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Reviews For: JWIN 9 Band Digital JX-M14 Portable

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : JWIN 9 Band Digital JX-M14 Portable
Reviews: 7MSRP: 12-20
Description:
Very small, light weight, portable SW receiver (no BFO). Inckudes digital read out on all bands. Uses 2 AA batteries.Has clock, alarm setting, and auto shut off feature. Car adapter included. Stand and carrying strap bulit-in. Size is about 5 x 3 inches. Pull up antenna.
Bulit-in speaker and headphone jack
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0074.3
KC9IBN Rating: 2006-12-07
Okay Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Plastic and clunky but fits in my shirt pocket. $8 with free shipping here:
http://www.hhgregg.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=12041
FORMER_K0PD Rating: 2006-10-16
Well worth the money.. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading all the review's on this little gem i had to give it a try. I found this one also on e bay but i paid slightly more than $10.00 plus shipping. No matter the cost it was well worth the money and i am in concurence with all the previous review's and all i can say is buy one and be amazed as i was....
K4IDX Rating: 2006-02-10
Only OK IMO Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For $10 it's pretty good, but don't expect much! I got 2 of these, one for the backpack and one for the desk. The SW coverage differs on each band from one radio to the next. For example, on one radio I can tune down to listen to Radio Taiwan on 5950 or the BBC on 5975, but on the other radio I can only tune down to 6050. My fave radio in this size range is the Kaito WRX911 and it's worth paying the few extra bucks for it. The JWIN does seem to do a good job on MW, but FM suffers. Like I said earlier, for $10 it's ok, but if you've gotta pay to have it shipped, I wouldn't recommend spending the cash on this one.
SLIDERULEX Rating: 2005-07-12
Ten dollar wonder! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
On AM/FM/SW this little radio performs much better than your typical $10.00 radio. I'm especially impressed with its SW reception being as sensitive as it is. And the digital frequency readout is a nice feature. I am amazed at how much radio they packed into such a small price!

The construction is very solid and very light weight. This radio feels like it could be dropped and not adversely affect it. Tuning and volume control is done via dials recessed into the case and the tuning control has enough tension to make it easy to tune and maintain your station of interest. I bought this radio mainly for SW, and I'm pleased (and surprised) at how well it performs here. Sensitivity and selectivity are better than what I expected.
KB2HSH Rating: 2005-05-24
Awesome little radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading the K9UNA review, I had to try a few of the rigs that he talked about. I tried the Walgreen's Lifelong and was pleasantly surprised...but the jWin is simply...amazing. This radio "should not be" a $10 radio. It performs better than what you'd think a $10 radio should be. It had a nice solid feel to it...the radio is exceptionally sensitive-even with the onboard telescoping whip antenna, it has great selectivity...as proven by the fact that I could hear a signal at 9.98 MHz, and it didn't interfere with the 10 MHz WWV signal. My Lifelong doesn't perform THAT well.

The only downside to the radio is that it is made in China. In the late 80's and early 90's, Sony made a radio of this same size that sold for $350 US. Sure, the jWin may or may not have the same performance characteristics as the Sony, but because it's Chinese made, the price is EXTREMELY low.

Bottom line: I love the radio...and I'm glad I stumbled upon it.
K9UNA Rating: 2005-03-28
Correction to my review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Please note that the last line in my review should read:

Despite its oddities, the JX-M14 does a fine job at an amazing price (if you shop around).

----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by K9UNA on 2005-03-19

The jWin JX-M14 is a pocket sized radio that features AM, FM and 7 shortwave bands. It retails for around $30. Amazingly, it can be had for around $10 with a little shopping.

The radio is in a stylish silver tone. The case has rounded corners and molded reliefs giving it a nice look. The front of the radio contains the speaker grill, LED lights for AM, FM and tuning, various controls and a digital readout. The antenna is fully positionable. Tuning and Volume are controlled by thin thumb wheels. On/Off is controlled by a little slide switch. There is also a jack for an adaptor (not provided) and an earphone (accepts a stereo plug, but delivers only mono). There is a little wrist strap and the back contains a flip-up tab to tilt the dial up when the radio is lying flat on its back.

Power: Power is provided by 2 AA cells which should last a long time. If desired, an aftermarket adaptor could be used, but is probably unnecessary.

Sound: The radio has a built in speaker and sound is consistent with a pocket radio. It is a bit better than the sound from a Grundig Mini 100 and a bit worse than a Sony S10MX2. The differences are small. This radio often comes with ear buds, but mine did not. Listening using an inexpensive Sony headset resulted in very pleasant audio (in mono).

Ergonomics are strange; many things operate in a fashion that is backwards from what you would expect. One annoying fact is that the radio always reverts back to FM when it is turned off. The thumbnail controls are thin and the tight tuning knob tends to dig into your thumb.

The radio also features a clock that seems to keep time reasonably well. The clock can also turn the radio on thereby turning the radio into a simple clock radio.

