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Reviews For: Tecsun R-911

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Tecsun R-911
Reviews: 1MSRP: 10-15
Description:
Inexpensive analog tuned AM/FM/SW radio. Shortwave bands are 60, 49, 41, 31, 25, 22, 19, 16, and 13 meters. The FM is not Stereo. AM coverage is 530 to 1610 kHz. Uses 2xAA alkaline batteries with very long life up to 400 hours. Import pricing from HK/China with shipping $20.
Product is in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
F61 Rating: 2013-06-18
Surprising radio at price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Tecsun R-911 is the Chinese version of the Kaito WRX-911 that is also reviewed here. This set tunes 530-1610 kHz on AM-BCB. For $20 shipped from HK/China this radio is a better money value. Mine was purchased in 2009 and is still functioning properly in all its simple respects.

Both the WRX-911 and R-911 are true shirt-pocket portables sized very close to a traditional AM only radio from the 60's. Function is single-IC superheterodyne using just a single external transistor: there are LED's and diodes, but everthing else external is passive.Reception is unusually good for something at this price. But, there are caveats.

FM being single conversion is prone to images, and is not stereo through earphones..

SW frequency alignment is off 50-100 kHz.

AM does not tune the full X-band but generally goes to 1640 kHz.

Tuning is fairly stiff and subject to good ol-fashioned backlash. The tuning "locks" rather broadly on the R-911: a previously-owned WRX-911 had a narrower "lock".

So what can you hear on this thing? Alot, actually, if one limits to AM/SW. Nite reception of Chicago from CT is noted (1250 km). Most higher powered stations are well heard from the Eastern US.

Now, the surprising part was SW if one ignores the alignment. R. Australia 100kW at 050-080 az comes right in when listening on 31/25/22/19 meters at night. And RNZI makes it here, too on the 035 az at 50kW. Considering my location in CT, USA, thats 16,700 km and 14,200 km respective. I really didn't think something this cheap could do this.

A few words about battery-life. WOW, and here's two more, HOLY COW!. After finding a schematic for this set, its easy to see why. It IS rather simple, and unadorned. Just a basic superhet controlled nicely by the Integrated Circuit. I personally tested the WRX-911 at a moderate volume at 1 meter distant, and got 400+ hours on 2 different occasions. I did the same thing with this Tecsun R-911 and got 400+ hours on three occasions. On all 5 occasions a 50kW NYC station WCBS-880 was used (TX-RX distance 100km) with the set on 24/7 until battery death. Measured at death, each of the two cells indicated between 1.05 and 1.10 Volts. IMHO this makes either radio a good "Zombie Apocalypse" or Emergency radio.

In summary, for what it is, and what it does for US$20, its hard to beat. If you like to tinker, you can align the SW bands better. 4 out of 5 here, all things considered, but solid 5/5 for the money.

F61-out