Malahit SDR Radio and Vintage Rural Radios Test

performance sensitivity testing transistor radios
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[@shango066]

I got this off eBay. Apparently this is a counterfeit Chinese unit in the originals are made in Russia. I will try and obtain a legitimate unit and do a comparison video

[@SpinStar1956]

Well, I was surprised to see you got one with dual speakers; so your unit might not be all that bad--and for me I'd really prefer those front-firing speakers. Most of the clones really look poorly packaged. Also, on your FM tests, you'll have better luck with vertical polarization than just laid on the table. And your right about the lack of any MW antenna along with the need for a good ground or counterpoise. Great Video always like the DX'ing...

[@kandigloss6438]

Good luck trying to get a legitimate one, I've heard the process for doing so is very difficult, especially for those of us that don't live in Russia.

[@IanTester]

Alternatively, just pay the Russian author a fee and he will send you the full firmware. These Chinese clones apparently only run the crippled 'demo' version.

[@Telewaifus]

An italian ham radio operator tested both and the Russian one is way better than the chinese copy

[@SpinStar1956]

I’ve decided against getting one since they block the 200-400 MHz. I wanted to use it as a spectrum analyzer since a good receiver has much greater dynamic range (although maybe not as accurate); so when you look for harmonics, having a huge chunk of the VHF/UHF is ridiculous! I don’t see the source-code being available, so looks like no way to enable it…

[@BillyLapTop]

Since I got an SDR radio, I no longer listen to radio, I watch it now.

[@igorrampinelli1827]

I'm Brazilian and I've seen your videos for a long time I'm your fan you are very clear in your explanations thank you very much

[@brianfletcher9774]

I’d like to see a video just on this SDR radio. Show it picking up things we wouldn’t normally hear with a normal radio. That would be a great video. Even if it were a long video, I’d love to see it.

[@shawnjenkins8707]

Yeah, I have an old radio that picks up crazy stuff🙂really need a good antenna..

[@TheDevice9]

I only discovered SDR radio this year. Just amazing. I bought the TV dongle hack SDR first for $25 and was so impressed with the tech that I had to buy the greatly improved SDRplay RSP1a for $120 which is no a small amount for an old guy on SocSec. It wont replace my old tube radios that I love, but damn is it an amazing technology or what? I put up a 200 ft perimeter loop antenna and am now getting reception I never dreamed possible. The loop really helps keep the noise floor down. The Broadcast band is completely full.... stations every 10khz across the dial at night. I can easily listen to KNX in LA from here near Seattle. That Sony is pretty special too. I am very fond of radios like that for camping in the wilderness. I wonder how long the batteries last on the Malahit.

[@mikekokomomike]

I did same thing, bought dongle then saw the downsides to it without spending the time and money for filters and upconverters. Got the Rsp1a then. When stimulus check came last year, splurged and bought Icom IC 7300 to replace old ham transceiver as the 7300 is SDR.

[@gustavevilleneuvedehoff-un5459]

Let me join your club gentlemen :) Tv-dongle, rtl-sdr and then the RSP. Love them all. What I really love about this ham thing - it’s all about us, men: me in Russia enjoying buying equipment from tiny ex-garage US-companies (aka folks like me, just around the globe), and US folks playing with our Malakhit. A parallel, ideal world.

[@poormanselectronicsbench2021]

A little SDR like that would come in very handy just to check IF and local oscillator function in radio's and TV's as well, just by getting near the circutry. It also looks like you will need some sort of screen protector soon, as I saw some scratches in the screen reflection @ 2:15 Great little toy, and as always, fun and interesting video.

[@imark7777777]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, says how much he used it since he got it.

[@scottbrady7499]

2:24 KVAX coming in STRONG, neato

[@king_wing34]

try receiving satellites with sdr ;) idk if your can go there, but if posssible, the satellites im talking about are round 137.1mhz 137.62........... satellite names: NOAA 19, NOAA 18...... theres also meteor m2

[@Synthematix]

So the moral of the story is even a 45 year old sony radio beats anything today. so weve gone backwards in performance.

[@2006chame]

top of civilization probably on the 70s

[@straightpipediesel]

Nope. It just shows fundamental engineering trade-offs in RF receiver design: narrowband systems have better performance.

