A Comprehensive Review of the Choyong LC100 Receiver

The LC100’s screen with the radio in standby mode.

by John Figliozzi

Until the Choyong LC90 was introduced in 2023, there were no radios on the market that simultaneously offered both shortwave and Internet streaming in one unit. Even three years later, Choyong remains the only “smart radio” manufacturer in the world. Now it has introduced an upgraded model – the LC100.

Bottom Line

This LC100 is attractively designed with a wide variety of features and tools. Like the LC90, it is solidly constructed and has a substantial feel in one’s hands.

The LC100 emits superior, even game-changing, audio — especially for a mid-size portable in a plastic enclosure. Its triple speaker design and the company’s refusal to attach a tilt support bale to the back of the radio lest audio response be even minimally compromised speaks to the effort that has gone into producing the radio’s stellar audio quality.

Wi-Fi Internet streaming and FM radio performance are flawless with quick Internet connections and stream buffering along with instantaneous access to FM stations selected.

The LC100 represents a substantial evolution of the LC90. But while much effort has been expended in achieving better SNR in the AM spectrum, it remains a difficult challenge, the enormity of which likely explains why no other radio manufacturer has yet to take on this task.

Nonetheless, inclusion of longwave (LW), medium wave (MW), shortwave (SW) and single side band (SSB) with Wi-Fi Internet streaming and FM radio in one construct – as well as some innovative features never offered before in any radio – remains a fascinating project. The LC100 will be especially attractive to consumers who value radio’s content and appreciate hearing all of it in a portable capable of excellent quality high-fidelity sound.

Review Methodology

Choyong provided me with an LC100 from regular stock. I tested the radio’s performance in all respects for about three weeks.

This LC100 was compared to the previous LC90, the Sangean ATS-909X2 currently on the market (the performance with which Choyong claims its LC100 favorably compares, especially on shortwave), two similarly sized legacy discontinued but acknowledged high-quality portable multiband radios — the Panasonic RF-B65 and Grundig YB-400 — and a more contemporary but recently discontinued Eton Executive Satellit.

I also monitored the many interesting and informative reviews of the LC100 posted on YouTube by various purchasers and analysts.

My observations and results of these tests and comparisons follow based entirely on this one sample with the presumption that its performance represents that of all LC100 units sold to consumers by Choyong.

Corporate Background

Established in 2009, Shenzhen Chaoyuan Technology Co., Ltd. is a small to medium sized enterprise of less than 500 workers operating out of a modest factory in Guangdong, China. It originally designed circuit boards, software, and audio hardware for major global headphone and speaker brands, but now specializes in advanced hybrid internet radios, multi-band receivers, and other network-connected communication devices.

It launched Choyong Radio, a consumer electronics and audio engineering brand, in late 2023 to focus, as described by Google Assistant, “on bridging traditional analog broadcast bands (FM, AM/MW, SW, SSB) with modern cellular and internet connectivity, incorporating Wi-Fi, 4G SIM/eSIM support, Bluetooth, and AI-assisted search functions (like ChatGPT-integrated voice commands) into portable radio receivers.”

The Radio

The LC100 is a paperback book-sized portable radio powered by two replaceable rechargeable 2500mAh Type 18650 lithium-ion batteries working in tandem for a total of 5000mAh. A Type-C charging cable attached to a 5V-2A (5-volt, 2 ampere) block and plugged into a normal wall outlet restores the batteries after up to about 50 hours of use, depending on volume, screen use, and reception mode. Full recharge takes about 2-3 hours depending on level of depletion.

The radio is shipped in an attractive black solid protective box with gold colored trim containing the radio, charging cord, small paper “user manual,” and a detachable carry loop. It’s available in two color case options – dark grey and silver. The unit I received is dark grey.

According to Choyong, “The goal of the LC100 is simple: to combine the spirit of traditional radio with the capabilities of a modern internet audio device.” It carries hybrid analog and digital features that are intended to add and improve on those provided in the LC90.

Able to receive and play Internet streamed, FM, LW, MW and SW radio, the LC100 also has AM SSB capability, access to podcasts and the ability to record, store and playback content on SIM and TF cards as well as play content from other sources through the LC100’s speaker via Bluetooth.

