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Glad you like it.

@@RSears I bought the new version Qodosen DX-286 but it's long journey to Egypt and will take sometime to arrive.

Getting the job done is what matters. If you are picking up signals, then that's good. I got the PL-880 used (half price new). The SR-286 cost more than that, but with the right antenna and location it digs up AM and FM signals way better than the 880. However, I'd rather listen to the PL-880 any time. What can you do?

Home brew is perhaps some of the most fun part of SWL.

Fun. If you can try these radios with these new chips, you might find a new exemplar for best FM reception. With a wire up a tree, this radio wipes the floor with my Tecsum PL-880 for FM reception. See my ruclips.net/video/zB0jFiFzFcQ/видео.html

glad you liked it

Excellent. Glad you liked it. Thanks!

Yes it is. Income tax return, sale, and hopes of getting my license in June or July. In the RAC class now :) I quite like how it can be used for SWL and ham.

@@RSears ... a great radio. I have the 7300 and they are very similar. I just do not go out enough to replace my Yaesu FT-891 (which I got used and a great deal). Congrats on the class.

Thanks 🙂

It ain't perfect, for sure, but it is not too much to pay for the AM and FM capabilities it has. It is one of the best, FM especially. Here is me finding 48 stations, where, in my area, with the PL-880, 14 is normal: ruclips.net/video/zB0jFiFzFcQ/видео.html And, of course, absolutely no one should look for the air band or SSB from a radio that doesn't have it.

Thank you Giuseppe! I just need the fabulous view from your balcony :) 73

@@RSearsCiao dear friend, And I am fascinated by your country, Canada, by the immense spaces and forests... I live in a small town in central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, Formia, and I have been retired for about 6 years... I've been listening to the radio practically since I was 6 years old... I lived on the island of Ponza, my grandmother had a Telefunken Domino near my bed that every night I was curious to listen to in the dark the distant voices... her magic green eye it lit up my room, a magical atmosphere that I will never forget... I've never stopped listening since then... I wish you the best and pray for me... 73 from Italy.

I gotta say I quick enjoy the smaller kit, and when they are mutually supporting, even better.

Excellent. I have found the noise reduction a very subtle, but effective way of shaving off some of the more irritating noise. Yes, it makes listening way easier long term. And on headphones small improvements can be bigger than one might expect.

Thanks! Fixed. Typos, they happen.

And v cool that you were a "local." I so enjoyed finding it. It was the most piled up QSO I've heard. I listened to it for quite a while. And I thought there may be other connections in the recording than radio stuff. And there was! Thanks for taking the time to pass alone the erratum.

@@RSears I wished I had dad’s radio as it picks up worldwide. Dad passed and my mother sold in a darn yard sale . It was from Berlin when we were posted in France

That is a hard way to lose connection with it. In my opinion, if the itch is worth scratching, then finding a "replacement" (or functional equivalent) can work wonders. Just saying.

@@RSears i haven't found anything yet comparable. 4 dials on it .

Giuseppe, thanks for checking out my channel! And thank you; I'm honored you like what I'm doing. I hope one day to have a prolific "junk drawer" like yours, so I can try out all your antennas, loops and mobile ferrite antennas.... I’m not a technician either, just a simple, passionate listener and [one day a] qrp’er -- if you don't mind me borrowing your self-description :) 73

@@RSears My pleasure to be able to help you but from what I see you are already very passionate... everything I build, I do only for my passion for listening and being out in the open air... I only use recycled material for my "unlikely" antennas but they help reception a lot, even the most extreme ones, as I like... I hope I can still have many contacts with you... see you next time then... I subscribed to your channel. 73 and enjoy listening. Giuseppe.

For sure. Value propositions are yours to make! I make no recommendations on anyone's use of their money. It is a wonderful thing that Airspy HF+ Discoverys exist at $200! Thanks for watching and commenting. For myself, I love not being tied to an office chair and a PC. Alternatively, I just don't want to have to buy a laptop that can handle the 50% duty cycle software and have a bright enough screen just to go outside. Although Framework is finally doing laptops right, frame.work/

I still want to check the impact of good antenna grounding for picking up the navi beacons. And I could while away some time on a road show logging the beacons in AB I can't get from here. Lots to explore ;) Blog or Die put out some trials on navi beacons and grounding, using his PL-990 (which can use the ext ant for MW/LW).

@@RSears .. I tried the 320 kHz beacon. Nothing, just way too much noise here.

That's frustrating. QRM is bad ;)

I'm glad the bhi was redeemed, somewhat. I have a flat coax (through-jamb) cable, but I haven't settled down into a single room, nor have I settled on what I think is a sufficient antenna.

