I finally took my Qodosen SR-286 to the park to test MW reception while using the whip antenna. At home I use only the internal ferrite antenna and the Tecsun AN-200 loop when doing MW DXing. The external whip is too noisy at home. The Qodosen is said to be extremely sensitive when using an external antenna like the built-in whip or a wire for MW DXing, but you do need to be in a quiet area.
My test today showed that this is true. It was just before sunset, a time when I always only pick up my two local MW stations at home. In the park with the whip and a 4 metre wire, several distant signals from Mozambique came through. Some were quite clear, but some are noisy (beware while listening!). I think it is because the sun was still out and the distant MW signals were just beginning to come through.
Still, it shows that the Qodosen is really extremely sensitive on MW when using an external wire. MW in South Africa is very quiet, so most of my catches are from Mozambique and other countries around me, most signals come from a distance of at least 450 km (280 miles) and more. But never while the sun is still out, until now.
At the end of the video you can see me compare the internal and external antennas on two of the stronger signals, which the internal ferrite did manage to pick up. The difference is quite striking.
There are two negative points though, I picked up a harmonic of a very strong local station, Radio Pulpit (657 kHz), on 1314 kHz. There is also a pulsing noise on some of the signals, something that I only became aware of recently on the Qodosen, heard only on MW and only at times, not on all signals.
00:00 Sunset in the park with the Qodosen SR-286
01:25 Emissor Provincial de Inhambane
02:00 Emissor Provincial de Manica from Chimoio (noisy)
02:20 Emissor Provincial de Maputo, nice and clear
02:54 Radio Mocambique Antena Nacional
03:35 Radio Pulpit, local
03:40 Radio Lesotho
03:46 Radio Islam, local station
03:54 Radio Pulpit harmonic
04:00 Back to Inhambane
04:12 Emissor Provincial de Zambezia from Quelimane (weak)
04:35 Back to Maputo
05:02 Emissor Provincial de Sofala from Beira (weak)
05:15 Back to Antena Nacional
05:53 Back to Quelimane
06:19 Antena Nacional again
06:39 Zambezia again
06:49 Maputo on external and internal antennas
07:32 Lesotho on external and internal antennas
