Tag Archives: shortwave radio

Tecsun PL-330 or Qodosen SR-286?

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Kevin

Update Since this article was originally written, Qodosen introduced a mass market version of their radio, the DX-286. The DX-286 and the SR-286 are physically identical, only with differences in firmware, documentation, packaging and price. Introduction The Tecsun PL-330 is … Continue reading →

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RDS / RBDS: FM on Display

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Kevin

Update: Since originally writing this article, I’ve added an ATS25 max-Decoder with RDS. I’ll add its features to the table. The Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS), as it is called in the North America, or simply RDS in the rest … Continue reading →

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Thunderous Clash of the Weather Radios

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Kevin

Weather radios are an interesting genre of radio. Some of them are specifically designed as emergency radios and some are general coverage radios with a weather feature added. I seem to have accumulated 8 weather radios. Here’s the photo array: … Continue reading →

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Before the battle: iRonsnow IR-688.

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Kevin

I have a new radio this week, an iRonsnow IR-688 emergency radio. I bought it on sale for $34.99 from Amazon, not to collect or to test, but to sit in the window and get weather alerts. It did arrive, … Continue reading →

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Qodosen SR-286 Tuning Tutorial

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Kevin

I’ve never seen a radio with more tuning modes than the Qodosen SR-286. I thought it might be worth the time to go through everything related to the topic in a tutorial. Broadly speaking there are 5 areas in tuning: … Continue reading →

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Qodosen SR-286 Update

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Kevin

It’s been a few weeks now with the Qodosen SR-286 receiver. This is a status report. I have over 30 shortwave receivers, some pretty good ones. I find myself using the SR-286 almost all of the time. The only exceptions … Continue reading →

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The Burning Question: is the Qodosen SR-286 worth it?

Posted on February 25, 2024 by Kevin

Introduction The Qodosen SR-286 set me back $129 US, a price tag that made me pause before purchasing. I wasn’t buying a radio on a whim. What drew me in was its novelty and the promise of improved performance compared … Continue reading →

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