Thanks for your comment Norm. A wire certainly helps on the D-109WB, but I find if the wire is too long, the radio does overload a bit. So it's best to experiment and see which length works best at your location.
Thank you for an interesting comparison Andre. BTW, I see that XHDATA have a sale coming up, for anyone interested in adding to their collection. In the cycling fraternity, the ideal number of bikes to own is n+1, where n is the number of bikes that you already own. Perhaps the same rule applies to shortwave radios? But back to XHDATA. They have certainly created a lot of awareness as "everyone" is reviewing their radios. The current buzz must be good for the brand. Glad to be part of the "family". Keep well, and keep posting!
Thanks for the comparison, it was very helpful. I have a D-808 and was tempted by the D-109 at half the price. But from what I can tell the 808 is superior, I'll save my money.
Indeed, thank you for this! I see now if your press the DPY button when in standby mode you can toggle between alarm and temperature, so it does work in the same way as the D-808.
Thanks for the comparison. I've had the D-109 for a week now and am thoroughly impressed with it. This is my first SW radio since I bought my 7600gr in 2008 - no comparison but still very good for the price. My only complaint is the tuning knob tends to tune too fast. I like the 1khz tuning but they could have used the FF/RW buttons to double as 5khz step. BTW I still have my RSA QSL card from 1982, back when there was an abundance of English language stations to listen to.
I am still getting used to the tuning on the D-109, when I turn the tuning dial fast it tunes in 5 kHz step, when I turn it slowly, it tunes in 1 kHz steps. But one time, I don't know what I did, it started tuning automatically after I turned the tuning dial in a certain way ... Still trying to recreate this action, I don't remember how I did it.
@@cym247 In terms of reception I also see very little difference. The D-109 has a better speaker and Bluetooth. The D-808 has air band and SSB, so I really think it boils down to what you need.
I'm going to choose the receiver with SSB every time, too many broadcasts that you miss out on without it, and you can use the SSB modes for AM broadcasts if there's interference either slightly above or below the center carrier.
@@madmax2069 That's a good price! I do have a Tecsun PL-368, which I believe is almost identical to the PL-330 in terms of performance and functionality, just a different form factor. I love the PL-368, if I had to choose only one radio this would be the one.
Here it's hard to get 10.000 in Tennessee Centerville. With the 9012. The r-219 snagged it well. Also 15000. And the Canuck time station. You guessed it I have both. So after my first xh-data-219 I dove in with 2 more for my "go packs" tks
I’ve noticed with my new Xhdata d109( the revised one), there’s a lot of MW bleeding on shortwave especially if you attach some external wire antenna. Did you guys notice the same thing?
Indeed, just tonight I noticed this. A liitle while after making this video I attached a wire to the D-109 and did an auto scan, found some stations from MW bleeding into SW.
Yes, this is really the only significant flaw in this otherwise remarkable radio. This video talks about the problem: th-cam.com/video/cfSkoVd9Os4/w-d-xo.html
I simply drove a copper pipe in the ground and ran a wire to the negative on a 3.5mm connector. The positive I ran to 100' long wire. Without the ground all kinds of overloading. With the ground it's gone and I can pick up all signals more clearly. For those saying ground doest make a difference for SW listening, they are wrong. I'm using a D109.
I've just replaced my five year old D808 with . . . . a D808 ! Took the original to Australia in early 2020 & made good use of but recently it died & after some research I settled on a like for like replacement. So far it seems like a wise choice !
Good choice! I am a bit concerned though that your first D-808 only lasted for five years, one would have hoped that they would last longer. But it is a really nice radio so I can understand why you chose another one to replace it! You probably have a different version now, have you noticed any difference in terms of performance?
The actual fault was mechanical- the aerial mount broke inside the set but it still works fine on AM where the telescopic aeriel is not needed. Can't hear any difference in performance however.
I can read in the comment section that D-808 and D-109 are almost the same in capability, so if you don't need SSB and Air Band, D-109 is a better choice. The answer is not so simple. The two radios are similar in selectivity options on AM (SW!), and if two stations are only 5 kHz apart, none of these radios have such a good dynamic range, that they could separate the stations - even with 1 kHz bandwidth. But on D-808 the USB/LSB options help a lot, sometimes improves the reception dramatically. So for serious DX when a strong and a weak station are close, the USB/LSB reception ability improves the audibility - it can even completely clear the reception (not counting the digital noise of SSB:-). It's not for nothing that the D-808 is more expensive.
Thank you for your comment! It is true that you can use the LSB/USB on the D-808 and other radios with SSB functionality to separate stations. For hardcore DXers this would certainly be an important function. But I think many people don't use that functionality, and for them the D-109 is a good choice, in my opinion. Cheaper than the D-808 and still a great, sensitive radio that can offer a lot of enjoyment. Those who are willing to spend more on their hobby, should go for the D-808 or other radios with SSB.