It provides multiple means of finding and storing any of over 50,000 radio stations and thousands of podcasts streaming on the Internet, including by voice requests using ChatGPT which responds promptly and accurately. Choyong also has a web page where owners can create an account and use or organize many of the radio’s features.

Finally, a firmware update (version 1.1) released on September 15 added an adjustable squelch to reduce noise when tuning and access to a company-maintained archive that can playback numerous stored historical broadcasts and recordings stretching back a century.

Choyong makes these claims for the LC100:

A large 3.5-inch high-resolution color display. (2.4 inch on LC90.)
Improved FM/LW/MW/SW reception over the LC90.
“Advanced SSB features for radio enthusiasts”, including a manual SSB frequency calibration function.
An upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 producing “a faster and more stable Internet radio experience”
A redesigned sound system with bass and treble adjustment that “compared with the LC90, provides approximately 10Hz deeper low-frequency extension, delivering a fuller and richer sound.”
More powerful Internet radio & AI features
AI searches stations, podcasts and music via a ChatGPT voice interface with the user.
A redesigned standby screen display that shows the time in analog and digital form, the local current outside temperature, humidity and weather with the day’s predicted high/low temperatures, sunrise/sunset times, date, day of week, battery and Wi-Fi strength levels.

I made these further notations:

Internet access via Wi-Fi connection.
eSIM capability providing cellular Wi-Fi service as an adjunct to home Wi-Fi service.
AM (LW, MW, SW, SSB) and FM reception.
SIM card and TF card slots to permit recording, storage, and playback of preferred content.
Bluetooth reception and playback capability.
SIM card and TF card content (music and speech) capability.
Separate treble and bass controls.
ChatGPT incorporated to permit voice selection of streaming content and general Internet-sourced information.
Adjustable backlight time and brightness settings.
Podcast preferred language setting.
An “Auto Play” option that returns to the last Internet station selected when the radio is powered on.
FM tuning step selection (50, 100, 200 kHz).
LW/MW tuning step selection (9/10 kHz).
FM ATS (automatic tuning system) sensitivity setting (very high, high, balanced, low, very low).
MW/SW ATS sensitivity setting (same as above).
AM Squelch setting (1-10).
USB offset recalibration.
LSB offset recalibration.
Temperature unit display selection (Celsius or Fahrenheit).
Firmware version information (with upgrades over Wi-Fi when made available).
On the display screen and using the multifunction tuning knob, the user can select from:
7 bandwidths on MW/SW (6, 4, 3, 2.5, 2, 1.8, 1 kHz.)
6 bandwidths on SSB (0.5, 1, 1.2, 2.2, 3, 4 kHz.)
6 bandwidths on FM listed as (56, 107, 158, 209, 260, 311 KHz.) or Auto (radio select)

This is the display screen as it looks when listening to MW. The graph on the left uses a fluctuating green bar to show the station signal’s relative SNR. The number at the top of the graph also fluctuates showing signal strength. Elsewhere, the screen indicates Wi-Fi signal strength, local time in 24 hr. format, battery level, bandwidth, the (indoor ferrite) antenna in use, MW mode, whether & in what place the station is in memory and the frequency tuned. In this case, it was to CFZM 740 Toronto, 300 air miles west of my location, and using a Select-a-Tenna to maximize reception. The LC100’s display has a similar appearance when the radio is in LW, SW, SSB or FM mode.

Assessment

This is a sophisticated, multifaceted instrument that challenges the traditional definitions and parameters of radio. It possesses vast capabilities not resident in any other such unit – LW, MW, FM, SW, Internet, music, recording, playback, history, Internet-based information seeking, ChatGPT.

From this reviewer’s experience, the LC100 offers all the significant performance improvements over the LC90 the company claims, in addition to new and innovative features not offered in the LC90 or any other radio. Continue reading →

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of NHK & Radiofax (October 5, 2026)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.

Carlos notes:

NHK (audio) & Japan Meteorological Agency (radiofax): Typhoon No. 27 moves north near the Ogasawara Islands; formation of No. 28 and No. 29 creates a “triple typhoon” scenario.

