Retekess TR614 AM FM Shortwave Radio Review

[@retekessradio1714]

Mr. Todderbert is even playing the role of the spokesperson for our Retekess new product Releases. thank you very much.

[@retekessradio1714]

I am very happy to receive the video evaluation from my dear todderbert at the first time. Our Retekess TR614 is our newly developed radio with a simple and beautiful appearance. Our first shipment was sold at a cost price of US$27.99. It is for our brand fan customers and other KZbinr fans. The first batch of goods arrived at Amazon warehouse 250 units, the price of this batch of goods will be increased to 35.99 US dollars. So please don’t miss the current discounted price of US$27.99

[@tonyjones9442]

Is it available in the UK?

[@radiorexandy]

A lot of bang for the buck! Considering what we had when I was growing up in the 1950s Not bad at all.

[@alvinmorris5404]

Does it tell our real age if we remember when radios were more than black boxes with push buttons and a led dial? 🤔 I'm going to get one of these.

[@jeffking291]

@@alvinmorris5404 It tells our age❗️ My truck has crank windows. A teen got in and had to ask where the window button was. When I told him to crank the handle, he looked at me like I was crazy. 📻🤣

[@ArndroidInc]

I think I’m growing to like Retekess. I enjoyed your video my dear todderbert. Keep up the good work.

[@todderbert]

Thanks Arnold. Lots of cool reviews in the works.

[@samsum3738]

Nice looking radio . A very good price and rechargable battery .Also , the wood surround effect adds a touch of class .

[@fixman88]

That reminds me a little of the Magnavox 'Cordless Portable' AM radio I had YEARS ago. It was a bigger and I think it was made in 1963 or '64. It had an oddball 9 volt battery pack that when I took it apart actually had a row of regular 9 volt batteries wired together in parallel!

[@mozilla2576]

Bought this one on your recommendation a year ago.....couldn't be happier. It's my go-to radio for relaxing in the lawn chair or at my desk listening to local college sports. It works very well and the antenna is quite long too. Thanks for the great review!

[@todderbert]

I use mine daily...so much so that I leave the micro usb charging cable attached to the radio, just disconnected from the charger..note that it does affect FM reception..in a good way. Acts sorta like a dipole. Interesting stuff.

[@cmvb69]

Best sounding radio i have and i own a few, great review, highly recommend

[@AMFMDX]

This might be a purchase. What a cool radio.

[@jeffking291]

TO: RETEKESS, This looks like a great radio. Keep it up. 👍 (( Looks like you are moving from a company that people WANT to like, to a company people DO LIKE. - This is great. People [ especially the US market] don’t want junk❗️. A radio company gets a reputation pretty quick.)). The only thing I see “wrong “ with this radio, is the limited SW band. [ can’t really use it at night- when most of the broadcasting is ,in the US. I may have to get one of these. 📻🙂

[@cadesmith4278]

Not sure if you'll see this post since it's an older video, but over the weekend I opened it up and hot glued a 3-5V LED inside above the top center of the dial and I now have a lighted dial on this radio! It's so cool. Bad news--I hadn't figured out how to include it in the on/off pot, so I simply hot wired it to the battery terminals inside the cabinet. For now, I have to remove the battery when not using it, which is no big deal.

[@todderbert]

Maybe you can add a dedicated switch for the LED to turn it on and off on demand.

[@gmorgan1118]

Very nice radio, respectable performance on AM. This one is on my purchase list.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

You sure come ☝ up with some of the BEST 📻 radios for 2020. I was a radio buying buff, back in 2000. I had one problem, though. It wasn't the price of the 📻 radio's, or the quality. I 👍 liked to take them apart to get the speaker magnet. A lot of these were decent 📻 Radio Shack 📻 radios. Right now, those very 📻 radios are considered vintage. I 👍 liked the table 📻 radios best. One even had TV Sound, and the other had weather, of course, with our favorite standby, AM, and FM. Both had a 👍 GREAT SOUNDING 4 inch speaker, and a jet-black speaker grille, ✋ handsomely complimented it.

[@Seekthetruth3000]

Great review. I wish it had a tone knob and a dial light that could be turned on and off.

[@chrisswank8779]

I got this one when it was twelve bucks on Amazon. One of my favorites, for the sound as well as being able to pull in weaker FM stations.

[@todderbert]

that was a good deal, I got one at that price as well, and have been using it for the last few weeks.

[@qazimtahir]

I am also still a radio lover.

