1

Degen 1102

[with overview]

vs Kchibo C300

egen 1102 is my latest radio in my radio collection bought on the end of November
after a communication with the companys exporter. This model stated to be internationally
available after Sept 20th 2003.
The cost of this model is followed:

Factory price is US$ 32 or 352 Yuan only

Total cost: US$60 includes , electronic transfer via Western Union [$10] and shipping via DHL
These companies prefer to send the samples via DHL instead of sending by standard post
The other radio , Kchibo has been bought from our local market at a price of 60 The original cost was
80 but as the dealer is friend he offered to me at that price. More info about this model is referred to
my Kchibo radios file
Overview:
The packet has been received with the following: [with my comments ]
* Radio: it is a little bigger than a pocket size . Built in hand hooker and base stand
* Ear phones. They sound quite bassy and have a little funny
look[see at the picture at right] . They are packed inside a plastic
bag and each earbud has its own bag!
* Two oper ating guides , one concise ( a leaflet, showing the most
important features pictorially) and one detailed with total 82
pages. Both guides are written in Chinese and simple English
translation. Although this can sound as chinglish it is quite
understandable to a person having English as second language
as me. The handy 82 page booklet has nice illustrations and
printout, that shows a really professional work.
* Mains adaptor . It uses the
UK standard , therefore it is
The funny headphones
inappropriate for Western Europe unless a adaptor plug is used . I
used mine adaptor to recharge the batteries
* 3 r echar geable (NimH )batter ies 1300 mAh AA size
* case , cloth made . A ver y nice look
* 5 m wir e with 3mm plug as exter nal antenna connection
Features and operation
[Information I gathered using radio plus my comments ]

the operating guides

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-Size : 140x 73x 24 mm
-Weight : 362 grs including batteries
-Antenna : Its total length once unfolded is about 70 cm long , one of the biggest I have even seen
in all my small radios including SONY ICF7600D
-Time: the time is shown with radio switched off or when radio is used and exit switch has been
pressed. Time is shown with seconds accuracy. A very nice point. Time is shown for several seconds
also when the radio is operated by pressing EXIT button
-Power : 6 V DC by mains adaptor or 4.5 V by the supplied batteries . Radio includes a built in
battery charger with 1 hr steps up to 7 hrs . The first time I charged the batteries was 5 hrs
- Batter y capacity indicator :[on the LCD screen ] One of the nicest features I liked together with the
battery charger. It is a 3 level indicator . IT not only shows the battery level but also the battery charge
together with the remain time

Oper ation time with its 1300 mAh batter ies : Abt 18 hrs using the volume at middle and 5
hrs of charging time
- Clock : 12/24 hr CPU selectable, in the setup mode
- 3+1 alarms : 3 radio alarms and one beeper.
- 20-step digital volume control/ Line out . Interesting but something I dont like it. I
would prefer as Ulis Fleming at RadioIntel.com to use a potentiometer for smoother adjustment
Another important point. Using headphones , as its own , the resulted audio is low and still
at maximum volume the audio is just annoying. It is lower than hearing the radio at a
distance of 25 cm I could prefer the approach other Chinese companies use , including Degen
in all of their radios I tested, to use a direct audio to headphones ,i.e. without headphone
attenuator. This could however require either a variable resistor to be used for volume
control or even double digital steps at least .
5 hours of operation resulted in 2/3 of the full battery capacity
Degen advised me that more recently they have improved their line out
-Freq bands : MW

522-1620 kHz

VHF2: 70-108 MHz ( lower and upper FM )

It seems however that there is a 50 Hz upward error , i.e. you need to tune by 50
kHz higher than the exact frequency
SW
3000- 29995 MHz continuous and with band change
The following table shows the band ends for every band in my model and the step
is the frequency skipping to change the band by the SW/METER switch
band ends
3155-3450
3855-4050
4705-5100
5905-6250
7005-7400
9405-9985
11500-12150
13505-13900
15005-15700
17255-18100
21405-21950
25605-26100

mb
90
75
60
49
41
31
25
22
19
16
13
11

steps

6075
7200
9635
11845
13700
15320
17705

Memories:

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190 non-volatile mems in 10 banks of 19 mems
-Special banks for FM , MW and SSB/SW named pq and r respectively , see
below
-Each memory is recalled immediately by pressing its corresponding number IN
case of the numbers above 9 , the number 0 must be preceded (ie to press 09 for 19 )
-Last freqs are kept in the banks pq r when banks are changed
-Memories can also be scanned manually or automatically with the use of +/- buttons
-Memories can also be copied between banks.
-There is also a memory delete function , for one memory or even one bank
-Empty memories result to on screen error message

