I just recieved my ATS 25X1 3hrs ago and seems to work very well ,been listening to 40mt band so far and all spot on freq.I have been using a BHI NES 10-2 DSP speaker which i use on all my SWR,s and the hash sound goes down to nearly zero.As for picking diff hams and shortwave stations its as good as my RSP1A.If i could only put the small screen on a pc screen it would be super.Will be a good radio to use in the garden with my GA-450 LOOP ANTENNA when it warms up to cold in AUST. just yet.
@@peted7928 The antenna that it comes with is only for Testing FM.I use a MLA 30+ loop antenna on a pole about 10feet high no real need to go Super high with a loop.
@@peted7928 If you can spend the money the Bonito MA305 with optional longer whip is an excellent antenna with low noise compared to a long wire antenna. It's blows me away every time I use it. Needs to be mounted outside around 2 meters off the ground will do use good quality H155 coax and ground it.
I recently received an ATS-25 (not "plus") that I ordered on ebay for about the same price as your link. The firmware claims the same version as shown in your video, but the user interface is different - fewer options, main screen buttons in different placement and a few other differences in the graphics. I've not hunted for firmware updates or source code yet but that's next on my do-list along with disassembly. Thanks for the review. Edit: I just disassembled mine. It's brain is an ESP32-WROOM32, so potential Wifi capability? It's split into 2 boards, one mounted vertically with the LCD, the ESP32, a CH340C (USB) and an XPT2046 touch screen controller. The second board toward the rear and mounted horizontally contains the Si4732 "all band" receiver IC, and audio opamp IC for the speaker and an APA2308 headphone driver.
I bought a tecsun receiver that has that same AGC squawk at the beginning of an ssb transmission. They need to add AGC settings for fast attack like SDR software has.
SSB was an afterthought when they developed this DSP chip, the Malahit DSP 2 is leaps and bounds better and it's SYNC mode works incredibly well too and it's noise blanker. I'm not sure why the ats-25 is using this outdated DSP chip instead of going full SDR ?
Looking at the links to buy, it's so affordable! I have so many transceiver options I wouldn't find a use for one, but for anyone wanting to get into short wave listening it's ideal...the wooshing shooshing sounds are typical of direct conversion Radios I've used in the past..price per unit suggests that these Radios may use that architecture or similar...I can see these Radios being popular for on the go listening..going out to an rf quiet site, stringing up a random long wire and having a tune around. I wonder how visible the screen is in strong sunlight? Excellent video 👍
I had missed the backlight setting! It ia so much better now with the display being more clear. I find that radio pretty nice, expecially for portable applications. It has battery inside and is of decent size and weight. I've not found agc of too much use. Like you, I've not seen the light button doing anything.
I would love to know what the CW filtering is like? Another quick video maybe, or even just your comments. Is the selectivity good enough to sperate out CW signals on a busy weekend band with the 500Hz bandwidth?
I'm surprised the light button doesn't do anything on yours. It dims the display on mine. I'm glad I have the option as 100% is rather bright. Q: what antenna are you using? Nice video. Thanks..
Yeah, I looked for air band on mine on first power up and was immediately disappointed. I think it should have been easy to add the AM detection of the AV band. Edit: Oops, no. Its Si4732 receiver IC doesn't support air band so that's it.
@@burnstudios So do I, and though I live less than 8km from an international airport it's completely deaf on airband. I can receive OK using a bog-standard SDR USB dongle connected to a homebrew 1/2 wave dipole so I know I'm easily within range.
This distortion on the beginning of SSB transmission really is disappointing. I Use SSB a lot both for hams and for AM broadcast stations, it's an essential tool for eliminating noise sources or strong stations that are close by the weaker DX station you're trying to listen to, the Tecsun PL-680 is a great radio for this using ECSS due to it's pure analogue design. The Malahit DSP 2 has no issues like this on SSB and it's got a really great SYNC mode which is as good as using ECSS or better in fact because it gives you full bandwidth compared to using USB/LSB. Tee ATS25 really should be an SDR or at least the next generation because these outdated DSP chips are useless for those that need proper sounding SSB.