Originally have a Grundig Satellit 500. Then got a pair of D109s last week initially to give away to friends to help them for preparedness and otherwise as a travel radio. However, I was thoroughly impressed by that tiny, cheap radio which was better than the Grundig in every respect except maybe FM Audio quality. WAY more sensitive and not to get started about dimensions, battery life etc. So impressed in fact, I ordered my friends D-608s and am going to keep one D109 for myself. Thought the D808 must be better and ordered one (the Sihuadon variety) which I got today. And so far (after a couple of hours of toying with it) it isn't better, at least not decidedly so. Some LW/MW stations come through better, but the speaker I find less understandable than the D109, more tinny / hollow sounding. And it may be just me, but I also find the D109 more intuitive to use. If they ever make a D109 and slap SSB and Air on it, that would be perfect.
I agree with you about the D-808. It was very good, before the D-109 and the D-608WB came. But I think the D-109 and D-608WB are both really good radios and pretty much on par with the D-808. I actually sometimes think the D-608WB is even more sensitive than both the D-808 and the D-109. Have you compared your D-109 to the D-608WB? I would suggest that you do such a comparison also :-) It's quite a simple radio, but I like it a lot. And also has nice sound, much better than the D-808.
@@swlistening Hi there! Oops, sorry, I hadn't realized I was posting the same thing twice. I started writing a response, got interrupted and the message was gone. I must have hit send inadvertently and then started responding again on your next video in my search results. Too tired I guess. 😅 Anywho, I believe you are right, that there must have been some kind of leap in how XHDATA makes their radios between those two. The D608s are still on route and I am quite curious to get them. As you said they are even easier to use and with their hand crank, the lighting and power bank option, they might be a better fit for my friends preparedness kits.
@@swlistening The first of two that I ordered arrived today. First impression: compared to the D109, a bit less sensitive on FM, don't get all stations, but comparable to my Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony Lissa. MW/LW are mixed, some stations better, others worse. BBC definitely worse. Hard to pick out at all. On SW it is at least on par with the D109, some stations come in clearer than I ever heard SW on any radio, almost reaching FM levels of fidelity. Mind you, indoors, internal whip only, brick and mortar building, with a lot of moisture and salt in the walls still from the great flood in 1953... with a lot of interference sources around me in a small town. Really impressive, especially for a radio of this price range. I would have told you you'd have to be kidding me if you told me that this was possible only five years ago. Logical interface and nice speaker for the size as well. I believe my friends will be happy with their gifts.
@@dutchbachelor Good to hear this! My impressions on SW were the same, it is really sensitive and very clear, and I like the sound. And, as you say, the interface is very clear, it is an easy radio to use. I like the fact that it has just a few buttons. I think your friends will be very happy!
I saw this video 2 weeks ago, but I couldn't comment on it due to bugs on the TH-cam mobile app. I can finally comment now. I wanted to say that you should do the same radios on medium wave.
Yes, in this test the D-808 does better on some of the signals, but I still think the D-109 does really well, sometimes it sounds better than the D-808.
Thanks for your comment, I agree that the functions on the D-808 are much better. If you enjoy single sideband, like spy signals or HF aviation communication, the D-808 is the one to get. It is a very good radio!
They both are excellent receivers. I only wish the D-109 recorded to the Micro SD. The real question is whether the D-808 is worth the additional cost.
Sensitivity of the D-109 appears to be fairly similar to the D-808. I've caught Reach Beyond Australia before, I sent them a reception report to them via e-mail and they were nice enough to send me an e-QSL card back. The R-108 is similar to the D-808 you have to press the frequency button before you enter the frequency. It takes some getting used to.
I agree, the sensitivity seems quite similar. I really don't like the frequency button thing on the D-808, it is not very intuitive. I much prefer the direct input on the D-109.
This is a timely video for me, since I own a D-108 and have a D-808 on order. I must admit that they sound pretty close to me (with the D-808 a bit better); however, with an external antenna, the D-808 should do better because it doesn't overload.
Side by side the D-109 sounds significantly better, the speaker sound is deeper and has more bass. I much refer the D-109 for sound, especially if I just want to listen to music on FM or AM, or lengthy shortwave listening.
Maybe just an additional comment, with a wire the D-109 does not overload, at least not in my own experience. But there is some bleeding through of AM signals, only around the 2000 to 3500 kHz mark. Other signals actually improve significantly with the wire.
@@swlistening Interesting. I picked up a strong daytime signal on 2450 with just the whip antenna. No other radio heard it. It couldn't have been AM bleed through because there are no strong AM stations nearby, and it was in French, not a language one would find on AM in central Virginia in the US. When I tried an external antenna, pretty much across all the bands, many received stations seemed to have other signals in the background that weren't heard on other radios.
