The Raddy RF760 - Tiny AM, FM, CB, HAM, AIR, SW Radio with SSB!
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- The Raddy FT760 is a tiny radio with a ton of features and wide frequency space of coverage. But is it good?
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The tiny antenna tip as I understand it, is made to flex. It is solid and not hollow. If it does bend, it can be bent back into shape. A flexible antenna is less likely to be bent...
The GOAT. Keep up the great work. You have done more for Amateur Radio than everyone on UA-cam combined. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you!
I absolutely agree. He is honest and not any shill for his sponsors. Josh is a HAM radio community Treasure! The sponsors should be thrilled to have him on board.
Great review, can you please compare this with the RF75A. It has Bluetooth and app which I think is interesting but on paper it does not have uhf/wx/air. It would be great to know if it performs at par with the 760. Thanks
You have to fine tune SSB on radios like that! He needed to change the step to very fine like .01 step and go up and down they work well if you fine tune. I have a Tecsun PL-330 and if I go to super fine steps and fine tune it works nice on SSB. Same thing for this radio. He was trying to tune SSB at 1khz steps!! Not going to work like that.
You’re not even prepared to make a video when you don’t know how to tune it properly you’re putting a video up that affects consumers and hobbies alike with a misinformed opinion and poor procedure
Just received my RADDY RF760 in the mail. My last shortwave radio was a GRUNDIG YB 500 back in the 90s. It’s charging now but I’m very excited. I feel like a kid at Christmas. Thanks for the very informative video.
What's your thoughts? Love it, hate it, would get something else?
Thanks for the review. Looks very close to a radio that I'd buy. But for me, what I really want is a radio that can do the normal AM/FM domestic freqs, but also Airband, CB and yeah maybe shortwave etc, but to be able to store them as scanning channels for quick access. That radio is trying to be a jack of all trades, but master of none.
Yr skywave looks good too.
What would you think is the better radio the Raddy RF760 ,Retekess TR110 or the tecsun pl-360
Great review! I just got one the other day and didn't look at the manual, it was a bit confusing at first but once figured out, it works like a charm. Yes, it is not the best radio, however having the ability to scan and listen to ALL DA RADIO WAVEZ just like that made it a winner for me. I found the built-in antenna is just fine for WX, AIR, VHF, and UHF, but lacked in SW. I feel this radio is a great one to have if you needed to have a variety in a pinch. I don't regret buying it.
What would you think is the better radio the Raddy RF760 ,Retekess TR110 or the tecsun pl-360
It appears that the battery is a “remove and replace” so extra batteries with a charger may be a good prepper option.
As a shortwave listener being able to tune weather frequencies and hear the space station on 2 meters and potentially get sstv images is pretty huge in one little radio and energy requirements look pretty low(charge up with a backpacker's solar panel)?and hear local 2 meter repeaters? May have to give it a try.thanks so much great video
Tecsun external LW MW antenna will trigger LW. VHF UHF band continuous 30-520 MHz. Fair MW reception with internal antenna. Ok on shortwave, air band and FM, and weather band. Nice for $ 100-125.
AM, FM, shortwave, and VHF & UHF scanner in one radio, for about $100. Great size. My gold standard is the ICOM R-6 though a bit too much spectrum. Oh, the BL-5C battery is common online.
I like how FREQUENCE is misspelled above the display. 😄
Seems like a good general purpose portable radio with the huge amount of radio frequencies for the price.
yeah they're a bit off freq. on ssb, so u gotta fine tune them right onto the audio with the last two digits...which they will do...in a 'clarifier' way.... they work really well
Awesome radio My radio is great value.
It has the good old Nokia 3310 battery. It's a battery is still used in Nokia's 2g phones that Russia and China still use today.
who else is taking a brake form field day to watch ham radio you tube
The YouLoop external antenna works very well with this little radio with very little overloading.
A smaller VHF and UHF antenna, like Bose Wave Radio antenna works better on 66-500 MHz. Can be found on EBAY for about $8.
you have to FINE tune it using the 2 little 0's to the right of the frequency.
The bandwidth on FM PLL does not do audio band limiting. A low bandwidth still sounds great after "lock". It will reduce adjacent lock if lower.
BL5C battery is long established and stable battery.
I does pretty good for it's size. Depends what the user is after.