[@Synthematix]

@@straightpipediesel Analog wins every time, this thing is a computer with a radio added as a bonus

[@thedogbarked123]

I watched your video and was happy to see you've added new levels of complexity. You're doing some really great things here. Comparing the new with the old is particularly interesting. You're using the new to better understand the old. I've been following you for a while and think you have a very good idea of what you're doing. You have a lot of the details right. The biggest thing I'd suggest is the use of better antennas to properly compare the radios, especially on SW. There's a lot of variability in signal strength and SNR. It's something you should have in mind. Have you considered a magnetic loop for the AM band? It takes a variable capacitor, some pieces of wood and some wire. It's cheap and effective. The radio repair videos are very interesting. I've been using them to study the hobby for a while now. I've been working on my own projects lately. I've recently been working on an AM radio that I've been building for the last year. I've been making progress but have a few things that I haven't figured out yet. I'm also looking into building a second radio. I'm using the videos to help me learn. I hope you continue with this, and I'm looking forward to your next video!

[@jamesbruno5896]

Been looking at SDRs for a while, thanks for sharing!

[@Seiskid]

This SDR radio looks way cool. I'm an old school analogue guy but I do love cool new tech. Reading all the comments here, seems like everyone else knows about these things other than me. Makes sense that they would exist. There's some amazing toys you can buy these days for affordable prices. EDIT I've just ordered the RTL-SDR dongle. Super excited to try it out. Thanks Shango, and everyone else that commented here.

[@JCWise-sf9ww]

Your demo of the SDR radio has inspired me to look into getting one sometime. I like how you test these transistor radios out in the desert 250 miles away from LA. I envy you living in LA, where there are a wide variety of formats on AM (& FM). You have classical and easy listening music formats there. We can't find any easy listening stations here, not even on FM. We do have Classical music stations on FM. It's mostly news & sports talk and oldies and one country on AM. Too many stations jump onto the same junky format bandwagon. We live in south central PA.

[@The90sGamingGuy]

That SDR radio is pretty cool. I like the fact that you can adjust the sound and all that.

[@Giovanniram22]

Too bad there is nothing important to hear anymore!

[@Me11oIngenuity]

I was hoping you would poke at a SDR radio. This looks like a decent one! Thanks!

[@LakeNipissing]

Shango, when you mentioned you got it from China, my first thought is how many people who purchased one are waiting for theirs to arrive while they are buried in containers on ships off the coast of Long Beach !

[@markpirateuk]

These old Sony's are excellent sets, sensitivity is superb. I have yet to get me an SDR set, yours seems like the one to go for.

[@airplaneengine]

That's a nice little portable SDR. A few months ago, I bought one of those KiwiSDRs that you can put online. If you don't know about those, there is a map of receivers all over the world you can listen to.

[@teacfan1080]

Never ever seen a radio like that SDR. I like how it shows the peak signals and the fact you can tune all the way through the frequencies. You're right, that Sony is a top performer.

[@oschiri66]

If you want to try a real sensitivy portable: Try a 1978-82 German "ITT Schaub Lorenz Touring CD-108". When it comes to sensivity on FM, it beats most high end hifi tuners. SW performance is also great: Double conversion and a frequency counter.

[@acefeeley9007]

Wow! I've actually been mulling over getting one. I know there are a lot of Chinese clones out there that have software issues. I dont know if the original Russian is any better. I've been waiting for someone i trust to do a review. Thanks mate.

[@crooner2007]

Excellent video. I've been slow to adopt SDR's. I am partial to traditional analog radios, even with all their limitations. Makes DXing more fun, IMHO. One radio that I find extremely hot and selective in the AM/MW band is the 1979 Sanyo RP-8880. It has a gyro antenna like the Panasonic RF-2200. I have a feeling it beats the latter as well. I'm doing a shoot out soon to find out!

[@phononut]

Nothing better than a three day weekend with Shango.👍

[@SuperMiramis]

I have a Sony radio called: Sony solid state from the 70`s. Model number is: ICF 111L. That radio is preforming good on FM, LW and MW. Sony is number two on my list. On the first place is my Koyo radio from Japan. Nice review Shango :-)

[@7c3c72602f7054696b]

That SDR is really cool, thanks for sharing, I might pick one up.

