Budget all-band radio?
- Thread starter Quattro Pete
- Start date
Another option for those still looking: the new Tecsun PL-330 with SSB, about $70 or so currently, shipped from China:
This little guy from XHDATA looks interesting. I like the rugged design, NOAA bands, and the use of standard 18650 battery.
XHDATA D-608WB Emergency Radio
Welcome everyone to read: 1. https://radiojayallen.com/xhdata-d-608-emergency-radio/ 2.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XHDATA.official 3.YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0vxIvvTZh4q-EvkeyV69Iw XHDATA D-608WB FM/SW/MW/NOAA Multiband Portable Emergency Radio XHDATA D-608WB is a...
xhdata.com.cn
This guy is good. He has many reviews on small radios...
I collect old radios and maybe have 6 old shortwave Zenith and Hallicrafter radios. There is nothing like listening to worldwide radio on one of them. They are very sensitive. The thrill I get is knowing when these were made the people that made them wound the coils by hand and soldered all the connections with real solder. My Uncle had a Zenith and we would listen all over the world at night to people with their local news. Nowdays you need SSB to be able to understand them because without SSB it sounds like a pig farm. Wife and I listen to Radio Korea sometimes in the evening when they have their English broadcast. I picked up a nice working Zenith at a thrift store in Florida for just $75. Yes it is big and heavy and you can't find batteries for it, but my ears were listening to history before the day was over.
Picked up this XHDATA D-109WB. It had a $12 off clip coupon when I ordered it a few days back, so I decided to give it a try.
Functionality wise, it's very similar to Radiwow D-108, except it has weather band/NOAA instead of air band. The 109 is also a bit larger with a louder speaker, and uses an 18650 battery, which I have plenty of, and charges via USB C. It also has Bluetooth and can play media files from a micro SD card.
All in all, a pretty nice radio, although I haven't had much time to play around with it yet.
Functionality wise, it's very similar to Radiwow D-108, except it has weather band/NOAA instead of air band. The 109 is also a bit larger with a louder speaker, and uses an 18650 battery, which I have plenty of, and charges via USB C. It also has Bluetooth and can play media files from a micro SD card.
All in all, a pretty nice radio, although I haven't had much time to play around with it yet.
The current crop of small portables give decent performance for the money, especially the XHDATA lineup, of which I own several. The Tecsuns worth having are the little 330, the larger 660/680 and the wonderful sounding 880 with their smooth PLL tuning.
The latest "it" radio is the Qodosen SR-286, which uses a car radio chip to provide much better than average performance -- my example easily outperforms the older Tecsun portables in my collection.
The latest "it" radio is the Qodosen SR-286, which uses a car radio chip to provide much better than average performance -- my example easily outperforms the older Tecsun portables in my collection.
Crane and sangean make a good radio
JHZR2
Staff member
That’s worth a look. Not that we listen to much radio anymore. Too many commercials and garbage chatter. I do like listening to sports on the radio.Picked up this XHDATA D-109WB. It had a $12 off clip coupon when I ordered it a few days back, so I decided to give it a try.
Functionality wise, it's very similar to Radiwow D-108, except it has weather band/NOAA instead of air band. The 109 is also a bit larger with a louder speaker, and uses an 18650 battery, which I have plenty of, and charges via USB C. It also has Bluetooth and can play media files from a micro SD card.
All in all, a pretty nice radio, although I haven't had much time to play around with it yet.
Recently I saw the:
D608WB Emergency Radio Hand Crank Weather Radio FM/AM/SW/NOAA Alert Portable Radio with Phone Charger, Bluetooth MP3, USB/Solar/Hand Crank Charging, Flashlight, Reading Lamp and SOS Alarm
Quite the mouthful. The battery, phone charger, and hand crank setup is mildly interesting to me for an emergency unit.
I've got the Xiadoun (sp?) AM/FM/ Shortwave/ Air receiver. Even using the long corded antenna reception was meh on the interesting stuff. Should check it again with the sunspots going nuts, LOL.
My Baofeng UV-5R ham radio picks up where the above leaves off, and it gets NOAA weather radio. For under $20!
I'd rather have a hand crank USB battery pack charger, and radio that runs off of same. The hand crank "disaster radios" seem marketed towards preppers and QVC customers, neither of which really know what they should be looking for in terms of performance.
My Baofeng UV-5R ham radio picks up where the above leaves off, and it gets NOAA weather radio. For under $20!
I'd rather have a hand crank USB battery pack charger, and radio that runs off of same. The hand crank "disaster radios" seem marketed towards preppers and QVC customers, neither of which really know what they should be looking for in terms of performance.