@@RSears .. ok. Way cheaper than the Comet / Diamond ones, Amazon has type N ones at like 1/3rd the cost and are the same otherwise. I use them for ADS_B where type N may be desired vs UHF. Maybe cause I am a warm weather guy, I just cringe when I see it is outside, but at least it is not super freezing now.

Thanks :)

I've never done a tour. I am a bit miffed at the city for putting up that tacky sign right in the way of any photos or videos of the lure. It is not very alluring.

Radio is not everyone's thing.

It is pretty impressive on FM and AM.

The SR-286 is a nice little rig. And I has some flaws, for sure. I experienced something like you mention. I was on 75m (3985 kHz) atop the Knob chair in Marmot Basin, Jasper and I swear that I was picking up CB traffic. I didn't have my scanner with so I couldn't confirm. I think it would be nice if the clock could keep time. My SR-286 just can't seem to manage it. And FWIW, I got my PL-880 second hand; it was cheaper than the SR-286! :)

It was obviously a fabulous location for an azimuth of 180°! They were so clear. A bit discouraging to hear the elmer flexing on 100 W, as if it were merely qrp.

​@@RSears .. I have never gone over 100 watts. The QRP get my respect.

What kind of antenna are you using?

For this recording I was using a 25' random wire (up a 7m fishing pole).

Thanks. Yes, it has some very impressive performance.

The April 1 recording was around 04:10 UTC. I might have forgot to pop that one in. The April 2 videos were between 02:08 and 02:30 UTC.

Thanks. I didn't notice any real difference in reception. It all seemed to come down to output, which made me think the PL-880 might have the edge in reception. It definately won the listening enjoyment IRL, though I have to say that the recording (that is the deterioration of the audio in the recording and the accentuation of the noise in the playback) helps make the SR-286 sound better!

Yes; but this particular train was heading to the Keyera plant in Rimby to pick up LNG, you know that stuff for which people who know know there is no international market - lol. Did you know that the Hoadley Subdivision used to go all the way to Leduc?

@@RSears .. I won't get into it here. But yes.

True. You don't even need to hit AM, but it then takes a second.

It does feel a bit more like a car radio on FM. No surprise, obviously. I do sometimes get muted stations with high values of dBm and S/N. I don't know what's going on then. Then the stations drop away after moving off the station and back around. They could have made the clock keep time though XD.

I was obviously on the edge of the conditions. I ran the scan a number of times and got different, but equally impressive numbers. Recorded only once though. No doubt location is a boon. Being that bit closer to Calgary opens up a number of weaker stations to me on a good day. I love picking up the gentle souls. 94.5 kicks out 800W from Rocky Mountain House. With the terrain I am always pleased to hear it. It comes in weak in the car on the 2, but often more clearly on the portables (with a WUT or long wire).

That's something I can't test. No incredibly strong signals around here. Weak signals, yes. But being between Edmonton and Calgary I have the benefit of (sometimes) picking them both up.

For this catch I used a 25' vertical long wire antenna with 8' counterpoise. I picked up a lot more navigational beacons than on the whip or even the 23' WUT. I aim to try a few others when the weather makes up its mind that it is Spring.

It has soft muting. On auto (scan) it goes deaf. On 10Hz or 1Hz tuning changes the radio mutes as well, but only momentarily.

@@RSears thanks for taking the time to reply!

I hope it fetches some new stations and signals.

@@RSears I definitely do too…😀!

Thanks. When the weather warms, I'll try other antenna and grounding ideas.

That's the theory. West of my recording location is a lot of Rockies. I don't think the whip would have picked up much more. Anyways, I wasn't going to bootpack it up to the toppity top. I'd be more inclined to throw up a WUT or EFHW antenna. But I didn't even do that. I just wanted to see what the whip could achieve.

True, I got that far, but why did they sound like 1,000 W CBers from the southern US that we normally hear all over 26.965 to 27.405 MHz? These were not hams or they certainly were not following ham protocols. Their handles were pure CB: Mr. Audio; and UFO Killer. Were they transmitting on 3985 or was there some kind of band crossover, like strong station AM breaking through on LW? I found that on the SR-286 when I listened for LW navi beacons. Thats my question.

You are welcome. I love the mountains; I'm glad you could enjoy them vicariously. And it was actually 8 C (46 F)! It felt rather balmy ;) I really should have brought my fancy hiking chair (Helinox Zero) and stuck it in the snow. The rock I posted up on was sufferable only so long.