[@deepblueskyshine]

Malachit SDR receiver project are in fact russians and yes, they do order production in China, and yes, they sell on Alli, and yes chenese do knock-offs. There is another russian SDR project - Belka SDR which used to be an almost open hardware project, but not quite and what Belka also has is an extra bandpass filters add-on board that partially solve all the similar SDR projects and products problem - low dynamic range.

[@michaelyancey3021]

Looks like the Belka goes to 31 MHz, and does AM and SSB. Maybe more for Ham and shortwave. Still, these are interesting projects. It gets away from using a PC to run the SDR software.

[@jeffadams5510]

LOVE to see you do some comparison with any/all the the ge super radios whilst out in the sticks. I think the ge sr3 is the best as I've p/u stations WAY south and WAY west of me with one of those late nights/early mornings.......

Gee the sound is suprisingly good! I will buy one!

[@radiocottage5653]

Glad to see this interesting video my friend 😊 Your friend Ali from Saudi Arabia

[@mikemcmanus3918]

Great video, thank you for posting it.

[@JuanBataan]

Thanks man. Greetings and watching from Philippines.

[@altrel06]

Nuod ka lang Kay Shango kuya. Interesting tlg content nya

[@JuanBataan]

@@altrel06 oo nga. Dami matututunan lalo sa vintage electronics

[@SlinkyStoney]

Astig ang channel na 'to.

[@fredflintstone8048]

I have a real nice SDR (SDRplay - RSPdx) that cost around 200 that covers all the bands including ham radio (1kHz to 2GHz). It connects to my PC over USB. I run software (SDRuno, and SDRconsole) on my PC to interact with it. I can also listen to com sats. It has no built in antenna so it's up to the end user to attach a proper antenna for the band one needs to listen to.. The fidelity of FM stations is fantastic.

[@SoundsLegit71]

The one I have has a signal generator built in and goes to 6ghz and records rf too was 200, Nano VA or something theres alot of them yes.

[@n2rj]

Intriguing. I've seen these around. Thought about getting one for ham radio.

[@XMguy]

I’ve had my eye on one of those portable SDR for a while. The grounding does seem to be a big issue. The typical SDR usb tuner I have is 50Mhz to 3Ghz only. I would like AM as well.

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

Maybe get a good ferrite bar antenna out of a good but busted old radio and clip lead it to the radio or get an SMA pigtail and solder to the coil and see how that's works. Of course the impedance of the antenna might be a hindrance... Love that you got an SDR, it's seems like a good addition for your videos. :3 73 de David SE/1995

[@pieciagoras]

Malachit DSP is SDRPlay RSP1 in standalone version. Heart of receiver is MSI001 chip. I have the same device, but with TCXO instead on board generator. Documentation of this radio is available, also soft if needed. I made a number of improving modifications. I am happy to share my experiences.

[@Veso266]

What modifications have you made I curently use Airspy hf+ Discovery as a standalone radio I would realy like to buy one of this Malachit SDRs but, I would realy like to write plugins for it or if its software would be open source, would even buy the original russian one for that (even if some chinese clones look better)

[@pieciagoras]

@@Veso266 You need to replace the generator module with TCXO, you need to replace the C43 capacitor with 47pF and this is extremely important. Many Chinese generators are defective. Replacing the condenser significantly improves the operation of the radio. Then, replace the L13 choker with a value of 100mH and the C28 capacitor with a value of 100mF. I gave a complete high-frequency filter in L13, it largely eliminates touchpad interference. Modification of C47 is necessary, replacing the 22MHz generator with TCXO is extremely helpful, and improving the power supply filtering of the MSI001 chip greatly improves the reception until the touchpad is automatically turned off. The touchpad also greatly interferes with short antennas connected directly to the receiver. After the above modification, the receiver starts working like the RSP1 from SDRPlay. In fact, the Malachite DSP is, from an electronic point of view, an exact copy of the RSP1, plus the control and software. On the other hand, the folks at SDRPlay don't predict RSP1 for standalone work. Moreover, they did not make the project available for copying. The diagram was released for review somewhere, and the Russians copied the device by adding a processor and wrote the software, adding a free noise reduction algorithm. This is how the Malachite DSP1 was created. The Russians did not foresee the possibility of interfering with their software. However, due to the use of a free noise reduction algorithm, selling became illegal. You may not charge for software that contains a free algorithm that is intentionally free and cannot be part of commercial software. The receiver structure itself consists largely of the intellectual property of the British company SDRPlay. For this reason, if you modify the software and they (the authors) sue you in some way, you will win because they are formally carrying out illegal activities. At this point, the Chinese made "a few" changes to the software to make it free. I have "FW_1_10b yjmwxwx" firmware and no problems with that. loads without problems, works fine, no bugs were created and you can use the full functionality. In my opinion, since the Russians allowed themselves to carelessly use the SDRplay function and someone else's noise reduction algorithm, you can modify their program yourself, or write your own based on their solutions. In the above situation, I would have no moral resistance. 73 from SP8OWL

