My PL-880 started draining batteries while off recently. Before this began, the battery would stay charged for months if not used. Now there is 15mA constant discharge current. The worst part is that it doesn't stop when the voltage is below 3V, killing the cell. I had to throw away 2 cells before I realized what's wrong.
As for the source of 18650 cells, the best source for me is tested cells from discarded laptop batteries.

73, Mike AF7KR

Following the subject about the Sangean DT-800 I tested it with a longer whip against my autoradio SKODA. Hope you find the ppst useful.

https://t.co/kyFsA7oKLu

Saludos

Jorge Garzón Gutiérrez "IberiaDX" 

(EB7EFA · EA1036 SWL · BDXC Member 1409) 

QTH: IN83ag / 43º15' N · 03º56' W

Urb. San Roque 95, casa 5 (Villasevil)

39698 Santiurde de Toranzo (ESPAÑA - SPAIN)

..................................................................................

Blog: IberiaDX  · Twitter: @IberiaDX

I did read to the end and thought it was interesting about the difference between the numbering of the channels.

On Sun, 2 May 2021, 21:03 Jock Elliott, <jock.elliott@...> wrote:

With regard to the NOAA weather radio reception of the CCrane Skywave SSB, here's some info that I posted Radio Reference that might prove useful for anyone for whom NOAA weather radio is a high priority.

As a friend put it: "This is stuff only a radio nerd would chase down."

What follows is a compilation from various posts in the thread:

Perhaps I am the only guy on planet earth with a "kinda" interest in DXing NOAA weather radio, but there you have it, but we'll get to the interesting part in just a moment.

Today I find myself in Sodus, NY, in the western part of the state, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Rochester, NY, is a bit further to the Southwest. I have with me the following: an Icom V80 with a sharply tuned (I think) commercial antenna that works great on my home repeater (146.94) in Troy, NY; a Uniden BC125AT with a Diamond 77 antenna, and a CCrane Skywave SSB. All receive the NOAA weather channels.

Early this AM, I checked www.wunderground.com for weather in the Sodus area. Snow is expected overnight. So I grab the Uniden 125AT, activate the weather scan function, and find that it receives NOAA weather radio channels 1, 2, and 3, and the audio sound great through my headphones. I try stepping through the weather radio channels on my Icom V80 and find that it receives channels 1, 2, and 3 but with just a wee bit of static in the background. I try switching the antennas between the 125AT and the V80, and there is no appreciable difference.

Now, here's the interesting part: I try the same trick on the CCrane Skywave SSB with its telescoping whip fully extended, and it receives weather channel 1 just fine with excellent audio through the headphones. But channel 2 is way down in the soup, a hair above "barely audible." I try waving the Skywave around, point the whip antenna in different directions and orientations to see if I can improve the signal. I succeed only in nulling it out. Weather radio channel 3 is not audible at all, but channel 4 is coming in well, and so is channel 7 . . . and the other two radios were not receiving channels 4 and 7 at all.

Frankly, I don't know what to make of this. To be clear, I was able to hear that forecast that I needed to hear -- for Wayne County, NY -- on all three radios. But why would there be such a stark difference between the CCrane Skywave SSB and the other two radios?

The V80 and the 125AT "agree" with each; both are receiving NOAA weather radio channels 1, 2, 3. The CCrane Skywave SSB appears to be the anomaly, receiving channels 1, 2 (barely), and 4 and 7, which the V80 and 125AT did not receive.

I just checked, and the NOAA weather radio frequencies occupy a fairly narrow spread: each channel represents one of seven frequencies between 162.400 MHz to 162.550 MHz.

All three tested in my lap at the same location and then tested in another room within inches of each other. I turned one radio on, checked the channels it could receive, turned it off, then tested the next radio, etc. Same results in both cases.

Then one of the respondents to the thread posted: "Did you check the actual frequencies received on the radios? Some radios number the channels from lowest to highest frequency and others use the NOAA assigned channel numbers."

I responded:

Hmmmm. Interesting idea.

Modern Survival Blog -- https://modernsurvivalblog.com/weather-preparedness/noaa-weather-radio-channel-list/ -- reveals that NOAA weather channels may displayed in two different ways, depending upon the manufacturer: chronological or in increasing frequency order.

The Uniden displays Channel numbers and frequencies, so: Ch. 1, 162.550; Ch. 2. 162.400; Ch. 3 162.475. The Icom V80 lists only channel numbers, but no frequencies. However, it receives the same channels as the Uniden.

This appears to be the chronological sequence – the sequence to which the radio frequencies were allocated over time to the service. This ordered sequence is used by (some) weather radio manufacturers.

1=162.550 Mhz
2=162.400 Mhz
3=162.475 Mhz
4=162.425 Mhz
5=162.450 Mhz
6=162.500 Mhz
7=162.525 Mhz

The CCrane Skywave SSB lists only channel numbers. BUT, if it follows the weather radio channels in increasing frequency --

1=162.400 Mhz
2=162.425 Mhz
3=162.450 Mhz
4=162.475 Mhz
5=162.500 Mhz
6=162.525 Mhz
7=162.550 Mhz

Then the CCrane receives Ch1, 162.400 (which is Ch. 2 on the other two radios); Ch 2, 162.425 faintly (Ch. 4 on the other radios), Ch 4, 162.475 (Ch. 3 on Uniden and Icom), and Ch 7, 162.550 (which would be Ch. 1 on the other two radios).

