XHDATA D-808

FM Stereo/LW/MW/SW-SSB AIR RDS

Digital Signal Processing Receiver

A User’s Manual
By Kevin Davidson
Illustrations by XHDATA

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 Table of Contents
Radio - Front View 3
The Display 4
Side Controls 5
Radio Rear 6
Warnings 7
Quick Start Guide 7
Functions and Operation 8
Power and Charging 8
Power on Button and Sleep Timer 8
Alarms 8
Charging the Radio 9
Operations and Setup 9
FM Tuning Range 9
Longwave Setup 9
Medium Wave step 9
Beep 9
Temperature 10
Setting the Clock 10
Lock 10
Display Light 10
Memory System 11
Auto Tune Storage (ATS) 11
Antennas 11
Display Mode 12
Bandwidth 12
Tuning Speed 12
FM Reception 13
FM RDS (radio data system) 13
MW (medium wave) 14
LW (longwave) 14
SW (shortwave) 15
Single Sideband (SSB) 16
AIR Band 16
Squelch 17
Reset 17
Specifications 18

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3
 The Display

1. Battery charge indicator 11. FM RDS available

2. Sleep timer active 12. Frequency

3. Key press beep active 13. RDS Information

4. Alarm on 14. USB / LSB mode

5. Frequency Display is kHz or MHz 15. Squelch active on signal

6. Display temperature mode 16. Alarm active

7. Signal strength 17. Display shows Memory location

8. Noise level 18. Not available on this radio

9. Band selection 19. Radio keys locked

10. FM Stereo signal 20. Tuning knob speed

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 Side Controls

21. External Antenna Jack (3.5mm)

22. Volume control

23. Headphone jack (3.5mm stereo)

24. Main Tuning knob (push in for fast/slow/stop)

25. Fine tuning / clarify control for SSB

26. USB Charging port

27. Radio reset button access hole

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 Radio rear

28. Whip antenna used for FM, SW and AIR bands

29. Kickstand

30. Battery door (18650 battery included)

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Warnings
• Do not expose the radio to water, moisture or excessive humidity.

• Keep radio out of the freezer. Operating temperature range is 0° - 40° C (32° -
104° F).

• Clean with a dry cloth. Don’t use detergents or chemical solvents.

• Do not attempt to open the unit, unless you are really curious. You might break
something.

• Replace the battery within one minute to avoid loss of time and other settings.

Quick Start Guide

1. The radio is shipped with a protective tab in the battery compartment that
prevents the battery from contacting the battery terminal. Carefully remove
the battery door (back of radio) and remove the battery and the tab. Replace
the battery taking care to align the polarity of the battery (+/-) to match the
diagram on the back of the radio. Replace the battery door.

2. Turn the radio on by pressing the orange power button on the upper right cor-
ner of the radio.

3. Select a radio band — FM, MW, SW or AIR — then raise the volume with the
knob on the left side of the radio. Increasing volume is in the upward direction.

4. Tune the radio by rotating the tuning knob on the upper right side of the radio.
Clockwise is increasing frequency. To tune to a station directly, press the FREQ
button, then the frequency. If the radio does not tune to the frequency, press
FREQ again to complete the entry.

In this manual, the terms “press” and “long press” are used. Press means to press
the button briefly. Long press means to press the button and hold it for 2 seconds.
When making settings, wait a few seconds after making the setting and the radio
will save the setting and exit setting mode.

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Functions and Operation
Power and charging
Power On Button and Sleep Timer

The orange power on button turns the radio on and the sleep timer icon will flash
in the display for 5 seconds. While the sleep timer icon is flashing, further presses
of the Power button increment through a list of sleep times from 120 to 15 minutes
or “on” indicating the timer is disabled. When the sleep timer is set, the radio will
automatically power off after the selected number of minutes. The radio cannot be
turned off while the sleep timer icon is flashing — just wait until it stops.

The sleep timer can be canceled by simply turning the radio off or long-press the
power button to re-enter the sleep timer setting mode.

Alarms

The radio can automatically power on based on the alarm setting. Alarm mode can
be set on or off with the ALARM button.

To turn the alarm on or off, turn off the radio and press the ALARM button. Use the
up arrow button to toggle through the three alarm modes: Wake to radio, wake to
tone and off. The alarm mode is indicated on the display with a tiny speaker symbol
to the right of the word “Timer” for wake to radio, a tiny bell to indicate wake to
tone, or no symbol when the alarm is off. Wake to radio uses the most recently
tuned station.

To set the alarm time, long-press the ALARM button and key in the time with the
number buttons. For example, to set the alarm for 21:30, long press the ALARM
button and key 2 1 3 0. The alarm is set at the factory for 7:00 AM, turned off. The
radio does not support a 12-hour clock.