[@NTPTM]

Hej Todderbert thanks for the video Mmm love the wood look and Retekess TR 613 and Retekess PR 15 is on the way to me. Oh yes me looking on this Retekess TR 14 me also love the retro look. Also gonna buy Katio Ka 390 love the simplicity and handle of the KA 390 + incredibly good fm reception. Retekess PR 15 gonna be nice to have when I'm on the move and Katio 321 is also on my list. I agree with you Todderbert it would have been cool if there had been a light on the tuning display on the Retekess TR 14. Again thanks for all your nice radio reviews and radio tips this year. And tooderbert me also a radio freak but it is a jungle out there and, you have helped me and saved me a number of times for bad radio devices not to buy. Tecsun PL 330 is also a candy radio but it has a reverse tuning bug on the Chinese version so wait until it comes out on the production line take care happy new year.

[@alvinmorris5404]

Waiting for those daytime bandscans!👍😊

[@normanhill535]

Meant for international use, as indicated by symbols of instruction book. AM or MW worldwide is 531-1611 khz, numbers add up to 9 and are 9 khz spaced.

[@DriveInFreak]

Is there room to put a longer ferrite bar in it, and is the AM coil on it's own (paper, ect.) coilform, or wound directly onto the bar? Retekess, if you're out there, and see this: Please, please, PLEASE disable the AM muting ("soft mute") on the chips in all of your future radios. It's sort of understandable why it was implemented, but it's much more of a detrimental bug than a feature as it makes stations that could otherwise be listenable unlistenable. If that's too much to ask; could you please let those of us with a bit of tech know-how how to disable it. Thanks in advance.

[@todderbert]

There actually is quite a bit of room to work inside the radio. The antenna is a simple coil wound ferrite bar, on thin rectangular stock.

[@DriveInFreak]

@@todderbert Thank you. I have a hunch that she could do well on AM with a bigger rod. Is the coil wound directly on the ferrite bar, or on something around it, thus it can be slipped off of the original and slid onto another one? I ask because I don't have to gear to read the µH of the original, thus can't wind another coil to replace it. Besides: I can't see well enough anymore to solder such thin wires to the board, anyway. That annoying soft mute can be overridden with the brute force of a stronger signal blasting though via a stronger AM antenna (in the same way that your tuned outboard inductively coupled "loops" do).

[@DriveInFreak]

Not to keep going on and on, but: Would you be interested in seeing a (probably not great video quality) video about how AM radio works including things like everything in the booth, the broadcast tower, and everything in-between and what they do? I see how much you love the receivers, so I'll gladly give you a look and explanation of the other end of if it, if you'd like.

[@todderbert]

@@DriveInFreak it is wrapped directly around the ferrite rod.

[@alvinmorris5404]

@@DriveInFreak I think many of us todderbert fans would benefit from a little extra knowledge on commercial radio stations and broadcast technology,equipment. 😊👍

[@freshweezyboy1733]

Any way I can contact you or send pictures. I found this old radio but can’t seem to find it online

[@todderbert]

My contact form on www.radiowavesbytodderbert.com

[@freshweezyboy1733]

@@todderbert I sent you picture on the DM on Instagram

[@jimhansen1245]

just got it, I love it

[@jtinalexandria]

Nice looking radio, well designed but bizarre that it doesn't come with the shortwave 49 meter band.

[@Seekthetruth3000]

As always a great review. I wish this radio had a tone knob and a dial light that could be turned on and off. The position of the tuning knob makes no sense to me. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all.

[@todderbert]

They used a really dial string to move the indicator. The top tuning knob actually reduces the amount of turns the dial string has to make internally.

[@mohammedfaisal3786]

Please Todd, can you say the ferrite antenna size of this radio?

[@martinbucha]

great review and beautiful radio, now if you had to choose between this retekess tr614 radio and the Panasonic rf562d .... which of these two would you recommend?

[@todderbert]

If you can get the Panasonic in the original All Analog version, I would go with that, if not then I would pick the TR614.

[@martinbucha]

@@todderbert I love old styled analog radios, I currently have the tecsun 9700dx, which is more modern but does not lose its charm. Thank you very much for the answers. Greetings from Argentina.

[@jeffking291]

Great review. I would love to have a decent radio like this. 📻🙂

[@radiorexandy]

As long as you took it apart you should have taken pictures for us techno-curious folks out here :-)

[@normanhill535]

Shortwave metre bands not denoted, 31 25 19 and 16 metres. Could use 75, 60, 49 and 41 metre bands, 3.9-7.5 Mhz. Oh, chopping noise may be direct conversion in DSP technology, oldest conversion technology known. Overall, nice radio.

[@tonyjones9442]

Nice radio. May get this.

[@jorgecervera1200]

Hi, i'm looking for MW radio to make some mwdx at nights, would you recommend this for that? Now a day I use my pl-606 for that.