I have a problem with my ATS25X1. And that is, the ML and HF no longer work. All there is is hiss. We had a lightning storm and the radio was affected by static electricity. Was using the internal antenna. It was just sitting there on the desk. Then a lightning bolt hit the ground nearby and the radio stopped working. The display, menus, and FM works. I spend 100USD on this thing and now it's worthless. No replacement parts anywhere.
Hello, just viewed your review of the ats25+, I have the ats25x1 and is rubbish I paid £50 for it, the receiver picks up broadcast banks ok but will not pick up ham bands it seems alignment is off, I have tried this against my 897 and does not pick up anything as on all ham bands, I complained to the seller and got my money back now I am stuck with a radio that will not pick up bands that I need, this also puts me off purchasing a replacement from a different seller.
I bought this but was disappointed that is not capable of receiving 2 Meters or even the NOAA weather Radio frequencies .. it is an amazing little radio but is NOT an "all band" radio..
Perhaps mis-spelled beacon? It takes one to a band covering from 280 to 470 kHz. (But as always, this is not limited to fixed bamnds and you can enter any frequency you like, within the limits of what this is capable of ie. no VHF for example)
Simply because all proceeds from YT Members and Patreons go straight into buying more radio gear to feature on the channel. Of course some of it I get for free, but the donations give me a buffer to continuously search for unique items to feature on the channel. Thanks for the question, I appreciate that. 😀
@@TechMindsOfficial That's pretty much what *I* assumed. I've spent maybe $2500 the last 12 months on radios and gadgets, much to my wife's disappointment, and I haven't shared a single video! :)
he Tecsun DSP radios have this wooshing as you describe it at the beginning of an SSB transmission, the PL-880,990x and S-8800 are notoriously bad sounding on SSB with poorly implemented filters and their 4 Khz filters do not work. The Tecsun PL-330 and H501 are the newest receivers with much better sound on SSB due to the filters working properly, the distortion on SSB is reduced but still noticeable. There is a quirk with the H501x firmware, when you turn on SSB the filters sound muddy until you cycle through them with only the AM/BW button. I am nearly sure its a flaw in the design of these DSP chips where SSB was clearly an afterthought, whether firmware can resolve it or not remains to be seen bit it does let the radio down. The Malahit DSP 2 SDR is superior in many ways, the original Russian design not the clones. With the Malahit you get waterfall, Control over AGC making the audio sound really good with far less background noise that plagues a lot of SDR receivers, the Icom 7300 was a bad harsh sounding radio because SDR need control over AGC and the 7300 did not allow this. The Malahit also offers a good noise blanker, good noise reduction and power for active antenna via the antenna output. + the Malahit offers far superior audio on SSB and it also has a very good SYNC mode which is super feature to have on AM broadcast bands. Honestly, I don't know why the ATS25+ isn't full blown SDR for the superior advantages and features it offers today vs outdated DSP chip with bad SSB audio.
no.. and can't get the NOAA weather radio bands or 2 Meter ham either.. I don't understand why they did not program it for those unless it is a limitation of the Si4732 Chip.
Not at all, if you buy the original malahit DSP 2 from Russia it's a far superior radio because it uses SDR and not an outdated DSP chip that was never meant to work with SSB because SSB on the DSP radios sounds bad with that distortion at the beginning of a transmission. The original malahit DSP will be superior probably in every way than the clones. The malahit has good noise blanker and SYNC mode that is fantastic + you have control over the AGC and this makes the audio really sweet to listen to. Either way, your best bet is to look for SDR radios due to the advanced features, proper SYNC mode and Noise blanker and noise reduction, agc control + preamp, + Attenuator + waterfall + power output for active antenna through the antenna socket + far better SSB audio. The Malahit DSP 2 ticks a lot of boxes for the serious radio enthusiast. The ATS-25 would be nice to tinker around with though but that distortion on the beginning of SSB transmission would drive me nuts I think.
@@o00scorpion00o i Got a chinese copy of the Malachite...it works well. But the finetune knob is starting to give me problems. Well i keep my malachite and diss thisone the. 73.
IM GUESSING,,BUT I BET IM RIGHT,,,,BACON,,,IS A FEEBLE ATTEMPT AT HUMOR,,,ITS SUPPOSED TO BE BEACON!!!!,,,WENT OVER THE TOP OF EVERYONES HEAD!!!,,,MMMMMM BACON,,,my favorite fruit!!@,😎
I hear ya, man. I have ZERO interest in things I don't like. I don't even watch videos about them, let alone comment on them. Too bad those other people will never know how much I'm not interested.
