Well I went and got one for myself and after the firmware update to 4.5 and several hours of YouTube here is what I think of the radio!
Its actually a well made Shortwave/General coverage receiver. It has some issues but those aren’t deal killers for me. And actually several hours of listening to shortwave DX, the two really issues the radio has were not that big of a deal.
The sound is really exceptional, whether on Wifi, AM/FM or Web based radio the unit sounds great. It does lack some extra punch audio on shortwave when your listening to SSB. A simple fix I found was using an external speaker. With the base (Stock) speaker listening to web radio or FM is really good. Almost HD quality.
When I first turned mine on I dialed into 25.000 KHz The atomic clock out of Boulder, CO and it lit right up! Now, on Shortwave I do use an external antenna and the input jack for the antenna is right by the tuning dial. This hasn’t been an issue at all for me.
Also, I have been running it with the display backlight disabled so it’s always on. I am just seeing the battery dropping in power after a couple of days of use. Now, I am not a fan of battery only driven radios. But this, the LC 90 so far has better battery capacity than my Tecsun PL330. However, I still prefer a radio at home being wall plugged for normal operation. Chinese Radios don’t offer that. Maybe it’s a hint, maybe the Chinese are telling us not to be dependent on AC power …
Another complaint and my only real complaint thus far, Browsing the internet based radio stations I have only found two Christian Music stations in Texas. KSBJ Houston and Christian Rock (dot) net. No WAY Media what-so-ever. No KLTY none of those and Yes, they stream local in the Dallas area. I am wondering that since this is a Chinese product if the they were forced to avoid adding Christian stations. If that’s the case, this is a deal breaker and the radio may have to become a bullet magnet for target practice. Maybe this is a first generation post rapture radio? I have an Internet radio and it gets those stations just fine. This one don’t .. go figure!
Now, for particle use it appears to be a decent radio. I’d use it as a disaster radio as well as a shortwave DX listener. Now, I have not searched the web stations for more Christian media that might be available nationally or in other states. It would be that the Texas database is just very basic. I hope that would get a Fix status at some point.
The radio does not offer Air band and to my knowledge has no weather alert function outside of internet radio. Which isn’t a big deal. It also does not appear to use RDS (Radio Display Service) Which would broadcast Station names and song info to the display. Again, no big deal.
The radio has no kickstand, The telescoping antenna does not travel 360 degrees. But the dimmer can be deactivated and it does offer a backlit keypad. It’s a USB C connection for charging. It can operate on Wifi AND 4G LTE using a sim card with basically a tablet (Data) plan. It can handle up to a 32gb SD Card for extra storage, I have a 16gb in mine and its fine.
I guess its going to be whether or not you can justify dropping $250 on amazon for the radio. Maybe a $110 XHDATA Shortwave radio or even a Tecsun would suit you fine for less. I wanted it, I got it, I have no regret’s!
Okay, I regret buying it. This is an update a day after the original published article. I have requested a amazon return shipping label and am sending this thing back. I tried to listen to the Hurricane watch net for Beryl the other evening and found the Choyong to be totally worthless on SSB. I could not fine tune the stations. Swapping over to the Tecsun PL-330 on the same external antenna I was able to fine tune and had volume control. The Choyong has really piss poor volume on SSB. Needless to say I was not amused. So, back goes another Chinese radio to amazon!