Every memory is recalled by its bank and serial number. For example you can dial P33 for recalling
mem #3 on the page 3 Also in order to recall the memory 12 in the page 3 you need to dial P302
Tuning steps
MW
10/9 kHz in banks i-o The 9 or 10 kHz steps are made when setting up the CPU
1 kHz in the special MW bank q
SW

5 kHz in the banks i-o

1 kHz in the special SW bank r. In this bank SSB is also available

50 kHz in the banks i-o

10 kHz in the special bank p
In special banks scanning is disabled and frequencies are manually tuned
-Manual Scanning has a gap of 300 ms
VHF2

Memories and tuning steps are interchanged by the step button

ATS : Automatic tuning system on page i only . Once you set the band, using ATS
automatically the strongest freqs in its memory bank. It works in all bands

it sets

Sleep timer: Sleep timer is automatically activated once you open the power button. The default
time is 99 mins but can be
1. deactivated immediately by pressing EXIT button
2. changed by pressing [ENTER] and then by pressing the required amount
I found also a technique to again get rid the sleep timer when radio is operated.
You can press EXIT to show the time then ENTER to activate the timer, then again EXIT.
Keypad lock: This is made in the keyboard with the button M/LOCK and is used when radio is
on or off . A borrowed feature from cellular phones .
Setup mode: It is something I have not tried . With this mode 9/10 kHz MW steps and 12/24 hour
format can be set up
As the guide advises , the batteries or the mains adaptor has first to be disconnected for at least 30
secs until nothing appears in the display then a set of commands is required to set either the time or
the MW step.
I have left these adjustments to their defaults i.e. 9 kHz steps for MW and 24 hr timer
Direct frequency entry : This feature is a little uncommon as it requires first to dial [ENTER]
then dial the frequency per MHZ and again pressing [ENTER] , This technique reminds me my oldest
radio SONY that required at first to press the band button and then keying the frequency
An example can show on how the freq entry can be used: For 15000 only ENTER 15 ENTER is required.
For 7350 ENTER 735 ENTER is required
I have found that frequency dialing can be set to 1 kHZ ( for MW/SW) in any bank witout the
frequency to change due to the mode

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The current band determines the frequencies to be dialed , That means you cannot dial a SW
frequency if you are listening to VHF-II unless you change the frequency band first !
Wide /narrow band switch for MW and SW. Something uncommon to any small radios I
ever used. Wideband is relatively good for high fidelity; over AM broadcasts in general
The same switch is used for changing to MONO the stereophonic FM broadcasts
Company insists that the filters used are below 9 kHz for Am wide filter and below 4 kHz for AM
narrow .
SSB switch: The switch is accompanied by a relatively stable BFO of -3300 to +4800 Hz.
Stability is 10-20 HZ for 10 minutes ( by hand guessing) . Audio in semi Synchro mode ( SSB
reception on AM station)
.
Earphones: earphones connection can be used in two ways. As earphones and as line out. This
implies a low audio output as stated above. Using my new Hytechno BX100L digital recorder , the
audio was not overloaded . This connection is suggested pictorially in the radios booklet
BASS :This is used only in FM mode. It is the second operation of the FM button . I do not use it
however as most of the local stations use audio with loudness ,but anyway it gives a little more
bassy audio than normal
Oversimplified 3/4 LED signal strength meter : As AM
signal strength meter can be shown with 4 LEDs however during the FM
band reception , the LED at right is used to indicate stereo reception
Backlight display : it is something I do no like to use. As instruction
manual refers , there are 3 operation modes for it.
Never use , temporary use and always use.
On temporary use it light for 8 seconds.
Always use is made when connected to mains supply.
DX/ local switch ; The instruction manual suggests to switch off DX
only when very strong local stations appear, There are two strong
stations 15 km far from my home ( each of 50kW) but it does not effect
to overloads or images .

the backlight function

External antenna plug : can be used with its own 5 m antenna. As referred in the guide it is
used for enhancing reception. See below for more on reception with the antenna

Operation
Using it at first time was a bit tricky and required me to read the manual. By pressing the buttons , it
immediately revealed the memories. In case a memory is not unassigned an error message is shown
in the LCD
All observations below are made with earphones, But before continuing , I must admit my comments on
listening though the speakers
1. FM audio is fair but very sharp for my ears due to tinitus . I cant listen more than 30 minutes .
SONY 7600 D and Philips S2395 have the best speaker audio.
In contrast to this head audio is quite nice , near to HiFi with my standard earphones and little bassy
with radios earphones . Kchibo 300 offers same audio quality.
Its minimum level too high for direct listening
2. AM audio is nice in both filters.

