ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- This video is a shortwave comparison of three popular and good budget radios, namely the XHDATA D-368, XHDATA D-109 and the Tecsun R-909. The D-368 and D-219 appear to perform quite similarly and quite a number of viewers have asked me to compare these two. It was interesting to compare them side-by side on the same signals.
You can hear these three radios on three different signals: one weak, one of average strength and one very strong signal. The signals are Reach Beyond Australia in English on 15460 kHz, Adventist World Radio on 17725 kHz and BBC in Burmese on 17515 kHz. This comparison was done during daytime, from 13:35 UTC (15:35 my local time).
All signals received at my usual location on Johannesburg, South Africa. I used a 10 metre long wire as antenna, the weaker signals were not coming through on the whip antennas. Sound recorded digitally to the Tecsun ICR-110 and synced to visuals afterwards.
00:00 Comparing three top budget radios
01:38 Reach Beyond Australia from Kununurra
05:00 Adventist World Radio from Madagascar
08:07 BBC in Burmese from Al Dhabayya, UAE
10:00 My verdict - บันเทิง
Really interesting, many thanks. Sending best wishes from Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
My pleasure Brin, glad you enjoyed it.
I love budget rádios, pens, watches 🤩 thank you very much for your vídeos.
My pleasure Mario!
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!
My pleasure, thanks for sharing John. You are right, at the price it is quite remarkable.
Thanks Andre sir for this most awaited comparison,i love to watch this and i realize that D-219 sounds best for talk show & news, D-368 good for music and tecsun this model always like because of its true analog circuit,This technology is disappearing nowadays😌
My pleasure Harpreet! I think you are right about the talk shows and news on the D-219, and the music on the D-368. I think overall the D-368 seems to be quite good though, also for talk shows and news. It is, indeed, nice to still have a few real anologue radios around like the R-909.
R-909 with less noise would be a good choice because of the good and more natural sound quality.
The R-909 is nice, but I personally prefer the D-368 here. I do agree that the R-909 is also good.
Thanks for your video. I am currently looking for an ideal traditional radio. It must have the same performance as SR-286, the same size, and the same frequency range, that is, from 120m to 13m, a total of 12 shortwaves. Here are my conditions, which are difficult to meet at the same time:
First, it must have DSP, because DSP has good selectivity;
Second, it must have a pointer, the pointer must be straight, and it cannot be crooked or tilted when turning;
Third, it must have multiple bands, including many meter bands of shortwave, which require independent tuning;
Fourth, the meter band must be complete, and the frequency of the meter band selection from left to right is higher, such as the frequency coverage of Sony 7601 from 120M to 13M, and the number of meters must be clearly marked first, with the assistance of the serial number;
Fifth, it must be tuned with dual knobs like Tecsun 320/330, one for frequency and the other for volume. The minimum requirement is that the frequency tuning is done with a knob, and the volume can be hidden, such as Sony SW10/11;
Sixth, frequency pointing It must be consistent, that is, no matter FM, AM or shortwave, the frequency display is vertical, that is, the bottom is low frequency and the top is high frequency. It cannot be like Tecsun 9700DX, where the bottom of FM medium wave is low frequency, and the shortwave is the opposite, with high frequency at the bottom; or the frequency dial is left and right, and it can be received;
Seventh, the frequency knob changes from low to high when the frequency knob is turned clockwise, and the frequency changes from low to high when the frequency knob is turned counterclockwise. In short, it must be consistent with the Sony pointer machine;
Eighth, if the volume knob is a knob like the frequency knob If the volume is adjusted by turning the dial on the side, the volume will increase when the volume is turned up;
Ninth, a power switch is required, and the switch must be independent;
Tenth, there must be a panel lighting that can be turned on and off, such as Tecsun 9700DX;
Eleventh, the volume should not be too large, and the hand strap must be on the right, such as Sony SW10/11;
Twelfth, two AA batteries or BL5C, 18650 batteries make the radio too thick;
Thirteenth, the antenna is on the left;
I can't find it. I have R909, but D-219 is still in my sight.🐸
Hi there and thank you for your comment! You have a very long list of requirements :-) Maybe the Degen DE1103 might be an option for you? It has an analogue display with a needle, but also a digital display. And it uses a DSP chip.
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.
@@swlistening The R-818 comes to mind as the closest (available) alternative to the R-909 in the same category (simple classic heterodyne but better designed). I also used to think of the R-808 as an older brother to the R-818, but I have never had a chance to look inside, and there are no new items in stock. It's sensitive indeed-the way it should be. I miss my R-818 a bit due to the "organic'" tuning experience, but it had its drawbacks. As frequency is tuned by rotating a variable capacitor, the mechanics, analog band switching-it all makes frequency unstable; additionally, the rotating knob is too small and tiring for long continuous operations. It's available on one Chinese online marketplace you know (A~Ex), but it wouldn't be possible to post a link here. It's overpriced now; it should be 50-60% of the current cost IMO.
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.
Nice review of these radios. It's also great to see someone trying to keep SWLing alive.
Thank you for your comment! I love SWLing, hope my channel can inspire some others to try it!
The Tecsun R-909 was set to local instead of DX. Was there a reason for? I guess it influenced the reception of the weak signal.
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.
@@hammockdweller Indeed, very good radio for the 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. 📻👍🏼
@@swlistening This is true. Besides, the selectivity of 909 is not good.
73 de Frank SWL F14368 organizer of the SWL Contest 2024.
1:46 "With 19 metre long wire"? 😳
Oops, typo! It's my usual 10 metre long wire. Will fix it, thanks.
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.
@@F4LDT-Alain Thanks Alain!
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!
The Tecsun DR-920C might be a good choice for you then. Great little analog radio with LCD display. Still found on Ali.
@@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.
@@F4LDT-Alain One of many radios still on my wish list 🙂
Hi andrei
How many meters is external antenna's wire
Anyway I don't like Analoge radio, it does not acueret with frequencies, sometimes I dont know where iam 👀
Hi Eyad, it is 10 metres.
I kind of agree with you about this, I like the sound and tuning on full analogue radios, but I would prefer to have a digital frequency display, so that I can see the precise frequency. On some full analogue radios, like my Tecsun R-909, the frequency display is actually very inaccurate.
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, TH-cam 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.
D-219 is great if you live in rural where man-made noise is none existent but if you in urban areas, D219 will not perform well.
Maybe, but I live in an urban area and my D-219 performs really well. It does not pick up too much noise.
@@swlistening
I don't know why is that but my D-219 picked up smartphone charging noise so loudly. Also from air conditioner and other electronic devices. It's annoying.
@@GenBril That's not only the D-219 though, any radio will be affected by smartphone chargers in particular, and any other kind of electrical equipment nearby. Just try to use it far away from your electrical equipment and don't charge phones while using it.
@@swlistening it's impossible not get electrical noise in an urban areas that's why D-219 is not suited in a cluttered neighborhood. D-219 is only great in rural areas.
@@GenBril I agree, noise in cities is unavoidable. I guess it differs from city to city, because my D-219 works quite well in the city where I live, so I find it useful even in the city. But, sure, for some people there might be too much noise around.