@@SansNeural you should tell them because the world is full of Opinions and they should be Shared even with those who don’t agree and I really enjoy that many don’t agree.It’s as Useless as a Dumbacrat so tell the World🤣🤪😜😱
Good short wave radio 📻 sailing ⛵️ around the world alone, extremely clear reception. Bravo . Super cool technology.
Thanks for sharing 👍
Youre most welcome! Thanks for watching!
I just recieved my ATS 25X1 3hrs ago and seems to work very well ,been listening to 40mt band so far and all spot on freq.I have been using a BHI NES 10-2 DSP speaker which i use on all my SWR,s and the hash sound goes down to nearly zero.As for picking diff hams and shortwave stations its as good as my RSP1A.If i could only put the small screen on a pc screen it would be super.Will be a good radio to use in the garden with my GA-450 LOOP ANTENNA when it warms up to cold in AUST. just yet.
Hi, what antenna are you using? The antenna that comes with it is not very good.
@@peted7928 The antenna that it comes with is only for Testing FM.I use a MLA 30+ loop antenna on a pole about 10feet high no real need to go Super high with a loop.
@@peted7928 If you can spend the money the Bonito MA305 with optional longer whip is an excellent antenna with low noise compared to a long wire antenna. It's blows me away every time I use it. Needs to be mounted outside around 2 meters off the ground will do use good quality H155 coax and ground it.
I recently received an ATS-25 (not "plus") that I ordered on ebay for about the same price as your link. The firmware claims the same version as shown in your video, but the user interface is different - fewer options, main screen buttons in different placement and a few other differences in the graphics. I've not hunted for firmware updates or source code yet but that's next on my do-list along with disassembly.
Thanks for the review.
Edit: I just disassembled mine. It's brain is an ESP32-WROOM32, so potential Wifi capability? It's split into 2 boards, one mounted vertically with the LCD, the ESP32, a CH340C (USB) and an XPT2046 touch screen controller. The second board toward the rear and mounted horizontally contains the Si4732 "all band" receiver IC, and audio opamp IC for the speaker and an APA2308 headphone driver.
The firmware you see in this video is made by someone else than the firmware on your version.
I bought a tecsun receiver that has that same AGC squawk at the beginning of an ssb transmission. They need to add AGC settings for fast attack like SDR software has.
SSB was an afterthought when they developed this DSP chip, the Malahit DSP 2 is leaps and bounds better and it's SYNC mode works incredibly well too and it's noise blanker.
I'm not sure why the ats-25 is using this outdated DSP chip instead of going full SDR ?
Looking at the links to buy, it's so affordable! I have so many transceiver options I wouldn't find a use for one, but for anyone wanting to get into short wave listening it's ideal...the wooshing shooshing sounds are typical of direct conversion Radios I've used in the past..price per unit suggests that these Radios may use that architecture or similar...I can see these Radios being popular for on the go listening..going out to an rf quiet site, stringing up a random long wire and having a tune around. I wonder how visible the screen is in strong sunlight? Excellent video 👍
Flashed mine with the binns 4 firmware. Far less chuffing 😁. 4.1 should be available in a few weeks
Nice little unit Matt - great review 👍
Cheers Stu!
I had missed the backlight setting! It ia so much better now with the display being more clear.
I find that radio pretty nice, expecially for portable applications. It has battery inside and is of decent size and weight. I've not found agc of too much use. Like you, I've not seen the light button doing anything.
Bacon button simply because bacon makes everything better... 🤣
Never a more true word spoken! Has to be SMOKED though! ;-)
You either love bacon or, you're wrong!
BEACON
I would love to know what the CW filtering is like? Another quick video maybe, or even just your comments. Is the selectivity good enough to sperate out CW signals on a busy weekend band with the 500Hz bandwidth?
I'm surprised the light button doesn't do anything on yours. It dims the display on mine. I'm glad I have the option as 100% is rather bright.
Q: what antenna are you using?
Nice video. Thanks..
