The Aiben C5S FM radio receiver arrived from China in 11 days.

Introduction

РадI bought the Aiben C5S receiver on AliExpress (it was delivered to St. Petersburg in 11 days, which is a record). Selection criteria: sensitivity and selectivity, because the apartment is located in the shadow of 9-story buildings, ease of use, design and price. I needed a digital receiver to listen to the radio station "Business FM" 107.4, which is located between two powerful radio stations "Mayak" 107.0 and "Russian Radio" 107.8. The analogue Degen tuning failed to tune to one or another radio station, because... they are an order of magnitude more powerful than the weaker Business FM transmitter in St. Petersburg. The criterion was also modern USB Type-C power supply and the presence of the domestic VHF range 65-84 MHz for listening to the Orthodox radio station "Grad Petrov" at a frequency of 73.1 MHz.

Brief description

The Aiben C5S receiver supports only one band - VHF. But it is expanded and includes two: OIRT VHF-1 (65.8-74 ​​MHz) VHF-2 (87.5-108 MHz), with a single band and a tuning step of 0.1 MHz. The overall frequency coverage is very wide: from 50 to 115 MHz, because The radio receiver is intended for passing exams in a foreign language. There is a CET (College English Test) button to quickly call up the frequency of your favorite radio station. There is also a memory for storing the results of automatic scanning of the VHF range. The number of memory cells is unknown, but all VHF radio stations of St. Petersburg (44 items) fit in the memory. The speaker is loud, speech reproduction is clear. According to the spectrum analyzer, the frequency output of the speaker is 300 Hz - 10 kHz. There is some "bass" from 80 to 300 Hz, which is significantly weakened because Radio is primarily intended for transmitting voice information.

The radio receiver is made in a white plastic case that is pleasant to the touch. There is a clock and an LCD liquid crystal display, which is recessed into the body by 2-3 mm. In standby mode, next to the clock there is an indication of the battery charge level. The length of the telescopic whip antenna is 35 cm.

Specifications

Technical characteristics of the Aiben C5S radio receiver:

• frequency range 50-115 MHz
• broadband FM modulation (broadcast version or WFM)
• powered by one 18650 element - Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1200 mAh.
• charging the battery from the charger of any smartphone: USB Type-C (wire included).
• high-quality sound for reproducing speech and pop music (frequency response from 300 Hz to 10 kHz).
• stereo on headphones (turned on by long pressing the "minus" button).
• easy transition between channels M- / M+ after scanning frequencies into memory by long pressing M+
• manual tuning step 0.1 MHz, selectivity and sensitivity are high
• all this for less than 900 rubles on AliExpress or Wildberries!

Receiver options

• AAA battery operated - model C7PRO
• With 18650 Li-Ion battery - model C5S.

Of interest is the C5S model with USB Type-C power.

What radio stations can the C5S receive?

• 56.25 MHz - sound of the 1st TV channel (no broadcasts)
• 65.75 MHz - sound of the 2nd TV channel (no transmissions)
• 83.75 MHz - sound of the 3rd TV channel (no broadcasts)
• 91.75 MHz - sound of the 4th TV channel (no broadcasts)
• 99.75 MHz - audio from TV channel 5 (no broadcasts)
• 75 - 90.0 MHz - VHF broadcast band in Japan
• 65.8 - 74 MHz - VHF1 - OIRT VHF broadcast band (3 radio stations in St. Petersburg, in mono)
• 87.5 - 108 MHz - VHF2 - FM broadcasting stations of the VHF CCIR range (~40 frequencies in St. Petersburg, in stereo)

Appearance of Aiben C5S

The Aiben C5S radio is designed for taking a foreign language exam at a college (campus). The white body has a strict appearance. Liquid crystal display without backlight. The receiver is controlled by buttons. The antenna is telescopic, short in length, and folds along the body.

External power, headphone jack

On the right side there is a USB Type-C power socket and a 3.5 mm jack for stereo headphones.

Charge and power using Type-C cable.

The external power connector is located on the right side of the case next to the headphone jack.

Any stereo headphones or headset are suitable (preferably with a volume control on the wire).

Replaceable battery

In a special compartment there is one Li-Ion element of the common form factor 18650: a cylindrical battery with a diameter of 18 mm and a length of 65 mm, a standard voltage of 3.7 Volts

Purpose of the buttons

The radio receiver is controlled using buttons. The general principle of operation is scanning the entire range with the M+ key (3 seconds), after scanning is completed, switching to radio stations M+ and M- (quick presses).

