My channel is about all things radio, especially shortwave and medium wave radio listening. This is a fun hobby that helps you escape from digital overload. There is something incredible about picking up real radio waves that travel to your location from very far away. Any basic radio with SW and MW coverage is good enough to get started.
On my channel I post reviews of receivers and recordings of interesting SW and MW signals. I also do many comparisons, to give you an idea of what different radios can do before you make a purchase.
I DO NOT earn money from ANY of the links posted on my page, and I never will. I prefer to remain objective and not be influenced in any way in my reviews. I don't think you can be fully objective if you earn money from inks to retailers selling the very same radios you review. I simply provide the links as a service to help you find a seller.
And I've just reached the part with 6250 kHz. It is the Japanese Slot Machine that was dominant in your recording, and I think it's interesting because here in Europe, it's actually the weakest signal of the pile-up (although not a weak one all in all 😉). We can hear Echo of Hope and the noise jammer (I call it a Windy Jammer because it sounds like wind blowing XD) quite easily. And I think you did capture some of that wind near the very end of this video too!
Hey Arnie, thanks for your comment. I should have recognised the slot machine, but I didn't, at least initially. Now I do hear it quite clearly. It is interesting that the jammer is an easy catch in Europe, for me not so much. I will chase this windy jammer now, want to hear what it sounds like! I think I hear a bit of it in my video, as you say, but I will try for a fuller and better catch.
Hi andrea I think antenna 3.5 plug has two wire Did you connect another wire on the ground? I'd ask does one wire is enough to get good reception Your advice please
Hi Eyad, the plug I used came from an existing antenna cable (a Tecsun one) and it had only the one wire, so it was easy to connect. I did not connect a ground wire. It works very well just like that.
@@swlistening I like neither the western nor the communist censorship. I agree with the official Hungarian declaration: peace instead of war (both in Ukraine and in Palestine) and freedom of speech over censorship (in the air and on the internet). Let me decide what I want to listen...
@@swlistening I don't consider deleting of lies or hate speech censorship, although it can be a question what is lie or hate speech. I consider censorship what RU-vid does with some of my comments. For example: for one of my mentioning related a historical video somebody replied by questioning the compilation's reliability. I answered to the incredulous person with one word: "please?" RU-vid deleted in 1-5 mintutes already three times this single word. Why? Yes, maybe the AI does it, but why?
Hi Andre. I recently got hold of my grandfathers old Panasonic RF-2200, it has a few issues such as the MW band not working and the Slider Controls not opening and closing properly internally. Just wanted to ask if you know of anyone in South Africa who can repair the radio for me. I have opened it up and it is way more complicated than I expected it to be.
Hi there Basil, thanks for your question! I might be able to point you to some people in Pretoria and Johannesburg, but where are you based? There is a very nice Facebook group, here: facebook.com/groups/CBRADIOSWOPSHOP It is a South African group and the members there seem to know a lot of people who do repairs. It is a CB group, but they will certainly also be able to point to people who can repair old radios. Nice radio you got there, will be great to get it repaired.
Some viewers pointed out that the second signal I heard is not the North Korean jammer, and they are right. I initially thought it was the North Korean jammer, on 6250 kHz. This is actually the Japanese slot machine, spilling over from 6251 kHz, an interesting Japanese signal in itself. The 6251 kHz signal, when heard in USB mode, sounds like a slot machine. It is a communication signal from the Japanese maritime defence force. I made a video about the Japanese slot machine, explaining what it is, before. You can watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4Ii-PPFZ1cM.html
Thanks for the refresher, Andre. Reflecting on the background noise that I heard on 7475 kHz (Radio Thailand) it could have been the Japanese slot machine sound! I'm not sure how it could have spilled over to an international broadcast band though. What are the odds if 7475 kHz was a harmonic? 🗾🇯🇵🌏
Thanks Brent! Now that you mention it, I actually recognise it. I have caught the Japanese slot machine before, didn't immediately make the connection here because I didn't hear it in USB mode, where it sounds quite different. But it is the slot machine, yes, thanks for pointing it out.
Hi there and thank you, it is the slot machine indeed! I didn't quite recognise it at first, because it sounds very different in USB mode. But now I can hear it is the slot machine. Thanks for pointing it out.