[@Veso266]

@@pieciagoras ok thats the third comment youtube deleted, they dont like my comments I guess So I will be short this time Thanks for suggestions, would you even recomend the original MalachitSDR or is there a chinese clone which is better then original? Or maybe something else that would atleast allow a software guy like me to write plugins for (yea, soldering is not my cup of tea :), everything is so small and whenever I tried it I happen to destroy something?

[@CatholicBoy1957]

I'm going to have to get one. This reminds me of when I bought my first Sony ICF-2002 back in1983, (the batteries ate the first one) which cost about the same money, so this ain't that bad a deal. I would love to see you get one of those on eBay and review it. .

[@kareno8634]

'Too much Fun' should be everyone's goal. All this "Hot" - Happy Camping! thanks

[@AaaAaa-ly3on]

This cool SDR receiver is pretty good feat on your table ;) - cause you can consider it to be descendant of all those Soviet radios - it's designed by Russian engineers from Yekaterinburg city in geologically reach Ural region of Russia. -Hence the misspelled :) name of it - Malachit (Malachite mineral) or Russian transcription on screen - Malahi-t-eam. -And the name of little grey beauty is "Nevskiy" (meaning "from around Neva [river] region")...

[@billsheppard9368]

Damn, that SDR thing is kickass. Wonder what 11 meters looks like out there in the boonies. It'd be fun to watch the local oscillator signal comin' off one of the adjacent manually-tuned radios

[@error52]

Shango, keep an eye out on Ebay for the soviet VEF radios. The models 201 through 206 are some of the hottest AM receivers I know and the 221 is killer on FM. They are all about the size of the Sony, so I'm curious how they would compare. For the 221 just make sure you get one with the regular FM band, because many of them have the Soviet 66-75 MHz band.

[@shango066]

I have one there's a video on it here somewhere. I still think the Sony blows it away

[@MrBIG4D]

That is really cool! Now I gotta have one!

[@tedcowart3647]

Another great video! Interesting little SDR radio. I've got an Elad that works very well. Of the hundreds of radios I have whenever I go on a trip away from home. I always take my Sony and my Nevsky 402. Two hottest portables I own or ever have owned. How long will the Malachit play before recharging?

[@TrakThora]

Thats a great standalone SDR.

[@hellcattanks]

The malachit has an e field whip, so it will be very different to the tuned loopstick in the other sets. You could probably connect an active loopstick to the malachit and get a better comparison. Am here in the Uk is very similar.

[@Mr_Meowingtons]

I love my SDR radios i have an SDRplay i used on my Ham radio its sweet. i was just looking ones like that Malachit-sdr get it on a dipole antenna

[@k4vms]

FYI - the box is up side down. Lol Enjoy the channel. Ricky from IBM, Ret. K4VMS

[@shawnjenkins8707]

Ya gotta love the cool radios 📻

[@Pawelr98]

I use RTL-SDR for heterodyne frequency on FM radios, converting former eastern block OIRT (65-74MHz) radios to CCIR(88-108MHz), very useful.

[@LakeNipissing]

18:02. . . If that Sony was picking up Power 106 from Los Angeles out where you are.... wow. Incidentally at 18:16 the sound from the Sony speaker, picked up by your camera's microphone and then played back through my computer speakers was amazing! It was like a stereo system was playing in here! With the insane number of features, does the Malachit SDR have C-QUAM Stereo for AM ? Can the bandwidth be adjusted for super-wideband AM reception (for music) ? Really cool device!!

[@v12alpine]

doubt it has stereo AM but yes you can increase the bandwidth as high as you want. Makes AM sound like hi-fi with a strong signal.

