R9700DX 12-Band Dual Conversion AM/FM Shortwave Radio

I’ve been into radio since my teenage years and for nearly two decades I’ve been an amateur radio operator. I feel my experience and background will make my review valid. For under $100, you WILL NOT find a better performing shortwave radio. It just isn’t going to happen. The audio clarity from the good sized speaker is superb for a radio in this price range. While the tuning is analog and not fancy digital, I prefer analog tuning because I’m able to “slide” through the band easily without the tuning steps associated with digital. The display does light up for use in the dark. You get access to all of the major shortwave bands, which will provide hours of entertainment. There are some gaps in frequency coverage between the bands, but nothing that would warrant deducting a star. It's just worth mentioning and to most users, isn't a big deal. Now on a more technical note, the receiver in this is dual conversion. For simplicity sake, this means there are “two” stages to the IF circuit which allows the user to better finely tune in stations and increases rejection from interference. A feature you normally only find in really high end models. If you’re on the fence, let me knock you off of it. Buy this radio. You will not be disappointed at all. Included is a nice little case/cover, a long-wire antenna, and AC adapter.

For past few days. I had really fun on this radio. The SW part of this radio. Is very good. An pills in weak signals. An makes strong stations come in like local FM station. With the local an dx switch. It keeps it from overloading when it comes to Very strong stations. Like Radio China, an Cuba, as well as bible study stations. The stations. That r weak. Like BBC world an DW international. An NHK world Japan. Comes in good with home made wire antenna i made. Havent to much use it for MW bands. To give u review. FM is totally very good. An the stations. Are not like cheap sounding. But instead sounding like PL-660. But its analog. So u have play with it. But pulls them in very good. An not much moving aound. So u dont have two tune it in. Every few min. So it holds frequency very good. Ill make other reviews on MW band next week. Since i be playing with radio on that. But i give it 5out 5. An its good for what u pay for. Even pull AM hams on 80m an 40m band. Worth my time an money. An really love it. U need buy ur ownn battery. But the wall charger is vood. But dose make noise on MW an SW. So i do wanna add that. I just run my on batterys. An the light on it. Stays on for min. But there is switch on top on radio that dose keep it on. But remember never use the light unless u need two. Other wise it kill battery fwster. I do have rechargeable battery in my. An so fwr havent kill it just yet. Only own it for 4 days now. Soo ill make other review soo with update.

So after receiving 3 separate radios and finally getting one that works properly here's my take. First off I love the style and construction of the radio. If you like "old school new tech" then this is definitely satisfying. The FM and MW/AM band is very sensitive and the DX function works quite well picking up a lot of faint stations. I look forward to trying out the MW with a loop antenna. I haven't had much luck picking up many SW stations but it's probably due to unfair weather lately. Sound quality I would say is good, stereo and mono sound switch is drastic between the two and preferences may vary. Build quality feels good, especially the tuning dial, nice resistance for fine tuning without worry of skipping past those faint signals and holds the station well. Also the tuning dial is quite accurate on my particular radio. Very nice getting the AC adapter and FM/SW wire antenna included, at least a $20 value. Case is also pretty nice, a stiff seemingly well made canvas type material that fits nice and tight over the radio. Overall I'm very satisfied with the radio and look forward to further testing. The bad is the fact that it took me 2 replacements to find one I was satisfied with. On one radio, the tuning dial was WAY off. If I tried tuning to 92.3FM for example, it would read 95-96FM. The other radio had a loud popping noise when turning the backlight on, loose tuning dial, scuffs on the station backplate, very loose band selector switch etc... I'm sure most people would be fine with some of these nitpicky things, but for a $50+ radio I expected a little better. As long as you get a good functioning radio and don't expect perfection I would recommend this radio for the styling, sound quality and sensitivity.

This radio has very good sensitivity and selectivity considering its cost. The lighted dial is especially nice since I tend to use the radio when it is dark but the band selection is not lighted so cannot see what band you are on without looking. The am and fm band is far left so you can feel the click but switching around the SW bands is hard to determine what band you are on in dark. The slide volume switch on side is good and I didn't think I would like it but feels good and works good. The shortwave works good with good sensitivity and selectivity when bands are open. There are not many English stations anymore on SW in this country and mostly of what I hear are Spanish stations and religious stations in English. If you're in a foreign country then you may have more English stations. The radio build is good also and not flimsy like others I had and the tuning wheel and sliders seem solid. It has an led tuning led which helps with weaker stations. The addition of the wire antenna helps with weaker stations but doesn't make much difference for the most part and has no affect on am stations. Not sure of battery life as I just got the radio but the included ac adapter is a bonus for sure.