Andre Thanks for the video…as it still amazes me that North Korea claims they are short on fuel for the farming machines but have enough to run their jammer transmitters…🤔🤔🤔…to annoy any one with a Shortwave receiver. It seems stupid and wasteful to me, but “Stupid is as Stupid does and you can’t fix it…😂! 73! Have a great day!
Apparently the State doesn't want its citizens to develop a mind of their own. DPRK jams the broadcasts for its own people and unfortunately radio jamming signals cannot be constrained within the nation's borders. Therefore the free world also gets a taste of their censorship. 🙈🙉🙊
This is an amazing video. Thanks for covering this topic, I will definitely mention this video on my channel, I don’t have time due to exams, we started right in the middle of May. We finish in early June, with Term 3 assessments beginning straight afterwards. That’s Grade 9 nowadays for you. How is it on your side otherwise? Edit: I was being a bit too vague. Oh well, it is fixed now.
Hi there Deniz, thanks for your comment! Nice to hear from you again! I understand that studies and exams can take up a lot of time, so good luck to you with all of that. Before you know it, even though it is still some years away, you will complete matric and then you will miss your schooldays :-) Things are good on my side, my students are also writing exams now, so I have some time to work on my own studies and research. And to enjoy some DXing in between.
Initially I thought that the siren is the same sound I heard on the 25m band, but it's not. The one that I heard is reminiscent that of a home burglar alarm klaxon. 🤔 However the jamming signal in the second half of your video is the same one which overlapped last night's Radio Thailand broadcast on 7475 kHz. It reminded me of some kind of digital data transmission that I've never heard before and assumed some irresponsible party was transmitting data over a legitimate broadcast band. While it wasn't loud enough to drown out Radio Thailand, it was annoying as heck. 😐
Indeed, the North Korean jammer is said to be very wide, so I think for someone like you, not too far away from there, it will sometimes overlap into neighbouring frequencies just to annoy you 😀 What is the noise that you hear in the 31 metre band? Lately I also hear some strange noises, almost like a screeching, chirping noise. It comes and goes quite randomly, across various bands. No matter which radio I am using. Very strange.
@@swlistening Andre, if I'm not mistaken I heard that klaxon sound between 11660 kHz and 11680 kHz, but it happened only at night where I am. I knew it was a jammer but wasn't sure which country was doing that jamming. This was a few months ago sometime in February. It couldn't be the Turks as the Denge Welat jammer would play Turkish patriotic songs. So when you mentioned that the DPRK's jamming sounded like a siren, I thought it was the same pulsating single tone siren which I heard (like a building security alarm). If I could creatively describe how it sounded, it went like a continuous, non stop "Weet! Weet! Weet! Weet! Weet!" 😄
@@swlistening Sorry bru, I meant to type the 25m band and not 31 metres. That's what happens when I try to post comments way past midnight! 😀 In retrospect, I partly wished I had bought the Tecsun ICR-110 to record these things, but I can't bring myself to by a radio without a shortwave band, really. 📻😐
@@StratmanII You can also think of the Tecsun ICR-110 as an absolutely excellent external speaker, its passive radiator speaker is really good. So it would serve two functions for you, a recorder and a speaker 🙂
Hello André, thanks for making this shootout I had been hoping for. No big surprise here, The D-219 and D-368 are very close siblings despite not having exactly the same DSP chip as I thought. I'd still say that the D-219 had a very slim advantage in the last section, but maybe this is just the signal going up and down. Why did you chose the R-909 over the R-9012? do you consider it better? You gave me an idea of making a shootout with my collection of budget analog radios, namely R-909, R-911, R-9012, DR-920C and R-9710 (I have too many radios!). I may film it... or not. Getting lazy making videos these days. I'd expect the R-9710 to win. It's the only dual-conversion radio. a smaller/cheaper version of the famous R-9700DX
My pleasure Alain. Indeed, no surprises here. Despite the difference in chips between the D-219 and the D-368, they seem to be very similar in terms of performance. About the R9012, like I told you earlier, mine seems to be extremely noisy. It is very frustrating to isolate signals on mine with all the noise. Once I find signals on it they are usually quite good, but it's just too much effort. That is why I did not use it here.
