All You Need to Know About the Kaito WRX911

(Re-post)

Responding to the Amazon sale of $15 for the WRX911, Kevin S writes:

This Kaito is made by Tecsun (Tecsun sells it as the R-911), and is a very good little radio. The AM "Ultralight" crowd likes it because it is remarkably sensitive for its size, reasonably selective and has absolutely killer nulls, meaning that you can make a lot stations disappear to reveal others if you position it properly. The little speaker won't fill a large room by any stretch of the imagination, but it's OK, and headphones of course are much better. FM is good as well.

However, the bigger brother, the Tecsun R-9012, has the same AM but even better FM, and is generally the radio of choice among these. It also has a side-mounted tuning knob, which many prefer since it's a lot easier. Both it and the 911 are available for $19.95 with free shipping from various eBay Chinese sellers that have established a good track record (Ultralight DXers have ordered a LOT of radios from anon-co, dpmega, liypn and other sellers). I like Universal Radio, but it may end up costing more from them after shipping, and only get to you perhaps a day or two earlier (packages from China can take less than a week!).

Per the Yahoo Ultralight group, please be aware that a variant issue exists with the Tecsun R9012 from 2005. If the serial number is 0892005xxxxxxx, it indicates that the model was manufactured in 2005 and is an earlier run with lesser performance. Models with serial numbers of 0892008xxxxxxx and 0892009xxxxxxx have all proven to be "good".

Do I know WAY too much about cheap little radios? You bet!

Comments

[Tom Welch]

The Tecsun R-911 and R-912 do not work well in a high Rf environment such as a dialysis center. I tested both radios.

And the build quality of the R-9012 is outstanding when you consider its price.

[Paul S. in CT]

I like these inexpensive radios, I've had a WRX-911, R-911, and now a R9012. All three of these have outstanding battery life with alkalines 400+ hours. Nighttime AM is really good at price, and daytime is great for locals upto about 70 miles. Of course one can use a loop on these to extend daytime a bit, and get better sensitivity. (But the loop actually costs more than these radios)

In 10 years of Ultralighting, only the brand new dirt-cheap-DSP sets give these a run for the money, but the AM ferrite bar has to be removed, and the batteries last about 50 hours. OTOH the DCDSP's are $12: the analogs are $20.

Cheers
Paul S. in CT