There are no other features such as a dial light, bandwidth control or memories.

Build seems to be a bit better than what I would expect. Quality control seems to be on par for a cheap radio.

Tuning is analog, but the display is digital (using a simple digital counter). The last digit is missing when tuning shortwave, so a station at 6.155 will appear as 6.15 or 6.16. This is still vastly better than a slide rule dial.

Reception:

Note: Reception was done at my home which is about 35 miles west of Chicago. I’m also a few miles away from a couple of local broadcasters.

MW (AM): MW reception was decent. The biggest problem was the jWin’s wider than normal selectivity. With that said it performed well for an inexpensive pocket radio, but not as well as the AM/FM Sony S10MK2. Local stations came in fine and I was able to log many stations from other states including: Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and Colorado.

FM: FM was also decent. I was able to listen to most Chicago stations. Stations like WFMT at 98.7 came in loud and clear. WBEZ (NPR at 91.5) came in with some fiddling but I could hear another station softly at the same time. Here again the Sony did a better job, but I have definitely had pocket radios that did much worse.

SW: The radio tunes the 49, 41, 31,25, 22, 19 and 16 meter international bands. Strangely, it often cuts off the lower portion of the band and extends past the upper portion. Despite using a single conversion design the radio is reasonably free from extraneous noises such as birdies, dit-dahs and the like. You will hear images of shortwave stations, but they are not too objectionable. I didn’t hear a lot of bleed over from local MW and FM broadcasters into the shortwave bands, a surprising and welcome fact. The radio has enough of a dynamic range to allow the connection of 5-10 feet of wire (via alligator clip) to the whip antenna. This significantly increases the radios sensitivity to weak signals. In my radio it didn’t overload the radio. Selectively is what you would expect in such an inexpensive radio, but it is acceptable.

I was able to tune many shortwave stations (using 10’ of attached bell wire).
I heard numerous foreign language station and numerous religious/right wing stations. In two days of casual listening I was able to listen IN ENGLISH to stations from the following countries:

Sweden
England
Holland
Germany
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Russia
Israel
China
Taiwan
Japan
Thailand
New Zealand
Cuba
Canada
US

In the around $10 category there are not too many contenders. I personally know of the Coby 12 band and the Bell and Howell 9 band offerings. I can tell you that the jWin works better than either of these radios. The Grundig Mini World 100 is considered a good radio in the super cheap category. It retails for about $40 but it is often sold for $30. I wondered how this $10 radio would stack up. Listed below are the “wins” from each radio:

Grundig Mini 100:
- Wins at sorting out a weaker FM station next to a stronger FM station
- Wins at being able to receive FM stereo
- Wins with size (slightly smaller and lighter)
- Wins with a plastic belt clip on the back of the radio (dubious value)

jWin:
- Wins with digital frequency readout instead of analog
- Wins with more stable horizontal style
- Wins with fully adjustable telescopic antenna
- Wins with the addition of a digital clock
- Wins with the addition of a wake to radio function
- Wins with ability to pick up more MW (AM) stations
- Wins with ability to pick up more SW stations in a given band
- Wins with slightly better sound via the onboard speaker
- Wins with having a power adaptor jack
- Wins with visual indicators for bands, AM/FM and tuning
- Wins with separate on-off switch
- Wins with more shortwave bands (22 meters not on the Grundig)
- Wins with a street price that is 1/3 the price of the Grundig
- Wins with a tilt up bail on the back of the radio

Let’s face it, if you want a serious shortwave radio you have to pay the price. A nice starter is the Grundig S350 (street price $100). If you want a more sophisticated portable the Sony ICF-SW7600GR is quite nice (street price $170). Naturally, a high grade table top will cost thousands.

But there are times when a multi-band radio would be nice, but you don’t want to use an expensive piece of equipment. A trip to the beach or park would be one example. Camping also comes to mind. This radio would be great as a travel companion as it is small and it can also serve as a clock radio. At its throw away price it would also be great as a gift to a college student who is studying abroad (they can listen to the Voice of America to get the latest news). Solders in the Armed Forces would also find this radio handy. How about for a kid who has expressed an interest in radio (when they lose it, you won’t be too upset at $10).

Normally, I think of jWin products as being inexpensive, stylish but sub-par to terrible in performance. Despite its oddities, the JX-M16 does a fine job at an amazing price (if you shop around).
KE5GK Rating: 2004-05-26
Under The Radar Winner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This little radio is a winner!

Sensitivity, selectivity and sound are nothing less than awesome. The digital read out is accurate. Clock is very good.

Perfect for travel, vacation, or office to have the world at your finger tips. Copies 10 & 15 Mhz WWV.

The price varies from supplier to supplier. If you have access to the miltary AAFES stores you will find them for less than $10. I bought three at a local BX. Hope to give them to grandsons a bit later.

Also, the reviews on Google search engine are well worth the reading.

Get one and walk past the next Radio Shack store with a money-saving smile!