Few months ago I bought on eBay a vintage Chinese military HF receiver
339HF. The radio was supposedly old-new-stock, still in its original
box, and came with service manual (in Chinese, of course), two sets of
headphones, lot of spare parts (transistors, capacitors, fuses, light
bulbs), wire antenna and a backpack (the radio weights nearly 30lb).

After two months shipping time, the radio finally arrived more than a
month ago. It definitely looked old and there were visible signs of
some moisture damage, corrosion, and also some damage to the radio case
probably due to a fall in tranport. So I wasn't very hopefull and let
it sit in the box until yesterday, when I found time to unpack it,
clean it, and put it work.

What a pleasent surprize!!! This radio is great.

Few words about the radio itself. It's a military receiver built in
1976. Fully solid state, analogue tuning and display, coverage from
1.5 to 30 MHz, in six bands, frequency readout down to 1 kHz. Dual
conversion, four IF filters - 6, 3, 1 and 0.4 kHz - AM, SSB and CB
modes. Only one AGC position (somewhat fast judging by ear) and OFF,
manual RF and IF gain (I guess based on what the knobs do, as both the
manual and all signs on the radio are in Chinese), manual adjustment of
beat frequency. Two headphone sockets, but no speaker. Only one
antenna input (high Z), but comes with an accessory impedance matching
transformer to connect low Z antenna. Has one additional control knob
that must be some kind of antenna tuning circuit, as it has an air
capacitor, but does not seem to behave like fine tuning, it rather
improves sensitivity based on behavior of the S-meter. The S-meter
does not have any scale so it is only a relative indication of the
signal strength, and it also can be used as battery voltage meter when
the AGC is OFF. The radio can be powered with 10 D-cells in a
removable drawer, or the battery tray can be replaced with an removable
AC-to-DC power supply which is switchable for 220 or 110 V AC. The
case is typical military constuction, thick aluminum painted camuflage
green, with a sealed and clamped cover for the front panel. It is not
truelly waterproof but definitely a different class from any consumer
or amateur equipment. The interior is mounted on a solid cast aluminum
chassis. Everything is very solid and "oversized", and somewhat
"crude" by modern Western standards - while it is not pretty, it is
definitely very robust and functional. The tunning mechanism is a
complex gear transmission. The different functional blocks inside the
radio are fully modularized and individually shielded. Net, a
completely different standard of design and construction compared to
what we see in today's "disposable" consumer electronics.

So yesterday I finally took the radio out of the box and started
cleaning. Also the external case was rather dirty and with visible
marks of mositure, the interior looked clean. The AC power supply was
heavily correded on the exterior, as well as the battery trays and the
headphones. I spent several hour cleaning it piece by piece with
isopropylic alcohol (for a lack of any better idea). Finally when I
judged that the radio and the accessories were clean enough to minimize
the risk of a short circuit (and hopefully a case of bird flu for the
user), I decided to power it up, first with batteries and then AC.

Frankly I wasn't expecting the radio to function, at least not 100%.
Contrary to my expectations, the radio works perfectly and still have
not found a single problem. I hooked it up to a 40ft wire antenna and
decided to compare it side-by-side with the Palstar R30CC.

So how does this piece of old Chinese military metal compare with a
modern receiver? Surprize, surprize, the 339HF not only matches, but is
some aspects it actually beats the R30. Here is my subjective review:

- Sensitivity: The R30 is clearly more sensitive, but in practice with
the 40ft wire antenna it only translates in more atmospheric noise.
Even with no signal and a long antenna the R30 S-meter reads at least
S-3 on the lower bands (5-10 MHz), and the atmospheric noise is clearly
audible and rather harsh. On the other hand the 339HF is a very
"quiet" receiver, with much less background noise when no signal is
present. During 3 hours listening session I could not find a single
weak station (that would barely stand out from the background noise)
that would sound better on the R30. On the contrary, seveal very weak
signals actually sounded better on the 339HF (see more below under
audio recovery).

- Selectivity: The acid test was Radio Universidad from Mexico City
(weak signal from 10kW transmitter on 6185kHz) right next to Radio
Nederlands on 6190kHz from Surinam. On the R30 Radio Universidad was
only intelligeable using LSB and narrow filter. In AM, with the wide
filter, the powerfull Radio Nederlands would complete "swamp" the weak
signal, while with the narrow filter the audio was so muffled that it
was very hard to understand, yet still with some signs of interference.
The 339HF 6kHz filter would produce similar results at the R30 wide
filter. However the 3kHz will produce a signal of similar clarity as
the R30 on LSB, but more pleasant to the ear. Using SSB on the 339HF
did not produce any significant advantage over the AM mode.

- Dynamic range: The 339HF can definitely accept the 40ft antenna
without a slightest sign of overloading. I have not detected any
images either. The only "defect" found so far is that a local AM
station on 870kHz, which transmitter is only a mile or so from my
house, leaked through somewhere around 9MHz - strangly enough it was a
weak but very clear and "narrow" signal which could be tuned as if it
was a distant SW station.

