Premium FM DX Equipment

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Transmission1
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Premium FM DX Equipment

Post by Transmission1 »

Here is the first in a list of sites detailing consumer electronic items that are suitable for DX purposes. Only the best equipment has made the list, usually for it's quality of reception, sensitivity and filtering.

Highly recomended for a browse:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/h ... rfmdx.html

If I come across more sites documentating suitable equipment for DX then I will update this sticky.

:D
Simon, 26TM001 - East Yorkshire, UK
Founder of Transmission1 & Tango Mike 26 Division Co-ordinator
http://www.tangomike.net/
Follow me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@transmission1
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timb
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Re: Premium FM DX Equipment

Post by timb »

Todd's changed the URL since 06
http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/h ... rfmdx.html

this seems to be the prefered tuner now:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/s ... tuner.html
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MrWeetabix
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Re: Premium FM DX Equipment

Post by MrWeetabix »

You've been trawling old posts there mind! haha

good stuff :D
26TM175. OP: Craig. QTH: Gateshead IO94EW. Also 163TM175 when mobile in Wales 8)

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timb
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Re: Premium FM DX Equipment

Post by timb »

My Personal opinion of the best FM Gear currently on the market.
this is a totally subjective list.
i haven't tested winradio excelsior because my computers are too old and slow to cope! i hope to replace the wheezing broken down old steam powered machines in sept.

1. Perseus FM+. pretty hard to find fault with performance
but if you only dx FM then shelling out £1000 for perseus and the FM+ adaptor is hard to justify. google for the FM +software and download these test files to get an idea of how great it is: http://www.4shared.com/folder/oHsVqx6Z/Perseus_WAV.html
87.5-108 only but any tuning step you can imagine, ie: you could tune to 88.763 if you wanted to! any bandwidth filter you like can be chosen from 0-230khz


2.Sony XDR F1HD. very cheap to import from the USA even after buying a voltage transformer and an adapter for the wierd ant socket. very portable
some people are crazy for this beast. supports our RDS system, 0.1mhz tuning steps only, not a huge loss but sometimes you may want to hear dutch pirates on 97.15 or Russian TV on 99.75, 91.75 etc and with the XDRs sharp selectivity any off-channel signal will be distorted
87.5-108 only. push button tuning only -annoying for some users with arthritis


3. Tecsun PL-606wt 64-108mhz in 0.01mhz steps. no RDS
if you take into account performance, frequency coverage, price & ease of availability this is really hard to beat.
don't let anyone tell you that the old Eastern Block FM band 66-74 is dead now, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova & Kazakhstan are still there, the 1st 4 of these countries were extremely common via e skip last year. Belarus on the lower FM band was the most common country on FM last year and frequently reached massive strengths even on a tiny portable like this
theres also the East European TV sound channels very much still with us in 2012 on 83.75 & 65.75 so the extra coverage is worth having.
It's really hard to fault this little wonder but i'll have a go: unlike the models it replaced the 606 is really reluctant to switch into fast tuning mode, you can inagine what a pain in the backside that is when you're in a hurry
best contact on PMR (0.5watts only): 21.5 miles (Congleton to Junction of A54/A556 near Kelsall 06/03/2011)
Best Contact on LPD (10mW only) 14.2 Miles (Congleton to The Roaches 18/04/2011)
Gear: Intek MT-5050 Unmodified
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timb
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Re: Premium FM DX Equipment

Post by timb »

3 continued..
i can live without RDS since as i always maintain that the most exotic dx signals hardly ever have it anyway or are too weak to produce it!
the one thing that really does annoy me is the Spurious images that appear 250khz away from a strong signal and most urban locations are likely to have at least one strong signal. in many ways it would be better if the spurs were 200 or 300khz away from the fundamental as at least that would only trash one channel but 250khz away trashes 2 channels! in my case Classic FM from Holme Moss on 101.1 is very strong and the spur on 101.35 trashes both 101.3 and 101.4


4. the Car Radio in the Hyundai i10. despite the fact that i've only ever tuned this car radio in bad urban locations during flat conditions Belgium, Ireland and France have all been heard via tropo scatter/jet scatter while the car was parked in my drive in South East Cheshire as could permanent scratchy but listenable signals from TFM 96.6 and BBC Tees 95.0
theres probably many other current car radios equal to this but i've not had chance to check them. The Word "Dynas" or "Sharx" on the front of your car radio is an extremely good sign. they're rival systems which do the same job - they automatically vary the bandwidth to reduce splatter to weak signals.

5. Your Phone! any phone with the 4734 dsp chip in will be equal to a Tecsun portable limited only by the length of the headphone cable used as an aerial
My Humble T Mobile Zest E110 is a good example of this. to see if your phone has this chip look for the tell tale spurs either side of a strong local station, also check for distant transmitters of Classic FM between 99.9 and 101.9mhz.
0.1mhz steps only, no RDS, 87.5 -108mhz only
best contact on PMR (0.5watts only): 21.5 miles (Congleton to Junction of A54/A556 near Kelsall 06/03/2011)
Best Contact on LPD (10mW only) 14.2 Miles (Congleton to The Roaches 18/04/2011)
Gear: Intek MT-5050 Unmodified
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Re: Premium FM DX Equipment

Post by timb »

best contact on PMR (0.5watts only): 21.5 miles (Congleton to Junction of A54/A556 near Kelsall 06/03/2011)
Best Contact on LPD (10mW only) 14.2 Miles (Congleton to The Roaches 18/04/2011)
Gear: Intek MT-5050 Unmodified
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