SW: Listening to SW in general was with very low noise levels. Sometimes I felt that the radio in
vacant frequencies was as like having no batteries!
Using antennas:

*
*

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I tested it using in my 5 meter window frame antenna connected to radios antenna . The radio
cold not overload as any other Kchibo radio could, using the switch set to LOCAL However at
night times it could be overloaded The horizontal 16 m antenna overloaded it in both settings
Local and DX
Connecting to computers SoundBlaster input ,added a new antenna system including noise
. But it did not overload.
With its 5 m antenna ( a detailed story ) .
I tried to test it a bit in our garden in a cold day. Signals with the built in telescopic
antenna were that time good. When I just unfolded the wire from its wound it offered
some good signal, adding several decibels over the telescopic.( with switch set to DX)
But you can guess what I found when the wire was fully deployed and kept into a tree ,
The radio overloaded!
MY first frequency to test was on the 21 MHz band looking for hams. I found a network
of hams near to 21360 kHz . Using at first the technique referred below ( SSB ) by
continuously pressing the SSB button while tuning on page 1 and then setting the BFO
after I changed the step by jumping to Page 9 ( yes changing pages , can keep the
frequency you tuned) and listened for several minutes . Audio was pretty good on wide
band filter. I had to take something from the room and switched off the radio. After less
than 5 minutes I was back and opened the radio again. SSB was on and the ham network
was still on , but the frequency was several Hz off ( abt 300 upper) Antenna has been
adjusted with DX switch is on and folded relatively in order not to overload
Next check was the overload in the SW bands with fully deployed 5 m antenna and switch
always on the DX position . It covered all the bands! But switching off to LOCAL solved
the problem!
The next step is to check the FM band. Also it was covered by a mass of strong signals
on the band Again setting DX to local cleared the band from overloads
Checking once again next day at first there was not overload As soon I moved the antenna
at other points overload appeared. It was more apparent if the wire is tightened

Images found: During a second try outdoors I found only the 5500-5600mHz band
being infected with images , at strong level , that can be heard with its own antenna ( not
external) and with attenuator on ( i.e. at LOCAL position )
Other freqs found while using the antenna are : 8000 kHz and 6500 kHz
At a new try next day , and with high ionospheric conditions, outdoors , if I raised the radio
a little higher, 2.5 m above earth , it can overload as Kchibo . I dont know if the use with
the 5 m antenna externally caused it to overload however. But checking in my favorites freqs ,
the 10.33 mHz station heard at much lower levels than Kchibo. Kchibo show the 10330
station with nearly peak signal when same time 1102 shown a barely audible signal and
much QRN! .
Continuing my experiments on the following days, outdoors , I found several also
important characteristics of the radio:
1. It has a higher amplification level in the lower freqs than the higher. As for example I
can easily listen to freqs on near to 4 and 5 MHz that can be only available with my
ICOM R75 and external antenna at nearly same audibility !The 5060 from Xinjiang can
be heard from at least 1430 UTC on the middle of December. At 1600 I can listen to the
clandestines on 3,88 and 3.95 mHz easily
2. I normally listen to the radio with earphones on all bands . Audio is quite nice , also
listening to MW and VHF2 with the use of its speaker
3. Noise from bicycles and other automobiles can easily pass the radio with ignition
sparks even if their distance is more than 40 meters ! ( or I may suppose degen;s
sensitivity is quite high! )

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SSB: It is enabled only when bank 9 is used. However I observed that SSB can be still temporarily
enabled ( ie only when the switch is pressed) though in the LCD screen an error message is shown.
Inasmuch I used it the audio , once the radio is properly adjusted , is quite clear evening the AM wide
Is it apparent that this SSB is actually a clarifier with adjustable BFO oscillator , but you
cannot easily tune in for accurate synchro regeneration over a standard radio
station. In some instances this can result to audio deterioration and or lower audio
quality
MW: Same as in SW bands. The day I was experimenting outdoors ( 5.12 at 1420 UTC) the band
was nearly full of stations on MW with good signals even from abroads External antenna did not
effect on MW.
FM/VHF2 : Radio can be used from 70- 108 MHz. However I have found images of 22.3 MHz on
the lower FM band side. This difference has been measured during the diversity stereo reception
below with Kchibo. One of the strongest stations on the lower band was on 79.2 coming from 100.6
MHz from transmitter distance abt 2.5 km from house
- Using it its built in telescopic antenna, indoors. fully folded with switch to local reduced
the signals to a low level though many of them were still readable with stereo format. This is
a measurement at home , where many station from Thessaloniki are not well received
- Images have been still heard with attenuator on (Switch set to local) .. The local station
could still be heard tough not of the same level as in the fundamental.
- Listening in farther points , as Litohoro , switch to DX is necessary . In other cases , in
vacant freqs some internal impulse noise is heard.
- In Litohoron , two stations in the lower FM band could be heard , on 71.4 and 72.9 MHz
from Bulgaria. But the images from standard FM band made the second difficult to to
listened
External audio connection:
Line output connections can effect as external antennas . In FM and SW bands
*
*
*
*

