@@swlistening I use the HRD747, with all mode coverage MW, FM, air, CB and VHF / UHF coverage up to 520 MHz. Not the most sensitive radio, but it works. Oh, the 30-199.75 MHz band may only tune in 25 KHz steps, not 12.5 or 5 or 10 KHZ. My HRD747 has all the tuning steps, even the 7.5 step for US and Canada.
@@normanhill535 Hi Norman, the HRD 747 looks like a fun radio, I have been looking at that one for some time also. Maybe it will be one of my next purchases 🙂
@@swlistening Not the most sensitive radio, yet good size and stable BL5C battery. And as I said before, has all major tuning steps including 7.5 khz for USA and Canada. Sold under Raddy, HRD and Retekess versions. 73s and good DX.
Thanks Andre for the impressive demonstration of your new Raddy RF886 radio. If only they would add full coverage and SSB like the Tecsun PL-368 and full bigger keyboard it would be a temping replacement for that radio. Well maybe in the future. For a minute I thought you were calling my name...."cheap"....:)! 73! Have a great day!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! If they could add SSB and a numeric keypad, this would be quite an amazing little radio. And narrow-band AM for VHF, imagine that! It would be the perfect radio :-)
Excellent comprehensive review Andre as always, Good quality and sounds nice. Not for me though I am afraid, I don't like this tuning, I have it on the V115 and even though it is a good radio I don't use it much at all because of the tuning. The other big deal breaker is Amazon. I can get the radio for around US$ 25 but the shipping and Customs to Indonesia is US$ 45 giving a grand total of US 70. This puts it way out of its VFM for me
It's a shame the shipping costs are so high to Indonesia. I often have the same issue, some radios are just way out of my reach because of shipping and import duties. On more expensive radios the import duties and VAT often add 50% to the price.
Hey Andre, are you getting in that Ifrikya FM broadcast where you are? Unfortunately, I can no longer pick them up in North America right now. Maybe when that sunspot activity dies down, I'll be able to get them in again.
Hi Jean, I haven't heard them for a few weeks now, specifically on 17600 kHz. Perhaps it is because of the current unstable geomagnetic conditions, as you say. I monitor this station regularly.
Excellent review of this small radio, André. And the SW scan is quite impressive. I've put it on my list to Santa, I hope that he will bring this new toy to me for Xmas! The only small thing that worries me is the volume+/volume- rocker instead of a regular volume wheel. I'm not a fan of these, it was one of my gripes against the Xhdata D-608 too... VHF will probably not be of much use. Since it's FM only, you can't even use it to listen to the air band. I wish Bluetooth would become bidirectional on the new radios. Raddy has one model that does it, the RF-25 but it's FM-only. It really makes sense for these pocket radios, you may want to listen through wireless earbuds or headphones.
Thanks Alain. Biderectional Bluetooth would be really great, then we can listen on better-quality speakers while DXing without the need to plug in an audio cable, or an wireless earbuds, as you say. It is true, the VHF is, unfortunately, not as useful as it could have been, because it is FM only. Interesting that you mention the volume rocker and the similarity to the D-608WB. It dawned on me earlier today that this Raddy seems to be very similar to the D-608WB in many respects. It just does not have the hand crank and solar charging.
Todderbert does videos on quite a few Raddy radios 📻. He goes through the features and details of each, whether if they're Kaito, Tecsun, C Crane, or whatever brand. How much does this radio 📻 cost? Happy Thanksgiving. Your friend, Jeff.
Hi there Jeffrey, indeed, Todderbert is one of the few RUclipsrs who reviewed this radio. I saw his review. I think many radio companies send him radios to review, he has been reviewing radios for a very long time. I paid $26 for my RF886 on Amazon, a very fair price, in my opinion.
Nice little pocket radio. As a teenager I would have loved something like this. But the VHF would be a deal breaker for me because there are some portions of it that wouldn’t work properly. For example the aeronautic band is in narrow AM. There are practical reasons for this.
Very interesting! I suppose you're the 1st to show this Raddy on RUclips - at least the 1st I see 😂 Honestly, that power button is a deal breaker to me. Very unintuitive, and prone to making mistakes, like you said, it will drain out the battery because pressing that power button once only mutes (or "pauses" -- heck, how can you even pause live radio if you don't have any storage or even function to buffer the received audio as it's being received?!) the radio, and it doesn't turn it off until pressed the 2nd time 🤦♂ I've yet to watch your video further, but I wonder about modulations available in the VHF band. I saw NFM, but at 118-137 MHz, the aviation band, AM is used instead. And at lower 144 MHz, hams may use SSB. I wonder how they handled this issue? 🤔 [EDIT: just saw your reply to Matt that it's only NFM, even in the aeronautical band... meh 😒]
Hi Arnie, that power button is very counter-intuitive, you are right. I made the mistake already to press it once only. But I do like the fact that the screen switches off when not in use, that will definitely help save some battery power. The VHF band is FM only, so I don't know how useful that is, to be honest. From what I can gather there are two other RUclipsrs who have made videos already, namely Todderbert and hamrad88. And there is a review on Blog or Die!
