In 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.
For the start of this tale, see FM Radio Shootout: Part 1.
I received a strongly-worded challenge from the International Little Radio League (ILRL) over my selection of contestants. They contended that the Mesqool CR1015 was oversized, and took me to task for omitting another very qualified candidate, the Raddy RF75A. Mea culpa.
It’s a really interesting radio with Bluetooth, MP3, App control, weather alerts and VHF. I’ll update the material below to include some of the points of this radio.
As temperatures climb outside, I’ve gotten interested in the junior league, prompted in part by the receipt of my latest radio, a Tecsun Q3 Pocket Radio Recorder/Digital Audio Player. It’s upper left in the Junior League contestants photo:
Comparison table:
| Feature | CR1015 | DE15 | DE28 | HRD-701 | PL-118 | Q3 | RF75A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MW | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| SW | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Weather | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| VHF | Y | ||||||
| MP3 | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Record | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| ATS | 235 | 1500 | 297 | Y | Y | 396 | |
| AUX in | Y | Y | |||||
| Tuning | Button | Button | Knob | Knob | Button | Direct | Button |
| Clock | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Bluetooth | Y | Y | |||||
| App | Y |
I bought the LiJiANi Rd239 in November of 2023 because of long list of features and a blow-out Black Friday price on Amazon. My article, LiJiANi Rd239: A different radio, reviewed the radio. Since then it’s been the radio I keep in my car, and in that role it’s not used much and tends to get overlooked when comparing things. Other articles about it include:
The new kid on the block, the Qodosen DX-286, has caused a lot of excitement in the SWL community because of its outstanding FM performance and a mountain of options. I bought the early version, the SR-286 in February of 2024, and wrote several articles, including, The Burning Question: is the Qodosen SR-286 worth it? At that time the price was somewhat high, but has come down for the mass market DX-286 model (essentially the same radio but with some firmware changes). Other articles:
I’ve been having a lot of fun lately with my new Qodosen SR-286 radio that is reported to be outstanding on FM, and indeed it is. But how outstanding? RadioJayAllen gave it 5.5 out of 5 stars.
Serious reviewers, like Gilles Letourneau in Montreal, Canada, have benchmark stations they look for; he has one, WVPS in Burlington, Vermont. I thought I would try to pick my own benchmark station, and so I got out my Qodosen DX-286 (same as SR-286) and found a station I could barely pick up unless I held the radio just right. It was a rock station on 96.9 MHz, one of three FM stations on that frequency in Virginia. I finally identified it by comparing the radio to the online streaming content. The station is a 3 kW station in Bowling Green, Virginia. Here’s its coverage map:
I live 54 miles away and well outside the estimated fringe listening area of WWUZ.
For a first pass, I took out two more small portable radios, a Tecsun PL-330 that will be familiar to many folks, and a lesser-known LiJiANi Rd239 that I’ve found to have good results on FM.
The three radios were held in my hand in close to the same position, horizontal, roughly in a north-south direction.
I want to compare these radios for a couple of reasons: they are the same size (with the same length antenna), and they got about the same number of MW stations in my daytime band scan. Inside they are powered by different DSP chips.
I reviewed the R-108 in February of 2024: Sihuadon R-108: an overlooked radio and have published many articles about the SR-286/DX-286. This will be just a short comparison to point out some significant differences.
Continue readingDisclaimer: Qodosen provided me with this radio to test. I like it just as much as the SR-286 that I paid for myself and have written about extensively.
This is not a product review because it is essentially the same model as the SR-286, so the review of that radio applies to the DX-286. The difference is in packaging, small firmware updates and a much improved product manual. All that follows.
The predecessor SR-286 didn’t come in a box. That’s remedied in the new model. I’ve decided to link to an excellent unboxing video by Andre from the SWL YouTube channel. One shouldn’t mess with perfection. Andre has some cool videos showing what he can receive in South Africa on an interesting variety of radios.
But not only does it come in a nice box, it also comes in a very nice hard-body case! The case looks large in the picture but it’s no wider than a Tecsun PL-990 radio without a case. This should be great for travel.