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Charging the radio

To charge the radio, plug the included cable into the USB-C jack on the right side of
the radio. (Some early versions of the radio use a USB Micro connector.) The
battery icon will cycle while the radio is charging. Charging will stop when the
battery is fully charged or after 10 hours, whichever is first. Some chargers with USB
-C output require a protocol that will not work with this radio; it is recommended to
use a USB-A to USB-C cable (like the included one) to charge the radio.

Options and setup

FM Tuning range

The radio can be set for different tuning ranges that are convenient for FM broad-
casting in different regions of the world. With the radio off, long-press the FM
button. The current setting, showing the lowest frequency of the band, is displayed.
To change the setting, press the FM button again to cycle through the three op-
tions:

• 64.0 MHz

• 76.0 MHz

• 87.5 MHz

Longwave

The LW band is not enabled by default. To enable it, turn the radio off and long-
press the LW/MW button. The radio will display the current status of the setting,
“LW ON” or “LW OFF.” To change the setting, short press the LW /MW button
again. When LW is enabled, pressing the LW/MW with the radio on toggles be-
tween the LW and MW bands. When disabled, the LW option is not available.

Medium Wave Step

The tuning step for medium wave (MW) can be set for 9 kHz or 10 kHz. To change
the setting, turn the radio off and long-press the 9/10 kHz button (0). The current
setting is displayed. Press the button again to cycle through the two options. 10 kHz
is used in the Americas and 9 kHz in the rest of the world.

Beep

The radio as it comes from the factory beeps after each key press. To disable this,
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turn the radio off and long-press the BEEP button (5). Unlike other options, multiple
presses of the button do not toggle the option. Long press the key to change it.

Temperature

The temperature scale for display, Fahrenheit or Centigrade, may be selected. With
the radio off, repeatedly press the DISPLAY button until the temperature is dis-
played, then long-press the number 3 to change the setting. Repeatedly press the
button to toggle between F and C.

Setting the clock

The radio clock supports 24-hour time display only.

The radio has the option to automatically set the time from an FM broadcast station
that provides it (refer to the RDS topic for more on this). To enable automatic
setting, press the TIME SET button with the radio off. Use the up arrow key to toggle
between Auto and Manual modes. Note: many FM stations do not broadcast time,
and those that do may not be accurate. You must manually tune the station with
time information for the time to be set from RDS.

To set the clock manually, make sure the time mode is Manual, turn the radio off
and long press TIME SET. The radio will display “TIME.” Key in the 4-digit time to set.
To set the seconds to 00, wait until about 7 seconds before the 00 minute, then acti-
vate the time function, quickly key in the time and then press TIME again. Note that
time setting mode automatically exits after about 4 seconds with no key pressed.

Lock

With the radio on or off, long press the INFO button to disable the keys on the radio.
Long press again to re-enable them. This feature is useful to prevent the radio from
being turned on accidentally during handling or when packed.

Display light

The display is automatically illuminated for about 10 seconds when you press a key
or turn the tuning knob. Pressing the LIGHT button turns it on indefinitely. When
set, the light stays on even when the radio is turned off. Press LIGHT again to turn
the display illumination off.

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Radio operation
Memory System

This radio has 500 memory locations, 100 for each band, organized into 10 pages
with 10 memory locations each. A memory location stores the station frequency
along with the stereo setting for FM and the bandwidth for LW/MW/SW.

Select the desired band (MW, LW, FM, SW or AIR) first. Then to save or retrieve a
station in memory, first establish the current memory page by pressing the PAGE
button and then pressing the page number button (0-9).

Once a page is selected, a frequency is stored to a memory location within the page
by long-pressing the position number button (0-9). To recall a saved station, just
press the number button (0-9) of the memory position within the current page.

Auto Tune Storage (ATS)

This radio has the capability to scan the bands and automatically store stations into
memory. It loads them sequentially by page, and by position within the page, over-
writing any previously stored stations. ATS is invoked by first selecting the band and
then with a long press of the band button, FM, LW/MW, SW or AIR. ATS stores rela-
tively stronger stations, and may skip some that are barely audible. Also, particular-
ly on shortwave, the signal strength may fade in and out, causing the station to be
skipped. AIR transmissions are often short and may not be active when the radio
scans a particular frequency.

Note that for shortwave, the radio only scans within the international broadcast
frequencies, not amateur radio or commercial bands. Refer to the SW topic.

Antennas

Antennas capture radio signals that are processed by the radio. This radio has 3
antenna options:

• Internal ferrite bar antenna used for LW/MW

• A 25.5” telescopic whip antenna for SW/FM/AIR

• A 3.5mm jack to connect an external antenna of your choice for SW/FM/AIR.

Caution: Ensure that an external antenna is clear from power lines.

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The internal ferrite bar antenna is directional. Physically turn the radio for best re-
ception. You may find that moving the radio to a different location, even slightly,
greatly improves reception on all bands.

