TECSUN PL-380 DSP FM Stereo. MW. SW. LW. World Band PLL Radio Receiver, LCD Display, ETM Function Added

Product Information

Of course, there are still a handful of tabletop shortwave receivers like the Alinco DX-R8T HF receiver, the Elad FDM-DUOr SDR receiver, and the Icom IC-R8600 wideband receiver. All are top-notch performers and, when paired with an effective antenna, can pull out weak signals much better than a portable radio ever could. Another puzzler: Tecsun limited bandwidths in AM SW to three, while in SSB you have 5 bandwidth options. In AM mode, you have a 9 kHz bandwidth, another puzzling choice. Longwave too is limited to 3 bandwidths. I discovered that I had salted away a Kaito RWX911 because it had such a nice metallic blue color and it had a real tuning dial. Kaito RWX911 Shortwave receiver I’ve been traveling this week, but found the opportunity to hold another shortwave portable shoot-out. (You may recall the weak signal shoot out earlier this year.) Being a radio writer and blogger, I’m often asked, “Isn’t radio dying?” or “How long are you going to keep listening to radio when there are so many other options out there?”

Pros: Excellent sensitivity, excellent audio from built-in speaker, ergonomic and intuitive interface, uses common AA batteries, multi-joint swivel antenna is best in class, excellent build quality, display is easy to read, effective station memory management It uses 3 AA batteries, and can recharge them through an external USB cable. The radio comes with zipper carrying case, ear buds, manual and a clip-on external antenna. Panasonic RF-085 (my oldest remaining radio, sentimental, about the same size as the PL-660, great sound and remarkably quiet tuning shortwave) That’s it for the serious shortwave listening radios, but there are a few more keeper candidates. Zhiwhis ZWS-603The PL-330 can tune in 5 kHz or 1 kHz steps on shortwave, but in addition can be set to tune to a precision of just 10 Hz. This is used for SSB and SYNC tuning. With the shorter (62mm bars) it would require a larger diameter FSL antenna to come close to the original model in sensitivity, so by necessity this alternative model would need to have a “short and stubby” FSL coil design. After considering this I recalled that most of the antennas with a reputation for exceptional nulling performance (and direction finding) seemed to have such a “short and stubby” coil design—so why not take this opportunity to design and create a portable radio with breakthrough nulling performance, in addition to its superior sensitivity? Such a combination would hopefully make the new model an innovative performer in urban areas—a portable radio that could not only silence multiple MW “pest” stations, but also provide unusual sensitivity to receive competing stations right on the same frequencies. As the model was developed several technical discoveries were made to improve nulling performance, such as the use of grounded shield foil for the Litz wires, and an ultra-symmetrical FSL coil. But even if you live in a rural area far from any MW stations, you will find that this modified radio has a great deal of performance to offer— a combination of sensitivity, selectivity and nulling ability that has never existed in portable form. What is an unfortunate design problem, in my view, involves the simple question of tuning the receiver. The keys are terrific. They move frequency to the next band, to the station previously tuned in that band which can be very handy to monitor a SW station on different meter bands or just to return to a previously tuned station. At least I they work this way on mine, but I have used search function and ETM so that may be influencing these buttons now too.

The PL-330 invites comparison with the earlier PL-380, both at similar price points and size, so I dug out my old A/B switch, plugged in the headphones and compared reception of CHU on 3300 kHz. I could not detect any difference in reception between the two radios — I thought the switch was broken. The switch was fine; the radios were just that close. Tecsun PL-330, PL-380, PL-660 The 550 memories are arranged in two sets. One is ATS where the radio scans and stores the stations it receives. This works fine. You can manually add and remove stations. The other is the Easy Tuning Mode (ETM) which works like ATS, only with a separate set of memories. You invoke ETM when you visit a new location and in a couple of minutes, all the available stations are there for you to scan through, but not at the expense of messing with your home ATS memories. I've traveled with the radio, and this feature is super. Listening to the 2016 BBC Midwinter Broadcast to Antarctica while traveling in Canada with the CC Skywave. I have never attempted to receive weather fax; however, based on this information I found, the PL-330 should be suitable:

Note: the only manual that came with my PL-380 was in Chinese, so I found one online and have included it here. The others came with English-language manuals. Size matters: There is one (digital) TUNING dial for all tuning operation in any radio band. It only tunes up and down the bands and has no other function. (That makes tuning with the PL-330 so easy compared to the other three radios with multifunction dials.) Depending on the selected band and de-modulation the tuning steps can be altered by the STEP button. Like I started, I’m an occasional shortwave listener. I couldn’t really tell the difference in radio performance between the four radios. Of course, the best radio is the one you have with you. And because of its size, easy operation with a single tuning dial and features like ETM+, the PL-330 is probably the best portable shortwave receiver at the moment (for me ?). Thanks to Tecsun! For travel purposes, size and weight are concerns. There’s a big difference. (Specifications from the manuals, weight with battery and case measured.)