While there are plenty of radios out there that still use an old fashion analog dial, the PL-9700DX is of the few that matches the dial with a true analog tuner and a dual conversion one at that. Sound quality is quite good and when hooked up to a pair of headphones or any other auxiliary output, this radio becomes a very good stereo tuner. While not featuring the whole shortwave band, the 9700DX features everything you need with its 10 shortwave bands. Reception is phenomenal on all the bands and selectivity is quite good, although just short of great. This radio does not have an SSB feature, however for this price point, it is hard to find any radio that features SSB. The dial is neat, easy to tune and features a nice warm LED light that gives the radio the look of a classic tabletop radio in the dark. Very good battery life on 4 AA batteries, however I strongly recommend rechargeables as this radio charges automatically when plugged in regardless of the battery type. My only real peeves with this radio is that a rotary volume control would have been much nicer that the slide control. There are some minor issues with the appearance of this fit of this radio as there is a rather large gap between the back and front halves, although this is more an issue of aesthetic refinement rather than a fit or build quality issue. Overall an excellent radio for someone wanting a true modern, full analog short wave radio. There is nothing really to dislike about this radio, apart from some very minor aesthetic issues which will go unnoticed by about 99.5% of the people who purchase this great radio.

My main intention of purchasing the R9700DX was to possibly replace an aging Sony SW-20 that I've owned for nearly 30 years. As with the R9700DX, the Sony is also dual conversion analog and the R9700DX is about the only choice in this day and age that offers dual conversion with analog tuning. There are distinct advantages of having these features over digital units, primarily low noise floors and better dynamic range due to little or no internally generated noise from flashy digital read-outs or CPU chips. Battery consumption is also very low not having to power many components other than the radio function itself. The SW-20 excels at both of these in addition to its superior sensitivity and selectivity on MW, SW and FM using just the tiny telescopic whip and internal ferrite bar. Truly a marvel of miniaturization and Japanese engineering. The R9700DX is nearly 3 times the size of the SW-20 and shares the same case and dimensions of the Tecsun PL-600. I knew this at the outset and the paperback book size of the R9700DX is still plenty small and portable enough. Construction is high quality and solid. Tuning is smooth from the top to the bottom of the dial with no backlash but the dial calibration is grossly inaccurate compared to the SW-20. The supplied case is very durable. Dial lighting, while primarily a novelty, is superb and brings back memories of tuning tube radios from years ago. The R9700DX covers considerably more of the SW spectrum that was omitted on the SW-20, most notably the 75, 60 and 22 meter bands. Sensitivity on SW is above average and using anything more than the telescopic whip tends to overload the R9700DX including the supplied longwire. Strong signals bleed up and down frequencies on SW, the SW-20 suffers from this as well but not nearly as much as the R9700DX. Being dual conversion selectivity is very good but the tuning slopes are much narrower on the R9700DX which can make zeroing in on a station tricky sometimes. FM sensitivity is great, on par with the Tecsun PL-380 with much fuller audio fidelity from the internal speaker. Although not as warm sounding as the PL-600, the R9700DX falls somewhere between it and the PL-380. Certainly not unpleasant for both music and voice. So why the 3 star rating? MW sensitivity is well below average. Only the strongest of stations can be received during daylight hours and in the evening/night when the band is open the R9700DX needs the help of a passive loop to grab decent signals of powerhouse broadcasters that can be picked up on much lesser and inferior radios like the Sony ICF-S10MK2. It's really disappointing, the selectivity is there but having to use an external loop to bring the R9700DX up to the level of a $12 pocket portable in terms of sensitivity on MW is just unacceptable. And I need to add that MW performance was the primary criteria of purchasing this radio, SW second, FM dead last. With all the other offerings available the R9700DX is still a strong contender among them if your interests only include SW and FM. I challenge you to find another analog multi-band dual conversion receiver without having to buy something used that's 20+ years old or at a hamfest...because you won't. For this the R9700DX is the only game in town that I'm aware of. I really had high hopes for the R9700DX giving the SW-20 a run for its money, but it falls incredibly short in MW performance when it obviously shouldn't.

Analog is why I ordered this radio. There are only a couple models available in the market today. Tuning is smooth, no 'chuffing' between stations like digital tuners. I connected a long wire antenna to it and pulled in a fair number of stations on shortwave and medium wave. FM reception is excellent on the extended whip, and the speaker sound is clear and balanced. I only have one minor gripe, and that is the tuning wheel. There is no knob to grasp. You roll a wheel with a fingertip, and it is very stiff. It has a lot of resistance to being turned. This helps in slowly trolling the frequencies in shortwave, and once you zero on a station, it does not wander. The internal PLL (Phase Locked Loop) circuit keeps it centered.. It has a local/dx switch, stereo switch for headphones, a backlight for the entire dial area although not bright. If you put in 4 NmH batteries, it will charge them while it is plugged in to wall AC power. Overall, I'm happy with this radio. With some additional antenna types, I hope to pull in better MW (AM stations) which are difficult to hear in my area. This is a good entry lever shortwave radio for someone interested in this hobby.