So all three radios are receiving the same frequencies, but with different channel numbers assigned to them . . . and the CCrane appears to be a hair more sensitive, also receiving the 162.425 channel very faintly.

As Inspector Clouseau would say: "The case is sol-ved."

Finally, if you have read this all the way to the end, one might make that case that you have tested positive for being a radio nerd.

Cheers, Jock

Thanks, Jay (and all). I have suspected that for some time. However, I keep reading the glowing reviews of the XHDATA which do not mention this problem at all. When I change out batteries, I do see variations in battery life, but not enough to really solve the problem. I bought my two units about three months apart, from the same reseller in Israel. It's possible that reseller had a bad batch, but it doesn't add up for me.

While a very good radio (AM and FM), the rapid discharging (2 to 3 weeks at most) is very frustrating and I'm about ready to junk the radios. I also have the Digitech AR-1780 (also two units), which is almost the same radio except that it uses ordinary AA cells, and neither unit has the rapid discharging problem.

On Sun, May 23, 2021 at 6:30 AM radiojayallen <radiojayallen@...> wrote:

Beware of battery draining while the radio is off. I have had two radios which did this and in both cases the radios were defective...replacements cured the issue. The test is to take the battery out of the radio and see if it still discharges.

This seems a more likely scenario than several batteries which self discharge on their own,

FWIW.

Jay

Hi Mark, 

Well, there is no HD AM stations here in the Old World and never will have! I bought mine from the EUA because, despite its size, it had PI decoding capabilities. Unfortunately the RDBS and RDS systems are not compatibles in between them. That's funny as sometimes I got US calls when internally receives some RDS PI codes that coincide with a W... or a K... call in NA. 

But it's a good receiver to go bushwalking, ultralight with good sound, very easy to carry in my rucksac and receives PS, CT and RText opening these subcarriers easily. 

Peter, what about to change the Eton Traveler whip for a longer one? This will improve the sensibility of the receiver compared to the other ones. Did you try this? 

¡Saludos desde España! 

Jorge

Enviado desde Yahoo Mail con Android

El dom., may. 23, 2021 a 6:13, Mark Roberts

<markrobt@...> escribió:

"still sports the best LCD display technology that the 1990s can offer" -- haha!

It's hard to find AM stations broadcasting in HD. There are none in the San Francisco Bay Area, for example. KCBS (740 kHz), KGO (810 kHz), and KTCT (1050 kHz) tried broadcasting it at various times but ultimately discontinued it. KNBR (680 kHz) could not broadcast it at all, according to my understanding, because the antenna system could not pass the bandwidth required. KHTK Sacramento (1140 kHz) is close enough for an HD signal to be detected, but not strong enough to lock into the signal. I was in Denver a few years ago, had my HDR-14 with me, and got OK results. The sound quality will depend upon the quality of the station's encoding: it's really quite variable, more so than for FM.

It will be interesting to see how it does with the digital-only stations (what few of them there are) that are starting to convert from analog.

For radio collectors: the Sangean SG-108 is the same radio, but in a whitee  case with gray lettering.

On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 8:37 AM Michael Schuster <schuster.ma@...> wrote:

As somewhat a collector of IBOC ("HD Radio") sets I purchased this upon its release. A miniaturized version of the HDR-14, crammed into the cabinet used for the Sangean DPR-65 FM/DAB+ portable, there had to be some design compromises. Your intended comparison sets should prove to be an interesting exercise as the others are really aimed at different market segments - apples and oranges. The HDR-14 is not a DX rig but aimed at the casual program listener who has HD stations nearby and wants to take advantage. Frankly if you're outside of North America I can't see any reason to buy it over other postabls unless you are a collector .... but then, many of us are!

When this model was introduced I posted to the SWL blog a quick comparison with its direct competitor - the NiceTex ("SPARC" "Audiovox") SHD-TX2. In the end the NiceTex is marginally a better performer on RF and has much better audio from the speaker due to its passive radiator design. It was never well distributed though and unfortunately seems to have been silently discontinued along with the majority of their private label portables.

The HDR-14 is quite competent on FM which is probably true of most portables designed in the last few years. Its HD capture is really good, which does require very good sensitivity. AM performance is hampered by a small ferrite antenna and rather wide selectivity - again reflecting the design choices made in its market position and re-using a cabinet that did not even have AM section in its original configuration. There are quite a few birdies on AM which may or may not matter depending on whether you have stations which overlap those frequencies. I live in an area in which one of the last remaining AM-HD stations is still on the air, and it does handle it very well. I even snagged AM-HD Dx occasionally from a station ~75 miles away or so.

It is somewhat of a battery hog though, and true to Sangean's design philosophy of beating existing circuit designs to death, still sports the best LCD display technology that the 1990's can offer.

Beware of battery draining while the radio is off. I have had two radios which did this and in both cases the radios were defective...replacements cured the issue. The test is to take the battery out of the radio and see if it still discharges.

This seems a more likely scenario than several batteries which self discharge on their own,

FWIW.

Jay