See this release for the likely fix: Releases · Highpoint2000/LiveMap · GitHub
The TEF has now arrived. Flashed with the latest available firmware and tested it with FMDX webserver. Soon I’ll find a place to install it along with figuring out a way to get it publically accessible via the web.
Thanks to an early Christmas present I am now in the TEF gang.
Seems fine so far. Only criticisms that it did not come with a manual (I do not know what some of the adjustments do, nor how to store presets as advertised), the top knob is hard to press (for "ok), and the included antenna is way too big for what is supposed to be a handheld unit
AM does appear to have a lot of noise; I know am indoors.
Audio quality is adequate, but 22 volume level is around the limit before the mids start to cap out and then after it gets a little crunchy.
Welcome! I have not seen a white one with an LCD display like that before.
Mine didn’t come with a manual either, was a bit of trial and error.
This might help?
Good luck and enjoy!
From what I can tell it’s a discontinued model from Hamgeek. Its 3D printed.
The about menu shows:
DSP Radio
TEF668X
By COL.Y
2022/11
On boot it shows:
TEF6686 V102
OA1.73 12M
I did fix the button issue by pulling it off and putting it back on.
It comes come in “factory mode” which appears to just mean advanced settings mode.
It came with FM EQ and FM de-emphasis (50US) on by default switching them off improves the audio quality.
I have figured out what most of the buttons and settings do now and how to store presets.
The following settings I am unsure of, and Googling doesn’t come up with anything:
Radio (in FM mode) → FM MLT (OFF/ON*)
Audio output → IIS (OFF/ON*)
System → Crystal (9.216M/4M/12M*/55M)
AM co-channel (SEN 5%-15%)
I still think that the included antenna is too large for the size of the unit.
The ATS (or auto tuning sensitivity) can still be too high even on the low setting.
The AGC settings (level 1/2/3) don’t seem to do much).
Also, it does not support RDS if anyone was after that.
In term of reception
In my living room/office which is north facing with direct LoS to Artarmon and Gore Hill transmitters I am able to get SWR 99.9 with the antenna extended but there is still a lot of noise (BW on auto). 99.9 I am not able to get on other radios (excluding my car radio). I can also get Triple M 107.7 in decent quality stereo. Star 104.5 is noisy and in stereo. 97.3 ABC Illawarra is gettable, but the noise makes speech hard to interpret. i98 is a bit worse.
Obviously being outside would improve these.
Good to know…thanks.
That would be a deal breaker for me.
Current pros and cons:
Pros:
- Price.
- Size of unit.
- Display.
- Rechargeable battery via USB-C and has indicator LEDs).
- Size and thickness of antenna (for handheld DXing outside).
- Speaker sound quality is decent for the size and price.
- FM auto-bandwidth works well.
- Rotary dial is easy to use for tuning (and has a fast rotary mode as well).
- Quick FM/AM switching via button holding (skips SW/LW).
- FM extended mode (76.0-108.0).
- FM reception indoors is better than other radios.
- Presets for each band.
Cons:
- No manual included.
- Antenna is too big for size of radio.
- No RDS support
- Speaker is mono(?) despite FM stereo support.
- No auto-bandwidth for AM.
- Unable to change the frequency stepping, only tuning mode (auto/manual/memory)
- Unable to turn off AM co-channeling.
- No noise cancelation for AM.
- Battery level indicator is either voltage or a battery icon. No percentage.
- Two different sets of menus (Easy-set and Setting) with two different sets of settings.
- Some settings are in weird places (FM Extend is under System instead of radio)
- AGC and ATS settings seem to be shared across bands.
- Backlight is set to always on by default.
Also, hopefully I can get some help disipering what is displayed?
From what I can tell
Band | Frequency | Auto-tune threshold met | FM Stereo
FS (manual tuning)/SK (auto tuning/seek)/CH (preset) | stepping size | BW setting | Volume level
? | ? | ? | ? | Bandwidth | Battery voltage
Signal strength?
?
On-time counter(?)
Thanks, it might be just a repackaged version of that.
I’ve been meaning to make 2 comments about the battery.
I believe in the blue/silver models, it’s a Li-ion battery rated at 5,000 mAh. So slightly larger than a smart phone (generally around 4,500 mAh). But recharging time compared to a phone is woeful, mine takes 7-9 hours to recharge from 10% to 100%.