- Audio recovery: This is an area where the 339HF really shines. The
audio is very pleasent, with a nice balance between bass and treble
tones, no harsh noises, and somewhat mellow, very much like an old tube
receiver. It is definitely much nicer than the R30 which tends to
sound harsh on very weak signals and during fading. Although in
absolute terms the audio recovery for weak DX signals is about the same
on both receiver, it sound more pleasant on the 339HF resulting is less
"listening fatigue" after extended period of time. The only radio I
have used so far which I would give a similar audio quality as the
339HF was the Lowe HF150.

- Ergonomics: Although the frequency readout is down to 1kHz, the
scale is somewhat misaligned and now the radio misreads anywhere by 20
to 50 kHz depending on the band and frequency. Of course the scale can
be aligned, and I will probably do it if I find somebody who can
translate the service manual for me. However, it is very repeatable
and stable. I have noted down the offset vs. WWF on each band I could
test, and once the difference is taken into account I have noticed less
than 1kHz drifting or change after 3 hours of operation. I repeated
the test today, and after approx. 30 minutes warm-up the offset is
consistent with yesterday's tests. The knobs are scattered around the
front panel in somewhat strange pattern at first look, but after some
time the operation is very logical and intuitive. All the knobs and
controls are large, and although somewhat stiff, they are very easy to
adjust and have a very solid feeling. SSB operation is somewhat more
difficult than with the R30 due to the manual beat frequency
adjustment, but very usable with a little bit of practice.

I connected the radio to an external audio amplifier and the sound
through large speakers is as good as I can remember from any radio I
have used or listened to.

Net, a very pleasent surprize and this radio has instantly become my
favorite DX machine. In terms of selectivity and dynamic range it
sounds as good as the R30CC, while the audio is as nice to the ear as
the Lowe HF150. It beats the HF150 and the Sony 7600GR when it comes
to strong signals and large antennas.

I hope it will last "forever", which may not be such a outrageous
expectation, as it has come out working perfectly after 30 years of
sitting in some Chinese military warehouse, where is was obviosly
subject to less-then-ideal storage conditions judging by the widespread
corrosion of exterior metal surfaces, and moisture damage to the canvas
bag, cartons, manual and all rubber or plastic surfaces.

How about posting a picture somewhere?
Or is the EBay auction pix still up?
Dale W4OP

I have posted 3 pics on
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShortwaveRadios/


Dale Parfitt wrote:
How about posting a picture somewhere?
Or is the EBay auction pix still up?
Dale W4OP

Congratulations on the chinese boatanchor. Thanks for the detailed
review.


katekebo wrote:
Few months ago I bought on eBay a vintage Chinese military HF receiver
339HF. The radio was supposedly old-new-stock, still in its original
box, and came with service manual (in Chinese, of course), two sets of
headphones, lot of spare parts (transistors, capacitors, fuses, light
bulbs), wire antenna and a backpack (the radio weights nearly 30lb).

After two months shipping time, the radio finally arrived more than a
month ago. It definitely looked old and there were visible signs of
some moisture damage, corrosion, and also some damage to the radio case
probably due to a fall in tranport. So I wasn't very hopefull and let
it sit in the box until yesterday, when I found time to unpack it,
clean it, and put it work.

What a pleasent surprize!!! This radio is great.

Few words about the radio itself. It's a military receiver built in
1976. Fully solid state, analogue tuning and display, coverage from
1.5 to 30 MHz, in six bands, frequency readout down to 1 kHz. Dual
conversion, four IF filters - 6, 3, 1 and 0.4 kHz - AM, SSB and CB
modes. Only one AGC position (somewhat fast judging by ear) and OFF,
manual RF and IF gain (I guess based on what the knobs do, as both the
manual and all signs on the radio are in Chinese), manual adjustment of
beat frequency. Two headphone sockets, but no speaker. Only one
antenna input (high Z), but comes with an accessory impedance matching
transformer to connect low Z antenna. Has one additional control knob
that must be some kind of antenna tuning circuit, as it has an air
capacitor, but does not seem to behave like fine tuning, it rather
improves sensitivity based on behavior of the S-meter. The S-meter
does not have any scale so it is only a relative indication of the
signal strength, and it also can be used as battery voltage meter when
the AGC is OFF. The radio can be powered with 10 D-cells in a
removable drawer, or the battery tray can be replaced with an removable
AC-to-DC power supply which is switchable for 220 or 110 V AC. The
case is typical military constuction, thick aluminum painted camuflage
green, with a sealed and clamped cover for the front panel. It is not
truelly waterproof but definitely a different class from any consumer
or amateur equipment. The interior is mounted on a solid cast aluminum
chassis. Everything is very solid and "oversized", and somewhat
"crude" by modern Western standards - while it is not pretty, it is
definitely very robust and functional. The tunning mechanism is a
complex gear transmission. The different functional blocks inside the
radio are fully modularized and individually shielded. Net, a
completely different standard of design and construction compared to
what we see in today's "disposable" consumer electronics.

