Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Outsides where the noises of the digital world are gone, the D-808 presents all bands almost as filled as my dipole at home and so there’s always an interesting QSO or some overseas radio program to enjoy. To give you an idea on what I mean by “no compromises”: my companion on today’s walk was NY2PO from upstate NY (3,728mi/6,000km away) on 40m, constantly coming in with a signal allowing for convenient listening, despite the bad conditions (SFI=68 A=10). I must admit, the front panel of the radio looks familiar, but perhaps only because most other DSP portables have a similar layout. Please comment if you know of an identical portable. In what could be the final models from Tecsun, we saw the PL-330, PL-990x and H-501x all of which bring impressive features and capabilities to the game. Sangean finally introduced its upgraded ATS-909×2 including an early firmware upgrade that was supposed to correct some issues with this receiver. One of my best DX catches at that time was Radio Rwanda on 6,055 kHz just before it’s sign off in the late afternoon eastern timed. Using a Panasonic RF-B65 which had NO bandwidth options, I was able to hear and record a full sign off and ID. Refer to the photo below. Using the flat Jeweler’s screwdriver, once all of the glue bonds have been broken and the ferrite rod is loose in its slot, lift the ferrite rod out of its slot on one side by prying up under the plastic cover on the end of the ferrite rod. Ensure that the Litz wire leads have either been cut or desoldered from the circuit board, then grasp the ferrite rod with your fingers and pull it completely out of the slot with a slight twisting motion.
Here was a small, well-designed DSP radio that burst upon the scene with outstanding capabilities and which even today is prized among those who own it. Need I repeat? SEVEN bandwidths in AM mode, and MW, and SIX in SSB and LW. In my opinion, there isn’t much reason to be pleased due to the presence of LW band in this receiver. The specifications above do not promise better LW sensitivity than one tenth of the receiver’s MW sensitivity. In my understanding, 10 mV/m corresponds to a very strong field which occurs only in proximity of stations. is an identifier on key 5, similar to a number keypad, making it easier to select a particular number key and preset station. Other than that, it seems to abide <10m/30ft of wire just fine and it gets along with my ML-200 active loop, currently indoors with a rigid 80cm aluminum loop, unless the RRI transmitters populate 49 and/or 41m after midnight. That station occasionally hits the 9+60 mark on my SDR with a dipole and when they’re on, the D-808 has to be tuned far away from these bands or disconne Various station search methods, Automatic Search (ATS); Manually search the radio frequency (VF); Direct input frequency figures, etc.What a brilliant, detailed assessment of the D-808! Thank you so much for sharing this! I’m absolutely jealous of your North Sea listening location–looks to be idyllic!
The sound is not so good. Music sounds "thin" but that's probably the contribute I have to pay for the size of the speaker. Volume control is "analog", which is a big advantage over many of those controls working with digitized steps. The fixation of the telescope antenna is a bit fragile. Rotate it carefully, it's held with just one small screw ending in a piece of plastic. You can add to or update/edit your existing review's content including the Rating and Time Owned with the Edit button on the right side of the review text body. Edits will go thru the review Approval process. The battery is a deal breaker for me though. I prefer to have radios that can take alkaline batteries when needed. I love my PL-880 but if I get in a bind I can’t just run into a Wallymart and get spares.It is confusing that the document number of the schematic contains “Eton G3”. But as Etón G3 was a traditional double conversion receiver without DSP, it cannot be the receiver shown in the schematic. The Bad is that there is seemingly no longer any protection of intellectual property. If any design can be taken, copied (they call it “reverse engineering”) and modified, that certainly might stifle development because it’s cheaper to copy an existing circuit than to design your own. I think it would be frustrating to sweat out and spend money on a new design only to find someone else had taken your radio and used it as a starting point for a new model. What I do not understand is why you would include a error-filled and unprofessional user manual with an otherwise excellent product. The manual is incomplete, it is sometimes incomprehensible, the English grammar is faulty, and in some cases the information is just wrong. The portable radio manufacturing industry has changed pretty dramatically over the past few years as much of the advanced technology used by foreign companies in their radio factories in China has been “appropriated” (to use a generous term) by new Chinese competitors. Without getting into the political ramifications of such behavior the obvious fact in the 2021 portable radio market is that all of the top competitors in this Shootout come from factories in China, and four of the five have Chinese name brands. For those who feel uneasy about this rampant copying of foreign technology the American-designed C. Crane Skywave is still available, although even it is still manufactured in Shenzhen, China—the nerve center of such copying. When your Litz wire lead ends resemble the photo above, cut the soldered portion down to a length of 3/16” (5mm) and observe the appearance of the end of the Litz wire. It should have a bright, solid circular shape, with no gaps or individual Litz wires showing. If not, reheat the end of the Litz wire while adding some solder, and repeat this step.
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