Kaito 1103 DSP version question

[Haley]

Does anyone know if the VLF enabling keypad trick works on the DSP version of the 1103, like it does on the PLL version? I am having a hard time finding the answer anywhere. I can still purchase a new one , but I only want it if this is possible. There are several videos of it working on the PLL versions, mostly in Italian, and Russian. Anyone know? Kind of an oddball radio to start with, but I like collecting them.

 

[Boombox]

The SiLabs chip in the Kaito 1103 (at least from info gathered from SWLing Post) is an Si4735, and according to the datasheet the Si4735 doesn't seem to be capable of tuning VLF. The lowest the Si4735 tunes is 153 Khz (the bottom end of the Longwave broadcast band, 153-279 Khz).

I am not aware of tricks to hack the SiLabs DSP chip through keypad entries, but then, I don't know many keypad hacks for any radios. My own knowledge is limited in that arena. Maybe there is such a hack. If there is, it would tell the chip to tune further south than the datasheet seems to allow for.

Link to the datasheet:

https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/data-sheets/Si4730-31-34-35-D60.pdf

 

[Haley]

The SiLabs chip in the Kaito 1103 (at least from info gathered from SWLing Post) is an Si4735, and according to the datasheet the Si4735 doesn't seem to be capable of tuning VLF. The lowest the Si4735 tunes is 153 Khz (the bottom end of the Longwave broadcast band, 153-279 Khz).

I am not aware of tricks to hack the SiLabs DSP chip through keypad entries, but then, I don't know many keypad hacks for any radios. My own knowledge is limited in that arena. Maybe there is such a hack. If there is, it would tell the chip to tune further south than the datasheet seems to allow for.

Link to the datasheet:

https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/data-sheets/Si4730-31-34-35-D60.pdf

Thanks for the reply, it's funny you should bring up the SiLabs chips. Sunday I was on their site reading through all the specs. of the different chips. None of them I found had more LW coverage than the 153-279 Khz. , the broadcast band. Its odd though I guess the DSP doesnt do anything (for example) on the Tecsun PL-880----same chip, yet the LW range is 100-519 Khz.

So I guess the older PLL version of the 1103 may be able to do it? As far as I could tell , all anyone would do is tune just outside the AM band , 1711 i.e. , and then start a search down , then manually stop the search , and then you were able to tune all the way down to 0 Khz. Now I would have thought it was just more or less tricking the display, but most of the videos show 77 Khz.DCF, or 60Khz.MSF being received among several others. Most of the videos I saw were in Europe. Anyway thanks for the reply!