Thanks for the review and the comparison with the GP7 ( which I have). I definitely will not waste my money on it.
That is my favorite frequency to talk DX. 27.025 MHZ! 😅
I just bought a little Lijiani RD 239 that has the same kind of ridiculously dainty upper antenna element. Luckily, it has a 3.5mm external antenna jack on the back, so my Sangean reel antenna plugs right in. I've been eyeballing this little Raddy as well.
This looks like the Chinese HanRonDa HD-747, for which I see many recent reviews on UA-cam too. Thanks 😊 73 de W2CH Ray.
spot on. Looks like its 70 vs 100, but not sure about shipping. Looks too good to be true. Thought it might be a good scanner, but no..
Thanks for taking a look at this. I am looking for something like this.
There is an old adage, “There is no such thing as a perfect radio, there is always a compromise.”
Add a bfo, fix the bandwidth issues, add some front end filtering and you would have a better radio, but probably it would cost twice as much.
I honestly thought that was a mini HRCC sticker on the front until you showed the closeup lol
for one of these tiny radios to succeed without a direct entry keypad, the way to change steps needs to be the easiest thing to do. and despite this having two tuning methods (kudos for an actual analogue 'wheel'), you can't set the step sizes right unless you only want to use the side tuning wheel and change the step constantly. and the procedure to change the step size on the tuning wheel is ponderous and slow as blazes. the arrows max out at 5khz and they are not that useful for the hz increments. also, if you try to long press the arrows to move quickly, the radio keeps stopping on nothing at all. but i will say, the memory system and the scan dump to memories is very straightforward and if you are able to set up most of your listening in the memories the tuning steps won't affect you much.
the gp7 added a keypad in the latest model for just those reasons and at no sacrifice in size it let them add dedicated buttons for nearly everything you would want to change. the rf760 asks you to dig into modes and menus and memorize which combinations of button presses allows you to access what you want to change. to get into a sideband mode is tedious and every time you try you have to sit through a cheezy graphic where the radio is doing godz knows what internally just to shift into sideband. the gp7 has a button press and you're done. a comparison to the gp7 isn't that useful and the gp7 is 4-5x the size of the rf760. they do take the same battery though and that was the change in the gp7 i hated the worst--going from dry cells to a lithium. getting the keypad though more than made up for it. oh, and on the gp7, the time and temp display stays on all the time and if you remove the battery you don't lose your settings like i did with the rf760 although, to be fair, if it has an internal battery or capacitor, i might not have had it long enough for that to charge.
another radio which is unfair as a comparison, but is about 25% smaller (although 25-33% thicker with the speaker attached) and is 1000% easier to use than the rf760 despite having only 5 buttons, is the belka dx which is basically an ic-7600 pro receiver squeezed into a matchbox. the gp7 and the belka, inside on the whip antennas, easily received 10mhz wwv and in several hours of playing around with the rf760 i've received only a single sw station--i huge religious stateside broadcaster. and yes, i stretched the supplied antenna across the ceiling inside with no better luck than the whip.
but, having said all that, i'm going to keep it just for the wide frequency range. it basically covers everything up to 512mhz you'd want to listen to although i've yet to test the vhf/uhf bands. and it literally disappears in a pocket and weighs nothing. but be warned, it's going to take you up to a week to tweak all the modes and bands and controls to your liking due to having to constantly jump around in the manual and the modes and settings and button presses not being consistent enough across modes and bands. the manual is awful (just try to follow along with the section on how to configure the ubd band) and who could trust a company who can't even spell 'frequency' right _on_the_front_of_the_radio_! :)
the display is tiny and my eyesight is gone, thus i never saw the blinking arrows when assigning the step size to the wheel and the manual never even mentions how to do that afaik. i still had to figure out that you had to do some kubuku dance just to get them to appear and then you have to wait over 5 seconds for it to finish the procedure. this is why i say the step size settings are nearly a total FAIL.
after i typed this up i found a 40m qso on 7195. on the rf760 you could tell there was audio, but good luck understanding it. i tried all bandwidths and tuned up and down in 10hz increments and it was still mud. the belka dx audio wasn't that great using their external speaker, but it locked on it solid. the gp7 also had no problem capturing it and the audio was better than the belka. but the surprise was a c.crane skywave i'd resurrected just for this comparison and had never really used because when i set it up the memory system was total crap. but it was by far the best audio of them all and was tied with the belka for a clean signal (selectivity).
