Left-handed HF radio announced

A new HF radio, the AFD-100, has been announced from new Russian manufacturer DDK (Den’ Duraka Kompaniya). The radio has a new squarer form factor, providing a large full-colour display with major controls underneath. Left-handed hams will be very pleased to see the position of the tuning knob on the left. Right handers are able to alter knob functions in the setup menu and to swap the functions of the smaller control knob on the bottom right with the tuning knob.

The AFD-100 specification includes full coverage of all HF bands from 160m to 4m including 60m. Output power is 100w except 4m where RF output is 50w. Notably the output power level is specified for SSTV, FT8 and FT4 data modes, so no more need to derate the output power when using more demanding modes. The rig includes an internal ATU which can handle an antenna SWR ratio of 6:1.

Noise reduction and CW filtering are provided courtesy of a new AI-based processsing circuit. Very narrow SSB and CW bandwidths are possible with little to no ringing or audio artefacts.

Although the product launches in Russia imminently, availability in the UK is less certain. A date in April 2025 has been mooted.

*Many thanks to Microsoft Copilot for image generation