7.5 inch (19cm) Loopstick XHDATA D-808 Demonstration

[@vu3mes]

Amazingly effective idea Gary.

[@DXerGary]

Thank you very much! I have already sent one of these models to India (to my friend Sudipta Ghose in Kolkata).

[@vu3mes]

@@DXerGary oh he's a great friend of mine.

[@pe1etr]

Thanks for the demo Gary.

[@DXerGary]

Thanks Peter!

[@Outandaboutwithpoggy]

That’s pretty impressive, thanks for sharing.

[@DXerGary]

Thanks, Michael! Best of DX to you.

[@jogiemka]

Thanks for doing these demo videos, and thank you for sharing your construction details also! Much appreciated!!

[@DXerGary]

Thanks very much, Jogiemka!

[@baneverything5580]

I have a lot of portable radios Gary and I can already tell you`re gonna have me modifying one of them soon. LOL! That never ends well for me! I have an Eton Elite Traveler that might be a great candidate but I was thinking of giving it to a friend. I`ve already bought him three radios though. I used to really enjoy using the Eton because it worked so well on AM at night without the DSP muting of weak signals but I have a lot of larger portables now like the EP PRO and PR-D4W I bought after hurricane Laura wiped out every radio signal and phone service in the region and I realized I needed the best portable receivers I could afford to get. An amazing Sony ICF-19 got me through Laura though and it`s a great long range daytime AM receiver for this area but is so bad at night with soft muting that a Sony ICF-P26 outperforms it then which is surprising. The ICF-19 could be a perfect storm radio for the price if they would cure the muting curse. It has the longest battery life of any portable radio I`ve ever seen at well over 400 hours if the volume is kept low.

[@DXerGary]

If you are still in search of the dream portable and haven't seen this major article, the 36 page 2021 Ultralight Radio Shootout review is posted at the following link dreamcrafts.box.com/s/8y6855bnfmy45rnk46mzr7hb4pwjz8u8

[@digitalmediafan]

Hmm not sure I would want that stuck to my 808. I prefer the Terk AM 1000 loop with it's inductive option

[@marcosmartins892]

Wonderful 😂 What the distance between the transmitter and the radio?

[@DXerGary]

Hi Marcos, the radio station was 620-KPOJ, a 50 kW station in Portland, Oregon, which is 160 miles (254 km) south of my location in Puyallup, Washington, USA.

[@jrs0007]

Hi Gary. Thanks for another interesting project! Two questions if I may: 1) what size of Litz wire did you use for your loopstick? 2) how does the loopstick work in comparison to your 2.8" and 3" FSL models? I'd love to see a video comparison of the two designs with your modified & stock D-808s with the loopstick vs the FSL. 73

[@DXerGary]

Hi JRS000, the loopstick uses 15 feet (4.6m) of 250/46 Litz wire, as described in the full construction article linked below. The loopstick has much better sensitivity than the stock model, but both the 2.8" and 3" FSL models can provide a greater sensitivity boost over the stock model than the 7.5" loopstick does (although both of the FSL's require razor-sharp tuning to do this, whereas the 7.5" loopstick doesn't require any tuning at all, making it very convenient in travel situations). The full construction article for this model is posted at dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5d0pi85jfptgmrj4pd0jsmaybgb6gteh 73, Gary

[@amolsanghai7821]

Great information sir Thank you 🙏

[@DXerGary]

Thank you. Amol!

[@IbizaSP]

hi, I have a problem with my xdata808 D radio. the problem is that it does not pick up the Airband band, it is deaf, before everything worked like crap and now it does not pick up, I reset the radio, I also checked the external antenna and then silence, could someone help me ?

[@FRLAZone2018]

well it worked on Retekess V111/CS 106

[@FRLAZone2018]

and later retekess v115 however need to reduce noise and glitch since it can overload signal

[@harpomarx7777]

Extend the whip antenna on the stock model !

[@winexprt]

The whip antenna is not used for the AM band, so there is not point in extending it. The radio uses an internal ferrite bar antenna for AM.

[@lambertpga]

Hello Sir, when trying to open the back of the radio, it seems to stay stuck somewhere, do you have suggestions or points to take care when opening the radio? Thank you in advance 73 Lambert

[@DXerGary]

Hello Lambert, after removing the screws you still need to pull the tuning knob off of its shaft before you can open the back cover. A photo for this is located on the bottom of Page 6 in the full construction article posted at dreamcrafts.box.com/s/5d0pi85jfptgmrj4pd0jsmaybgb6gteh

[@zackschindler8334]

Is there any reason why you use superglue rather than epoxy to attach the assembly to the radio?

[@DXerGary]

No special reason, Zack, other than It's relatively cheap, strong, and doesn't cause any negative RF effects in either FSL's or these externally-mounted loopsticks.

[@strontiumstargazer103]

What is a DHer and DX ing?

[@baneverything5580]

Can someone possibly explain why my Tecsun PL310et can only barely receive the strongest AM signal using the speaker but when headphones are connected it has normal sensitivity on AM? What could possibly cause this? It was this way when I bought it and somehow I finally discovered that AM only functions when the headphones are plugged in. I asked radiojayallen and he was stumped.

[@DXerGary]

It sounds like a speaker problem. Does the radio act this way on FM and SW? If so, it is definitely a speaker problem. If not, I would be just as stumped as Jay Allen.

[@baneverything5580]

@@DXerGary No it works fine on all other bands and an AM loop brings the sensitivity up to normal on local stations using the speaker. But it doesn`t have normal sensitivity on the AM band on its own unless the headphone jack is being used.

[@coroamanicolai4527]

@@baneverything5580 When that happens, try turning off the radio and turning it back again. It should regain the sensitivity, or at least that is how I fix the problem with mine. I still have to test to see it putting some headphones will increase it as in your case.

[@wilddogjiang]

效果很明显，真不错！

[@DXerGary]

Thank you Mr. Jiang Tianshu! My wife is Chinese, and she will translate for me.

[@wilddogjiang]

@@DXerGary 是的，我知道的。哈哈

[@craigduncan8121]

Hello all. Can any other users of this radio confirm something for me? The screen on my radio displays the timer icon all the time. I noticed in this video yours is not displayed. Does anyone know of a way to turn this off? Also when resetting this radio it does not seem to wipe the memories etc, can anyone confirm for me that this is normal behaviour for this radio? Any help much appreciated. Thanks.

[@Feniks56RUS]

press long "power"

[@coroamanicolai4527]

Press the power button for more than 1 second when powering on the radio and them cycle through the minutes options until you reach the „on” position”. It should fix the problem.

[@simonwinwood]

wow. great channel. a sub from me

[@DXerGary]

Thanks, Simonwinwood!

[@4Ever4Ksa]

Why didn't you extend the main antenna on the radio in order to make a real comparison with the radio on which you put the modified antenna? What you've donWhy didn't you extend the main antenna on the radio in order to make a real comparison with the radio on which you put the modified antenna? What you've done here is just manipulation

[@winexprt]

No point in extending the main antenna because the main antenna is not used by the radio for AM reception. The D-808 uses an internal ferrite bar antenna for the AM band.