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Reviews For: Degen DE-1127

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Degen DE-1127
Reviews: 1MSRP: Purchased at $58
Description:
digital radio recorder, FM, AM, SW receiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
NL7SX Rating: 2012-11-17
lots of nice features Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Degen DE-1127 (DVR) pocket DSP receiver/recorder (AM, FM, SW) & Antennas for.

When I was about 10, a kid in the early 50's I bought a radio from the pulp paper monthly magazine like Popular Science which claimed wondrous reception for @1.95 postpaid complete with headphone, needing no batteries where one could hear signals out of the air. These small print ads toward the rear of the magazines were filled with radio magic and inflated testimonials. The longer the antenna the better for 2 stations I found out. I soon moved to a "glow in the dark" single tube receiver with A and B batteries a later that would hear many stations with a speaker. This was good because I wouldn't wake up with the headphones grinding into my ears and bad if I was caught running a speaker at 2 in the morning! Spy radio ads beckoned to the imagination. Those were tantalizing, tempting ads. No mention of antennas!

On EHam (an internet site) I noticed an article concerning a digital Olympus pocket recorder to record ham radio transmissions. Most of the recorders I'd looked at before were magnetic tape based. I'd been eyeing the WalMart digital pocket recorders for months, wondering which would be best, and why there weren't radio DVR's (digital video recorder's) for radio, or Digital Radio Recorders (DRR's). It was then I stumbled across the DEGEN series of recorders. Not just a recorder, but with clock, alarm, MP3 player, EBook player and best of all an AM, FM stereo, and SW receiver. With DSP, lithium battery, USB connection for programming, all in a mini-pocket size for $58. It all came back! Stealth spy radio with extras! WORLDWIDE reception from a pocket radio! At $58 it wasn't a VX-8 but it wasn't $300+ either so I ordered one.

The first part on my experience is with some high quality Sony headphones. The stereo reproduction was near flawless on FM (8 stations heard) which suggests that the MP3 and recordings would be very good. Then, the reception problems began. I had fallen for those same dreams of worldwide reception! The included speaker is small so the audio output is marginal. AM reception was poor and SW miserable. Why? For the same reason all little radios are poor....the antenna! So, I tried the trick of touching the extended antenna to a metal light fixture. WWV on 15 and 10 MHz popped out of the noise with maybe 15 SW stations over the 2 to 23 MHz range readable. I've heard there are advanced crystal sets that can hear this many SW stations now with a longwire antenna! At night a few AM stations were heard by turning the small internal loop broadside ( the whole radio) to the stations transmissions. If you get this radio and want better AM or SW reception go to:

http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/special/swactive.html

for a DIY project or possibly buy the Kaito KA-33 active antenna ($33) or the newer Kaito tuned small loop if you don't want to be tethered to a outside antenna. (some things never change!)

This might be a nice starter radio with the idea of progressing to the DIY antenna amplifier project and even a ham radio hobby/ticket. The display makes a nice green light for moving around in the dark.