The XHDATA D-808 was born as a result of the sometimes strange state of affairs in Chinese manufacturing today. The story goes that it was derived from the Redsun-designed C. Crane Skywave SSB. In China today there seems to be no protection from theft of intellectual properly…there is no patent protection. Presumably to prevent conflicts with US-based C. Crane the D-880 cannot be sold directly to the US but it is now available here on eBay shipped via Tel Aviv. It is based on the same Silicon labs DSP Chip as the Skywave yet has several differences. It omits the NOAA Weather Band of the Skywave but adds FM RDS. It also is built into a slightly larger cabinet which allows improved sound quality and a larger AM ferrite rod antenna.

We’ll put the XHDATA thorough its paces and compare it directly with the Skywave SSB and several competing travel-sized radios.

Read the XHDATA D-808 Review:

Jay Allen