Which PORTABLE receiver for HAM and CB radio beginner?

[djsb]

I've been reading this topic over on the UK vintage radio forum.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=204567

Which PORTABLE receiver would be recommended for DX'ing for a complete beginner to HAM and UK CB radio reception? It would be nice if the receiver could operate from a 12v motorcycle power supply. It has to be portable and work with a telescopic antenna, as I live in a rented flat and can't stick an antenna on the roof.
I'm guessing that a modern receiver is probably better than a vintage model, though I'd consider either. The closest thing I've come to this is a Sony ICF-SW7600. I can't use my current radio as it needs repairing.
I'm considering studying for a HAM radio UK licence at some stage in the next few years, and this could develop into an interesting new hobby. I'd like to start off with just listening to what's out there. Can anyone help? Thanks.

PS, I'm furthering my research with this video



An ICOM 2100DS was mentioned in the comments. Something about it doing analogue and also NXDN (whatever that is?).

[Andy Chee]

For receiving only, in this day and age I would seriously consider an SDR.  If you want portable, plug the SDR into a laptop.

[djsb]

Thanks. I'd prefer not having to carry a laptop on a motorcycle, but if a receiver can interact with a laptop, that would be useful I suppose. My interest is picking up radio signals from as far away as possible with a portable receiver. I want to be able to mainly just listen. I don't NEED to see any graphs etc. I have a signal hound SDR for that kind of thing, I suppose (although I haven't a clue how to use it?).

[shabaz]

It could be worth joining a local amateur radio group, even if you've not done the exams. The charge is a small nominal sum per year, and they might even have a receiver to sell (at least then they can test it for you). Some eBay amateur radio stuff might be over-priced or faulty, and it's sometimes not easy to diagnose a fault quickly enough for a refund (for instance, some faults may only occur in one frequency band or mode, and one might think it's operator error and not device error.

For short-wave (well, HF), it's hard to get a decent handheld (most handhelds are way better at VHF/UHF and above; there are handheld receivers that will tune down to say 100 kHz, but they are only usable at a pinch at those frequencies), but there will be many desktop units that operate from 12V. I think that video is mainly intended for those who plan on using VHF (which is fine of course, but just doesn't work for those interested in HF).

AOR and Yaesu are two example manufacturers. I have three AOR receivers, one handheld and two desktop. The desktop ones are better but the ones I have are no longer manufactured. If I were buying a new standalone receiver, it would have SDR architecture, but I don't have a suggestion since I'd want to be sure before I could confidently state a recommendation!

I think it could be interesting to join an amateur radio club, and see what they suggest or can offer. Incidentally, it doesn't even have to be a local amateur radio club. I'm a member of a club which is 150 miles away from me.

[DimitriP]

You kinda need to get your frequency ranges straight
The F2100DS "mentioned in the comments" is a UHF radio.  "It  don't even have a keypad".

it's not clear to me if you are planing on mounting this receiver on the motorbike so you can "listen in" while riding.
And is this a 30 minute ride or a 4 hour trip?

Using a radio even while sitting down in a car can by "fiddly" depending on what you want to listen to ...
So...tell us more

[djsb]

Regarding frequency range maybe CB would be good to start with. But SW would also be of interest. There will be no listening whilst riding. Only when stopped/parked. Basically, I'm thinking of a hand held radio that can be put in a bag that's carried on a bicycle/motorcycle (in panniers/luggage not permanently attached) or carried in a rucksack. If it can be powered by an external portable power source (with or without an adaptor) that would be great. I want to just look at the receiving side at the moment. I'm still exploring this whole idea, and I don't know what's possible until I slowly learn more. I may ask more pertinent questions later on. Thanks.

[A.Z.]

a belka will fit.

https://swling.com/blog/2022/10/13dka-reviews-the-new-2022-belka-generation-3-general-coverage-receiver/

[shabaz]

That review reads like an advert : ( This review reveals a little more, not much:
https://swling.com/blog/2020/09/state-of-the-art-spy-radio-a-comprehensive-review-of-the-belka-dsp-portable-shortwave-receiver/

From what it mentions, it sounds like a reasonable product for the low price. However, I'm surprised they mention there are so many spurious tones throughout. Maybe there's little internal shielding, or it could be a design fault elsewhere. But that rings alarm bells, because so many shouldn't be expected in a shipping product, so makes me wonder what else is limited, and is the product even any good.

They are using just a basic low-end audio DSP for the demodulation, which is no bad thing if they found the resources sufficient inside it, but it suggests the internal parts cost is going to be low. Also they mention there is not much band filtering capabilities at the antenna input, but realistically that's to be expected at the low cost and size too. I'm not trying to be too negative yet, because even if it's just 'OK', it may be useful (I'm interested too). I've asked my amateur radio group who may have heard about it, waiting to hear back. Maybe there could be sanctions with Belarus however, depending on country, so that could be a complete showstopper.

[A.Z.]

oh well

https://www.fenu-radio.ch/Belka-DSP_Belka-DX_Belka-V3-en.htm

[shabaz]

Yes, pretty much as expected.
Surprised there's no screening inside. I tried making a DIY SDR radio (same architecture since it's so typical), but spread out to experiment with) and had provisions for screening parts of the design if it were necessary.
I didn't have a load of spurious tones to deal with. And I'm no RF expert.

