Re: [IRCA] Sangean DT-800 AM/FM/Weather Pocket Radio

[Guy Atkins <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dennis,

I reluctantly returned a new DT-800 to Amazon last week. It's a pretty
sweet pocket radio, but with some QA concerns.

I first learned of the model when YouTube reviewer "Todderbert" posted a
few videos of his. He encountered problems such as audio distortion above
mid-volume levels, and wildly different FM sensitivity levels between the
headphones cable (as an antenna) versus the plug-in FM wire antenna (when
using the speaker for FM listening). Both his and my DT-800 had the same
#01 firmware revision.

My DT-800 did not have audio distortion at any volume setting, and FM
sensitivity was excellent no matter what the antenna method. AM sensitivity
was great too; the best I've ever encountered in a radio this size (apart
from the legendary Sony SRF-T615).

However, the big problem with my particular DT-800 was no FM stereo from
the headphones jack. The "ST" icon would light up on every station with the
wire antenna (which limits listening through the MONO speaker), but plug in
any stereo headphones or earbuds, and the output was all FM MONO! The "ST"
indicator would never come on for any stereo station, either, with
headphones. This is a deal-killer for me as at $68.80 the radio is too
expensive for occasional ultralight MW radio DXing use. I wanted to use the
radio daily for FM stereo listening.

I may try buying another unit, to see if I can get one that outputs a
proper FM stereo signal. The other capabilities of the radio are top notch
for the size. I found the dual bandwidths (AM *and* FM!) to be useful for
DXing. You can also set the radio's tuning to 1 kHz steps on MW, and switch
off the soft muting as Jay Allen mentions.

Bottom line--the DT-800 is worth a close look. In raw MW DX performance I
feel it's a step up from the earlier DT-400W.

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA



From: Dennis Gibson <wb6tnb@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: Mailing List for the International Radio Club of America <
> irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2019 10:03:59 -0800
> Subject: [IRCA] Sangean DT-800 AM/FM/Weather Pocket Radio
> https://radiojayallen.com/sangean-dt-800-am-fm-weather-pocket-radio/
>
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