Thanks for your reply, André. I understand. My own R-9012 isn't noisier than any of the other small radios. Difficult to tune, yes. But all these small analog radios more or less are. If anyone's interested, I did the shootout I mentioned in my first comment. I didn't record it. The clear winners are the R-9710 as expected, but the DR-920C too. Great little analog radio with an accurate LCD display, that one.
Thank you, SWL, for your nice video on the XHDATA & TECSUN comparisons! I personally own the XHDATA D-219 & for the inexpensive price it is quite a DXer!
Good Evening Andre.... As far as compact analog style radio is concerned, is there anything better than the D-386 currently? I'd like to have a choice of bandwidths to select from, but dont want the digital button input in this type. There's nothing like the experience of analog tuning - thast why I bought the fully analog Tecsun R-9700DX, which has great sound but is a magnet for RFI interference and my place has lots of it sadly. !!
If you already have the R-9700 DX then I don't actually know of anything else that would be better. If I were you, I would try to get rid of some of the RFI, if at all possible. Something I often do when I am DXing is to switch off the mains power to my house, it already makes a difference. Or try the D-368, don't know if you have one already? Mine does not seem to be very noisy.
@@swlistening the R9700dx has great audio and it should should far better than D368 but today morning I took it with me for a walk and all the RFI noise was gone and I got far more stations on FM and and ATC bad voice - perhaps an image from Air band. But it felt quite large and heavy to hold. The 368 should be lighter. Apart from this, being a DSP based radio it could perhaps catch more stations.
@@anulearntech I don't know if the D-368 will catch more stations than the R-9700DX, but it might be a bit less noisy at home. Good idea to take the R-9700DX for a walk!
It has happened once or twice in some of my comparisons, yes :-) The bandwidth setting on the D-368 is very narrow, so it often sounds less noisy. And, truth be told, it is quite a sensitive little radio.
Andre : from my tin ears I understood the XHDATA D-368 the best followed by the D-219 the Tecsun sounds like the cheap analog radios from back in the eighties, hopefully more stable than the offerings back then. That being said, I would save more for a radio with a digital dial as my eyes have trouble seeing where I am tuning outside where my DXing is done at my QTH. The XHDATA D -608WB is also a budget radio with a digital dial which I purchased at $27 when it was originally released and I believe Tecsun has similar offerings as well for DXers on a budget, also HanRongDa makes similar radios in the price range such as my HRD-701 or under brand names like Raddy, Zhiwhiz , and Retekess. There seems to be allot more offerings than in the eighties (hardware), but the programs (software) is now lacking…😮…can’t win…for losing…😂! Just like my old Amiga computer…😢! 73! Have a great day!
I do agree with you about the digital display, I also prefer that. It just helps a lot with identifying what you are listening to. Another useful one, apart from the ones you mention, is the Retekess V115. It is a good shortwave radio once connected to a wire. On its own whip it is not very good. But I know that many people still like the analogue-display radios, and these radios are also really inexpensive. I think there is a market for these radios, and in terms of what they offer, I think they do a very good job, particularly the two XHDATA ones.
@@swlistening Andre I understand what you are saying I got my V115 on sale at Amazon for $16 about four years ago but mainly used it as an external speaker for my Afendi SDR radio…😀! 73!
@@Kw1161 It's got very nice sound, that's an added bonus with the V115! It does actually receive quite well with a wire, as I said before. It's not really a DXing radio for me, more for FM, MP3's and travelling sometimes, but it's good to know that it can work well for some SW Dxing.