/guy (73 de kg5gt | wqpz784)
Hey Josh good morning I'm real curious about this radio to watch your video I think it's very cool for being so small 👍
SSB is buggy: fine tune up and down and it’ll be different depending on which direction you’re tuning. VHF UHF kinda need squelch. not just air…
😂nice patch on that pouch, I need one of those. Great review too as always, I've always enjoyed your shorter videos.
It has CW and WFM modulation indicators on display, but they are never used. FM band uses only stereo/mono indicators, SW uses AM, LSB, SSB (Which is USB) but no CW
Is there WFM mode for VHF/UHF bands and CW for SW or this in unused indicators?
Check the connector on the long wave antenna, it had a "stereo" plug, the antenna you were using had a mono plug. I wonder if that antenna would make a difference in reception? Not sure why an antenna would have a "stereo" plug. Maybe test the external antenna that came in the box, let us know if it made a difference. Thanks
I have this and the County Comm GP-7. For it's size, it does a whole lot, not well, and tuning can take a little practice, but it does work. The GP-7 doesn't have the frequency coverage of this but it is easier to tune SSB and also has AM sync, which seems to work OK, it's not as good as my Icom R75, but it works.
Seems to get overloaded easily. Nice review..73
Thank you for your great review.
Interesting review. My own experience with its rebranded clone the Retekess TR-110 is extremely disappointing. It's not cheap, I expected way more from this radio. It's completely deaf in my urban environment with FM transmitters around. Another radio at half its price does infinitely better, especially on the air band. SW is mediocre too.
Thanx for the GP7 comparison.
Great video, great little radio, love to order one . Regards mark
Great video, thank you!
CB #6 is still "jumpin'" I see!
It seems to have the word 'frequenc' instead of frequency at the top of the screen. Surely they could have printed it correctly. Still, a great radio though.
If it has a DX position turn it off. It might help reduce the sensitivity and prevent overloading it with your external antenna
At $19.99 this might be OK. Other than FM broadcast it was pretty poor. I missed what your shortwave antenna was. It was clearly overloading the receiver. The internal antenna wasn't cutting it and the external antenna overloaded it. If it had a DX switch I would turn it off and might reduce the sensitivity to prevent overload. Despite the size and freq coverage it really didn't do any frequency well
It wasn’t in dx for most of the video.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse wow. then that radio is pretty bad
been trying to buy it all week. It keeps saying after basket "Shipping not available for the selected address".... I'm in UK. ...
Wide “Frequence” Scanner Radio 😁
emphasis on WIDE LOL
Maybe the SSB wasn't working because of the local AM broadcast overwhelming the front end. I wonder if it would work from a different location. - N2OA
It’s possible, even likely. But that won’t help the audio out the speaker.
Can toggle between MW steps 9khz and 10khz using tuning buttons and side dial.
The only thing with this radio, if the att was working correctly in a better setting, it would stop the overload of signals that's happening!!
1 quick idea that i think a lot of ppl don't think about (even the manufacturer) ..... if someone wants this to pack away for their SHTF packs, i wonder if it would pick up better during a blackout event? Would it pick up better if "everything" was off because the grid is down and most electronics are off and not giving off RFI coming into it from all directions? i dont' know, just an idea.
Josh - I've had this radio for a bit and found that it is off frequency on Shortwave, especially on SSB. Try playing with the frequency a bit until it's clear. Unfortunately like some better Shortwave radios, you can't frequency calibrate :( Outside of that, I carry this everywhere.
The tune slider on the side of the Radio , does help with ssb !! Still a very good radio to have !!
If you tune around, off freq, you can get the ssb better. Just because the op is running on 7.150, try either side and you might be surprised. Not exactly an accurate receiver.
I see the 2 small zeros. does it have 10 cycle steps in ssb? Cute little DSP radio.
we want the radios used in DIE HARD 2
I don't like the cheap bag that it comes in why couldn't give it a nice case that it would fit in like the sky wave I'm totally disappointed in that radio thank you Josh you save me $100 👍
I was interested until you got to the ssb operation..... would never work for me. Great review!
