Val's First Look at the Tecsun R-2010D

A new Tecsun R-2010D  arrived from Honk Hong to Vancouver BC in five days by economy shipment!

The package arrived faster than ANON-CO promised.

I definitely will buy  again from them.

The size of new Tecsun is the same as like Grundig G4000A. It is not like G8. Sound from speaker is really good. Tone has three positions: low, middle and high. It is very useful for especially SW band. It is great filters from noise and distortions. Digital LCD frequency display has option to turn on and off light. It is really  good in dark and can be used as a bed side receiver. Head phone output is stereo.

Reception:

I compared Tecsun R-2010D (US$28+12 shipment) with Grundig G4000A which was a more expensive radio. 

    FM:

Tecsun R-2010D has clear signal, and more stable reception than G4000A. I was able to receive some weak FM signals that I can't receive on G4000A. If I compare Tecsun with HD-FM Radio like Insignia table top radio or Milwaukee utility job site radio which has DSP , I could say Tecsun is just a good FM radio with good speaker sound, and it is not DX FM like Insignia or Milwaukee.

 SW:

5 kHz-step still makes this radio very good for strong signals and for some average, not good readable signals. I got more noise with Grundig G4000A but better precision. 1 kHz-step works better for especially weak signals. Perhaps in urban area Tecsun is a more useful radio than Grundig but Grundig has advantage in somewhere less noise.  

AM(MW):

 MW reception of Tecsun  R-2010D is local strong stations. Sensitivity and selectivity is less than average or to close to average.

In conclusion Tecsun R-2010D is an interesting receiver. I really like the features like tone switch, light and line in plug. I like the size of radio and sound from speaker. It is a good buy if you are not considering weak- to average AM. 

Comments

[Paul]

Is there a soft mute when tuning between AM stations? Is the tuning analog-like or snaps to stations in a digital fashion?

[Paul]

Does the radio tune only in 5 kHz steps in SW? This was not clear from the review.

[val]

Paul:Soft mute.? It's more like pll digital tuning with 10kHz step on MW. Yes it is soft. Unfortunately is only 5 kHz step on SW.

[Paul]

By soft mute I mean this: when you go from one station to another on AM or SW (say from 710 to 720 kHz on AM or 5975 to 5980 kHz on SW), does the radio mute, or reduce its volume level, or can you actually hear noise in between the two stations? See the Kaito Ka321 review at
http://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com/2013/04/review-of-kaito-ka321-dsp-receiver.html

If there is such a soft mute, this is not a DX machine to search for weak signals.

[swl]

Cheap DSP Full Band - $24,70 Free Shiping

http://dx.com/p/sy-sy-dp100-portable-2w-dsp-full-band-rechargeable-radio-w-tf-usb-3-5mm-jack-black-3-x-aa-221170

[val]

Paul: aren't no if I can answer your question, I don't have Kaito Ka321, but Tecsun it is not AM DX radio. Even average signal from MW loosing volume dramatically. I can't listen it with out good head phone.
It is enjoyable simple and stable tuning on FM, that's why I give this receiver positive opinion but it's not like you tune HD FM radio with incredible sensitivity and selectivity with out noise on near frequency and ability too get two stations on the same freq.
On SW I can listen two near buy signals with out noise but with 5 kHz step it is not surprise me.
I hope it's help.

[Paul]

SWL is this Shouyu radio the same as the SY-X5? The web site says SY-DP100 but the photo says SY-X5.

[Paul]

Val, can you share the PDF user manual for this radio?

[owl]

Thanks for the review, Val.

I thought about ordering one but for some reason the seller won't post this model to EU countries (just EU, not other European countries).

It would be interesting to know exactly what DSP IC is used for this model. Previous reports said it's Si4831, which couldn't be true since Si4831 didn't support SW. The more likely candidate is Si4835 (with the same SW coverage as on R2010D).

However, I saw some inconsistency in SI's documentation. The introduction to the Si483X family states they are "2nd generation" analogue-tuning digital display DSP radio IC. Strangely, the datasheet of Si4831/35 does not mention the digital display at all. There is no reference to an ATDD programming guide (there is one for Si484X to implement digital display) and the block diagram of Si4831/35 shows no data bus to connect to MCU either (there is one on Si4844).

[val]

Paul:
I send to Jeff

[Paul]

Radio news:

Shortwave radio works when all else fails
http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/mckenzie-shortwave-radio-works-when-all-else-fails/article_50047e64-d6ef-11e2-8e48-001a4bcf6878.html

Introducing the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2013/introducing_the_shortwave_radio_audio_archive.htm

[Paul]

Anon-co (Ebay seller) has posted a video showing FM, MW, and SW tuning on the R-2010D. Unfortunately it does look like it tunes in fixed increments of 5 or 10/9 kHz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyNTe4mb-MQ

[Gary]

Here's another review of the Tecsun R-2010D.

http://swling.com/blog/2013/06/a-review-of-the-tecsun-r-2010d-shortwave-radio/