We review the XHDATA D-808 all-band receiver · Saturday May 30, 2026 by colin newell
Back when I was a early teenage radio listener, my radio of opportunity had 5 vacuum tubes, a scarcely calibrated dial, illuminated by incandescence, audio with the warmth of a winter glove and the ability to ascertain an accurate frequency commensurate with the times – which is to say: Not at all precise!
In the early 1970’s one developed a certain muscle memory with their radio. For instance, Radio Netherlands via Bonaire in the sunny Caribbean held court on 6165 Khz. HCJB in Quito, Ecuador appeared nightly, reliable as gravity, on 9560 Khz. The Northern Service of CBC Radio was on 9625 Khz and others.
A crafty and somewhat nerdy youngster like me quickly created a reference list of where everyone was on the dial, locking down the frequency purely by station identification and keying it into my muscle memory. If anything, these were the best of times. Like any new hobby, the technical prowess was low and the excitement of discovery was high.
By mid-decade, for me, tubes were replaced with transistors and the occasional analog integrated circuit. Digital read-out and frequency synthesis was still a few years away.
Fast forward 4 decades and we now have ultra-light portables like the XHDATA D-808.
At 310 grams with battery and dimensions of 14.5 × 8.7 × 2.7 cm (just fitting in my manly-man palm…) this is a high performance product that could discretely fit any sized carry-on bag, pack-sack, or shoulder-holster camera bag.
Let’s glance at the coverage:
Frequency range
- FM: 87.5 – 108 (64-108) MHz
- LW: 150 – 450 kHz
- MW: 522 – 1620 kHz (9k Step) 520 – 1710 kHz (10k step)
- SW: 1711 – 29999 kHz
- AIR: 118 – 137 MHz
This is comprehensive – and while results may vary by country visited, I’d likely not advertise the fact that it can tune in aircraft as an overly zealous border guard may see this as “suspicious”. Err on the side of caution and refer to it as an AM-FM radio.
In addition to solid AM(LW) and FM performance, the Shortwave capability is impressive – and it includes SSB (single sideband) functionality for ham radio, high frequency air band-aero weather, marine activities, more code and other neat things.
And while the XHDATA D-808 does not feature a dedicated Synchronous Detection (Sync) mode. Instead, it uses Single Sideband (SSB) with selectable Upper Side Band (USB) and Lower Side Band (LSB) to achieve the same result (if you know what you are doing…)
The XHDATA D-808 has 500 “memories” — referred to as “pages” in the manual and user reviews. One can populate the memories manually or with an ATS system. The ATS is useful for capturing all your local FM stations and nesting them accordingly. Using ATS for evening AM or LW reception: maybe not so practical. You either love it or you don’t.
Moving between shortwave or “HF” meter bands is pretty streamlined: Press SW to move to the last visited SW meter band and then SW button repetitively to shutter between specific SW bands by increasing frequency.
For the “medium-wave” enthusiasts among us, the XHDATA D-808 has an internal ferrite rod antenna – great for sniffing out weak signals, useful for direction finding and easily coupled to larger loop or active antennas.
The XHDATA D-808 has an 1/8” antenna jack that works well with all active and passive wire antennas – balanced or unbalanced… ultimately extending the range of the radio in many ways. And by the way, if I use any terminology that is not immediately clear, by all means hit me with an e-mail for a more detailed explanation!