[@todderbert]

606 with a passive loop would work well.

[@jorgecervera1200]

@@todderbert thanks

[@DolganoFF]

when are you going to unpack this Ironman card pack?!

[@antonpavlovich3307]

Would you please confirm if it can run just on the charging cable?

[@todderbert]

Yes it will, just know that you will hear buzzing on the MW and SW bands. If the station is strong enough the buzzing isn't so bad. FM works well.

[@prasadasgoa]

Nice radio. BTW what is a protected cell?

[@todderbert]

There are a few varieties of 18650 batteries. Unprotected Flat Top, Unprotected Button Top and Protected Button Top. The protected cell has onboard circuitry to prevent short circuit, over voltage and under voltage. Also the circuit will only allow a certain charge and discharge rate. This is very good in flashlights that don't offer this protection feature. If you drain an 18650 past a certain voltage it can create a dead cell.

[@357bullfrog2]

How do you get the same tunes to play on each and every radio ?

[@todderbert]

C.Crane FM Transmitter 2 hooked up to a MP3 Player, broadcasting on a clear frequency.

[@dheeraj9521]

Sir Todderbert , Which is better in Panasonic 562D or Retekess Tr614 ..

[@todderbert]

Ill take the retekess since the other went DSP as well. This one has a nice rechargeable battery also.

[@normanhill535]

Looks like old Sony TFM 3900 and 6000-6200 radios, only with shortwave.

[@sreetsr]

Sir, what's the size of speaker. 3.5 inch?

[@todderbert]

Three Inch.

[@sreetsr]

@@todderbert Thank you sir

[@sreetsr]

@@todderbert Yes.. I received TR614 , today from banggood :)

[@ksokut4046]

Admin, let me ask Radio Retekess Tr618 and Tr614 which radio is more responsive and sounds better?

[@todderbert]

The 618 has the better speaker audio, but I enjoy tuning this one more.

[@modelsfirst]

Does the dial have a backlight?

[@todderbert]

No, but I mention this in the video and make an appeal to the manufacturer to add that feature. Would really help to sell more units.

[@a.o.mustafa]

Do you recommend owning this radio? What is your evaluation of reception quality? As well as the battery? Thank you

[@todderbert]

Overall, represents a great value. Reception is above average compared to a traditional, inexpensive Analog radio. The battery is good, but is low capacity. If you purchased this radio I would recommend upgrading the battery to a 3000mAh +.

[@a.o.mustafa]

شكراً جزيلاً لك عزيزي❤ هل يتوافق هذا الراديو مع بطارية بسعة ٣٠٠٠؟؟ أرجو أن ترسل لي رابط لشراء بطارية بهذا الحجم، من خلال موقع ebay.. وشكرا

[@a.o.mustafa]

@@todderbert شكراً جزيلاً لك عزيزي❤ هل يتوافق هذا الراديو مع بطارية بسعة ٣٠٠٠؟؟ أرجو أن ترسل لي رابط لشراء بطارية بهذا الحجم، من خلال موقع ebay.. وشكرا

[@todderbert]

@@a.o.mustafa This may work: www.ebay.com/itm/XTAR-3000mAh-Protected-Battery-Rechargeable-3-6V-Li-Ion-Lithium-New/143905133411

[@a.o.mustafa]

@@todderbert This item is no longer available.

[@paulp.6399]

How does this compare to the Sony ICF-19?

[@todderbert]

The Sony has better Speaker Audio because it is a Four inches. Also it has a deeper cabinet. The Sony will also run 400+ Hours on Three D batteries. The TR614 is a slimmer profile, and has a rechargeable battery. Also the TR614 has a daytime Shortwave band. If I had to pick one, I would pick the TR614. It is simple, does a great job on the bands and includes an 18650 battery to get you tuning right away. If I was off the grid, I would take the Sony.

[@paulp.6399]

@@todderbert Thanks for the detailed answer!

[@yambo59]

Wish we could have seen the inside take apart ---

[@todderbert]

I reserve tear down pictures for my supporting Patrons on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/inside-retekess-45712905 only $2 a month for Access to all the Tear downs (166 of them), voting in Polls to guide the channel, and access to my behind the scenes Monthly Newsletter.

[@francescoparisi7544]

backlight?

[@todderbert]

Nope, but I'm sure someone can get savvy enough to add one.

[@diegomaciel1060]

Dsp ?

[@todderbert]

Yes.

[@RssutharJaisalmer]

Nice

[@nolansub]

This or the TR613? Or both........:)

[@amirhamza2681]

Bangladesh