@@kwdavids1 This phenomenon is very interesting indeed. It does not happen on the D-109 only, I have experienced this in the past on a few of my radios. Sometimes strong shortwave signals appear around the 1700 kHz to 2450 kHz mark, when the actual frequency is quite different. And sometimes MW signals appear around the same spot. Sometimes this happens with an external wire attached, sometimes with the built-in antenna. It seems as if most portables, including the D-808 and the Tecsun PL-368 have some signal bleeding when using an external wire. I have uploaded several videos about this, for example: th-cam.com/video/JzCIxOPyS18/w-d-xo.html on both the XHDATA D-808 and the Tecsun PL-368, another one on the Tecsun PL-368 th-cam.com/video/9E5Tj9s7QaY/w-d-xo.html and Radio Exterior de Espana on the XHDATA D-808 on 1770 kHz (very strange!), th-cam.com/video/iKb_p2Jn5zQ/w-d-xo.html.
Your very knowledgeable about the Shortwave Bands. Would a metal sheet, like a cookie sheet under the radio make a ground plane for better reception or make no difference?
@@swlistening I could not find the copper sheet, but I got a stainless steel stamped food tray. I have found it so beneficial by clipping my long wire to the edge of the tray and setting my radios on the tray with their whip antennas extended. The tray acts a a big antenna base and I can have multiple radios on the tray at once receiving strong signals without having to clip the antenna back and forth to each individual radio. Removing the long wire antenna clip from the tray causes the signal to fall from all radios on the tray. Now it is so easy to go from each radio and use the volume control for which radio i want to listen to and check radio reception from each radio.
@@ominkan3129 This sounds great, I might actually also try it! I do the same as you, constantly moving the wire around between radios. If there is one big antenna base it would make things so much easier 🙂 I just need to find a tray, I don't have one lying around in the house.
@@swlistening I was like you nowhere did I have the tray so I went out to buy one and the second store I looked at had them. I thought it might make it easier for your videos. I bought the xhdata d-129 and have the d-109 on order after watching your videos. Thanks for the reply.
Thanks for that, I was actually wondering about the RFA signal, the CNR jammers are really strong ... Sometimes I seem to pick up both signals at the same time.
I think the D-109 has better sound, but the D-808 seems to have performed somewhat better on some of the signals in this test. On some they were equal, in my opinion.
@@swlistening The Newer D808 with the orange display has inferior audio to the older D808 with the blue display, the audio internals are different on both the newer XHdata and Sihuadon branded 808 radios.
@@georgebarnes8163 Thank you for your comment George. My version of the D-808 is still the previous version, not the newer version with the weaker audio. The orange display was already present on versions just after the blue/grey display. I bought mine in January 2022, about 15 months ago. The brand new version with the weaker audio can be identified by the USB cable C-type plug. Mine still has a mini-USB plug.
I am not sure if your question is about the D-808 or the D-109, but the D-808 can display time and temperature, yes. The default setting seems to be time and alarm in standby mode, but you can just tap the "display" button to change the display to time and temperature. The D-109 does not seem to offer this option, although it might be there and I just haven't been able to figure it out yet.
/// the 109 seems to lack I switch to receive SSB or single side band or side band as it is called by several different names. However without that function the difference between the 109 and the 808 are significant for any ham radio listening use today's voice ham radio exchanges are almost totally done by SSB and thus when a receiver lacks that reception function it reduces the usefulness to listening to the voice portion of the amban in any location. Ham radio operator now universally used either CW Morse code or SSB both of which mods need some kind of reception device inside the radio which will allow clear understandability. Any ham that then later neglects to make that comparison between these two models is somewhat deficient in his operating practice.
The D-808 has SSB, which does make a difference if you use SSB. Otherwise the band coverage is the same between the D-109 and the D-808, and, in my opinion, they are both equally good.
No, I don't think so. It works as a Bluetooth speaker itself, for example from your phone, but I think you cannot send the radio's signal to another Bluetooth speaker.
Hi George, it does not. It also does not have SSB, so even if it were to find hams, you probably would not be able to make out anything, unfortunately.
@@swlistening Thanks, I will stick to my old 808 and my much older Sanyo RP8880 (1978) for SW listening as AM and LW are totally dead here in the UK , SW is banging at the moment with many long range copies
Do either one of those radios have analog 450Khz intermediate frequency ( IF )??? THAT'S THE DEAL MAKER OR BREAKER for me. No IF tap meaning I couldn't tie in my AM stereo Sony to IF rail for shortwave in stereo. XFM does stereo. Now you know one of my tricks people.
I don't actually know the answer, sorry. Don't know how to check this. But both these are DSP-based receivers, so I am guessing the answer is probably no.