I've been thinking about trying this radio for a long time, but with the mixed reviews I've held off and invested in several other radios, Tecsun - 990, 680, 330; XHDATA - D109WB, D213, a Liliangi with WB recently. I also own Grundig, Sangeon and Sony older models. But, based on the unique tuning and back lit dial, I purchased this and received an unsealed opened box, radio was obviously previous sold and had been and used, the Power On switch, was in the "ON" position!!!. Immediately returned the item and made it clear why I was returning. I requested a "NEW" radio. Second radio arrives in similar condition, opened box and radio obviously already sold and used. This seller "Electronix" has some issues here providing opened boxes 'AS NEW' items. This is not acceptable with me frankly. Decided to try out the radio to see if its worth another return / reship cycle. Overall a very disappointing radio. Definitely NOT worth pursuing a third unit IMHO. I do not believe this level of performance is in line with a $70 radio. Honestly think the XDATA D-213 at $12, is a much better value. And other radios costing more then the D-213 are better still. AM/FM tuning is very erratic, the 'benefit' of a non-digital, analog front end is NOT apparent here at all. Once tuned the radio sounds OK, but just OK. But the tuning process is very wonky, with large amounts of radio generated static asnd interference as you approach the tuned frequency, with reception cutting in and out. This behavior was exhibited on AM and FM bands. SW seemed OK in the evening as it was getting dark, I listened to WBCQ 'Rockin the Decades' show Sat ,evening 5/10/25 and the radio again, seemed OK, but just OK. But the next day, Sunday Mothers Day 2025 midday weekend in the Northeast, perfectly clear and beautiful day, SW was deaf. Nothing heard from 5 Mhz on up the bands. I should have heard at least 8 to 10 stations. That sealed the deal for me and I initiate this last return. BTW, the dial light is VERY weak as well, nothing like the pictures listed in other reviews I've seen. Didn't even bother with testing the NiMhd battery charger. As well, didn't bother to test for FE overload and imaging, wondering if this is the cause of the wonky tuning interference? But my other radios don't have an issue with overloading in my area here at the home QTH.. As much as I wanted to like this radio, with the analog style dial and FE, I can't do it. I was willing to live without SSB, and the limited SW meter band coverage. But there are too many issues that are obvious and I already have multiple radios that out perform this thing by a wide margin. I suggest you look at other radios, but, if you want to give it a try, definitely avoid this seller.

El único defecto que le encuentro es el movimiento del disco para sintonizar, está demasiado apretado. Por ser de metal y de filos duros, al cabo de un rato lastima a los dedos. Por lo demás es un aparato excelente, con muy buena sensibilidad, buen sonido, gran resolución en el dial. He podido escuchar estaciones de varias partes del mundo, con SW. Usando AM logré captar una estación de San Francisco, desde Ensenada, unos 950 Km, de manera clara y fuerte.

This is probably one of the best analog radios available today. Sensitivity and overall functionality is great. The only complaint I have is that the tuning wheel is a pretty stiff. If your use case is to tune to a station and then listen to it, it is all good, but if your use case is to constantly scan and tune to different stations, then you may find the stiffness of the tuning button pretty challenging. Personally, I am happy with my purchase and find the sound quality and selectivity of this radio to be excellent. It is a keeper.

Es bueno que incluya su cargador de pared, solo es importante considerar que el cargador es bueno para uso de FM... para AM y SW es mejor usar baterías ya que el cargador introduce ruido al AM y SW. La recepción en general es muy buena y el sonido es potente para tener solo una bocina, muy recomendado si se quiere un radio sencillo y de buena calidad

Good reception on all bands with decent muting of interference between stations. A good basic radio. However I returned mine because I have arthritis in my fingers and found the tuning dial very difficult to operate (overly stiff). I ordered a Tecsun PL-880 instead (it hasn't arrived yet as of this writing).

I bought this because it had an analog dial as opposed to a digital one. I suppose it reminded me of radios I owned in the past. It is fine on FM, decent on AM and shortwave. It is not a "serious" radio, just something for casual listening. It comes with a nice case, a wire antenna, a charger and earphones. It is a small radio and seems to run for a good long time on batteries. On the back of the radio is a fold out stand so it can be used inclined for easier viewing; on the bottom is a pull out stand to make it more stable in the upright position. The band coverage is interesting. On AM it does not cover the 1610-1700 kHz portion of the band that was added in the 1990s. On shortwave the radio provides 10 bands, each 550 kHz wide. This means that some frequencies are not available. This includes some amateur radio bands but since most amateur radio transmissions are single side band, digital or morse code this is not really relevant - on shortwave this radio only receives AM signals. While not as accurate as a digital display the tuning display is reasonably good, the SW dials are marked in 10 kHz increments. There is a light for the display which can be on continuously or briefly. Unfortunately the only way of telling which SW band is in use is by looking at the tiny dots above the band selector. These are not lit up by the light and there is no other indication of which band has been selected. Not an easy radio to use in a dark room. Overall an attractive and compact unit with reasonable performance at a reasonable cost.