Shortwave portable with the lowest noise floor . . .

[KB2GOM]

. . . that is, the "quietest" yet sensitive shortwave portable??

My old Sony 6800W was astonishingly quiet. What's the quietest of the current offerings?

 

[Blackswan73]

The Belka has been getting great reviews for several years now. My personal favorite is the Grundig Satelit 800, although calling it a portable some folks might call that a stretch. It does run on batteries. I do plan to buy a Belka soon
B.S.

 

[ka3jjz]

If you'd like to know more about these little wonders, check out our wiki viz.

Belka DX and DSP Receivers - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[merlin]

Maybe you missed the specs for your Sony. I had similar, (smaller and portable) and was indeed quiet and sensitive.
There is more to it than just that. Signal to noise ratio is the first thing I look at and next up is selectivity.
Dynamic range. Get into 80 Dbm, and hard to beat.(-135Dbm signal detection)
No radio is any better than the antenna you connect to it. you gotta get that signal and pass it to the receiver.
My $3000 receiver was a piece of junk with a 10 foot piece of wire, but on a T3FD, "WOW"
I have been looking at the Belka DSP in place of the Malahit. they both sprout some impressive specs.
Modern radio, it is all about the DSP. That does all the filtering and decoding. Teamed with a well engineered front end,
Some audio processing, now you have a good radio. Toss in some quality with that.
Cheers

 

[bearcatrp]

Have had my belka a little over 1 year. Its a very sensitive radio. Nice small package, just need ear buds.

 

[ka3jjz]

There is a speaker kit you can also install on the Belka (at least some of them).

Mike

 

[bearcatrp]

I see he now sells one with a speaker. I’m fine with ear buds.

 

[ka3jjz]

Maybe you missed the specs for your Sony. I had similar, (smaller and portable) and was indeed quiet and sensitive.
There is more to it than just that. Signal to noise ratio is the first thing I look at and next up is selectivity.
Dynamic range. Get into 80 Dbm, and hard to beat.(-135Dbm signal detection)
No radio is any better than the antenna you connect to it. you gotta get that signal and pass it to the receiver.
My $3000 receiver was a piece of junk with a 10 foot piece of wire, but on a T3FD, "WOW"
I have been looking at the Belka DSP in place of the Malahit. they both sprout some impressive specs.
Modern radio, it is all about the DSP. That does all the filtering and decoding. Teamed with a well engineered front end,
Some audio processing, now you have a good radio. Toss in some quality with that.
Cheers

Merlin I'd be a bit cautious about Malahit products. At least as it pertains to previous offerings, the reviews all kinda said the same thing - the implementation shows promise, but the SDRs were compromised by several issues. On the flip side, the Belkas - even the first RSP models - brought out a WOW response. They don't cover FM broadcast, but if that's not your bag, you wouldn't miss it. If I didn't live in this RF hellhole, the Belka would be under serious consideration for sure. Mike