Scanning the firehose of new electronic kits and modules coming from the usual Chinese suppliers can be a rewarding experience, as sometimes among the endless breakout boards comes an item that looks interesting enough to try. As an example there’s a receiver kit being given a quick review by [Tech Minds], offering AM and HF multi-mode, FM broadcast, and air band alongside what appear to be digital streaming features.
Looking at it, though all the RF part is hidden under screening cans we’re guessing it might contain one of the Silicon Labs all-in-one receiver chips, but the whole appears to deliver a useful receiver with a comprehensive interface. The review isn’t quite technical enough so we can’t glean a lot more, but it looks as though it could be useful. We’d be tempted to snag one for review, but since with very few exceptions we pay for the stuff we review, it’s a mite expensive at $50+ for yet another radio.
There’s an ongoing question with all these cheap kits and modules though, first of all where did the design come from and are we freeloading on someone else’s hard work, but then whether or not what you’re getting is a knock-off using defective semiconductors or with bean-counting parts removal degrading performance. We’re guessing more will come out about this radio in due course, and we can all make our own judgement. Meanwhile this one can be found on AliExpress or Banggood, so take a look and see if you’re tempted.
It looks like a rad1o with larger screen.
https://github.com/rad1o
Okay not an SDR but it looks very similar
“Are we freeloading on someone else’s hard work?”
Article redacted with the actual LLM.
Another video says it is based on SI4732, SI5351 and SA602 chips.
One advert listed a top frequency of 137MHz. A YouTube comment mentioned a front end low pass filter, at 150MHz.
If your interest is NOAA Satellites, or the 2m Ham band, this is Almost – But Not Quite – the radio you are looking for.
NOAA 19, at 137.10 MHz, is JUST out of reach.
Looks like a redesigned Quansheng, or Radioberry.
For me the most important information would be: What MCU is inside and can I reprogram it?
One of product photo shows
PSRAM: OK (4M)
S1473X: OK
SHT3X: OK
XL9555: OK
SECURE: OK
S15351:OK
PCF8523T:OK
Man, I was looking for a little module like this.
Would be awesome to retrofit this into a classic car, the usual retrofit kits can be $600+.
Pretty interesting. I’ll wait to see some reviews, but at the current price, it’s no cheaper than buying an equivalent complete far-east portable multiband radio (which I did about a month ago). It was a bit of an eye-opener to find out that in the radio I bought, just about all the rf circuitry is baked into ONE IC. This V5A radio seems to have a higher parts count, at least.
If it works well, then $50 is an absolute steal. HF radios usually go for $500-$1000 used, and SDR kits will run you at least a few hundred dollars.
You can’t compare this to a $20 Baofeng or Quansheng and go “why am I paying $50 for it?” It’s really not the same thing, as FM radio parts are mass produced an a way larger scale — making them dirt cheap.
Oh.. it’s just an am receiver, not transmitter… makes sense, should have watched the video before commenting
It’s not an absolute steal by today’s standards but it wasn’t that long ago that receivers with far less capability cost a lot more than that. These are good times to have any sort of geeky hobby.
It’s only a receiver. Prices you’re stating for an HF radio are for Transceivers…
Still overpriced!
I need an AM receiver for distant and weak signals. Will this work?
How do I order one?
Ugh. A laser cut acrylic case. The author seems happy it was that and not wood or cardboard. I had a laser cut acrylic Raspberry Pi + LCD case. It sucked! They go brittle fast. Cracks form and all the little tabs break off. I’ll take wood and maybe even a sufficiently heavy cardboard over acrylic any day.
I’ll use a square or rectangular piece of acrylic with no tabs for a window. But that’s about it.
Doesn’t mean it’s a terrible deal but designing a 3d printed case would be my next project if I bought one.