I believe I would of been using a EFHW with a 49:1. There is a video on my channel about this antenna. Thanks for watching 🙏
I'm surprised that a receiver with all those features doesn't have a user manual.
It does. Just hunt around (can't post links here).
The Bacon button is intended for use when frying the receiver front end.
Absolutely! lol
I'd love a receiver like this that covers all the included bands but also the air bands. So hard to find a decent all band radio like that.
Yeah, I looked for air band on mine on first power up and was immediately disappointed. I think it should have been easy to add the AM detection of the AV band. Edit: Oops, no. Its Si4732 receiver IC doesn't support air band so that's it.
I have a tecsun pl-680 shortwave radio that has air band on it.
@@burnstudios Can you take it apart and tell us what makes it tick? Only half kidding.
@@Randrew For radios that use the Si4732 chip they use a VHF to AM HF converter to listen the air band.
@@burnstudios So do I, and though I live less than 8km from an international airport it's completely deaf on airband. I can receive OK using a bog-standard SDR USB dongle connected to a homebrew 1/2 wave dipole so I know I'm easily within range.
This distortion on the beginning of SSB transmission really is disappointing. I Use SSB a lot both for hams and for AM broadcast stations, it's an essential tool for eliminating noise sources or strong stations that are close by the weaker DX station you're trying to listen to, the Tecsun PL-680 is a great radio for this using ECSS due to it's pure analogue design.
The Malahit DSP 2 has no issues like this on SSB and it's got a really great SYNC mode which is as good as using ECSS or better in fact because it gives you full bandwidth compared to using USB/LSB.
Tee ATS25 really should be an SDR or at least the next generation because these outdated DSP chips are useless for those that need proper sounding SSB.
I have a problem with my ATS25X1. And that is, the ML and HF no longer work. All there is is hiss. We had a lightning storm and the radio was affected by static electricity. Was using the internal antenna. It was just sitting there on the desk. Then a lightning bolt hit the ground nearby and the radio stopped working. The display, menus, and FM works. I spend 100USD on this thing and now it's worthless. No replacement parts anywhere.
I just ordered the ATS25X1 -- is there much difference to your radio in the video? thanks, 73 Levi in Sweden
👍 BACON? Maybe means BEACON?
Think your'e right there!
Hello, just viewed your review of the ats25+, I have the ats25x1 and is rubbish I paid £50 for it, the receiver picks up broadcast banks ok but will not pick up ham bands it seems alignment is off, I have tried this against my 897 and does not pick up anything as on all ham bands, I complained to the seller and got my money back now I am stuck with a radio that will not pick up bands that I need, this also puts me off purchasing a replacement from a different seller.
Add a 20 watt transmitter to the receiver for a useful transceiver. Then you will have a good product.
Thanks for an interesting vid mate!
No problem 👍
ATS25+ have mod that can be applied to any standard ATS25, this mod enable charging indicator working.
I bought this but was disappointed that is not capable of receiving 2 Meters or even the NOAA weather Radio frequencies .. it is an amazing little radio but is NOT an "all band" radio..
It is not "all mode", you can not tune 11m in Fm modulation.
Will these do airband and if not, can the arduino code be modified to receive airband frequencies?
Top review as always. :)
Thanks!
Do you need software updates, if so, what site ?
What's the difference between this and the x1 model?
Is there computer in/ out control like Hdsdr / sdruno etc?
I would like to know what github page is so I can check the firmware, I just purchased an ats-25 not the plus Chuck K3ETD
NIce one matt looks awesome but we need to find out what BACON means are we missing a band ? lol
Perhaps mis-spelled beacon? It takes one to a band covering from 280 to 470 kHz. (But as always, this is not limited to fixed bamnds and you can enter any frequency you like, within the limits of what this is capable of ie. no VHF for example)
Yeh, I think its Beacon lol
When you say with out our donations making these videos wouldn't be possible can you please tell me why,
Many Thanks
Simply because all proceeds from YT Members and Patreons go straight into buying more radio gear to feature on the channel. Of course some of it I get for free, but the donations give me a buffer to continuously search for unique items to feature on the channel. Thanks for the question, I appreciate that. 😀
@@TechMindsOfficial That's pretty much what *I* assumed. I've spent maybe $2500 the last 12 months on radios and gadgets, much to my wife's disappointment, and I haven't shared a single video! :)
Ham and Bacon lol.
