Post by malewithatail on Feb 13, 2022 17:54:37 GMT 10
Product review.
I picked up a small radio at the local tip this morning, and found that it was a current model from Jaycar, available at a very good price. I then remembered I already had one in my bug out gear, so thought others may find a quick review of it advantageous.
The radio is a Jaycar AR1721 model, AM/FM/SW DSP (digital signal processing), small portable radio. It comes with a rechargeable battery and a USB cable. The radio also can take either a USB stick, or a flash card. The limit is 16 Gig card, but I put a 32 gig card and it coped without issue.
What about performance ?
On FM, its more than adequate for all the FM stations in range, as FM is basically line of sight anyway. The AM performance is average. I think that its performance on AM has been nobbled, as in the USA, AM stations are quite powerful and close together, so to avoid overloading the radio, its been tuned down. On short wave its quite good. WWV (10 megahertz) and WWVH (15 megahertz) in Hawaii, are audible at good strength in the daytime.
Am reception at night does improve, and some interstate stations were audible at good strength.
The supplied UBS cable charges the battery in a few hours, depending on the UBS power jack output, and audio quality, especially on a decent FM station is very good.
Wishes, yes, provision for standard battery's instead of the Li ion pack, the scanning function is a bit hit and miss, so an adjustable scanning threshold would have been nice, a way to disable the scan function would also be handy, as it tends to take over if you try to move the tuning knob a bit too quickly, and it then needs to be stopped by quickly turning the knob the other way, but that sometimes causes it to scan down the band instead.
I tried an external aerial ( for those who want a bit of detail, its a Zepp type, fed at the 20 meter point and 160 meters long). All that accomplished was gross overload of the front end and a mush of noise, so stick to the built in 300 mm or so whip and it will behave itself.
Its not a radio you would use at your bug out location for primary intel gathering, and its obviously not EMP/CME proof, but would I have one in my bug out kit ? Yes, I already have, and this one is going into my bug home bag that I keep in my truck.
Did I mention it also has a clock, that keeps reasonably accurate time, has both an alarm and sleep timer, and a cute blue back light that doesn't seem to upset your night vision ?
Listed on the Jaycar web site www.jaycar.com.au/am-fm-sw-rechargeable-radio-with-mp3/p/AR1721 for $34.95, it does represent good value, keeping in mind its not a communications receiver and is quite small in size.
I picked up a small radio at the local tip this morning, and found that it was a current model from Jaycar, available at a very good price. I then remembered I already had one in my bug out gear, so thought others may find a quick review of it advantageous.
The radio is a Jaycar AR1721 model, AM/FM/SW DSP (digital signal processing), small portable radio. It comes with a rechargeable battery and a USB cable. The radio also can take either a USB stick, or a flash card. The limit is 16 Gig card, but I put a 32 gig card and it coped without issue.
What about performance ?
On FM, its more than adequate for all the FM stations in range, as FM is basically line of sight anyway. The AM performance is average. I think that its performance on AM has been nobbled, as in the USA, AM stations are quite powerful and close together, so to avoid overloading the radio, its been tuned down. On short wave its quite good. WWV (10 megahertz) and WWVH (15 megahertz) in Hawaii, are audible at good strength in the daytime.
Despite the advertising being a bit mis leading, the coverage is not continuous from 5.95 to 21.85 megahertz, but covers the international short wave bands, leaving gaps between. The frequency steps are 5 Khz on SW, which is OK as the radios is not designed to pick up Hams, (It doesn't have a BFO for single side band reception), and by international agreement, SW broadcasters space themselves 5 Khz apart anyway.
A quirk seems to in scanning that it will cover the whole SW spectrum in scan, but not from the SW select switch.
Testing during the daytime picked up a number of international broadcasters, and at night, lots more, as well as the usual squeaks and squarks of typical SW bands, storms and so on.Am reception at night does improve, and some interstate stations were audible at good strength.
The supplied UBS cable charges the battery in a few hours, depending on the UBS power jack output, and audio quality, especially on a decent FM station is very good.
Wishes, yes, provision for standard battery's instead of the Li ion pack, the scanning function is a bit hit and miss, so an adjustable scanning threshold would have been nice, a way to disable the scan function would also be handy, as it tends to take over if you try to move the tuning knob a bit too quickly, and it then needs to be stopped by quickly turning the knob the other way, but that sometimes causes it to scan down the band instead.
I tried an external aerial ( for those who want a bit of detail, its a Zepp type, fed at the 20 meter point and 160 meters long). All that accomplished was gross overload of the front end and a mush of noise, so stick to the built in 300 mm or so whip and it will behave itself.
Its not a radio you would use at your bug out location for primary intel gathering, and its obviously not EMP/CME proof, but would I have one in my bug out kit ? Yes, I already have, and this one is going into my bug home bag that I keep in my truck.
Did I mention it also has a clock, that keeps reasonably accurate time, has both an alarm and sleep timer, and a cute blue back light that doesn't seem to upset your night vision ?
Listed on the Jaycar web site www.jaycar.com.au/am-fm-sw-rechargeable-radio-with-mp3/p/AR1721 for $34.95, it does represent good value, keeping in mind its not a communications receiver and is quite small in size.