Radio DX Equipment

Haha I agree. I like the way you can record radio via a timer like a vcr.

I bought a brand new Digitech AR-1748 receiver today for $80 from the market. Haven’t tested it out fully yet but seems to pick up FM and AM okay. I will have to test it out on shortwave and see how well it performs. I have seen a few of these going around the forums here so if anyone has any thoughts or experience about them I would like to hear it! !

Edit: Seems to work alright on shortwave, it’s picking up Radio Romania fine but not as clear and strong as my XHData D-808.

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The AR-1748 Seems to pick up Radio New Zealand good enough on Shortwave from Melbourne (With the occasional piece of interference).

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Does anyone recommend any FM software that can you program recordings?

I use this for listening it does the job, but programmed recording would be great. I got a Dabby DAB dongle.

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If you have SDRPlay you can use SDRUno to schedule recordings.

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Just got the tecsun pl-398mp

Great radio, on first impressions.

Quick bandscan at a place near Sydney airport at 430pm using ETM

549 Abc radio Cumnock
576
603 I think radio national Nowra
630
702
738 am Abc north coast
801 am Gosford
873 am
891 am horse racing not sure where from? pretty good signal.
900 am 2LT
954 am
981 am 2NM
999 am 2ST
1017 am
1035 am SBS radio
1080 am hard to make out what station
1098 am 2EL
1107 am
1134 am 2AD
1143 2HD
1170
1224
1233 abc newcastle
1287 am 2TM
1296 am 4RPH
1314 am skysports Wollongong
1341 am skysports Newcastle
1368 am 2GN
1404 am 2pk
1413 am sbs radio Newcastle
1431 am Radio National Wollongong
1449 am 2MG
1458 am Newsradio Newcastle
1485 am sbsradio not clear for some reason
1512 am Radio national Newcastle very clear
1539 am

Not bad!

It has a bandwidth button for AM. its interesting at 6 the treble is almost too much. What bandwidth should local AM radio use these days?

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Good review!

I’ve been thinking about getting one of these.

What’s it like on FM?

Presumably RadioTAB Townsville

2MO Gunnedah?

FM is good, when get a bit of a time I will try to do a band scan. Sound of the headphone jack is reasonable too. I have bought devices like this and background noise is horrible when using a headphone jack.

I got it mostly so I can listen to community radio on FM.

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That’s interesting, I have a few Tecsun radios and never noticed any such background noise when using headphones (which is what I normally use - easier to listen too than using the built in speaker).

Yeah a sangean and a tecsun. The sangean was the worse (for earphones) ats 909.

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Hi just to top up some updates on the Tecsun I just got.

  1. FM is great. One thing is that it may say “stereo” but if the signal is below 20 it is not really stereo. I noticed this with SWR FM, being in a marginal reception area. I think it similar to the Kia, it does drop stereo out quite “early”. Where my sangean pocket radios dab radio/& AM/FM radio will lock into stereo quicker. I would say my pocket radio chipset is just as good a performer as this device, which is still good. You just have the advantage of the telescopic aerial with this Tecsun device, and the differing “stereo” characteristics.
  2. Whilst the background noise is minimal, the volume level of “1” is way too loud with earphones at night similar to other radios I have had (not pocket radios). I will need adaptor to lower the volume.
  3. AM performance is great. I am now tuning into 2GN/2CA at nights. My pocket Sangean radio struggles. (Due to the aerial being better).
  4. The scanning function(s) is great however getting the presents back takes time to get use to. Its not simple as other radios with all the different “scanning modes”.
  5. The inbuilt speakers are ok, but not “great”.
  6. No RDS which is a shame.
  7. The light function is good at night.

I am yet to do a real band scan for FM for post on the forum. Its on my to do list :).

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All my Tecsun radios are like that too, but at the same time, it’s easier to get a clean full stereo sound than with other portable radios.

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@Laoma Thanks for the effort of posting your review.

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Well I have purchased another Tecsun radio, it’s my 4th one, the PL-398MP, for $92 through Amazon including delivery and arrived within 3 days of ordering, which was fantastic.

FM sensitivity and selectivity are fantastic, at least the equal of other Teccys I’ve owned. Sound quality is also better than the 310ET and 390, on par with the 660. AM seems OK

Only downside is that it’s chunkier and heavier than the 310ET/390.

Being the MP model means that it also plays MP3s via an SD slot on the rear, which is also where the controls for playing those are, which I haven’t tried yet. But according to the manual, you can’t see a list of tracks or see any song info. It also won’t record from radio either.

Very happy overall though.

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There’s some new Tecsun products due out soon.
Take a look here:

Whilst Tecsun regularly releases a range of new receiver models I simply can’t fathom why they don’t incorporate new decoding techologies like RDS! In terms of technologies RDS is old. Then why not also consider incorporating DRM or DAB+ decoders into some of their receivers? It’s like Tecsun is caught in a technological time bubble.
If someone can answer those questions I’d welcome the feedback.

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The H-501 (the large twin speaker one) looks like a pretty serious beast!

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For those interested in modifying tuners with narrow filters to improve selectivity, I did a couple of videos showing the Yamaha TX-950. You can do it without a schematic & with rudimentary electronics knowledge.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy2Q5PAZJkc&feature=youtu.be

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJZLUrZDXk

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZRbtqEC_-Q
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thank you :slight_smile:

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I got one of these old babies. I just moved to an apartment but cannot find SWR in the internet radio function, does anyone know how to add it?
It’s a WFT-1D. 15987420491475024325327908322794|666x500

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