Analogue Radio Week: tuning around the 25m band with the Tecsun R-9700DX

[@StratmanII]

Hi, new subscriber here. 🙂 I just got my R-9700DX recently, after procrastinating to buy this model for three years. All of my other receivers, except for an XHDATA D-219 have digital tuning whether it's DSP, PLL or SDR based. The reason I wasn't in a hurry to buy this model was I have been skeptical about the quality of Tecsun's fully analogue radios, ever since I tried an inexpensive R-909 sometime ago. My R-9700DX behaves differently compared to yours in this video. It pulls a lot of stations and the speaker distorts whenever the tuning wheel is moved - both on FM and SW. It doesn't matter if I plug it into my genuine MLA-30+ indoor loop antenna or the 23 foot Tecsun AN-03L retractable reel wire antenna, but the warbling sounds it makes during tuning does make band scanning an cringe-worthy experience. However once I stop and settle on a broadcast frequency, the oscillator doesn't drift like my R-909 does. It stays put until I shift the tuning wheel. When I ordered the radio, I had put a note to the seller to select the best one from his inventory of R-9700DX units or inspect it for manufacturing defects. I'm happy that the three LED lights illuminate the scale uniformly, the horizontal tuning bar is straight and isn't slanted like my R-909, but the indicated frequency is off by minus 11-13 kHz, depending on where the bar is on the scale and also the SW band. Comparatively my XHDATA D-219's analogue scale is pretty much spot on and its tuning wheel isn't as stiff as the R-9700DX. I've already been in touch with the seller and he/she agrees that the frequency error margin is unacceptable for a premium analogue radio like the R-9700DX. I'm not hoping the tuning bar to be accurate to 1 kHz, but an error factor of 10 kHz shouldn't exist for a factory new unit. I have no idea how these analogue tuning scales are calibrated at the plant, or if they are calibrated at all. 😞 At 5:08 you took out your PL-330 (I have one too) to double check the broadcast station that your R-9700DX was receiving and found nothing on the PL-330. You concluded the video by saying _"sometimes the analog radio will outperform the digital ones."_ Maybe they do, but I feel that making that statement without proving that the R-9700DX isn't receiving mirror or false images of the broadcast station would be premature. 🤔 You need to find that same station your R-9700DX picked up with at least one other digital receiver other than the PL-330. In other words, if you have say, a Tecsun PL-660 but managed to pick up that mystery signal that your PL-330 couldn't - your PL-330 may have a sensitivity problem. If neither radio is able to receive the same signal picked up by the R-9700DX, there's a better theory: the R-9700DX has a problem of receiving signals where that don't exist on that frequency. I suspect that the R-9700DX is also prone to overloading at its RF front end, especially with active external antennas, resulting in false images of signals. I think I'm also facing the same issues with my R-9700DX as you did.

[@djf_retro]

I have this radio as well. You are definitely correct on the dials not being accurate. Are you able to pickup WWV on 10000kHz? I think 9980kHz is the highest station I've been able to pickup in the 31m band on this radio.

[@sfred]

No. Mine cuts out at 9980 too.

[@jameshopkins365]

I was wondering if these analog radios are easy to operate ?

[@sfred]

In one sense yes as they've got simpler controls and if you're familiar with tuning an analogue AM or FM radio that carries over. In another sense they are more difficult because you've got to get more right in terms of the antenna and on these small portables tuning can be a bit fiddly.

[@yaqstar]

My milwaukee radio with a broken antanae gets better reception and the build quality is cheap.