[A.Z.]

from direct experience, the Belka is a nice little receiver offering wide frequency coverage and good performances packed in a small box, while not perfect I think it may fit the OP request and won't break the bank

[A.Z.]

oh and here are some infos about the OLD version, the "dsp"

https://swling.com/blog/tag/13dka/page/3/

[Solder_Junkie]

Portable radios by Sony and other similar ones are really only good for listening to the dwindling number of broadcast stations. A far better solution, as mentioned by Andy Chee, is to use an SDR with a laptop. With your electronics background, how about setting up a remote station at an electrically quiet location? As I type this I am listening to CW on the 30m amateur band with an IC-7300 transceiver located 2 miles from my present location, I am using Win4Icomsuite and a pair of cellular modems.

For purely listening, an interesting option is the RSPDX from SDRPlay, https://www.sdrplay.com/

The RSPDX is nearly as good as most amateur transceivers, I have one that is usually connected to a PA0RDT active antenna (covers 10 KHz to 30 MHz). The RSPDX itself covers 1 KHz to 2 GHz and can be operated remotely too. It is powered from a USB port, you need a USB cable that can carry a little more current than some thin cables are capable of, but other than that it is very easy to setup and use.

Good luck
SJ

[radiolistener]

It has to be portable and work with a telescopic antenna, as I live in a rented flat and can't stick an antenna on the roof.

DX reception is almost impossible with portable telescopic antenna in a city house. The only exception is a power outage, but still DX reception on portable telescopic antenna is almost impossible. You can assume that telescopic antenna is incompatible with DX reception.

An ICOM 2100DS was mentioned in the comments.

This is VHF radio and cannot be used for short wave and CB band reception. It just don't support reception on these frequencies. In addition the propagation on VHF band is very bad and DX on that band is almost impossible and when this happens it's about 100-500 km. Not 10000 km like it happens on short wave.

There is exception for VHF - EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) communication, which uses reflection from the Moon, but it needs for about 100-1000W power transmitter and complicated and expensive high directivity antennas. You can be sure for 100% that EME communication with portable telescopic antenna is impossible.

Another exception for VHF is to use satellite repeaters - using military satellites with repeaters. But this is not legal and almost impossible with portable telescopic antenna, but proper antenna is not so complicated and it is pretty compact, so you can try to build it even without experience, just google for some drawing.

[mike449]

ATS-120 from Ali is a reasonable option for your requirements. The firmware is a bit rough on the edges, but it receives just fine.
Forget about the telescopic antenna for anything other than CB. You need longer pieces of wire for the antenna and counterpoise, 2-3m each will work fine, especially if you add an unun transformer. There is a connector for the external antenna. Even just augmenting the telescopic antenna by clipping a longer piece of wire to it helps a lot (no counterpoise, the ground in this case is the parasitic capacitance of the chassis to your body).

[A.Z.]

ATS-120 ?

https://swling.com/blog/2023/07/video-om0ets-review-of-the-ats-120/

The above one ?

Well, sincerely I'd better go for the latest Belka.

[mike449]

I never owned a Belka, can not compare it directly to ATS-120. It is probably a good choice as well. My recommendation is based on comparisons with a number of other receivers I owned  over many years, considering features, performance, portability and price.

[joeqsmith]

I was looking for something similar.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/rf-microwave/looking-for-suggestions-handheld-receiver-for-lower-frequency-use/msg5256558/#msg5256558

I ended up with a Tecsun PL-990.   It comes with a windup long wire antenna that fits in your pocket.   Uses a standard 18650 battery.  It's too big to toss in my pocket to go for a ride but based on your Sony ICF-SW7600, the size may not be a problem.   

I would have liked to have been able to receive higher frequencies.   I was concerned that the encoders used for tuning would be a problem but I have not ran into any issues with the radio.  For a general purpose portable radio, I like it. 

[A.Z.]

I never owned a Belka, can not compare it directly to ATS-120. It is probably a good choice as well. My recommendation is based on comparisons with a number of other receivers I owned  over many years, considering features, performance, portability and price.

that's the usual chinese "sdr" with all the related quirks, also, the OP asked for "CB band", now the ATS doesn't demodulate it outside the FM broadcast band ...

[joeqsmith]

That's another shortcoming of the Tecsun PL-990.  They limit the demodulation based on frequency.  While it can receive the CB band, it only supports AM and sideband but not FM.   OP was also asking about ham bands where this radio can not receive the 2 meter or lower bands.  Their Sony has similar coverage but only supports AM where the Tecsun adds upper and lower side band. 

[A.Z.]

usual mix/match between the modes used by broadcast on some ranges and the range, I stay away from those receivers, a good one must be able to use whatever mode on whatever frequency it covers

[radiolistener]

Degen DE1102 is portable and has low power consumption, about 120-150 mA depends on volume and band.  I often using it during power outages.

Also you can build some portable SDR with Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and RTLSDRv4, this SDR has pretty good sensitivity and cover almost all ham frequencies from 100 kHz up to 1.7 GHz. And v4 has down conversion mixer on SA612 and has very nice SW reception with no aliasing from 14 MHz border like v3 and with gain control for short wave.

With Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and running SDR++ with spectrum and waterfall, power consumption is about 500 mA (don't include display), but it heating a lot and needs good metal shell for cooling rpi0 or even using a small fan. Also can be used from console with no graphics, in that mode it has low CPU load (10-20%) and much less power consumption.


Recently I added SDL2 backend for my SDR++ mod, and now can run it in KMS DRM mode, with no need to install X11 or Wayland:
https://github.com/qrp73/SDRPP

In order to compile it with SDL2 backend, disable cmake option OPT_BACKEND_GLFW and enable OPT_BACKEND_SDL2.

When running from RaspiOS Bookworm Lite, the total memory consumption is about 200 MB RAM. Raspberry Pi Zero 2W performance is enough, but requires to reduce FFT size to 2-8k. But CPU heating a lot and needs cooling.