So... I can hear no difference between the two XHDATAs, which affirms me in thinking that these are essentially the same radios, just with added Bluetooth functionality in D-368. As for the R-909... While the Madagascar relay sounded good (btw, what language is that??? where do they speak it???? where is Timor????? isn't it a province of Albania?????? does it even exist??????? 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱) the two weak signals sounded a lot more noisy. I think part of the cause is kinda lax IF filtering - I could faintly hear some very high-pitched sounds (probably 10kHz or above) together with the AWR signal. I guess there was another strong station some 10-15kHz away from its frequency. Also, RU-vid compression massacred the weak signal samples even further, at least for me, which wasn't the case with narrow-band audio of the two XHDATAs. Having said that, the XHDATA audio wasn't ideal either; I've noticed strange muting or cutting of the signal on carrier fading, particularly on Reach Beyond Australia. Now it's been a while since I listened to my D-808 so I can't recall if a similar effect appears on it too. I think the Qodosen would beat them all though 😂 On a side note, I don't think the Tecsun R-909 would be any older than late 90s or early 2000s... so why doesn't it receive the 22m band?! 😮
Hey Arnie, I agree, I think the two XHDATA radios sound almost exactly the same. Your suspicion is correct, I think. They are the same radios, the D-368 just has Bluetooth and micro SD card playback. No doubt whatsoever about The Qodosen beating all of these. But, as budget radios, I think they are all quite nice. The D-368 and D-219, in my opinion are very good DXing radios for the money. For those who might now know, Timor is an island north of Australia that consists of West Timor (Indonesia) and East Timor (now independent). The language is said to be Bawan, which is what they speak there. Also called Uab Meto. I didn't know this. Thanks to Wikipedia :-) Good question about the 22 metre band on the R-909. No idea why it doesn't cover that.
I have found that DX does not work well on the R-909, the signal becomes very loud and very distorted. I tried it while making the video, but it was just more noisy and not better than what I received on local.
@@swlistening Thank you for the explanation. I own a D-219, I use it mainly for FM reception when I do some work, e.g. in the garden. Good radio for that price.
I have a Tecsun R-909, D-368 and a D-219. In my experience the R-909 performs poorly compared to any DSP based analogue tuned radio of the same price point. The R-909 is voltage sensitive and its reception reduces considerably as the battery voltage drops. The D-219 is more tolerant of voltage drops and holds on to the signal better, until the battery voltage is too low for optimal operation. When it comes to low end shortwave radios, a DSP tuned one is more superior than a (non DSP) analogue tuned counterpart at the same price level. A traditional analogue SW receiver has to be designed with premium discrete and integrated circuit components before it can catch up with the cheapest DSP based radio. Unlike Tecsun, XHDATA doesn't produce all analogue shortwave radios - all of them have digital signal processing. If you want a premium Tecsun analogue multi band receiver, look for the R-9700DX model with PLL double conversion. It's the analogue version of the digital PL-660. 📻👍🏼
I had the R-909 many years ago (~'00s), and it was literally the worst radio I owned; it had very few RF circuits/coils inside, perhaps only a fraction compared to, say, the Tecsun R-818, which I preferred (it's still being sold, BTW). The funniest thing is that I prefer the sound of the R-909 much more than the competing XHDATA DSP receivers demoed here; the BW is obviously wider in it. Very interesting. Thanks!
Interesting that you mention the R-818. I have the R-808, which I think is basically the same radio, except that the R-808 has an analogue display. My R-808 used to be an absolute favourite, before I started growing my radio collection and getting some more sophisticated receivers. It is very sensitive, but its coverage is a bit limited. No 60 metre band and no 13 metre band. Where did you find the R-818 for sale? I would love to get hold of one.
That's a nice catch! At least something else for you to hear in the 11 metre band, apart from World Music Radio, which I guess you can hear quite well.
Hi Andre sir, i told you many times before D-368 is good sw receiver also much effective because of its price range.Sir i request do nxt comparison with d-219👍
Hi Harpreet, indeed, you did! And that is one of the reasons why I got this radio (it was actually sent to me as a review copy, together with the D-608WB). I am surprised at how good it actually is. I plan to do a full and detailed review of it over the coming weeks. I think a comparison with the D-219 will be interesting, I will do that.