The signal strength meter looks about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Can it recive volmet singapore?
he Tecsun DSP radios have this wooshing as you describe it at the beginning of an SSB transmission, the PL-880,990x and S-8800 are notoriously bad sounding on SSB with poorly implemented filters and their 4 Khz filters do not work.
The Tecsun PL-330 and H501 are the newest receivers with much better sound on SSB due to the filters working properly, the distortion on SSB is reduced but still noticeable. There is a quirk with the H501x firmware, when you turn on SSB the filters sound muddy until you cycle through them with only the AM/BW button.
I am nearly sure its a flaw in the design of these DSP chips where SSB was clearly an afterthought, whether firmware can resolve it or not remains to be seen bit it does let the radio down.
The Malahit DSP 2 SDR is superior in many ways, the original Russian design not the clones.
With the Malahit you get waterfall, Control over AGC making the audio sound really good with far less background noise that plagues a lot of SDR receivers, the Icom 7300 was a bad harsh sounding radio because SDR need control over AGC and the 7300 did not allow this.
The Malahit also offers a good noise blanker, good noise reduction and power for active antenna via the antenna output. + the Malahit offers far superior audio on SSB and it also has a very good SYNC mode which is super feature to have on AM broadcast bands.
Honestly, I don't know why the ATS25+ isn't full blown SDR for the superior advantages and features it offers today vs outdated DSP chip with bad SSB audio.
Is it possible to listen to the airband?
no.. and can't get the NOAA weather radio bands or 2 Meter ham either.. I don't understand why they did not program it for those unless it is a limitation of the Si4732 Chip.
@OldTVfan That's a shame because it is a must-have for me. Thank you for the information and have a great weekend.
is this any better at receiver than the malachite ??
Not at all, if you buy the original malahit DSP 2 from Russia it's a far superior radio because it uses SDR and not an outdated DSP chip that was never meant to work with SSB because SSB on the DSP radios sounds bad with that distortion at the beginning of a transmission.
The original malahit DSP will be superior probably in every way than the clones.
The malahit has good noise blanker and SYNC mode that is fantastic + you have control over the AGC and this makes the audio really sweet to listen to.
Either way, your best bet is to look for SDR radios due to the advanced features, proper SYNC mode and Noise blanker and noise reduction, agc control + preamp, + Attenuator + waterfall + power output for active antenna through the antenna socket + far better SSB audio. The Malahit DSP 2 ticks a lot of boxes for the serious radio enthusiast.
The ATS-25 would be nice to tinker around with though but that distortion on the beginning of SSB transmission would drive me nuts I think.
@@o00scorpion00o i Got a chinese copy of the Malachite...it works well. But the finetune knob is starting to give me problems. Well i keep my malachite and diss thisone the. 73.
if you press the bacon button do you get ham? if so it would make sense. seriously though what happens when you press bacon?
Yikes! Quite a lot of radio in a small box! It seems to be based on an Arduino...
9VA Singapore VOLMET - 6676 kHz1320 UTC.
aaaah ..no air band.
IM GUESSING,,BUT I BET IM RIGHT,,,,BACON,,,IS A FEEBLE ATTEMPT AT HUMOR,,,ITS SUPPOSED TO BE BEACON!!!!,,,WENT OVER THE TOP OF EVERYONES HEAD!!!,,,MMMMMM BACON,,,my favorite fruit!!@,😎
First ;)
ZERO interest in a Receiver.I only purchase Transceivers for my use.If I can’t reply it’s Useless.👎🏻
I hear ya, man. I have ZERO interest in things I don't like. I don't even watch videos about them, let alone comment on them. Too bad those other people will never know how much I'm not interested.
Hahahaha 🤣
@@SansNeural you should tell them because the world is full of Opinions and they should be Shared even with those who don’t agree and I really enjoy that many don’t agree.It’s as Useless as a Dumbacrat so tell the World🤣🤪😜😱
@@1OFGODSOWN somone didn’t get hugged as a child….
@@bwest6275 some like you never grew up.You should try and be an Adult and move out of your parents home and get a Job.🤣