Chris Having Same Sound Problems with His Degen DE1123

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Addressing Jules' Degen DE1126/27 sound and recording problems, Chris writes:

Chris from Italy (ham IX1CKN / HB9EYT / KC2YXI), here.

You end your post on recording issues of DE1126/7 with: "I wonder if
anybody has had the same problem I've had with this series?".

As the long time (I got it in January 2009) owner of a DE1123, my
answer is "Everybody should have experienced those troubles", and I'll
tell you why.

I bought that model for its mp3 recording function, thinking how neat
it would have been to avoid plugs to a pc in order to record audio.

As soon as it arrived, I tried to record, but I coldn't explain myself
why all the files, when played, were silent.

Then, I realised it! I was listening to the radio via earphones, and
in the files I could hear weak noises... raised the volume as much as
possible, an...: my breathe and my hands keeping the radio.

It's almost incredible, but the recording isn't internal, but via
environment... the microphone takes what comes out the speaker!

It's normal to hear "ambient" noise when you play the recording with
the circuit working that way. You'll agree with me this makes the mp3
recording useless (and we're talking models that, with such a short
telescopic, aren't already SW sensibility champions).

I don't know if this has changed in versions of those models released
in the last two years, but I wouldn't say so.

Comments

[Bob C]

Honestly, I'd think that there has to be a way to switch the recording process from external to internal. It probably defaults to 'external' recording (via microphone) - but there has to be a way to change the setting to 'internal'. Check the manual (if you can decipher it).

If not then what's the use of having this feature - and radio?

[Huesby]

It won´t be too much trouble disconnecting the mic and connecting the input to the speaker thru a capacitor and a pair of resistors to be able to record directly

[Gary]

This review implies that the DE1123 can record directly from the radio, without using the microphone or speaker.

http://www.monitoringtimes.com/mtrevu-degende1123.pdf

[OWL]

I got a DE1126 a few months ago. I can confirm that it does record radio station internally (I used earphone during recording) although the quality is not great though even if 128k recording is used (I would say it is similar to radio programme recorded on tape using a budget recorder).

I am not sure if some of you have got the instruction in your native language. To record radio programme, first you tune to the station, set the volume to level 10 or above (this is specifically mentioned in the instruction manual), short-press the menu button, select "record", then specify the recording quality, the recording will start and you can press "stop" button to stop it.

To playback your clip, you need to get into the main menu (long-press the menu button), select "VOICE" (a rather weird translation from the menu item in Chinese which means "recording playback") and then the clip you want to play.

BTW, the available recording quality options are 96k and 129k in English menu but are 40k and 129k in Chinese menu. From listening to the clips I recorded, I guess the latter might be closer to the actual settings?

Hope this helps.

OWL