Typhoon No. 27, large and strong, is gradually moving away from Tokyo’s Ogasawara Islands and is expected to move northward over the sea east of Japan.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Hurricane Nolo transformed into Typhoon No. 28, and Typhoon No. 29 also formed.

Click here to view on YouTube.

International classic(al) shortwave vibes

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Hi to all our SWLing Post friends. Here’s this week’s Imaginary Stations schedule for your shortwave radio/SDR listening pleasure.

On Wednesday 7th October 2026, at 0200 hrs UTC on 9395 kHz we bring you another episode of WHFM Herman’s Radio & Record Room via WRM I. They’ll be many vintage tunes and even a few old time radio shows from the 1930s through the 1960’s.

Later that day at 1800 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz/6160 kHz via Shortwave Gold, we revisit a 2023 broadcast of Skybird Radio International with an audio trip around the whirled.

And at the weekend, on Saturday 10th October at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then again on Sunday 11th October at 1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz/6160 kHz via Shortwave Gold, we have the third in our classical series for the non-serious, CLSC3 before we turn our attention to the rest of our new autumn programs!

Subscribe to djfrederick.substack.com for updates and exclusive materials related to all things Skybird (and Imaginary Stations). and check out our archived shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23

Texas Radio Shortwave: Updated Schedule for October 2026

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Terry (N5RTC), who shares the following schedules for Texas Radio Shortwave (click image to enlarge):

Radio Waves: Radio Prague Support, AirDrift, and AM Radio Mandate Faces Congressional Clock

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia and Aaron Hughes for the following tips:

Your support means the world to Radio Prague International (Radio Prague International)

All of us here at RPI would like to thank our listeners for the wave of support and solidarity you showed in response to news of the threat of closure earlier this year. Without you, our broadcasts could not fulfil their most important mission: building a bridge between Czechia and the world.

To highlight the strong bond that has survived and grown over the 90 years of our existence, we are publishing excerpts from some of the many letters, emails and audio messages we received.

[Continue reading…]

AirDrift Internet Radio Browser (Airdrift)

SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Hughes (author of AirDrift) writes:

Air Drift is internet radio the way it used to be: open the page, pick a station, and it plays. There’s no account, no app, and no signup. If you don’t know what you want, press Drift. It spins a globe, hunts through the dial, and lands you on a random live station somewhere in the world.

There are about 50,000 stations from the Radio Browser directory, and you can browse by country, genre, or a 3D globe. It’s made for people who just want to turn on the radio: quick, easy and simple.

[Check it out here!]

Can the AM Radio Car Mandate Beat the Congressional Clock? (Radio World)

As the U.S. Senate adjourns until after the November midterm elections, a familiar concern for backers of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act has surfaced: Will time run out?

The next step for the legislation, as we’ve covered, is for it to move through the Senate. There was palpable momentum after the bill cleared the house in September. And previously, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) secured filibuster-proof majority with 61 senators supporting it.

[The] bill has to reach the Senate floor for a vote first, and there’s a scant few days left in this current congressional cycle. The 2023 version failed to pass in the Senate after efforts that December fell short.

[Continue reading…]

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Shortwave Memories — Richard E. Wood

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by Karl D. Forth

Richard E. Wood may have been the best-known DXer ever.

I first met him briefly at a radio convention in the mid-1970s; it may have been Columbus or Atlanta. A friend, Robert Kramer, had met him earlier and hadn’t enjoyed his first encounter. Rob had asked Richard to autograph his copy of the book “How to Listen to the World,” and apparently Richard, the closest thing to a celebrity in the hobby, had for some reason refused.

A few years later, Richard was teaching languages at Southeast Missouri State University. With fellow DXers Rob Kramer (who had forgiven the earlier snub) and Jeff Roberts, we traveled from our college, Southern Illinois University, to visit Richard.

We were recruited to erect a television antenna on the roof of his house in Cape Girardeau so he could TV DX. There was moderate, persistent rain, and the roof was a bit slippery. Richard supervised our efforts but didn’t join us on the roof. Our own 1970s interest in television DX led us to understand the urgency of the antenna raising. (We also bought Coors beer that was then unavailable east of the Mississippi River.)