The other thing I’ve noticed, once the indicated % charge remaining drops below 40%, it drops like a stone from there, so doesn’t appear to be very accurate. In that from 100% to 40% is about 12-15 hours of use, but from 40% down to 10% only takes about 1 hour. I now make sure I recharge at 40%.
Unfortunately, as is probably expected AM is unlistenable inside a bus with the radio, FM works but seemingly with strong stations only (my alternative to 702 ABC would be SWR which I could barely get).
Unless there is a better antenna more suited for AM, I’ll probably have to try a DAB solution.
I take this back. Having the radio on the right side of the cabin near the window and not in the cash tray improves FM reception significantly. I was able to get mostly very good reception of 97.3 this afternoon.
How ever AM still seems quite weak. 97.3 is fine for listening to the cricket but I obviously don’t want to listen to local Illawarra programming
Again, if anyone has suggestions for an antenna that will work better with AM (and keeps the radio portable), I’m all ears. Or if I’m mostly driving around the North Shore/Ryde/Parramatta/City areas I’d get good DAB reception?
Also, just one thing with the included antenna. It’s a little looser (the telescopic part) than you’d expect.
Howdy
I am havong an issue with 88.0 Faith FM RDS FA1F Rockingham WA showing the information for Aulbury NSW
Albury NSW Faith Radio has the identical PI codee any iseas on how this is hgappenbing and how to resolve. I do not have any other entries inn the local.js file to matxch this freq
By the way dont ask me why the Time Dosplay notification appears on the screenshot as it is not seen on mu desktop. That decktop does not represent what I am seeing?
I’ve had a think about this… Click on the PI code to go to the fmlist.org map from which the station information comes from…
Faith FM Rockingham doesn’t have its PI code registered yet. Only 3 Faith FMs on 88FM do, and Albury is the closest.
Another example - Hit 95.7FM Bunbury has 2 identical entries in fmlist but the closer standby transmitter shows on the Bunbury server, not the main transmitter.
I’m trying to reactivate my fmlist account to be able to suggest database edits. I believe this will fix your problem.
The data for 88.0 is updated in FMList now, so this should feed through into the FMDX maps system in the next day or so (which will mean that webserver should pick up the right entry)
Another change that should also go through will be duplicated data hopefully disappearing for Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Now FMList is being used and seems to generally be working OK, the old manual dataset that I put together is being retired fully.
As you’ve mentioned too, with it being FMList now it means it’s easier for updates to be suggested. The old dataset relied on me noticing changes!
Thanks to all concerned who helped resolve the issue I’ve checked and as reported can confirm updated and working
I had toyed with the idea of adding the spectrum analyser plugin But as suggested by forum member it’s probably more relevant to a remote area than Metro location and I think there’s enough going on in the GUI already without crowding it with more information
Cheers
Alek
This one says it’s a 4.2V 2300mAh battery. It does seem to last a decently long time, from my running this week I would not doubt it could do 12+ hours on one charge. That is only with the backlight setting to turn off. I had turned the “signal update [timeout]” setting off earlier in testing, but this week pondered if it would affect the AGC (which AGC level setting itself seems to do basically nothing from what I can tell) and having “signal update [timeout]” doesn’t seem to affect battery life.
In terms of charging, I have noticed that the radio will stop charging (and show a green LED) with 4/5 battery bars filled. The fix is to unplug it and replug it back in. It does take some hours to charge and that’s via a monitor USB connection out.
I have also noticed some build quality issues, the SMA port for the antenna seems to unscrew itself (at least a bit) if you adjust the telescopic antenna a lot.
Also, the FM de-emphasis setting seems to give FM radio a fuller sound instead of sounding tinnier like AM. The FM EQ setting seems to do nothing.
I’m looking at the possibility of going down the Arduino module route for my webserver, rather than using the portable plugged in all the time. Is there a recommended schematic I can use as a reference for designing a simple board setup? Most likely will run the web server side off an SBC like a RPi or similar.
One of the first websites I came across when seeking info was Simple TEF6686 Arduino + PC AM-FM Radio Receiver - Hackster.io
And this image really shows how simple the schematic is:
That looks like a piece of cake to put together. Going to start looking at it after Christmas and seeing if I can put it together. If it all works out I might even be to get my own simple PCB made