Interesting catch, bru - I've never heard of BPM until I watched this video. In the old days the only time sync station I was able to get was JJY with a female voice but I could have sworn that the announcement was in Mandarin and not Japanese. It's only 10 and 15 MHz and never seem to successfully receive the 5 MHz broadcast.🌏📻🕝 In the recent three years, to my utmost surprise it's the elusive WWVH time station that I'm receiving on 10 and 15 MHz and no longer JJY. Either JJY had lowered their output and WWVH had increased theirs. Thoughts? 🤔 Here's a quandary too. Suppose one happens to be sailing on a ship just east of the Mariana Islands on the Pacific Ocean where all three time station signals converge on a roughly equal signal strength. So you get BPM, JJY and WWVH simultaneously. How does one make out the interval announcements that are superimposed with one another? 😀
Thanks! I think when one happens to catch all three, like in your scenario, the stronger one will be the clearest, and the others just heard in the background. A bit like my video here, WWVH is present in the background, but it takes some effort to hear it. But if all signals have roughly the same strength, well, then I think it will just be a jumble of beeps and voices :-) About your question about WWVH and JJY. I don't know much about JJY, so did a few quick searches now. It seems to me that they might have dropped their 10000 kHz and 15000 kHz transmissions. I checked my online app of the WRTH and JJY is not listed on either 10000 kHz or 15000 kHz. Only on some LW frequencies. That would, perhaps, explain why you started hearing WWVH at some point, and no longer JJY. The WRTH is really my go-to source these days, I bought an online copy a few weeks ago and so far it has always solved all questions I had. When I cannot find listings anywhere, the WRTH always seems to have it. A worthwhile resource for sure. It is about $25 for the online version, but definitely worth the price. Unfortunately it is not very user-friendly, works more like a book than an online app, but once you get the hang of it, it is actually very useful. By the way, I always thought that WWVH used a 2.5 kW transmitter, but yesterday when I was doing a bit of research for this video I saw that all the sites I read mentioned that WWVH uses a 10 kW transmitter.
@@swlistening Dankie! I had no idea that JJY is no longer operating on shortwave. No wonder WWVH suddenly appeared out of the blue! 😀 LW is impossible for me to catch as the NDBs at the nearest Subang Airport have been decommissioned decades ago. As you know Southeast Asia never had LW broadcasts and Mongolia's long wave station is too distant to be heard. I prefer tangible than digital merchandise. The soft cover printing is really expensive as the publisher isn't printing millions of copies like it used to, therefore the "limited run" status hikes up its price. I still have a 1999 edition WRTH in its original soft cover binding and that is one really thick book. I remember Amazon took three months to send it to be by surface mail! I can't say I'm that thrilled receiving it as that book was hard to open and lie flat on the table and its fonts were super small. It contained a lot of information that wasn't useful to me, e.g. the regional MW and SW frequencies of domestic Indonesian radio stations which were not powerful enough to cross the Strait of Malacca. 😀 Back then the only Indonesian radio station which I could receive was Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) on the 31m band which had long closed down. Today only the Voice of Vietnam, Radio Thailand and FEBC Manila are the closest SE Asian based shortwave stations that are actively operating. WWVH operates four sets of frequencies: 2.5 MHz (5 kW) while the 5, 10 and 15 MHz ones are 10kW each. I'm not clear as to why the lowest frequency runs half the power output - is this why I've never able to receive the 2.5 MHz time signal? 📻🤔 And why did JJY's recorded time interval announcement sounded like Mandarin and not Japanese? Why would Japan want to announce the time in other than its native mother tongue? Both languages are very distinct from one another but you can tell whether an Eastern language is NOT Japanese. 😀
@@StratmanII Like you, I actually also like real books and real tangible stuff, not digital. That's why I am not much into Kiwi SDR listening 🙂I use it to check some signals sometimes, but not on a regular basis. But I have gotten used to reading books on my e-reader and the WRTH is just too expensive as hard copy, so for me the digital version is OK. As I said, not very user-friendly, but once you get used to it, it works fine and it really is such a useful resource. I don't really pick up LW either, I once got an NDB down in the Western Cape. But the first time that I actually heard LW stations was when I was in Europe earlier this year. I know some people in the US pick up the European and Algerian LW stations, so I keep trying for them as well, but no luck so far. About the 2500 kHz WWVH signal. I haven't caught that one either. I catch 5000 sometimes, 10000 and 15000 kHz very often.
Watch out for delays in the long pip marking top of the minute. It's delayed on WWVH on your recording 😅 I see a similar thing with BPM delayed a full pip's length against RWM (which you can also hear in this recording as a 4kHz whistle, as it transmits on 9996 kHz CW). That's the magic of long distance 😆
Hey Arnie, very interesting about the WWVH delay! I guess it has a bit further to travel to me than BPM, so a millisecond of a delay? Magic indeed! I thought that whistling might have been RWM, but I wasn't sure. I have heard RWM clearly in the past. While making this video I tuned down to 9996 when I heard the whistling, but there was nothing on the exact frequency. The whistling started at 9997 kHz.