That day, I asked Dr. Wood which languages he was studying, and he said he was brushing up on his Albanian, producing a German-Albanian dictionary to support this claim.

Richard, originally from Newcastle, England, was a regular contributor to all of the DX clubs, providing important updates and useful information. He had taught in Indiana, Baton Rouge, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Hawaii, and other locations. Hawaii was his favorite location, and he showed that you could receive most of the world on mediumwave from those islands.

He was very intelligent and rubbed some people the wrong way.

He was also a prolific writer, authoring Shortwave Voices of the World (the Finnish version outsold the English), How to Listen to the World, and the Communications Handbook magazine in the 1970s.

Richard also developed a language recognition course, and studied and wrote about propagation and other subjects.

My last visit with Richard was in early 2007, when my wife and I were vacationing on the Big Island, and we rented a house for a week not far from Richard’s base in the Hawaiian Paradise Park development, southeast of Hilo. We visited Richard several times in Hilo, where he sold local coffee at a space in the market, and we went to his source of Kona coffee farther south on Hawaii Island. For the rest of the trip, the rental car had the rich aroma of the Kona coffee cargo. Richard and I talked about DXing, especially mediumwave DXing from Hawaii, which was his current focus. With my portable radio on that trip I had received two California local channel stations at a distance of 2300 miles. My wife observed that our conversation about DXing was like listening to two people speak another language.

Richard died of a heart attack in Hawaii at the age of 67 in September 2007.

Karl D. Forth has been interested in radio and DXing for more than 50 years. This story was included in the book Radio Nights and Distant Signals.

Please note: all Amazon links are affiliate links that support the SWLing Post at no cost to you.

An Analog Touch of Class for SDRAngel: Two New Open-Source Tools for SWLs and SDR Enthusiasts

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Patrizio (IN3032SWL), who writes:

Dear SWLing Post Readers,

Before presenting the projects, I would like to share a brief personal reflection. I am 59 years old, not a professional programmer, I still use an old PC running Windows 7, and I am studying to take the amateur radio license exam next November 26th. All the software you see below was developed entirely and for free with the valuable help of Gemini. This proves that at any age you can challenge yourself and create useful tools: Artificial Intelligence is not a demon to fight, but the natural evolution of technology that we can all access today to cultivate our passions.

As shortwave enthusiasts, we know how fascinating the visual and operational aspect of radio frequency is: having clear instruments, a nice analog dial, and essential data right at hand makes listening much more engaging. Often, modern SDR software is powerful but cold, lacking that classic warmth of traditional tabletop receivers.

To bridge this gap and optimize the listening station, I created two lightweight open-source projects designed to integrate seamlessly with SDRAngel.

1. What is it?

These are two modules designed to accompany SDRAngel by bringing dedicated tools to the desktop:

- SDRangel Shack Dashboard: A compact, always-on-top panel combining an analog S-meter (with selectable aesthetic skins such as the classic amber yellow, white, blue, black, or green), a digital frequency meter of the active VFO, and a UTC clock with a permanent time reference.
- SDRangel VFO Faceplate: A true virtual front control panel equipped with an interactive rotary tuning knob (a virtual knob that can be rotated with the mouse or scroll wheel), a numeric keypad, and quick step selectors (from 1 Hz to 10 kHz) for fine frequency tuning.

2. Who is it for?

For all SWLs, SDR users, and radio amateurs who use SDRAngel and want a clean, independent, and customizable interface for signal monitoring, without having to dig through the complex menus of the main software.

3. What problem does it solve?

It allows you to monitor signal strength at a glance (via the needle instrument) and tune or verify the exact frequency with an ergonomics similar to a traditional hardware receiver, keeping the windows freely positionable on the screen.

4. What does it require and how does it work?

- Cross-Platform Soul: These applications are designed to run smoothly on different platforms. In my shack, for example, I run them without any issues on an old PC with Windows 7.
- Maximum Simplicity: No complex installation procedures are needed; once you download the code, launching it takes literally a double-click.
- It requires Python installed on your computer and SDRAngel running locally (the program connects automatically via the software’s local REST APIs).