Apparenty the road to Deepelect DP-666 happiness is paved with adversities.
FMDXer Guido Schotmans encountered another, although rare, issue with his new Deepelec DP-666 and we’re happy to share how hesolved this matter.
The Story of the Rotary (Encoder) Club
Nearly two months ago, I received my Deepelec DP-666 receiver from AliExpress – a wonderful piece of technology, designed as an open project by Sjef Verhoeven (PE5PVB).
I still had a few weeks to explore the many scanning possibilities of this radio before leaving on holiday, and there are plenty!
Storing scans in the radio’s memory or on your phone are particularly useful features.
My wife and I had planned a train holiday across Switzerland, travelling from west to east, and the DP-666 had earned a dedicated spot in my luggage.
I was curious to find out what could still be received in “FM-less” Switzerland.
As you may know, the public broadcasters, along with several commercial stations, ceased FM transmissions on 31 December 2024.
The DP-666 was in perfect working order before we left.
I knew I had to be careful with the telescopic antenna, so I had also packed a wire antenna just in case.
However, when I tried to perform my first scan on location, the radio gave an error message on start-up (see picture). Oh no, not now ! The error was intermittent but appeared most of the time during our stay in Switzerland.
I still managed to complete a scan in Klosters, where I picked up just one station across the entire FM band: Radio Grischa on 99.7 MHz.
So instead of pointing the radio into the air in front of the Matterhorn, I had to do that with my finger… Here at 3100 m above sea level I didn’t feel any radio waves, though!
Back home, I started investigating the issue in more detail and asked for advice on Discord.
Sjef suggested the rotary encoder (tuning knob) might be faulty.
Marek Farkaš, aka “Noobish” advised me to inspect the soldering on the encoder.
Fair enough, but I didn’t have such a tiny 0.7 mm hex key to open the case.
So, I ordered one. From China, of course. Ten nerve-wracking days followed, wondering whether this issue could be fixed.
Opening the case required true “Chinese fingers”. The soldering turned out to be intact, although rather thick, and I suspected it might be intermittently touching the contacts on the back of the display.
I inserted a small piece of plastic between them, and that seemed to resolve the issue.
Putting it all back together was like solving a tiny mechanical puzzle.
It’s been almost a week since the repair now, and the error hasn’t occurred again.
I also informed the manufacturer and suggested they add a small piece of insulating tape over the contacts.
This particular fault doesn’t seem to be a common one. As far as I know, I’m the only one who has experienced it.
I thought it would be useful to share, in case someone else runs into the same problem.
Guido Schotmans