Updating the LiJiANi Rd239 radio firmware

I bought my LiJiANi Rd239 in November of 2023, with Version 2.8 firmware. Prior to November, the radios had V2.7, and now in December, I’ve learned it’s 2.9!

I emailed the address in the user guide and they sent me the 2.9 release notes and firmware update with this warning:

Be careful when upgrading. If you cannot completely copy the upgrade file to the RD239, the radio may become bricked. There have been two cases. Please test the TF card before upgrading to ensure that the TF card is intact.

I plugged a 16G card into my computer and ran the check disk utility, then following the instructions provided in email:

1. The firmware update was compressed in a .rar file, a file that Windows 11 can handle. The uncompressed file is RD-239.upd. I copied that to the root directory of my micro SD card and verified the file size on the card equaled the uncompressed file size on my computer. There were a few other files on the card.
2. I used Windows Eject on the card to make sure it was ready to be umounted.
3. With the radio off I installed the card in the radio, making sure it was fully inserted and stable.
4. The radio was turned on, and the MODE button pressed to play files.
5. The radio displayed uPd for about 4 seconds, blinked, and displayed uPd briefly again. The radio then displayed the clock and turned off.

And that worked. Now, for example, one can set the duration that the backlight stays on between 5 and 20 seconds.

I turned pressed the MODE button again later without realizing that the firmware update file was still on the TF card. Nothing happened. I assume that the radio checked the update version and determined that it was already installed.

Here are the V2.9 release notes:

Update (no pun intended)

LiJiANi customer support sent me firmware Version 3.0 this morning (December 19) that includes one feature that I asked for, 100 kHz stepping on FM. Yea! Installation went smoothly. The software archive included an updated Version 3.0 manual that says: