Palestinian region, shortwave radio has been used to provide neutral and reliable information when digital networks were shut down or censored.
The Voice of America (VOA) has historically played a significant role in such areas, offering unbiased news and promoting democratic values. Even in recent times, VOA has been a critical source of information in countries like Iran, Russia, and North Korea, where local media is heavily controlled. However, recent funding cuts to VOA and similar organizations have raised concerns about the diminishing reach of these independent news sources.
As for the Internet, while it offers vast access to information, it is not universally reliable in conflict zones or under authoritarian regimes. Governments often impose internet shutdowns or throttle access to control the flow of information. For instance, Myanmar and Ethiopia have experienced prolonged internet blackouts during conflicts, leaving millions disconnected. In such scenarios, shortwave radio and international broadcasters like VOA fill the critical gap, ensuring that people can still access vital news and updates.
I personally have been listening to VOA for almost 60 years.
When I initially became aware of this radio, it cost around $100 and while it had an amazing feature set, it reportedly didn’t have the quality and performance of a radio that expensive. Now times have changed and Amazon is selling it to Prime customers for $58.49, and given that it has MW, FM, SW, CB, Air, Weather, VHF and UHF, and SSB, it seemed a good candidate for a travel radio that would actually fit in a shirt pocket. It’s not a new radio, first introduced in 2022. I did a bit of checking on the price:
This model is sold under the Retekess TR-110 and HanRongDa HRD-747 labels. The latter available from one seller on AliExpress for $44.05 with free shipping.
This will keep me busy until that Sansui F50 arrives.
I will of course compare it with the Raddy RF75A that covers some of the same ground frequency-wise, but not UHF, and of course it doesn’t handle SSB. The RF75A is not a particularly sensitive radio. I’m encouraged that the RF760 has an external antenna jack with adjustable attenuation, suggesting it might be more serious about shortwave. Also the ability to select from a range of bandwidths is a plus. There is a squelch too, and it has a thermometer. The manual says it can use an external antenna for MW but doesn’t guarantee the results (overloading?).
It has one unusual feature, a UBD band, an acronym for User Defined Band. A user can set up some portion of the VHF/UHF band, defined by a frequency range and demodulation mode.
It has a typical poorly translated Chinese to English language manual, featuring the “Rotary flying shuttle button.” And who knew the MW band was “54KHz to 1710 KHz” with the external antenna? [more to come on this one]
Yes, this is an Amazon frequently returned item. I couldn’t find exactly what criteria creates that flag, but some have suggested a return rate over 10%. So why would someone return it?
One reason might be the wire thin telescopic antenna that reportedly gets loose quickly and is easily bent. The biggest problem for the 1 star reviewers is that it simply didn’t work, followed by the complaint that it was too difficult to figure out.
The two-star reviewers said it was a crummy radio with poor performance. Users also reported that the tuning knob (the flying shuttle) broke or operated erratically after relatively little use.
We shall see! Of course if it’s broken, I’ll just send it back.
Apparently reading the manual is a must. The linked version of the manual has OCR data added to make it searchable.
Just hours after saying I wasn’t going to buy another radio, I bought another radio. I almost hesitate calling this a radio because most of the real estate is devoted to playing media. I frankly don’t understand how someone can manufacture a media player with a 4.3″ diagonal high definition screen plus an AM/MW/SW radio and ship it from China to the US for under $40.
Some of the controls on the device are in Chinese and the manual is in Chinese. Thanks to Fred in the Shed, I have some quick start instructions in English, enough to get the menu system to switch from Chinese to English.
I don’t know if MW is going to be stuck at 9 kHz channel spacing. The seller on Banggood says it can be changed, but their wording suggests that they are guessing. Fred says FM has hiss all the time. Shortwave is from 2.3 to 22 MHz, which will cover enough frequencies to be interesting. It has ATS on all bands.
If this gets into daily use, it will likely be used for watching YouTube videos offline. One odd bit is that it is powered by 3x 18650 1200 mAh batteries. That’s a lot of batteries. I’ll likely replace them with much larger capacity cells, again, if it gets into daily use.
Anticipated receipt March 25, 2025, from AliExpress. Also available at a higher price from Banggood.
Update:
The AliExpress seller (Outdoor Fashion Speaker -z13 Shop Store) responded to my query about a PDF version of the manual. I was hoping for a Chinese version that I could run through some sort of automated translation process. Instead they sent a manual for a similar model (MR-50) in English. I think it’s the same as the F50.
I’ve taken the manual and rewritten it (with the help of Microsoft Copilot), and I added instructions for changing the menu language. Following is my draft user manual.
Sansui Model MR-50 User Manual
Faithful readers may have done a double take, noting that this article said F51 in the past rather than F50. I made a mistake.
