I couldn't resist this as it was beautifully marked and up-wind. Just £8.
https://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-r...?source=others
The one in the link is FM only. Note it says 'no longer available'. NOT surprised! Mine is AM and FM but looks exactly the same and has the same model no. Of course we shouldn't expect much at this price and not much is exactly what we get.
Both bands are dreadful. On AM, the radio is very insensitive and prefers to pick up its own processor noise. Even on strong signals the audio sounds distant. Tuning is in 9KHz steps and there is a lengthy muting period at every click so you can't tune around like you would on an analogue radio. The ferrite antenna is tiny and appears to be untuned.
There's a local oscillator which seems to run about 500KHz high. IF selectivity is poor - I can't see any hardware IF filters so I assume it is done digitally.
On FM the story is similar. Poor gain, noises off and generally irritatingly bad. Again no filtering hardware and I couldn't find a LO signal.
The chip that does the radio duties is a C9631:
http://aitendo3.sakura.ne.jp/aitendo...EN_aitendo.pdf
I was thinking of taking it back, but it's chucking it down outside so I'll keep it as a plaything. I may see what it says to my big tuned ferrite sleeve antenna. That'll fix it's clock...
Avoid unless you have eight quid burning a hole in your pocket and you fancy something to fiddle with.