[@Mr1966canuck]

I like the 73 in CW on power down.

[@wilstjb3122]

Hottest radio of this type I've owned is a DX-440. I have a couple of RTL-SDR's. A real one and a fake. The local radio station swamps the front end on both, but after sundown they work OK on a tuned 20mtr dipole.

[@jhallenworld]

I got another variant of these Malachit-SDRs a year ago from Amazon, but already the battery charger died (it won't charge, but it will if I connect a power supply directly to the lithium-ion battery pack) and the rotary selector knob was always "jumpy"- meaning the software can't keep up with the quadrature encoder or something, which makes it unpleasant to use. It looks like yours doesn't have this jumping problem. What I do like about it is the metal case and the STM32+touch screen. I want them for my own projects..

[@godfreypoon5148]

Friday: Radio Saturday: TV Sunday must, of course, be a Phono Nut.

[@volvo09]

You should totally accept a free radio and compare it to some of your old repairs and resurrections (like a few of those desert dump sets that look horrible 😆)

[@kennynvake4hve584]

I have that Sony and it rocks...I live on long island and it's wall to wall signals...

[@johnyetman3179]

I want to see a full video on that sdr. But even more impressive is the fact that that Sony still blows it away.

[@jeffscomp]

The Sony is awesome to have that much power.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

I paused this to look up what SDR was, then when I resumed, you said what it was. lol.

[@bluemetal04606]

I have a cheap SDR for my computer, and works well. I would rather have something like yours though, no computer or phone required.

[@Rev22-21]

I've been thinking .....maybe a SDR is something I should invest in. Here's hoping it won't wind up in a drawer when the new wears off.

[@ivok9846]

novelty of radio or radio-receiver?

[@zx8401ztv]

The sony is the dogs bollocks!. Maybe you can wire up a ferrite rod antenna via the small pick up coil to case and telescopic. Dont forget the variable 300pf tuning cap across the main coil.

[@Ka9radio_Mobile9]

I listen to Web SDR on my PC out of Oregon, and no antenna need. Donate to these folks Please. Very nice SDR radio for sure! :-)

[@OldSonyMan]

My new tradition, Don't buy anything Friday !

[@texhow1]

Up the RF Gain before enableing the pre-amp for best performance, I normally use 20 as a bases,

[@josephtome9600]

Echo effect not to be confused with skip echo caused by the difference in delay as the signal travels around the earth on two different paths.

[@waltschannel7465]

I remember these now as PCI cards for Windows 2000 computers in the early 2000s. Never saw a stand alone one before.

[@ivok9846]

no, those were tv/radio cards, not sdr

[@stirlingschmidt6325]

NICE! I assume it's a setting, but my OCD is getting the best of me - why, on the malahit, are the frequency markers at odd numbers? The marker is at 1066 when you're tuned to 1070?

[@bigliftm]

try 40 and 20 meter ham band would like to see how that performs on usb / lsb . 73s from PD0ROH. PS. Use an endfed long wire antenna on it.

[@tedbell4416]

Door buster sales on Shango take my money

[@QUADBOYification]

These SDR units are incredible, still find settings i did not know about. Especially EQ and Low/high frequency filters. You can make a filter as narrow as few Herz. Not that you want to use it but it works. Noise reduction for removing background Hiss, what analog radio has that?

[@outaspaceman]

Wonder if I could get a 3U version for the Modular Synth…? 🤔 (It wouldn’t need speakers)

[@johnathanstevens8436]

I have the little USB SDR but only a small dipole antenna. Not big enough to pick up CB.

[@TzOk]

They couldn't decide whether to call this Malahit or Malachit ;)

[@directdeliveryexpressinc.4818]

very cool... in a myriad of ways.

[@karlament6939]

That thing is cool 😎

[@SlinkyStoney]

I'm eyeing on that sdr thing but I ended on those cheap usb sdr dongle thing and a retekess v115.. Works ok though.

[@noakeswalker]

Sony always seemed to make sensitive radios - that one in the vid looks late 60s or early 70s ? SDR has crept up behind us and sort of changed the face of radio reception, hasn't it ? Not long ago it used to need a rack of expensive gear to show a spectrum like that, now it's in your hand for not much money at all. Fantastic. I do prefer the waterfall display personally, and I expect you can swap the display to just show that ? A whole video on that SDR would get my attention as much as anything else you show.