The radio control panel has 8 buttons:

No.	Button	Title	Modes and functions
1		Power switch	In any mode: 1) Long press (3 seconds) - turns the power on or off. In standby mode: 2) Short press - turns off/turning on the display. In FM mode: display switching: 3) short press - clock/frequency display.
2		Favorite Radio Station	In FM mode: tune to your favorite radio station. 1) Long press - saves the current frequency into the CET memory cell; 2) short press - recall the stored frequency from the CET memory cell - tune to your favorite radio station.
3		Left	Standby: 1) Long press - time setting mode: hours and minutes. In FM mode: manual station search. 2) Long press - quickly change the frequency down to search for the next station; 3) short press - fine-tune the frequency in 0.1 MHz steps lower.
4		Right	In FM mode: manual search for stations. 1) long press - quickly change the frequency up to search for the next station; 2) short press - fine-tune the frequency in 0.1 MHz steps higher.
5		Plus	In standby mode, when setting the clock (to set the time, hold the "Left" button for 3 seconds): 1) short press - adding hours and minutes. In FM mode: 2) short press - increasing the volume level; 3) long press - lock or unlock the keyboard.
6		Minus	In standby mode, when setting the clock (to set the time, hold down the "Left" key for 3 seconds): 1) short press - decrease hours and minutes. In FM mode: 2) short press - decrease volume level; 3) long press - turn on STEREO in headphones.
7		M+ next channel	In FM mode: 1) short press - next channel in memory; 2) long press - automatic search for radio stations (auto search) with storing them in memory.
8		M- previous channel	In FM mode: 1) short press - previous channel in memory; 2) long press delete the current channel from memory.

Questions and answers

1) Question: What does the CE label mean? Answer: "This product complies with the essential requirements of the EU Directives and the harmonized standards of the European Union".

2) Question: Which USB charger should I use? Answer: 5V 1A.
3) Question: What is the operating temperature range when operating the radio? Answer: -20...+45 C
4) Question: What are the dimensions and weight of the Aiben C5S receiver? Answer: 132 x 80 x 26 mm, weight 129 grams.
5) Question: How to ensure that all radio stations are stored in memory without gaps when scanning? Answer: Ensure good reception conditions during scanning: on the street with the antenna fully extended, start the auto search by long pressing the "M+" button.
6) Question: How to interrupt scanning of radio stations? Answer: Short press on the same button.
7) Question: How to delete a radio station or carrier frequency from memory? Answer: Select a memory cell using the M- and M+ buttons, then delete it from memory by long pressing the M- button.
8) Question: How to reduce the volume level below 1, but not completely, as at 0? Answer: Volume control of wired headphones on the wire (buy a headset or headphones with the ability to smoothly adjust the volume).
9) Question: Is there a display backlight, Bluetooth, memory card, AM band, stand, alarm clock, sleep timer? Answer: Not all of this.
10) Question: What is the equipment of the Aiben C5S? Answer: Radio receiver with an installed 18650 battery, USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, user manual, safe use guide.
11) Question: What are the characters on the display? Answer: the characters at the top: 自动搜台 - automatic channel search, 时钟设置 - setting the clock,
the characters on the right: 校园台 - campus channel (CET); 立体声 - stereo.
12) Question: Are channels saved when the power is turned off? Answer: Yes.
13) Question: What is the selectivity of the receiver? Answer: When the frequency is detuned by 0.1 MHz up or down, the neighboring station is heard with distortion; at 0.2 MHz on the air, the interfering station is not audible.
14)Question: What is the sensitivity of the Aiben C5S receiver? Answer: High in the VHF-1 and VHF-2 frequency ranges. The receiver allows you to confidently receive radio stations in the radio shadow zone in dense urban areas.
15) Question: What is the name of the receiver manufacturer? Answer: Chinese manufacturer ShenZhen Taoyin Audio Technology Co., LTD.
16) Question: What is the email address of the receiver manufacturer? Answer: aiben2012@hotmail.com
17) Question: Does this device have a certificate of conformity of the EAEU (European Economic Union), registered in the GIS RosAccreditation? Answer: this receiver only has a certificate from the US Federal Communications Commission: FCC ID:2BKFG-TY1205, there is no Russian certificate of conformity for this model yet; certificates of the EAEU technical regulations are issued to importers for each batch, but so far this Aiben C5S model has not been imported into Russia en masse. For other groups of products (devices) in the RosAccreditation database there are 7 certificates from ShenZhen Taoyin Audio Technology Co., LTD.

Appearance of the box with the manufacturer's and supplier's imprint data

Useful link

*Aiben C5S review and instructions in Japanese - hirokun.jp

Download the Aiben C5S radio user manual in English, Russian

Instructions:

• Aiben C5S English user manual - aiben-c5s-en.pdf - English language,
• Aiben C5S user manual - aiben-c5s-rus.pdf - Russian language.

See also:

• Aiben C5S: operating instructions.

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