Hi Lew, this is my first Raddy radio, although I do know they have quite a wide variety of radios. The little RF750 looks quite nice, much smaller than this one. It does make one think of the military 😃 Does it perform well?
Andre, the RF750 is ok, a bit of a curiosity that I wanted to add to my small collection tbh. I will say that it outperforms it's size, the sound quality is ridiculously good, the barrel style tuning dial is fun, the volume wheel is awkward. Except for the Clooblut my favourite purchase recently is the Sihuadon R-108, I was listening to air traffic on it yesterday from an airport 20 miles away. Nice radio
@@lew9223 Very many people have commented on my channel in the past about the R-108, all very positive. It looks like I will have to get one some time 🙂
Hi Andre, I don't know exactly where you live, You can try Johannesburg SRA East on 125.4Mhz , SRA West on 125.8Mhz for General aviation aircraft around Johannesburg and Pretoria, The east SRA and West SRA meet each other at the Zwartkops Raceway (Draw an imaginary line North and South from it). Johanesburg Airport frequencies are Approach 124.5 and 123.7. Tower is 118.6 and 118.1. Waterkloof frequencies are Approach 124.5 and 123.7 and Tower on 124.1 . Side note, basically every Instrument approach outside of the main 3 airports has been suspended due to non compliance.
@@F4LDT-Alain Ahh that's very unfortunate... Missed that point. On another note the PL-660 is a somewhat decent airband reciever, so I would imagine the PL-880 is also :)
"Somewhat decent" is the right term IMO. Not great either. The PL-660 I mean, I don't have a 680 so I don't know if it's better. The small and cheap Xhdata R-108 is my favourite for air band listening. It does quite a bit better.
It would have been amazing if it offered SSB, but it does not. At only $25, I think it makes sense that there is no SSB. They had to cut some features to make the radio affordable.
Neil, the battery is not user-replaceable, it is sealed in. I guess it might be a BL-5C battery, but that is just a guess. This is, unfortunately, one of the negatives of this radio, the fact that you cannot replace the battery.
@@swlistening I believe your radio uses a sealed lithium polymer battery pack. Not the Nokia BL-5C, as that is a user replaceable battery. Sealed Li-Po batteries require some technical skill to replace, just like the ones found in modern smartphones. 😊
@@swlistening If it is the flat type LiPo battery pack with a twisted pair of positive and negative leads, it is possible for you to replace the 1000 mAh 3.7V battery pack. It's just that radio manufacturers like Raddy discourage DIY replacements for safety reasons. You might be able to upgrade the stock LiPo battery to the LP604047 model, which has an extra capacity of 1760 mAH. What is important is the type of connector that goes out from the battery pack and into the Raddy's circuit board. These flat LiPo batteries come in myriad connector types, so you have to get the replacement battery with the exact connector. 🔋👍 Sorry, I had tried to post a link, but YT ate it for lunch.
@@StratmanII The usual hungry RUclips, always in the mood for lunch 🙂 I will probably not open up this radio anytime soon, but if the battery does fail somewhere in the future I will open it and see if I can change the battery. Hopefully it will last for some time.
This looks like a great little radio. I enjoy your reviews but I wish you would leave the words on screen for a few seconds longer. I have to start and stop the video in order to read everything.
That is quite the little radio!
Thanks Liam, it is! Quite a lot of features for such a small radio.
@@swlistening I use the HRD747, with all mode coverage MW, FM, air, CB and VHF / UHF coverage up to 520 MHz. Not the most sensitive radio, but it works. Oh, the 30-199.75 MHz band may only tune in 25 KHz steps, not 12.5 or 5 or 10 KHZ. My HRD747 has all the tuning steps, even the 7.5 step for US and Canada.
@@normanhill535 Hi Norman, the HRD 747 looks like a fun radio, I have been looking at that one for some time also. Maybe it will be one of my next purchases 🙂
@@swlistening Not the most sensitive radio, yet good size and stable BL5C battery. And as I said before, has all major tuning steps including 7.5 khz for USA and Canada. Sold under Raddy, HRD and Retekess versions. 73s and good DX.
This looks like a great pocket radio for DXing! 👍 Great SW bandscan!
Thanks Andrew, this is a really surprising little radio, it is quite sensitive and very easy to use. I like it a lot.
Thank you for the great video. Enjoy DX and future success and good health.