[@rubusroo68]

Malahit SDR Radio seems to vary in price from $200 to $80. I want one, it looks fun

[@volvo09]

Sounds like the cheapos are fakes.

[@BillyLapTop]

Currently HRO has a Black Friday special for the SDR Play 1a at 100 bucks. I have two of them and I use their software and it looks great on a 32" FHD display and the audio is superb through the attached soundbar. The other one I use on a laptop out in the field using an MLA 30 loop you can get in Ebay, Fabulous devices.

[@defaultuserid1559]

The SDR is neat but the old Sony multi-band receivers are still the best. Still on the lookout for the model you have in this video.

[@SarahRWilson]

That wasn't WWV you were getting at home on 10MHz, it was WWVH. WWV IDs with a male voice, WWVH IDs with a female voice. Cute how the SDR says "73" at power down. Receivers like that really need a good antenna system to perform well at lower frequencies. Car radios do it with a high impedance front end. A car antenna is like a piezoelectric transducer, both can be modeled as a generator in series with a capacitance. Anyways, great video. Dad had a Zenith like your Royal 810.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

That’s a new kind of radio 📻 you’re working with. I like 👍 it. Your friend, Jeff.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

That’s a TWO speaker 🔊 radio 📻. Just saw 🪚 it. I also like 👍 the collection of your other radios 📻. Your friend, Jeff.

[@nowheremanjk8624]

so cool sokol ;}

[@N4BUT]

Been thinking about buying one

[@martinryan5069]

Buy one excellent

[@N4BUT]

@@martinryan5069 I need to find a link to an authentic one.

[@martinryan5069]

Buy the Chinese v3 model about 200 dollars super radio

[@Jflux69]

Cool radio

[@OverUnity7734]

Surprised a radio guy like yourself hasn't heard of the SDR's, they were all over the place about 7 years ago when I got the SDR dongal for my computer . People have made decoders so you can track airplanes, read data from power and water meters, and more .

[@greggaieck4119]

Your sdr radio is kool

[@greggaieck4119]

Shangoo66 I am watching now on my cellphone and I subcbried

[@GeeWillikersMan]

SDR is good stuff. I like to use it to decode POCSAG pagers and get into other things I shouldn't be in.

[@arthureverett8220]

Have you done a review on internet radios? I have an internet radio but don’t know how to use it. I can use it where there is free wi fi

[@timmygilbert1371]

Some good noises for your telemarketers . lmao !

[@markanderson350]

It's obvious the best radios win by good design and a decent loop antenna that the side lack. Maybe someone could design a multi tap ferrite antenna with varactor tuning and electronic switching of taps and integrate it to a sdr. For now it's more a tool like a spectrum analyzer. Long live analogue design.

[@ValentinoDante]

I know this is a bit of a longshot but can anyone help me find schematics for a midland model no. 15-170 portable black and white tv/radio

[@dktr2]

You must try what hot on FM is Sony XDR-F1

[@k4vms]

Where did you purchase this radio, what was the site ? I’m interested in purchasing one. Do you know what OS it’s running or is it a proprietary OS ? Thanks Ricky from IBM, Ret K4VMS Like the water Fall

[@arthureverett8220]

What is the make and model number on your SDR radio? I want to get one. Does it have an external speaker jack? I want to connect my cathedral radio external speaker to it

[@Oni64]

does this pickup OP25 Phase 2 Police frequencies?

[@violentsense]

Just for the note. Malachite SDR developed by Russians, hardware and software. Original receiver looks different, so you bought an expensive chinese knockoff.

[@eddiejones.redvees]

Definitely a boys toy radio hours of fun

[@Robert-Wilson]

If you can how about a link to that nice SDR so we can be sure to get the real one and note the fake one that has hacked firmware in it that don’t work right.

[@arthureverett8220]

Can it pick up Lady Mermaid on CB band?

[@scottsanders9498]

Wow. I really should keep up with current technology. I just "wasted" $150 buying an old AOR-3000A wideband receiver/scanner. That was a 100kHz - 2036 MHz receiver from the 1990s. I've seen this stuff out of China, but after fooling with SDR dongles and being disappointed with the sensitivity, I figured these things were using similar front-ends with similar poor results.