Connection to computer: and external SONY walkman speakers It gave a very pleasant audio
with in both modes wide and narrow. IN most cases the wide filter produced 10 kHz whistles
that sometimes are annoying. But audio in wide filter switched music is HIFI like
Connection to HiFI /stereo system: Produced a low audio level in the HiFi . FM Stereo had
the same audio fidelity as the radio of the stereo system. But on SW a high noise covered all
the bands and effected most stations .
Connection to external recorder BX1000L : the recorder uses a high compression level and
distorts audio a bit
QRM from computers: Degen seems more prone to LCD monitor QRN than Kchibo.
MY receiver R 75 - which is now under the monitor!) as well Kchibo C300 did not shown
any monitor noise . Instead of it , 1102 shown medium levels of noise up to 25 cm
distance!.

Crosschecking with Kchibo

My method is very simple: I have used the diversity stereo with two sets of earphones , each
connected to each radio. The left earphone corresponded with the left radio for example, so that with
FM-Stereo I can listen to a stereo sound.
The volume level in both radios has been so adjusted so that audio could be heard in the middle point
perception.
Both earphones come from two Kchibo 939 units, therefore the audio produced could aurally test
fidelity differences between the two radios on stereo FM.
SW:
* In most of the bands with the same antenna lengths for both radios , Kchibo shown a little higher
sensitivity ( less than 4 db) over Degen .However with fully unfolded antenna Degen the
levels are nearly identical
7 MHz band was the only Degen had the same sensitivity levels with Kchibo.

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* However this is an important notice: Kchibo shows a higher noise figure than Degen. Some
stations heard in the above configuration could be heard in the middle position and having stronger
noise in the side of Kchibo
Antenna length on this test was the same for both radios. Fully unfolded Kchibos antenna.

MW:
o Here in all this band the sensitivity levels are nearly same . However Kchibo shown many self
generated unwanted carriers across every clear channel and in some cases was overloaded . I
observed this especially on the evening local times.
FM:
* Here Degen is the winner. It has a better selectivity and could not overload as Kchibo withits own
antenna but shown broader bandwidth than Yupiteru scanner . As for example I could relatively
easily listen to R 106.7 R Ekfrasi from Litohoro. Kchibo could not listen to ( but Yupiteru could)
. Therefore I may suppose a 200-250 kHz bandwidth.
* Degen shown a little tune off by 40- 50 kHz upwards
-----Selectivity very strong signals
* Using the Degens wide filters , a local station on 1044 kHz MW could be listened 3 channels
apart .
* In narrowband , this reduced to only one channel apart
Kchibo shown several channels apart. About 3-4 channels above and 2-3 channels below the frequency
Scanning gaps : Degen shown a gap of 306 ms , C300 shows a 1072 ms gap!!
Backlight function: Degen was steady on the 8 secs backlight. But the Kchibo shown a peculiar
way . It strands on for 10 secs and then lowers down for another 10 secs until the light zeroes out
Things I would like to see changed:
*
Volume : Volume could be replaced either with a standard resistor [most preferable] or with a
more step digital volume controol
*
Audio : earphone output could be stronger. I liked the way Kchibo does
*
Another approach for setting up MW steps as well time. My idea for MW could be by
continuously pressing MW button

IN general . I have found that this radio has an exceptional quality on most of its features ( high
sensitivity , nice design , professionalism on everything ) for a Chinese product \
And though Kchibo has a nice design and quite qood for its

A P P E N D IX

pictorial comparative results

Full accessor ies list

* headphones/wound wire antenna /radio/operating guides /clothed /packing/

And here several comparative pictures between Kchibo and Degen

All are on 15200

1102 with wide passband filter

1102 with narrow passband filter

C300 with wide audio filter

C300 with narrow audio filter

Above method : RMS Smoothing

Short peaks show carriers apart. ( 5 10 15 and 20 kHZ)

1102 shows a smoother curve than C300. Narrow filter of DE1102 has stronger cut off above 3000
HZ
C300 from other side shows an higher audio response in freqs above 16 KHz that is normalized with
narrow audio filter .This can possibly explain way C300 has a strong trebled audio comparing to
1102

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And a comparative between the 3 audio and filter modes of Degen and the results on Kchibo . Freq is
10330 ( AIR)

DEGEN

AM wide pass band wide audio

AM wide pass band narrow audio

AM narrow band

KCHIBO

Wide audio

Narrow audio

Further info:
Degens web page And 1102 page
Radio Intel review on Degen 1102

I hope you enjoyed reading the article. Please email me with your impressions or opinions for any
enhancements at zliangas@compulink.gr