Hi Andre, I’ll have to check that one out, but doubt if I’ll catch it here in Florida. Anyway, I just received the new ATS-25 max Decoder II, running it through it “trials”. I’ll let you know how it goes but the telescopic antenna is nearly worthless, it’s only okay for FM bcast.
Do share your thoughts on the Bluetooth functionality! I have the AMP version, running firmware 4.20 Air Beta but it doesn't have the Bluetooth module installed. Are you able to use wireless headphones to listen to broadcasts with the Max Decoder II? If this model only allows its speaker to function as a remote speaker (like XHDATA D-109 and Tecsun PL-990) then it lacks the A2DP functionality. 📻👍🏼
@@swlisteningHi Andre, just like John's experience I find the ATS-25 series' inherent weakness is its high-Z telescopic antenna. I only have the stock whip aerial and short of experimenting with alternative (and better) telescopic antennas, I don't know if the circuit board design is flawed with the built in aerial. However the ATS-25 becomes a different beast when an external antenna is used via the BNC connector. It can be your 10 meter wire or your MLA-30+, as long as it's not the supplied whip aerial you're all set to DX! 😀 📻 Think of the ATS-25 as a Kenwood R1000 desktop that's shrunk into a size that would fit on your palm and loaded with so many advanced features that will make the D-808 look like a vintage receiver! 😀
I bought one today been delivered tomorrow going to setup a10 metre wire in my garden to go with my other antenna. I said weeks ago i wasnt buying anymore but have bought two more since 😂😂😂 Cheers from Ged .
@@swlistening brother I must show u a radio I bought about a year ago with the tef6686 chip in it I would love to see you doing a review on one the same..
To my ears - at least through the internet - Qodesen and D-808 was the most understandable. D-368 was less noisy than the others, but also more muffled.
Hi from UK just found your channel, thanks for this video review on this radio very informative and I have just ordered one to try, cost 8.48 GBP / 199.27 ZAR with free shipping, look forward to watching more of your video reviews.
Hi there Peter, thank you so much for your comment! You can't go wrong with the D-219. At the price, it is very hard to beat. It performs better than some radios that are two or three times the price.
@@swlistening I havnt watched the video fully chief I'm at work tarmac a road drivn a roller will watch from start to finish when home cheers a mill from Ireland 🇮🇪
@@corpo33 No worries! I know people usually don't watch videos in full, I do the same. I skip through and watch the bits that are most interesting to me. Hope you had a good day at work!
I like to think of the ferrite bar as being analogous to a telescope, bigger lenses gather more light; larger ferrite bars gather more radio energy (RF).
Hi Henry, for sure, the bigger the ferrite antenna, the more signal it pulls in! That's why the Sony ICF-J40 is so good on MW, it has a 5 inch ferrite bar. The XHDATA D-808 has 4 inches, and the Sangean PR-D4W also 5 inches, but quite a thick one, thicker than most.
Hello André, thanks for the extensive shootout here! Well, if you ask me, I'd really call it a draw between the SR-286 and the D-368, or at least too close to call. The D-368 benefits from its (fixed) lower bandwidth in this case to dampen the white noise IMHO, but the voice sounds clearer to me on the SR-286. It remains quite a surprise seeing this cheap little radio on par with the Qododen that's almost 6 times its price. The other radios clearly are below here. The D-608 being so noisy is no surprise to me, but I didn't expect the PL-368 to bring in so much noise that sounds like local RFI to my ears. Again, there's also a lot of signal fading during the shootout, the last part with the D-368 is not so clear anymore.
Hi there Alain, thanks for your comment! Like you, I was very surprised by the noise on some of the radios, this was during daytime. Theoretically, there should be very little RFI at that time. My house electricity was switched off, as I usually do when working with weaker signals. No street lights. But perhaps still some noise from neighbours. You are taking a bit more objective approach in your assessment. I think you are right. The SR-268 and the D-368 perform very similarly. The difference in dampening the white noise is certainly due to the lower bandwidth on the D-368. But the voice does sound clearer on the Qodosen. Still, as you say, quite remarkable that this little D-368 actually outperformed all the others. Seems to be a very well-designed radio. Of course, as we both know, another test at another time might yield completely different results. One test is never final, not in the world of HF radio signals :-)
