December 20, 2022

Upgrading the Mahahit DSP1 and Malahit Chinese Clones into the Mahahit DSP2

Mahiteam is a Russian company that produces the relatively popular Malahit DSP1/DSP2 and Malahit DDC portable SDR radio which are great for shortwave listening, but can also cover up to 2 GHz. Manuel L. has been following developments and notes that Malahiteam are offering the ability to upgrade their DSP1 (and any DSP1 Chinese clone) into Malahit 2 units by sending the device in for a chip replacement. Manuel writes:

Hi. Recently it is possible to upgrade the Malahit DSP1 (original) and also the China clones (if registered in Russia) of the Malahit with a new CPU and if necessary a new audio codec chip. This upgrade has been officially released by the Malahiteam the developers.

This allows custom DSP2 firmware to run on the DSP1 and clones. This makes the device more powerful and also has the option of installing a Bluetooth board and controlling it via the software, as is the case with the DSP2.

This upgrade can be carried out directly in Russia by the Malahit team.

For Europe this is done by Jochen Köster DC9DD (Malahit Servise Europa) who converted the first DSP1 and China clones outside of Russia.

In the US, the future KD9NXV makes Mark Roy (USA Service Malahit).

I have tested the first conversions outside of Russia and it is a very big upgrade of the devices. They work a lot better now. I have shown this in several YouTube films. More information and contacts to the service teams outside of Russia can be found at Telegram and the Malahit Facebook group

https://t.me/+BOQmKPgV4lM2NDZi

https://www.facebook.com/groups/malahitsdrinternational/

YouTube Video Upgrade Malahit DSP1 and China Clone:
https://youtu.be/h9zepfkyK3Q
https://youtu.be/-v5Iuv7pmHU
https://youtu.be/6Z-hecUeMG0
https://youtu.be/iBWN2HHLQ94

September 22, 2021

Comparing the Malahit DSP-2 Russian Original vs Chinese Clone

Over on the SWLing.com blog guest poster Dan Robinson has posted an article comparing the Russian made original "Malahit" DSP-2 (~$200) vs the Chinese clone who have upped the version number to DSP-3, but will be referred to as the "HFDY V3" (~$180). The original Malahit DSP-2 from "Malahiteam" is a portable SDR with built in speaker and touchscreen. It has a frequency range spanning between 50 kHz to 50 MHz, 50 MHz to 250 MHz and 400 MHz to 2 GHz.

There are several clones out there, but Dan notes that the Chinese "HFDY V3" version appears to be superior in terms of build quality with its high quality metal construction, high quality knobs, two antenna jacks for AM and FM, good internal shielding, and front firing speaker with beautiful gold grill. These are all improvements over the Russian made version, however it's important to note that the Chinese clone version comes with older firmware that must be carefully updated first, in order to obtain the same features as the original DSP-2.

Overall in terms of performance, after the firmware upgrade, Dan finds no difference in performance between the two. Dan goes on to mention that both the clone and original suffer from grounding problems and sensitivity to touch especially with shortwave.

Finally he notes how Malahiteam are planning a new higher end more expensive product which will include an optional add-on for enabling reception up to 6 GHz. The estimated cost of the new version will be $480 with the 6 GHz add-on, and $42o without.