Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Searching round, there have been quite a few reports of this fault on the web and it looks like its a design flaw. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be the support in place to get the radio fixed so when it goes wrong, it is cheaper to post it direct to the nearest landfill. The D-808 is at least as sensitive as my Alinco DJ-X11 scanner and skunks the rather deaf Tecsun in this band. Unlike the PL-660 and most other small receivers covering that band it has a squelch, which is by the way active on all bands.
When I really get to dreaming, I think of XHDATA or some other maker designing a portable like the 808 – why not call it the 1000 Super DSP – that actually has continuously adjustable bandwidth control. This will never happen.Every company that’s still manufacturing receivers makes its own decisions. It’s as important that we voice our gratitude to Sangean for its latest (possibly last) effort to revise the 909xxxx series as it is to Tecsun for offering no fewer than THREE superb world band receivers.
Telescopic antenna - Last section (with tip) detached from the rest. Also, the antenna mounting seems to be fragile, requiring great care when rotating it, as it can break the plastic support. I guess I’ll keep tossing my 7600 in my bags when I head overseas. Was really hoping that Sangean had a radio that would allow me to retire my Sony. Design. OK, this one’s very personal! As a graphic designer I have a real soft spot for any receiver that looks as good as it sounds, no matter what the technology or vintage. The D-808’s look really appeals to me and adds to my enjoyment while operating it. There are no unnecessary protrusions, ridges, or visual do-dads on this XHDATA model. In fact, I seem some design clues from the stylish Tecsun PL-880 in the D-808. The radio also has a quality feel to the plastic case and buttons, giving it a more “upper class” impression during use.Comparing the BFO frequency accuracy (using RWM on 4996 and 9996 kHz) brought up some slight offsets across the coverage range, with different curves for LSB and USB: Due to product quality problems within 1-3 months of receiving the product, we can replace it with a new one, but the customer pays for the logistics costs incurred.
Oddly, the published bandwidth for the AM filters seem to be “audio bandwidth” (or “per sideband”) figures rather than IF-bandwidths, so they equate to classic IF filters with 2/3,6/4/5/6/8 and 12 kHz bandwidth. The only overlap is 4 kHz, hence I say it’s 11 different bandwidths, not 10. I think these AM bandwidths should cover all requirements that might come up, on top of those you can try ECSS reception with the SSB filters. SSB ReceptionDue to product quality problems within 3-12 months of receiving the product,we can repair it for free, but the customer pays for the logistics costs incurred. This audio stage noise is more audible thru the speaker than on earphones, what seems to make no sense. But when looking to the circuit we see the reason. The earphones are driven thru a series RC network with 100uF and 100Ohm. Depending on the earphones impedance, the noise will be stronger for higher impedance units. However the common earphones would present 32 Ohm, a low value when compared with the series 100 Ohm resistor.
Some report loss of sensitivity after changing betwween RF bands.This seems to be a firmware bug, as it can be fixed by doing a power off/power on sequence, or remove and insert the battery, or doing a Reset (use a clip to insert in the Reset hole). When switching to SSB a “loading bar” shows up first, the entire process between hitting the “SSB” button and getting reception again takes 5 seconds. Actually, these radios basically consist of a “radio-on-a-chip” and a microcontroller so it really might be a loading bar we see there. This controller seems to be not exactly fast in the D-808 anyway, so even using the tuning knob comes with occasional hesitations – I advance the main tuning encoder one indention and the frequency changes only 1-2 seconds later. Changing bands is not exactly fast either but at least toggling between USB and LSB works instantaneously.
Signal handling capabilities
Additional years ago, I used receivers such as SONY SW-55s and Panasonic RF-B65s in ocean side DXing. These are fine receivers, but the 55 is limited to two bandwidths, NARROW and WIDE – similar to the SONY 2010 and SW-77, both of which also had effective synchronous detection. The sound is not so good. Music sounds "thin" but that's probably the contribute I have to pay for the size of the speaker. Volume control is "analog", which is a big advantage over many of those controls working with digitized steps. The fixation of the telescope antenna is a bit fragile. Rotate it carefully, it's held with just one small screw ending in a piece of plastic. Looking to the publicly available pictures, extensive changes were made in the circuit diagram and PCB layout of the Receiver board.
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