AM reception can often be improved by placing a passive loop antenna next to the
radio. Even 10-20 feet of wire can make a big difference on shortwave.

Display Mode

The display can be set to show different information; press the DISPLAY button to
cycle between signal strength/signal to noise ratio, time, temperature and alarm
time.

Signal strength is expressed in dBu units, the larger the number, the stronger the
signal. The signal to noise radio is expressed in dB units; the larger the number, the
greater the signal quality, with a value of 0 indicating that signal and noise are
equal. The value is also shown as 0 when there is no signal at all.

Bandwidth

While radio signals are centered on one frequency, they actually occupy a range of
frequencies. Sometimes two stations with adjacent frequencies can interfere with
each other. This problem can be lessened by reducing the frequency range
(bandwidth) the radio tunes. This feature is available on LW, MW and SW on this
radio, but typically only used on SW. The bandwidth is selected by pressing the AM
BW button. The width is shown on the display, and repeated presses of the button
will cycle through the values: 6, 4, 3, 2.5, 2, 1.8 and 1 kHz. The bandwidths in SSB
mode are 4, 2, 2.2, 1.2, 1, and 0.5 kHz. Generally, the higher the bandwidth, the
better the audio fidelity and the lower the bandwidth, the lower the interference
and noise.

Tuning speed

The tuning knob has fast, slow and stop modes. Switch between them by pressing
the tuning knob in towards the radio. The display shows the mode in small print.

• Fast - advance 5 kHz (3 kHz on LW, 9/10 kHz on MW, 25kH on AIR and 100 kHz
on FM)

• Slow - advance 1 kHz (10 kHz on FM)

• Stop - does not advance

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FM Reception

To receive FM broadcasts, fully extend the whip antenna and press the FM button.
Here are your tuning options:

1. Press FREQ, enter the frequency of the station, and press FREQ again.

2. Long press the FM button to activate ATS to store all strong stations into
memory (see section on the Memory system for how to access them).

3. Press the up or down arrow keys to go to the next frequency.

4. Long press the up or down arrow to scan for the next strong station.

5. Rotate the tuning knob to tune stations.

Some FM stations broadcast in stereo. In this case, STEREO appears on the display.
Listening to the two stereo channels requires stereo headphones. Stereo can be
turned off and on with the FM ST button. It may be automatically disabled for a
weak signal. In some situations, you may get improved reception by turning stereo
off. The stereo setting is stored in the station memory when the frequency is saved.

FM RDS (radio data system)

RDS is a means for FM radio stations to transmit data along with their program-
ming. Not all FM stations employ RDS, but the ones that do typically transmit the
station name, the station type, the song artist and title when playing music, and
occasionally the time. When RDS is present, the RDS icon on the display is shown
and the RDS data information appears at the bottom of the display. Use the INFO
button to cycle through the RDS data options. This radio supports the following RDS
information:

• PS—Program Service Name

• DATA—Date (“NO DATE” if not present)

• PTY—Program type: News, Drama, Rock music… (“NONE” if not present) These
values are not correct in North Anerica

• RT— Radio Text may contain artist and title information for music (“NO RT” if
not present)

RDS date information can be used to automatically set the radio clock. Refer to the

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Clock Setting topic for additional information.

MW (medium wave)

To receive MW broadcasts, press the LW/MW button. Here are your tuning op-
tions:

1. Press FREQ, enter the frequency of the station, either 3 or 4 digits.

2. Long press the LW/MW button to activate ATS and store all strong stations
into memory (see section on the Memory system for how to access them).

3. Press the up or down arrow keys to go to the next frequency.

4. Long press the up or down arrow to scan for the next strong station.

5. Rotate the tuning knob to tune stations.

Rotate the radio for the best reception. Refer to the Antenna topic for more infor-
mation.

LW (longwave)

Longwave reception is not enabled from the factory. Refer to the Settings topic for
how to enable it. Pressing the LW/MW button when longwave is enabled switches
between the two bands. The display shows which is selected.

Here are your tuning options:

1. Press FREQ, enter the frequency of the station.

2. Long press the LW/MW button to activate ATS to store all strong stations into
memory (see Memory system topic for how to access them).

3. Press the up or down arrow keys to go to the next frequency.

4. Long press the up or down arrow to scan for the next strong station.

5. Rotate the tuning knob to tune stations.

Rotate the radio horizontally for the best reception. Refer to the Antenna topic for
more information.