THATS a killer for me too.Hoping for a BFO on it,but nope.
Hi Josh
Great video
I wouldn't buy it.
The bleeding over frequency is a deal killer.
For the same reason no government agency's will allow baefeng radios on site.
What handheld transceiver has the best wideband scanner?
Cheers 🍻
In terms of transceivers, the Yaesu FT-60 has 144/430 transmit and 108-999mhz receive, AM or FM. It is my favorite and most reliable handheld. However, if you are alright with a receiver, check out the Alinco DJ-x11. It has a much wider range and can be plugged into a computer to be used as an SDR.
Thinking the Countrycomm GP-7 may be the winner... I have a Tecsun PL-660 but it is showing its age and is a AA battery pig!
27.025 is Superchannel 6 which almost always has skip on it.
or people have high amps on it there a reason why they call it super bole 6
Good stuff
So many names for this radio 😂
I go to VHF low to listen to train traffic
Foam it up buddy 🚂👍
The skyway blows at radio listening to single side band 🌞
Josh I'm not very happy about thank you for sharing it before I bought it 👍
Wonderful vedio🥰♥️
Amazon offers a bundle with a solar panel $104.
The antena in, is only for AM not for sw,the telescopic antenna is the sw and fm
Yep. As are pretty much all radios like this.
Mine is completely deaf on VHF and UHF ham frequencies
Any difference from the old 747 model?
Except for the name, this is a Hanrongda HRD-747. But at a slightly higher price.
You could have the same with KEVIN your name on it.
@@allenschmitz9644 That would double the value.
@@harrkev Same name game$$$
How has this radio held up? I want a pocket radio that does shortwave. I don't Care of its analog either. Any suggestions?
Screw plug on the bottom end of the antenna
If I were primarily concerned with shortwave/"world band" reception, and not so much with the CB/UHF/VHF functions, would you recommend this over a Tecsun 368 hand held model?
Nice
Is there something like this that makes all this better and maybe still portable?
What would you think is the better radio the Raddy RF760 ,Retekess TR110 or the tecsun pl-360
Josh, The antenna that is included with it is a trs plug, three connections. The plug you used had a tip and ring, only 2 connections. Perhaps your antenna is shorting something out, that could cause bad results. Try using the included antenna when doing a review. What works with the GP-7 doesn't mean it works with the Raddy.
It’s not shorting anything out. Just because their is a trs doesn’t mean it needs one.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse I think you should have used the antenna that came with the Raddy in addition to show folks how it works with the supplied parts. Perhaps it does affect the results. I don't think it was a fair review not atleast trying to use the supplied antenna. Ask yourself why they would use a trs plug when a tip and ring plug would supposedly work and be cheaper than a trs plug? I think there is a reason it has a trs plug.
@@kd5inm I fundamentally disagree. The TRS here isn't the issue. It was giving the radio a much better antenna was overloading it. DO you not want to know if a radio is apt to overload?
@@HamRadioCrashCourse if that was the case why didn't you use the antenna that came with it? You didn't even give it a try. Most people are not going to have the same antenna you have outside, and the same conditions but I would guess that the included antenna they sent with it out of the thousands they made to include with the Raddy would all be pretty well matched and the same, and would give different or even better results than you got with your outside antenna. You seem pretty close minded to revisiting this review with the included antenna and giving it another try. What are you afraid of? Being wrong about something? How about you send me the Raddy and I will investigate it and make a video. If my findings say you are correct in saying its overloaded I will say so. I'm not afraid to say I am wrong. I just think you weren't fair in your review. I will pay for shipping it.
I like it!🥰
I Still want a one-for-one replacement for my old RadioShack carry around radio♡
Why didnt you put the attentuator to local on the 760? - and if you put the radio to SW it will work with SSB on CB too. - i have no problems on the AIR band with it, and it stores up to 1000 channels which is quite a bit. - i have the HanrongDa 747, but there seems not to be any significant differences between them. as i understand - of course it cannot be compared to bigger and more expensive receivers, but one gets a pretty good bang for the buck in a pocket sized radio. greets, Levi in Sweden
Being both a HAM, KI0OT and a pilot I was hoping to see the air band included in your review. Anyone know how the aircraft receiver work?
It’s not great.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse any suggestions? Just looking for something like this for when I’m out and bored.