So yesterday I finally took the radio out of the box and started
cleaning. Also the external case was rather dirty and with visible
marks of mositure, the interior looked clean. The AC power supply was
heavily correded on the exterior, as well as the battery trays and the
headphones. I spent several hour cleaning it piece by piece with
isopropylic alcohol (for a lack of any better idea). Finally when I
judged that the radio and the accessories were clean enough to minimize
the risk of a short circuit (and hopefully a case of bird flu for the
user), I decided to power it up, first with batteries and then AC.

Frankly I wasn't expecting the radio to function, at least not 100%.
Contrary to my expectations, the radio works perfectly and still have
not found a single problem. I hooked it up to a 40ft wire antenna and
decided to compare it side-by-side with the Palstar R30CC.

So how does this piece of old Chinese military metal compare with a
modern receiver? Surprize, surprize, the 339HF not only matches, but is
some aspects it actually beats the R30. Here is my subjective review:

- Sensitivity: The R30 is clearly more sensitive, but in practice with
the 40ft wire antenna it only translates in more atmospheric noise.
Even with no signal and a long antenna the R30 S-meter reads at least
S-3 on the lower bands (5-10 MHz), and the atmospheric noise is clearly
audible and rather harsh. On the other hand the 339HF is a very
"quiet" receiver, with much less background noise when no signal is
present. During 3 hours listening session I could not find a single
weak station (that would barely stand out from the background noise)
that would sound better on the R30. On the contrary, seveal very weak
signals actually sounded better on the 339HF (see more below under
audio recovery).

- Selectivity: The acid test was Radio Universidad from Mexico City
(weak signal from 10kW transmitter on 6185kHz) right next to Radio
Nederlands on 6190kHz from Surinam. On the R30 Radio Universidad was
only intelligeable using LSB and narrow filter. In AM, with the wide
filter, the powerfull Radio Nederlands would complete "swamp" the weak
signal, while with the narrow filter the audio was so muffled that it
was very hard to understand, yet still with some signs of interference.
The 339HF 6kHz filter would produce similar results at the R30 wide
filter. However the 3kHz will produce a signal of similar clarity as
the R30 on LSB, but more pleasant to the ear. Using SSB on the 339HF
did not produce any significant advantage over the AM mode.

- Dynamic range: The 339HF can definitely accept the 40ft antenna
without a slightest sign of overloading. I have not detected any
images either. The only "defect" found so far is that a local AM
station on 870kHz, which transmitter is only a mile or so from my
house, leaked through somewhere around 9MHz - strangly enough it was a
weak but very clear and "narrow" signal which could be tuned as if it
was a distant SW station.

- Audio recovery: This is an area where the 339HF really shines. The
audio is very pleasent, with a nice balance between bass and treble
tones, no harsh noises, and somewhat mellow, very much like an old tube
receiver. It is definitely much nicer than the R30 which tends to
sound harsh on very weak signals and during fading. Although in
absolute terms the audio recovery for weak DX signals is about the same
on both receiver, it sound more pleasant on the 339HF resulting is less
"listening fatigue" after extended period of time. The only radio I
have used so far which I would give a similar audio quality as the
339HF was the Lowe HF150.

- Ergonomics: Although the frequency readout is down to 1kHz, the
scale is somewhat misaligned and now the radio misreads anywhere by 20
to 50 kHz depending on the band and frequency. Of course the scale can
be aligned, and I will probably do it if I find somebody who can
translate the service manual for me. However, it is very repeatable
and stable. I have noted down the offset vs. WWF on each band I could
test, and once the difference is taken into account I have noticed less
than 1kHz drifting or change after 3 hours of operation. I repeated
the test today, and after approx. 30 minutes warm-up the offset is
consistent with yesterday's tests. The knobs are scattered around the
front panel in somewhat strange pattern at first look, but after some
time the operation is very logical and intuitive. All the knobs and
controls are large, and although somewhat stiff, they are very easy to
adjust and have a very solid feeling. SSB operation is somewhat more
difficult than with the R30 due to the manual beat frequency
adjustment, but very usable with a little bit of practice.

I connected the radio to an external audio amplifier and the sound
through large speakers is as good as I can remember from any radio I
have used or listened to.

Net, a very pleasent surprize and this radio has instantly become my
favorite DX machine. In terms of selectivity and dynamic range it
sounds as good as the R30CC, while the audio is as nice to the ear as
the Lowe HF150. It beats the HF150 and the Sony 7600GR when it comes
to strong signals and large antennas.

I hope it will last "forever", which may not be such a outrageous
expectation, as it has come out working perfectly after 30 years of
sitting in some Chinese military warehouse, where is was obviosly
subject to less-then-ideal storage conditions judging by the widespread
corrosion of exterior metal surfaces, and moisture damage to the canvas
bag, cartons, manual and all rubber or plastic surfaces.