Product Test: Hitachi DAB Site Radio

Norman Bradshaw brings the noise and tries out the latest DAB Site Radio from Hitachi.

Music has always played a part in my life, and one of the attractions in the early days for me about being an electrician was that I could bring my music to work. Back in the late 90s I remember going to site owning an Opel Manta GTE Exclusive and a Hitachi TRK-W540E Boombox with detachable speakers. The car was for getting me from site A to site B and the boombox to help me dance and keep warm on those cold winter days at work.

I smile as I reminisce how I would insert all those batteries (must have been about six!) and then tuned-in to my favourite radio station or put in my favourite cassette tape (do you remember tapes?) and ‘got on down’ while I orchestrated the first or second fix. It felt good to bring some Hitachi audio hardware on a job with me again after all these years.

“Setting it up is relatively straightforward as you just press the power button, select your ‘Source’ with ‘Bluetooth’ and ‘DAB’ being amongst the options.”

Hitachi’s latest on-site music system is called the UR 18DSDL cordless radio and believe you me if music is your thing then you are going to welcome this addition.

This ‘Job-Site radio’ really is site proof. The unit features six ‘shock absorbers’ and a triangular frame, which makes it feel sturdy and allows it to be rested in almost any position (but the right way up will always look and sound the best). What I liked about this radio is that the two speakers, situated on either the side of the main face, are recessed behind the resin and rubber frame, protecting them from damage. The 7W speakers produced some very rich and crisp sounds and this was enhanced by being able to adjust the bass and treble individually to my desired taste.

Setting it up is relatively straightforward as you just press the power button, select your ‘Source’ with ‘Bluetooth’ and ‘DAB’ being amongst the options. I synced it up to my phone and in less than 30 seconds I was tapping my feet to the groovy beats.

You can also add the date, time, alarm, radio alarm, buzzer alarm, sleep and equalizer, quite a host of on board gizmos if you ask me.

Furthermore, most of the above could be stored in the internal memory and recalled when you powered it up. I did have some fun trying to get the DAB radio to work but once I finally figured out how to tune it, it was fine.

Another feature I really like is that you can open up the front cover and put your smart phone in it. Inside the housing is a USB charging adaptor which allows you to charge your phone on-site. Although, I did notice that if you turned the volume up too high then the unit stopped charging your phone.

The Hitachi version I tested came with an AC Adaptor, however, as an optional extra, you can purchase a Li-Ion battery and charger making this sound machine totally cordless. Alas, the battery doesn’t come as standard but I feel it should as many people on site would not have access to outlets. Maybe this is something that Hitachi could add to the standard kit as it is advertised as a site radio?

There are quite a selection of ‘jobsite radios’ to choose from but this for me is one of the most stylish looking ones.

I might be playing the same music but what an improvement on the sound! Hitachi are still ‘doing it’ for me all these years later. Dancing to these tunes on site should keep me warm until summer.