Thank you very much Norman, and the same to you!
Thanks Andre for the impressive demonstration of your new Raddy RF886 radio. If only they would add full coverage and SSB like the Tecsun PL-368 and full bigger keyboard it would be a temping replacement for that radio. Well maybe in the future.
For a minute I thought you were calling my name...."cheap"....:)!
73! Have a great day!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! If they could add SSB and a numeric keypad, this would be quite an amazing little radio. And narrow-band AM for VHF, imagine that! It would be the perfect radio :-)
Seems great for a pocket radio! Especially the VHF addition
Indeed Matt, I think it is a very nice pocket radio. The VHF is quite a surprising addition, in my opinion.
@ Can it switch to AM for the airband in that extended VHF coverage or is it just FM?
Unfortunately just FM.
@@swlistening Thst’s a shame as it could have been useful for the airband enthusiasts
@@arcticradiomost airband is AM.
Excellent comprehensive review Andre as always, Good quality and sounds nice. Not for me though I am afraid, I don't like this tuning, I have it on the V115 and even though it is a good radio I don't use it much at all because of the tuning. The other big deal breaker is Amazon. I can get the radio for around US$ 25 but the shipping and Customs to Indonesia is US$ 45 giving a grand total of US 70. This puts it way out of its VFM for me
It's a shame the shipping costs are so high to Indonesia. I often have the same issue, some radios are just way out of my reach because of shipping and import duties. On more expensive radios the import duties and VAT often add 50% to the price.
Hey Andre, are you getting in that Ifrikya FM broadcast where you are? Unfortunately, I can no longer pick them up in North America right now. Maybe when that sunspot activity dies down, I'll be able to get them in again.
Hi Jean, I haven't heard them for a few weeks now, specifically on 17600 kHz. Perhaps it is because of the current unstable geomagnetic conditions, as you say. I monitor this station regularly.
Excellent review of this small radio, André. And the SW scan is quite impressive.
I've put it on my list to Santa, I hope that he will bring this new toy to me for Xmas!
The only small thing that worries me is the volume+/volume- rocker instead of a regular volume wheel. I'm not a fan of these, it was one of my gripes against the Xhdata D-608 too...
VHF will probably not be of much use. Since it's FM only, you can't even use it to listen to the air band.
I wish Bluetooth would become bidirectional on the new radios. Raddy has one model that does it, the RF-25 but it's FM-only. It really makes sense for these pocket radios, you may want to listen through wireless earbuds or headphones.
Thanks Alain. Biderectional Bluetooth would be really great, then we can listen on better-quality speakers while DXing without the need to plug in an audio cable, or an wireless earbuds, as you say.
It is true, the VHF is, unfortunately, not as useful as it could have been, because it is FM only.
Interesting that you mention the volume rocker and the similarity to the D-608WB. It dawned on me earlier today that this Raddy seems to be very similar to the D-608WB in many respects. It just does not have the hand crank and solar charging.
Todderbert does videos on quite a few Raddy radios 📻. He goes through the features and details of each, whether if they're Kaito, Tecsun, C Crane, or whatever brand. How much does this radio 📻 cost? Happy Thanksgiving. Your friend, Jeff.
Hi there Jeffrey, indeed, Todderbert is one of the few RUclipsrs who reviewed this radio. I saw his review. I think many radio companies send him radios to review, he has been reviewing radios for a very long time. I paid $26 for my RF886 on Amazon, a very fair price, in my opinion.
Nice little pocket radio. As a teenager I would have loved something like this. But the VHF would be a deal breaker for me because there are some portions of it that wouldn’t work properly. For example the aeronautic band is in narrow AM. There are practical reasons for this.
It's a nice radio, I agree. It is a pity about the VHF though, with AM modulation in the VHF band this would have been a real little powerhoue.
Very interesting! I suppose you're the 1st to show this Raddy on RUclips - at least the 1st I see 😂
Honestly, that power button is a deal breaker to me. Very unintuitive, and prone to making mistakes, like you said, it will drain out the battery because pressing that power button once only mutes (or "pauses" -- heck, how can you even pause live radio if you don't have any storage or even function to buffer the received audio as it's being received?!) the radio, and it doesn't turn it off until pressed the 2nd time 🤦♂
I've yet to watch your video further, but I wonder about modulations available in the VHF band. I saw NFM, but at 118-137 MHz, the aviation band, AM is used instead. And at lower 144 MHz, hams may use SSB. I wonder how they handled this issue? 🤔
[EDIT: just saw your reply to Matt that it's only NFM, even in the aeronautical band... meh 😒]
Hi Arnie, that power button is very counter-intuitive, you are right. I made the mistake already to press it once only. But I do like the fact that the screen switches off when not in use, that will definitely help save some battery power.
