A Look Inside the XHData D219 and D328 Shortwave Radios

Video # 169
Since this is a long and loosely edited video, here are some moments you may wish to jump to:
14:08 -- a look at the D-219 board
22:31 -- opening up the D-328
27:57 -- comparing the two boards
43:44 -- looking up the chips used in these radios
51:40 -- final thoughts
Earlier videos on these radios:
• XHData D328 Poor MW Pe...
• Tecsun R909 vs the XHD...
• My XHData D219 Shortwa...
• Does my XHData D219 st...

[@StratmanII]

Thank you Sfred for the interesting tear-down of the XHDATA D-219! I've always thought the inexpensive D-219 uses the Si 4734 chip or some el cheapo Chinese knockoff version of that chip. Apparently, it does not! Thanks to your video, I've learned that It uses the Skyworks Si 4825-A10 DSP chip, which is specifically designed for mechanically tuned multi-band radios like the D-219.
I have a D-219 myself and it has a very decent performing FM performance - far outclassing my earlier Tecsun R-909. It's interesting to know why radios like this can be sold so cheaply as the PCB has very few components on it thanks to the Si 4825 DSP chip which replaces many discrete components. If there's something that bothers me, it's that these radios usually come with slanted (not perfectly straight) dial pointers. The quality control at the assembly line is loose and I guess the QA supervisor doesn't think that straight dial pointers are necessary at all. 📻☹

[@johnbeckham1483]

I enjoyed watching you disassemble these 2 radios from XHDATA: D-219 & D-328!

[@Steven-re7xt]

Was 8 years old. my mother worked for Rca.and brought a diode home. That started a hoby for 65 years tks om good show

[@Meta963]

Well done!

[@vishall408]

Wow waiting for this video since couple of months

[@Steven-re7xt]

Ps. I got 2of each. Love them. tks fer looking side

[@chriscampbell9191]

Nice teardown & comparison. I find the D-328 a bit better on SW off a clipped wire antenna, D-219 better off the whip alone. Both do roughly the same on MW (haven't had them long enough to do a terrific comparison), so both of mine must be 10 kHz spacing on MW. So far, enjoying using both of them.

[@johnvanstelten9363]

Remind me not to take mine apart, lol.

[@Steven-re7xt]

At 72. What id give for this radio /player 50 years ago. Going out to the back lot at ft ceravos(ft hood) texas the dust killed switches. And ground the pick head up on tapes. To a frazzle. I baught 2 and havent gone wrong odn-1

[@shivchander4504]

Thanks sr.❤❤

[@kerzman]

TH-cam Todderbert assembled a Vigurtime kit radio with, I think, that same Si4825 IC and had the 9khz Euro step probkem. So he emailed Vjgurtime and they sent him a resister that changed to 10khz step. So, I'm wondering if a resister change in the 219 may fix its Medium Wave performance?

[@sfred]

I haven't seen that video of his, but I did wonder if that might be possible. I've played around with a different radio IC and the datasheet for that chip had a chart with all the resistor modes and values, including 9 and 10 kHz MW modes. (I've got a 3-part video on that project.) I was hoping to find the same thing for the Si4825 but that information wasn't in the datasheet I was able to find for this video.

[@minhkhoa445]

@@sfredThe resistor values chart is not in the datasheet but instead in AN738: Si4825/36-A ANTENNA, SCHEMATIC, LAYOUT, AND DESIGN GUIDELINES.

[@focus2004able]

I recently bought the XHData D219 and was impressed with the excellent sensitivity on the FM, MW & SW bands, did a comparison with my Digitech 1780 and the 219 performed as good, even slightly better with weaker SW signals, it also has plenty of volume even though it only has a small speaker, great radio despite the fact it's a 'multiband radio-on-a-chip', the only gripe I have is it would have been good if the 9KHz MW version of this radio tuned from 522 - 1710KHz, otherwise I would recommend getting one.

[@badhonrudra]

What about battay backup of D-219? Is it Battery Hungry?

[@sfred]

I've not used it enough to be sure.

[@Steven-re7xt]

Partly crippled. this is God send. the new set of digital/analog rigs I set them up. Then break out. from the park with a book full of sites. even a tape audio cassette. I'm getting a new hoby tkx

[@Steven-re7xt]

Are we lucky or what? We big fellows have a hard time. God provides nimble fingered folks to do those puzzles hi hi

[@samadhanburungle5407]

👌

[@clockworkbike]

Cool. There is a lot there for 12 bucks.

[@ferysubarkah3891]

Lebih baik yang mana?

[@sfred]

For me, the d-328. If you don't have my fm overloading problem, maybe the d - 219.

[@user-yy5rk5tz6f]

этот приемник такая херня даже плохо поддается разбору