@@swlistening For the serious listener and those that want the ability to listen to ham radio operators with SSB, a unit with PLL and Dual Conversion is the way to go. Tecsun PL-660, PL-680, Eton S-2000, ect....the Dual Conversion helps to prevent false images showing up on the wrong frequences.
@@watershed44 That is true. You need a radio with PLL and dual conversion for really serious listening. But for casual listeners and amateur DXers the D-109 and D-808 are still good radios.
@@swlistening I agree that the D-808 (the old version) was a decent unit and you could listen to SSB signals on it too. I'm not convinced about the D-109, there are other units that are better for the price.
@@watershed44 I think at the current price of $31 on the XHDATA website the D-109 is very hard to beat. The reception and speaker quality are nothing short of excellent. It easily matches SW and MW reception on my D-808 and Tecsun PL-368, which are at least double the price. I use my D-109 with a 23 feet wire, and there is no overloading. It might overload with stronger antennas though.
Airband is useless if you don't live near an Airport, you just get random bits of traffic that happens to fly around your home but you don't hear the airport.
@@swlistening I have an Eton Elite Executive, and tried to use airband when I first got it, but being that I don't live near an airport I only hear planes that are flying around my home if I'm lucky enough to get the correct frequency while they're transmitting, and you don't hear the tower because you're on the ground, out of like of sight and out of range.
I'm really curious why you say they are bad? This was in the middle of the day, two small portable radios using just the built-in antennas, no fancy loops or anything. And both these radios managed to pick up some really interesting signals, even Australia. I think for portable radios with their own antennas this was quite good.
andrei i notice that in europe here nobody use sw but FM and AM is still strong used around the world why u think fm and am still used all over the world while sw is less i think africa is only place where people listen to sw since no internet and civil wars there ..how you see future of sw and mw and fm i feel fm and mw are both strong and pouplar since people listen to them in cars in city fm or rual urban area MW
Marco, yes, I think SW is still very strong in Africa, but also in Asia and South America. I think many countries still use SW radio as a form of soft power, to spread their views around the world. It is easy and cheap to receive SW, so I think it will continue for a long time. When I see how many stations I can still pick up, I realise that SW is definitely not dying out in Africa. And these signals are from famous broadcasters like BBC, VOA, Radio France International and many, many others. MW is not strong in South Africa, but many of our neighbouring countries still use it a lot, I pick up many MW signals from Mozambique and Botswana at night.
Your comparison vids are very helpful…..I’m getting the 109 as a Christmas present and I can improve reception with a long wire.
Thanks for your comment Norm. A wire certainly helps on the D-109WB, but I find if the wire is too long, the radio does overload a bit. So it's best to experiment and see which length works best at your location.
Thank you for an interesting comparison Andre. BTW, I see that XHDATA have a sale coming up, for anyone interested in adding to their collection. In the cycling fraternity, the ideal number of bikes to own is n+1, where n is the number of bikes that you already own. Perhaps the same rule applies to shortwave radios? But back to XHDATA. They have certainly created a lot of awareness as "everyone" is reviewing their radios. The current buzz must be good for the brand. Glad to be part of the "family". Keep well, and keep posting!
I like your N+1 example. In my case it is certainly true for the ideal number of radios one should own!
Thanks for the comparison, it was very helpful. I have a D-808 and was tempted by the D-109 at half the price. But from what I can tell the 808 is superior, I'll save my money.
Sure, glad I could help. I do like the sound on the D-109! And the auto scan works much better than on the D-808.
For all bloggers, this receiver D-109 displays temperature and time in standby mode ☝
Indeed, thank you for this! I see now if your press the DPY button when in standby mode you can toggle between alarm and temperature, so it does work in the same way as the D-808.
As does D808.
Enjoying the vlog. Great reviews, keep ‘em coming! 👍
Thanks, will do!
Thanks for the comparison. I've had the D-109 for a week now and am thoroughly impressed with it. This is my first SW radio since I bought my 7600gr in 2008 - no comparison but still very good for the price. My only complaint is the tuning knob tends to tune too fast. I like the 1khz tuning but they could have used the FF/RW buttons to double as 5khz step. BTW I still have my RSA QSL card from 1982, back when there was an abundance of English language stations to listen to.
I am still getting used to the tuning on the D-109, when I turn the tuning dial fast it tunes in 5 kHz step, when I turn it slowly, it tunes in 1 kHz steps. But one time, I don't know what I did, it started tuning automatically after I turned the tuning dial in a certain way ... Still trying to recreate this action, I don't remember how I did it.
I can’t see any difference on SW between two.
@@cym247 In terms of reception I also see very little difference. The D-109 has a better speaker and Bluetooth. The D-808 has air band and SSB, so I really think it boils down to what you need.
I'm going to choose the receiver with SSB every time, too many broadcasts that you miss out on without it, and you can use the SSB modes for AM broadcasts if there's interference either slightly above or below the center carrier.