Greetings Utah. Excellent. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I thought it would be something a little different and I needed a break from skiing anyways. So I found a rock near the top of the new Knob Chair and sat down. Great to pick up the 5 new FM stations. It was interesting to see that I could only pick up two from the hotel. I loved the Godfather summary from the Spanish channel. And catching station identification was a plus. And the movies in the Rockies was an interesting segment too.

@@RSears Good stuff. BTW, my mother was born in Cardston and I have lots of relatives in Lethbridge and Foremost. I need to get up that way soon, I haven't been since the covid epidemic. Cheers from Utah.

I've tried in a number of situations. No appreciable effect on my unit. I have heard there are others where the display is a PITA for noise.

Thanks. I was getting a bit chilled. I actually couldn't control the radio with my gloves on. However, I was using the external antenna (with XHDATA AN-80 reel antenna up a 7m goture) and not the internal ferrite. But you are right, I can pick up KFI. I just went out on a lark before being shut indoors for a few more weeks. Something about ground dwelling critters and their shadows 😊 I dunno, too complicated for me.

@@RSears I understand when I was in US Navy crossing the North Atlantic Ocean…3 weeks stuck inside…🫨! I forgot to mention the only Canadian Station that I normally can pick-up is 1010 KHZ CBC 1 out Calgary ONT. When the weather warms up I am going to try for CKLW 800KHZ since there is not a strong signal from any station on the frequency. Your video convinced me to order the “Q” next month just in time for the nice evening DX sessions. 73!

Oh my: three weeks in a can on the ocean sounds a bit like torture to me :( Well, I hope you have good fun with it. I love the ultralight format. You can take it anywhere! Yes, I can't wait for the nice weather. We just got a few more inches of snow last night. So, one might say, we are stuck in a wooden box for a couple weeks ;) I think that if we are talking about CBC Radio One on 1010 kHz, then I think it can only be in AB (Alberta).

Thanks for commenting. There is a wide range between preferences, but there is also a fair range in playback gear, especially headphones. My cans of choice: Ollo Audio S5X, Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire, Sennheiser HD 6XX. For how good the Senns are they simply can't reproduce the bass like the first two. The treble and air ranges are also different. But these three have some of the most neutral timbre imo -- for midrange cans

I don't have any really high quality cans anymore. Listen via iPhone with Sony WH-1000XM3, which are decent, but I recently bought some Koss KPH30i specifically to hear FM broadcast on my portables. They are amazing for $30. I also found Earfun UBoom L speakers that make the SR-286 sound huge, and again - better than the PL-880 to me. I'll take a look at those you mention.@@RSears

I have a pair of those Koss headphones. They are great for the money. The real world drawback of mid- to high-end gear is that it can suck you down the rabbit hole.

Yessir. A great old radio. Love it.

There is so much hype around the SR-286 I thought a little reality check wouldn't hurt. But you are right, for most ultralight radio this level of performance won't be a big factor. Yes, I'd suspect (but don't know) that the 990 would be good. I like the 990s (and the 330s) ability to bypass the internal ferrite and whip antennas on all bands. That is the bestest feature of the SR-286. It can really change the range of a radio having a good antenna.

That I will. It was my first go. I reckon if I tweak my antenna set it, it will catch more. We'll see. Here is a pdf document with 82 pages of navi beacons: www.uscglightshipsailors.org/hear/LF-MF_Radionavigation_Stations.pdf

@@RSears The RDF beacons I used to chase are long decomissioned. At least those in the Caribbean. There are others around the world. But the system generally was rendered obsolete by GPS.

@b3j8 That is a bummer. I have been interested in the required antenna and/or grounding to pick the beacons around here.

@@RSears Yeah it's still alot of fun to log the aero beacons. Esp those up in Canada which are higher powered. There should be afew sellers out there that still sell loops or ferrite types that will cover the LW/MW bands. I made my own loop yrs back that worked well. If you haven't done so, put in a minimum 8' ground rod outside close to your listening rm. I have 4. But I'm also a ham.

In 2017 the non-descript company name "1811258 Alberta Ltd." was issued a broadcasting licence to operate what the CRTC called "an ethnic commercial AM radio station in Edmonton." It has been on air at 10kW since 2020. They call themselves "Alberta’s Largest Ranged Ethnic Radio Station." They aim to have broadcasters who can "communicate in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Filipino." Here's their web site: www.myradio580.com/

@@RSearsThank you for the time you spent for me and the details.

@@RSearsI checked the website and really wondered theres a Lady from Kerala ( my state in India ) Thank you for the info.

Awesome. Thanks for following up.