It's actually a rebadged hanrongda hrd-747 which you can probably find for a bit cheaper than $100. And even then it's not worth the price. Too many oversights, and too many issues.
Is that an old Nokia form factor battery?
pretty much any older cellphones
Yes, the BL-5C
@@bruhmoment4378 that’s it! Thank you. 🧩 🧠
I'd give it a miss. But for some it night be OK.
That seems weird that the CB can only do am or FM. Couldn't I just use the HF band and go to the frequency and use Lower Side Band?
I have the GP5SSB and my favorite cheap SWL & SSB radio is the XHDATA D-808. That said, the best counter to this Raddy is something like a Yaesu VX-6, which will cover the same range and let you transmit all over if it's MARS mod'ed. I got a nice used one for $150. I also have a Yaesu FT3D which covers all these frequencies for of course a lot more. The HTs are a similar form factor, much more rugged. I just wish Yaesu would have added SSB on receive for the HTs. As for SWL on HTs, I have indeed listened to stronger stations like VOA, WWCR and the like. You haven't really listened to Alex Jones unless on shortwave lol!
The Kenwood TH F7E is even smaller than the Raddy, and will do 0.1 to 1300mhz, ALL modes, regret selling my, though it is available at the used market.
How do you get alex jones on shortwave?
How does it compare your performance to the Tecsun PL330
330 is a better radio but lacks many of the features of the Raddy.
Yea it's kinda quirky. Been playing around with mine. I didn't get a battery with mine off the bat
What was your rcvr band setting? I think it is 300 which is too narrow
Hey Josh, I noticed the second time you checked out HF you had the attenuator on NORMAL instead of DX. When in DX it is probably overdriving the RX. Maybe you can check the video again and try testing a bit more. But for sure after seeing your review I would not purchase that rig......Thanks
Tim - K5DEZ
What should I be reviewing again? I have tried it on Local, Normal and DX. It still have the same issues.
At the beginning of the video the first time you went to HF the attenuator was on DX....which to me means Max RF gain. Later in the video the attenuator was on Normal so the SSB audio sounds a little bit better. My guess is the receiver was getting swamped out with too much gain while in DX and an outside antenna. I have an old Grundig G6 Aviator that acts pretty much the same way once it is connected to an outside antenna. It seems to work OK when it is on the little telescopic whip. Just my observation/opinion with the little radio I own....for what it is worth. Lemme know what you find out or think.
@@timkeene2717 Yes, I understand now what you were trying to say. There were two main issues I saw with the RADDY. The Overload/selectivity and then the audio quality on SW/SSB. The later never improved no matter what the gain was at.
Can it also work on the 4m band 67 MHz FM?
Well hello there from Pennsylvania. Please know my only interest at this time is FM hd radio. Please let me know if you are aware of a high quality FM hd radio. I will appreciate any information you can provide.
Sangean
Nice video. Thanks. Can it be hooked up to a speaker?
Yep
You're afraid to say outright when something's not working. Single Side Band, SSB, doesn't work on your radio. A few of Amazon reviewers said that SSB doesn't work on their radios; the other reviewers probably didn't understand SSB so didn't mention it. But after those reviews and your video, I think it's clear the Raddy Marketing is lying about the radio having SSB capabilities. I agree that it would be a crying shame to have to return this radio because one of it's alleged features doesn't exist.
Raddiodity has the habit of selling fist-generation radios that have missing features that were used as selling points, and then a couple of years later, the next generation of a similar product works a lot better. So, they're breaking into the consumer pocket-shortwave-radio market, consistent with their tradition of selling a half-working radio for its first generation.
I think it's a lesson well learned. When Raddiodity introduces a half-broken foray into a new market, reviewers should say clearly that this is a half-broken experiment, and save your bucks for their next update, or whatever current, similar product has proven to be a properly working device.
I always have a shirt pocket.
For your smokes and radio.
@@_bob_8170 ha ha, I only wear collared shirts. I haven’t been a t-shirt slob in public since 1995 😜
Bag says "f you media"🤔
Josh how could they let that leave the the factory and put that out on the shelves for consumers when single sideband is one of the biggest selling point and it just doesn't have it 😭
What external antennae were you using?
Likely my SteppIR
Do it feel cheap made
Yeah
Have you ever heard of fine tuning