I agree, SSB can be very useful, but often the receivers with SSB are quite a bit more expensive. I think the D-109 does quite OK, for what it is.
@@swlistening it's an expense well worth the price, often you can find one for around $50 when on sale, right now the PL-330 is for $64.
@@madmax2069 That's a good price! I do have a Tecsun PL-368, which I believe is almost identical to the PL-330 in terms of performance and functionality, just a different form factor. I love the PL-368, if I had to choose only one radio this would be the one.
@@swlistening Then you might love ATS-120
Thank you for information...
Sure, any time!
Here it's hard to get 10.000 in Tennessee Centerville. With the 9012. The r-219 snagged it well. Also 15000. And the Canuck time station. You guessed it I have both. So after my first xh-data-219 I dove in with 2 more for my "go packs" tks
I also plan to buy another D-219 or two, it's just perfect as an anywhere, anytime little radio!
I’ve noticed with my new Xhdata d109( the revised one), there’s a lot of MW bleeding on shortwave especially if you attach some external wire antenna. Did you guys notice the same thing?
Indeed, just tonight I noticed this. A liitle while after making this video I attached a wire to the D-109 and did an auto scan, found some stations from MW bleeding into SW.
Yes, this is really the only significant flaw in this otherwise remarkable radio. This video talks about the problem: th-cam.com/video/cfSkoVd9Os4/w-d-xo.html
happens with a lot of portables that do not have attenuation/gain controls.
I simply drove a copper pipe in the ground and ran a wire to the negative on a 3.5mm connector. The positive I ran to 100' long wire. Without the ground all kinds of overloading. With the ground it's gone and I can pick up all signals more clearly. For those saying ground doest make a difference for SW listening, they are wrong. I'm using a D109.
@@Alex_Willis
Really? That’s good to know. Perhaps you can do a video demonstration on how you did it. Thanks 😊
XHDATA D-808 has a longer antenna and a larger body (chassis), which is used as a counterweight ☝
Thank you, this is true.
I've just replaced my five year old D808 with . . . . a D808 ! Took the original to Australia in early 2020 & made good use of but recently it died & after some research I settled on a like for like replacement. So far it seems like a wise choice !
Good choice! I am a bit concerned though that your first D-808 only lasted for five years, one would have hoped that they would last longer. But it is a really nice radio so I can understand why you chose another one to replace it! You probably have a different version now, have you noticed any difference in terms of performance?
The actual fault was mechanical- the aerial mount broke inside the set but it still works fine on AM where the telescopic aeriel is not needed.
Can't hear any difference in performance however.
@@paulputnam8211 Hi Paul, thanks for the explanation!
Both are great but I like the sound of 109.... Loved it and I don't care about SSB
I agree with you, the sound on the D-109 is much better than the D-808. If you don't need SSB, the D-109 is the better radio.
I can read in the comment section that D-808 and D-109 are almost the same in capability, so if you don't need SSB and Air Band, D-109 is a better choice. The answer is not so simple. The two radios are similar in selectivity options on AM (SW!), and if two stations are only 5 kHz apart, none of these radios have such a good dynamic range, that they could separate the stations - even with 1 kHz bandwidth.
But on D-808 the USB/LSB options help a lot, sometimes improves the reception dramatically. So for serious DX when a strong and a weak station are close, the USB/LSB reception ability improves the audibility - it can even completely clear the reception (not counting the digital noise of SSB:-). It's not for nothing that the D-808 is more expensive.
Thank you for your comment! It is true that you can use the LSB/USB on the D-808 and other radios with SSB functionality to separate stations. For hardcore DXers this would certainly be an important function. But I think many people don't use that functionality, and for them the D-109 is a good choice, in my opinion. Cheaper than the D-808 and still a great, sensitive radio that can offer a lot of enjoyment. Those who are willing to spend more on their hobby, should go for the D-808 or other radios with SSB.
Originally have a Grundig Satellit 500. Then got a pair of D109s last week initially to give away to friends to help them for preparedness and otherwise as a travel radio. However, I was thoroughly impressed by that tiny, cheap radio which was better than the Grundig in every respect except maybe FM Audio quality. WAY more sensitive and not to get started about dimensions, battery life etc. So impressed in fact, I ordered my friends D-608s and am going to keep one D109 for myself.
Thought the D808 must be better and ordered one (the Sihuadon variety) which I got today. And so far (after a couple of hours of toying with it) it isn't better, at least not decidedly so. Some LW/MW stations come through better, but the speaker I find less understandable than the D109, more tinny / hollow sounding. And it may be just me, but I also find the D109 more intuitive to use. If they ever make a D109 and slap SSB and Air on it, that would be perfect.