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SW (shortwave)

Fully extend the whip antenna and press the SW button to select the shortwave
function and tune to the previously accessed shortwave frequency. Repeated press-
es of the button cycle through the 14 international shortwave broadcast bands The
display shows which meter band is selected briefly after the button is pressed. The
bands are:

• 120m (2300 - 2495kHz)

• 90m (3200 - 3400 kHz)

• 75m (3900 - 4000 kHz)

• 60m (4750 - 4995 kHz)

• 49m (5730 - 6200 kHz)

• 41m (7100 - 7450 kHz)

• 31m (9250 - 9900 kHz)

• 25m (11500 - 12100 kHz)

• 22m (13570 - 13870 kHz)

• 19m (15300 - 15830 kHz)

• 16m (17480 - 17900 kHz)

• 15m (18900 - 19020 kHz)

• 13m (21450 - 21850 kHz)

• 11m (25670 - 26100 kHz)

Note: The band ending frequencies are approximate.

Here are your tuning options:

1. Press FREQ and enter the frequency of the station. You may need to press FREQ
again to complete.

2. Long press the SW button to activate ATS to store all strong stations into
memory (see Memory System topic for how to access them). Note that only the
stations within the 14 international shortwave bands are scanned.

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3. Press the up or down arrow keys to go to the next frequency.

4. Long press the up or down arrow to scan for the next strong station. Note that
only the 14 international shortwave bands are scanned.

5. Rotate the tuning knob to tune stations.

Position the radio for the best reception. Refer to the Antenna topic for more infor-
mation.

Single Sideband (SSB)

SSB is a transmission method used by amateur radio and commercial radio services.
It reduces the power requirements and improves reception, but it requires special
receiving equipment. Most voice transmissions on the amateur radio bands are
SSB, and you can recognize it by a highly distorted and punctuated sound for voice.

To receive SSB on this radio, first tune the station as accurately as you can. Then
press the SSB button. After some delay, the display will show the sideband setting,
either upper sideband (USB) or lower sideband (LSB). In SSB mode, the INFO button
switches between the two sidebands. LSB is most often used for frequencies below
7300 kHz and USB for those over 14000 kHz, with exceptions.

Use the fine tuning knob (+/- 990 Hz in 10 Hz steps) on the right side of the radio
for the best sound. Be patient; SSB tuning takes practice.

Press the SSB button again to exit SSB mode. The radio will display “NORMAL.”

Refer to the Bandwidth topic for how to improve shortwave reception.

AIR Band

To receive aviation transmissions, fully extend the whip antenna and press the AIR
button. Here are your tuning options:

1. Press FREQ, enter the frequency of the station, and press FREQ again if neces-
sary.

2. Long press the AIR button to activate ATS to store all strong stations into
memory (see section on the Memory system for how to access them).

3. Press the up or down arrow keys to go to the next frequency.

4. Long press the up or down arrow to scan for the next strong station.

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5. Rotate the tuning knob to tune stations.

Air band is best received near airports. You can look up the approach frequency for
your closest airports online and store them in the Air band station memory loca-
tions; refer to the “Memory System” topic.

Reset

Should the radio become inoperable, you may attempt to reset the radio by push-
ing a small object such as a toothpick or paperclip into the Reset hole until you feel
a click. Take care not to press too hard and damage the radio.

Squelch

This radio has a special feature called “squelch.” When set, the radio remains mut-
ed (silent) until a transmission stronger than the set level is received. To activate
the feature, long press the tuning knob in towards the radio until the word
“Squelch” appears on the display, then immediately (you have less than a second to
begin setting) rotate the tuning knob to set the squelch level. The values are 1-9
and OFF. Increasing the number increases the necessary signal level for the radio to
activate. As you turn the knob towards higher numbers, you will hear the signal
drop off at some point. The optimum level is usually the highest number without
background noise. After selecting the level, just wait a second or two and the radio
will exit setting mode.

When the radio is muted due to a weak station, the SQUELCH indicator appears in
the display.

Turning squelch off may enable reception of weak signals that would otherwise not
be heard. A single squelch setting is used for all bands, so it may be desirable to
reset the level or disable it when switching bands.

Caution: Setting squelch to a very high level will result in the radio not receiving
any stations and appearing non-functional.

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Specifications
Radio bands

• FM: 64 - 108 MHz

• MW: 520 - 1710 kHz

• SW: 1711 - 29999 kHz

• LW: 150 - 450 kHz

• AIR: 118 - 137 MHz

Sensitivity:

• FM: < 3 µV

• MW: < 0.5 mV/m

• LW: < 10 mV/m

• SW: < 10 µV

• AIR: < 0.5 µV

AM Selectivity: > 80dB

Number of memories: 500 (100 per band)

Battery: 1 x 18650

DC input voltage: 5V

Power consumption : 140 µA off, 120 mA at maximum volume

Speaker: 8Ω 1 W

Earphone Jack: 3.5mm stereo

Dimensions: 157(W) x 92(H) x 32(D) mm

Weight: 265g (without battery)

Accessories: Earphone, storage bag, external antenna, USB-C charging cable, 18650
battery, and English user manual

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Notes

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Version 1.9.12 - 31-MAR-2024

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