The VHF band is FM only, so I don't know how useful that is, to be honest.
From what I can gather there are two other RUclipsrs who have made videos already, namely Todderbert and hamrad88. And there is a review on Blog or Die!
Raddy make some nice radios Andre, I have their little RF750 which looks like a military surplus jerry can 😃
Hi Lew, this is my first Raddy radio, although I do know they have quite a wide variety of radios. The little RF750 looks quite nice, much smaller than this one. It does make one think of the military 😃 Does it perform well?
Andre, the RF750 is ok, a bit of a curiosity that I wanted to add to my small collection tbh.
I will say that it outperforms it's size, the sound quality is ridiculously good, the barrel style tuning dial is fun, the volume wheel is awkward.
Except for the Clooblut my favourite purchase recently is the Sihuadon R-108, I was listening to air traffic on it yesterday from an airport 20 miles away. Nice radio
@@lew9223 Very many people have commented on my channel in the past about the R-108, all very positive. It looks like I will have to get one some time 🙂
Hi Andre, the R-108 is £20 just now on that well-known shopping platform AE.
*RadioWondersStore" 👍
Thank some kind of god... no soft muting. Thanks for the demo.
That symbol on the lower part of the screen. Does it have stereo on headphones ?
My pleasure! It does indeed have stereo on the headphones for FM.
I have one they sound great on fm 😅😅😅
Hi Les, it does, and in stereo via headphones!
10% off coupon today at Amazon in US.
Thanks!
Hi Andre, I don't know exactly where you live, You can try Johannesburg SRA East on 125.4Mhz , SRA West on 125.8Mhz for General aviation aircraft around Johannesburg and Pretoria, The east SRA and West SRA meet each other at the Zwartkops Raceway (Draw an imaginary line North and South from it). Johanesburg Airport frequencies are Approach 124.5 and 123.7. Tower is 118.6 and 118.1. Waterkloof frequencies are Approach 124.5 and 123.7 and Tower on 124.1 . Side note, basically every Instrument approach outside of the main 3 airports has been suspended due to non compliance.
Thanks Basil! I am in Randburg, so more to the south-west of the airport.
Won't work, air band is AM not FM and this radio only does FM on VHF.
@@F4LDT-Alain Ahh that's very unfortunate... Missed that point. On another note the PL-660 is a somewhat decent airband reciever, so I would imagine the PL-880 is also :)
"Somewhat decent" is the right term IMO. Not great either. The PL-660 I mean, I don't have a 680 so I don't know if it's better.
The small and cheap Xhdata R-108 is my favourite for air band listening. It does quite a bit better.
@@F4LDT-Alain The D-808 is also quite good on air band.
Does it gave SSB ? Is it good ?
It would have been amazing if it offered SSB, but it does not. At only $25, I think it makes sense that there is no SSB. They had to cut some features to make the radio affordable.
What type of battery it uses?
Neil, the battery is not user-replaceable, it is sealed in. I guess it might be a BL-5C battery, but that is just a guess. This is, unfortunately, one of the negatives of this radio, the fact that you cannot replace the battery.
@@swlistening I believe your radio uses a sealed lithium polymer battery pack. Not the Nokia BL-5C, as that is a user replaceable battery.
Sealed Li-Po batteries require some technical skill to replace, just like the ones found in modern smartphones. 😊
@@StratmanII Thanks for this, I really wasn't very sure about the battery in this one. It is a pity that it is not user-replaceable.
@@swlistening If it is the flat type LiPo battery pack with a twisted pair of positive and negative leads, it is possible for you to replace the 1000 mAh 3.7V battery pack. It's just that radio manufacturers like Raddy discourage DIY replacements for safety reasons. You might be able to upgrade the stock LiPo battery to the LP604047 model, which has an extra capacity of 1760 mAH.
What is important is the type of connector that goes out from the battery pack and into the Raddy's circuit board. These flat LiPo batteries come in myriad connector types, so you have to get the replacement battery with the exact connector. 🔋👍 Sorry, I had tried to post a link, but YT ate it for lunch.
@@StratmanII The usual hungry RUclips, always in the mood for lunch 🙂 I will probably not open up this radio anytime soon, but if the battery does fail somewhere in the future I will open it and see if I can change the battery. Hopefully it will last for some time.
I have three radios with torch.
This looks like a great little radio. I enjoy your reviews but I wish you would leave the words on screen for a few seconds longer. I have to start and stop the video in order to read everything.
Hi there Rodney, thank you so much for your comment and your suggestion. That is an easy thing to do, I will leave the words a bit longer from now on!
Tu écoutes RFI.
Oui!
You hear Radio Islam. I also hear some Islamic radio stations on shortwave.