I agree with you about the D-808. It was very good, before the D-109 and the D-608WB came. But I think the D-109 and D-608WB are both really good radios and pretty much on par with the D-808. I actually sometimes think the D-608WB is even more sensitive than both the D-808 and the D-109. Have you compared your D-109 to the D-608WB? I would suggest that you do such a comparison also :-) It's quite a simple radio, but I like it a lot. And also has nice sound, much better than the D-808.
@@swlistening Hi there! Oops, sorry, I hadn't realized I was posting the same thing twice. I started writing a response, got interrupted and the message was gone. I must have hit send inadvertently and then started responding again on your next video in my search results. Too tired I guess. 😅
Anywho, I believe you are right, that there must have been some kind of leap in how XHDATA makes their radios between those two.
The D608s are still on route and I am quite curious to get them.
As you said they are even easier to use and with their hand crank, the lighting and power bank option, they might be a better fit for my friends preparedness kits.
@@dutchbachelor No worries. I will be very interested to hear what you think of the D-608WB when it arrives!
@@swlistening The first of two that I ordered arrived today. First impression: compared to the D109, a bit less sensitive on FM, don't get all stations, but comparable to my Grundig Satellit 500 and Sony Lissa. MW/LW are mixed, some stations better, others worse. BBC definitely worse. Hard to pick out at all.
On SW it is at least on par with the D109, some stations come in clearer than I ever heard SW on any radio, almost reaching FM levels of fidelity.
Mind you, indoors, internal whip only, brick and mortar building, with a lot of moisture and salt in the walls still from the great flood in 1953... with a lot of interference sources around me in a small town.
Really impressive, especially for a radio of this price range. I would have told you you'd have to be kidding me if you told me that this was possible only five years ago. Logical interface and nice speaker for the size as well.
I believe my friends will be happy with their gifts.
@@dutchbachelor Good to hear this! My impressions on SW were the same, it is really sensitive and very clear, and I like the sound. And, as you say, the interface is very clear, it is an easy radio to use. I like the fact that it has just a few buttons. I think your friends will be very happy!
I saw this video 2 weeks ago, but I couldn't comment on it due to bugs on the TH-cam mobile app. I can finally comment now. I wanted to say that you should do the same radios on medium wave.
Will do! Have you seen the D-219 and R9012 comparison on MW that I did just a few days ago?
@@swlistening I have. I was basically trying to paraphrase the previous comment.
I think D-808 performance is better than D-109, maybe sound quality difference. Thank you sir for this comparison video.
Yes, in this test the D-808 does better on some of the signals, but I still think the D-109 does really well, sometimes it sounds better than the D-808.
@@swlistening mujechaia
I think D-808 is better because it has a lot of more functions, like secret side band. Nice comparision
Thanks for your comment, I agree that the functions on the D-808 are much better. If you enjoy single sideband, like spy signals or HF aviation communication, the D-808 is the one to get. It is a very good radio!
They both are excellent receivers. I only wish the D-109 recorded to the Micro SD. The real question is whether the D-808 is worth the additional cost.
Hi Charles, I agree. These are both very good radios. If you do not use SSB or air band, there is no need to pay the premium for the D-808.
Sensitivity of the D-109 appears to be fairly similar to the D-808. I've caught Reach Beyond Australia before, I sent them a reception report to them via e-mail and they were nice enough to send me an e-QSL card back. The R-108 is similar to the D-808 you have to press the frequency button before you enter the frequency. It takes some getting used to.
I agree, the sensitivity seems quite similar. I really don't like the frequency button thing on the D-808, it is not very intuitive. I much prefer the direct input on the D-109.
This is a timely video for me, since I own a D-108 and have a D-808 on order. I must admit that they sound pretty close to me (with the D-808 a bit better); however, with an external antenna, the D-808 should do better because it doesn't overload.
Side by side the D-109 sounds significantly better, the speaker sound is deeper and has more bass. I much refer the D-109 for sound, especially if I just want to listen to music on FM or AM, or lengthy shortwave listening.
Maybe just an additional comment, with a wire the D-109 does not overload, at least not in my own experience. But there is some bleeding through of AM signals, only around the 2000 to 3500 kHz mark. Other signals actually improve significantly with the wire.
@@swlistening Interesting. I picked up a strong daytime signal on 2450 with just the whip antenna. No other radio heard it. It couldn't have been AM bleed through because there are no strong AM stations nearby, and it was in French, not a language one would find on AM in central Virginia in the US. When I tried an external antenna, pretty much across all the bands, many received stations seemed to have other signals in the background that weren't heard on other radios.
