So I have the thing. What can I do with it?
I’m getting the impression that this is a tinkerers radio designed for ham radio operators primarily.
Thanks to a video from Fred in the Shed on the ATS Max Decoder II, it’s starting to make sense. My radio and the II variety are running the same firmware, 4.17 Beta, and it appears that things in my user interface reference features solely available in the II model, specifically the low-noise amplifier (LNA). the high-impedance antenna input (HIZ) and Bluetooth.
Here’s a close-up from the middle of the screen above:
The BT, LOCK, LNA, HIZ block brings up a secondary screen where each of these has a button that does nothing, except LOCK that just locks all the controls. Immediately to the right is the inverted triangular image that is toggles Wi-Fi on and off.
Many bits on the screens hide controls, for example there is little label to indicate when listening to FM stereo or monaural. Tapping it disables stereo.
Navigation
The user interface makes sense after a while. The top illustration is the “Home screen” that you see after the radio boots. In the bottom right corner is the NEXT button that shows the second page of the home screen. Those two pages let you navigate to pages that do most of the work. On that second page is a SETUP button where one can make settings like ITU Region, whether to use RDS time, set up Wi-Fi, time format and language. The big knob, the encoder, has many functions, including moving through the option pages, scrolling through lists, setting the squelch, tuning, and of course setting the volume. The options make sense to me. One page confirms that the LNA and HIZ options aren’t operable.
When exiting the SETUP section after changing something, an option is given to save changes made. Also the last setup page also gives that option.
The other trove of information is under the INFO button on page 2 of the Home screen, which leads to many pages of nitty gritty details, including the date of manufacture (mine in October of 2023). Use the encoder wheel to scroll through the pages. If Wi-Fi is connected, there is a page that presents a ham radio propagation report.
Wi-Fi
Enable Wi-Fi on the home screen (select the upside down triangle antenna icon) and deep within the options pages is the “Select AP” button. Click that for a list of your Wi-Fi networks. Pick one and enter the password. When I tried this the first time, the radio did now show any networks and froze. I had to power it off to regain control. The second time it worked. I was surprised at how many networks it found! The network currently in use has green text (not shown in photo).
Use the encoder knob to scroll through the choices and the SET or DEL button at the bottom to select or remove.
The radio doesn’t seem to have a clock that runs when it’s turned off. When Wi-Fi is enabled, the radio gets the time from the internet; otherwise, it gets time from an FM station with RDS if you’re lucky enough to have a station that includes it accurately and in the correct time zone. It took about a minute for the time to display from Wi-Fi. The time seems to be only UTC.
The Bug
I’ve been a beta tester of things for a very long time and my 4.17 firmware is labeled “Beta.” It is my nature to find a bug, and I found it. Interestingly, it’s the same bug with FM tuning I found in the original Qodosen SR-286 (fixed in the DX-286).
The ATS25 has a setting for ITU region. ITU region defines things like MW channel spacing and RDS format. I set the radio to ITU Region 2 (the Americas) and when I did that, the radio set the FM channel spacing to 200 kHz. That’s very convenient for us in the US that have FM radio stations separated by 200 kHz — only the ATS lands on the wrong frequencies. No matter what frequency is tuned, advancing the decoder tunes the radio to an even multiple of 200 kHz, and that’s not where FM stations are here. They are on odd multiples. So instead of 98.0, 98.2 and 98.4, the actual stations are 98.1, 98.3 and 98.5 MHz.
The workaround is to manually set the channel spacing to 100 kHz, which includes the right frequencies, but that setting only lasts as long as the radio remains turned on and, reverts to 200 kHz with the next use.
There is a configuration option: “save step for individual band,” but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
Form Factor
I find this radio awkward to use.
I’m right handed, so I would normally hold a radio in my left hand and operate the controls with my right. I find that uncomfortable to hold and with the stylus in my right hand, the encoder knob makes it difficult to get at the right-side buttons.
If I put the radio on my desk, use of the stylus is awkward, particularly to reach the buttons on the bottom. Also the encoder knob is too close to the desktop.
I’m thinking that the optimum solution is some sort of custom desk stand. I was not at all surprised to see such things for sale online.
Operating the radio pretty much requires a stylus, as some things are just too small for a fingertip. One definite downside is that there no place to store the included stylus — maybe use a tacky piece of Velcro?
Todo List
- Midday MW / FM band scan. This requires waiting for the snow to melt.
- Decode CW.
- Test SSB.
- Test with a long-wire antenna.
- Test with MLA-30+ antenna (BNC to SMA adapter is supposed to arrive tomorrow)
- Compare shortwave performance with a list of other radios.