@@kwdavids1 This phenomenon is very interesting indeed. It does not happen on the D-109 only, I have experienced this in the past on a few of my radios. Sometimes strong shortwave signals appear around the 1700 kHz to 2450 kHz mark, when the actual frequency is quite different. And sometimes MW signals appear around the same spot. Sometimes this happens with an external wire attached, sometimes with the built-in antenna. It seems as if most portables, including the D-808 and the Tecsun PL-368 have some signal bleeding when using an external wire. I have uploaded several videos about this, for example: th-cam.com/video/JzCIxOPyS18/w-d-xo.html on both the XHDATA D-808 and the Tecsun PL-368, another one on the Tecsun PL-368 th-cam.com/video/9E5Tj9s7QaY/w-d-xo.html and Radio Exterior de Espana on the XHDATA D-808 on 1770 kHz (very strange!), th-cam.com/video/iKb_p2Jn5zQ/w-d-xo.html.
Thank you very much for the SW test. So, which one is better in FM band?
I still need to do an FM test. I will do so as soon as I can.
Your very knowledgeable about the Shortwave Bands. Would a metal sheet, like a cookie sheet under the radio make a ground plane for better reception or make no difference?
Thank you! It might help, yes, but I don't know if the difference will be that big, to be honest. Use copper or copper foil.
@@swlistening I could not find the copper sheet, but I got a stainless steel stamped food tray. I have found it so beneficial by clipping my long wire to the edge of the tray and setting my radios on the tray with their whip antennas extended. The tray acts a a big antenna base and I can have multiple radios on the tray at once receiving strong signals without having to clip the antenna back and forth to each individual radio. Removing the long wire antenna clip from the tray causes the signal to fall from all radios on the tray. Now it is so easy to go from each radio and use the volume control for which radio i want to listen to and check radio reception from each radio.
@@ominkan3129 This sounds great, I might actually also try it! I do the same as you, constantly moving the wire around between radios. If there is one big antenna base it would make things so much easier 🙂 I just need to find a tray, I don't have one lying around in the house.
@@swlistening I was like you nowhere did I have the tray so I went out to buy one and the second store I looked at had them. I thought it might make it easier for your videos.
I bought the xhdata d-129 and have the d-109 on order after watching your videos. Thanks for the reply.
@@ominkan3129 Sure!
Tinian island is in the North Mariana Islands…..more than 1,300 miles to the ENE of Philippines.
Thanks Robert!
Nice comparison. D-808 is better. BTW on 15745 not RFA but CNR1 jammer.
Thanks for that, I was actually wondering about the RFA signal, the CNR jammers are really strong ... Sometimes I seem to pick up both signals at the same time.
Xhdata D-808 is obviously more sensitive, sounds more clearer
I think the D-109 has better sound, but the D-808 seems to have performed somewhat better on some of the signals in this test. On some they were equal, in my opinion.
@@swlistening Yep. The D-109 sounds better.
A big plus is the 808 has SSB
@@swlistening The Newer D808 with the orange display has inferior audio to the older D808 with the blue display, the audio internals are different on both the newer XHdata and Sihuadon branded 808 radios.
@@georgebarnes8163 Thank you for your comment George. My version of the D-808 is still the previous version, not the newer version with the weaker audio. The orange display was already present on versions just after the blue/grey display. I bought mine in January 2022, about 15 months ago. The brand new version with the weaker audio can be identified by the USB cable C-type plug. Mine still has a mini-USB plug.
does this receiver display temperature and time in standby mode?
I am not sure if your question is about the D-808 or the D-109, but the D-808 can display time and temperature, yes. The default setting seems to be time and alarm in standby mode, but you can just tap the "display" button to change the display to time and temperature. The D-109 does not seem to offer this option, although it might be there and I just haven't been able to figure it out yet.
@@swlisteningmaybe you have a defective receiver d-109? for all bloggers, this receiver displays temperature and time in standby mode. check it up.
D808 can do SSB, which means one can use it on a broadcast to get away from interference or to tame harsh fading. Can you demonstrate that?
Thank you for the suggestion, I will do this at some point. I have quite a long list of requests, but I will definitely do this in a while.
/// the 109 seems to lack I switch to receive SSB or single side band or side band as it is called by several different names. However without that function the difference between the 109 and the 808 are significant for any ham radio listening use today's voice ham radio exchanges are almost totally done by SSB and thus when a receiver lacks that reception function it reduces the usefulness to listening to the voice portion of the amban in any location. Ham radio operator now universally used either CW Morse code or SSB both of which mods need some kind of reception device inside the radio which will allow clear understandability. Any ham that then later neglects to make that comparison between these two models is somewhat deficient in his operating practice.
This is true, there is no SSB on the D-109, so it will not be useful for HAM radio listeners. I think it is aimed at SW and MW broadcast DXers.
Seems that. The d-808 has more bands to work with. That seems tho make it a win for me.
The D-808 has SSB, which does make a difference if you use SSB. Otherwise the band coverage is the same between the D-109 and the D-808, and, in my opinion, they are both equally good.
can we connect external BT speaker to this radio ?
No, I don't think so. It works as a Bluetooth speaker itself, for example from your phone, but I think you cannot send the radio's signal to another Bluetooth speaker.
@@swlistening Thanks for clearing my doubt :)
@@aishwaryap Sure!
@@aishwaryap if it has headphones, you can use it for ox out
@@muziccat Thank you !
Can you comment, CLOOBLUT RD218?
The noise on the 808 sounds very harsh, it hurts my ears everytime I hear one. The 109 has more pleasing audio. 73's from Holland!
I agree! The D-109 has very nice sound, great when you are listening to MP3s.
Does the 109 scan the SW Ham bands? the 808 does not.
Hi George, it does not. It also does not have SSB, so even if it were to find hams, you probably would not be able to make out anything, unfortunately.
@@swlistening Thanks, I will stick to my old 808 and my much older Sanyo RP8880 (1978) for SW listening as AM and LW are totally dead here in the UK , SW is banging at the moment with many long range copies
@@george-ev1dq Hey George, very nice to hear that SW is good at your location now! Where are you based?
@@swlistening Northern Ireland UK
Wish D-109 had SSB and Air Band.
That would have made it a really nice radio, but I suppose also more expensive.
I have D-808 radio. I find the muting or "chuffing" when tuning very irritating. It's certainly not my favourite radio.
Yes, the muting can be irritating. I still enjoy mine though.
Do either one of those radios have analog 450Khz intermediate frequency ( IF )???
THAT'S THE DEAL MAKER OR BREAKER for me. No IF tap meaning I couldn't tie in my AM stereo Sony to IF rail for shortwave in stereo. XFM does stereo. Now you know one of my tricks people.
I don't actually know the answer, sorry. Don't know how to check this. But both these are DSP-based receivers, so I am guessing the answer is probably no.
@@swlistening For the serious listener and those that want the ability to listen to ham radio operators with SSB, a unit with PLL and Dual Conversion is the way to go. Tecsun PL-660, PL-680, Eton S-2000, ect....the Dual Conversion helps to prevent false images showing up on the wrong frequences.
@@watershed44 That is true. You need a radio with PLL and dual conversion for really serious listening. But for casual listeners and amateur DXers the D-109 and D-808 are still good radios.
@@swlistening I agree that the D-808 (the old version) was a decent unit and you could listen to SSB signals on it too.
I'm not convinced about the D-109, there are other units that are better for the price.
@@watershed44 I think at the current price of $31 on the XHDATA website the D-109 is very hard to beat. The reception and speaker quality are nothing short of excellent. It easily matches SW and MW reception on my D-808 and Tecsun PL-368, which are at least double the price. I use my D-109 with a 23 feet wire, and there is no overloading. It might overload with stronger antennas though.
D109 sadly doesn't have AIR band.
That is true, but I think some listeners have no use for airband. I use airband very rarely, it is fun sometimes, but not my main interest.
Airband is useless if you don't live near an Airport, you just get random bits of traffic that happens to fly around your home but you don't hear the airport.
@@swlistening I have an Eton Elite Executive, and tried to use airband when I first got it, but being that I don't live near an airport I only hear planes that are flying around my home if I'm lucky enough to get the correct frequency while they're transmitting, and you don't hear the tower because you're on the ground, out of like of sight and out of range.
@@swlistening That's true, I think about it because I'm near an airport.
D109 is total crap.
音質
XHDATA D-109が一番いい音だと思います。素敵な低音。
my conclusion = They are equally bad
I'm really curious why you say they are bad? This was in the middle of the day, two small portable radios using just the built-in antennas, no fancy loops or anything. And both these radios managed to pick up some really interesting signals, even Australia. I think for portable radios with their own antennas this was quite good.
@@swlistening Very impressed with your reply. Great channel.
@@patientprepper2030 Thank you!
I just don't see the facination with buying a radio in order to listen to 95% white noise...
It's the other 5% that makes it worthwhile 😀
andrei i notice that in europe here nobody use sw but FM and AM is still strong used around the world why u think fm and am still used all over the world while sw is less i think africa is only place where people listen to sw since no internet and civil wars there ..how you see future of sw and mw and fm i feel fm and mw are both strong and pouplar since people listen to them in cars in city fm or rual urban area MW
Marco, yes, I think SW is still very strong in Africa, but also in Asia and South America. I think many countries still use SW radio as a form of soft power, to spread their views around the world. It is easy and cheap to receive SW, so I think it will continue for a long time. When I see how many stations I can still pick up, I realise that SW is definitely not dying out in Africa. And these signals are from famous broadcasters like BBC, VOA, Radio France International and many, many others. MW is not strong in South Africa, but many of our neighbouring countries still use it a lot, I pick up many MW signals from Mozambique and Botswana at night.