Tecsun PL-880 Portable Band Radio Receiver with AM/FM/SSB Modes

Product Information

Sangean own their own factory. While they do they their own brand, they are also an OEM, which how the company started. The largest business now is DAB, DAB+, FM and MV. I have owned a host of small portable radios and this beats all. It is sensitive and selective, plus offers great audio for FM. I am seriously considering building a small TR switch and mating it with a QRP transmitter it is that good. Tecsun's 2013 release of their latest worldband radio with FM/SW/MW/LW. Freq range: FM: 870108/76-108/64-108 (user selectable) Tuning Step: 0.01MHz/0.1MHz SSB Reception: Neither one will blow you away but again the number of clearly listenable stations was in the PL-880’s favour. I’m not sure why Tecsun decided to hide these features. I’ll admit that I’ve really enjoyed hunting for and discovering them–most are terrific additions. On the other hand, it has been frustrating as well: I came close to posting an article describing what seemed to be an unfortunate audio stability problem in the PL-880, as I found that when I tuned in a weak station, if the signal level either fell below or climbed above 5, the audio gain would increase or decrease dramatically, making listening very fatiguing. A reader then discovered the hidden “muting threshold” feature, and the story changed. I found that my radio had shipped with a default threshold of “5”– I was able to turn off muting, changing the threshold to zero, and this instantly fixed the problem.

This is the negative that I consider to be fairly huge. Why, see the excerpt below (James Field’s Review/Comments – January 2018) on the usability factors of multi-band portable radios – which I wholeheartedly agree with. To begin with, please note that my impressions of performance band-by-band, below, is based on a little over one week of listening. I typically spend longer with radios before publishing a review, but with the holiday season fast approaching, readers have asked for a more rapid response. [That being said, I will of course update and adapt this review over time; but be assured that any significant updates will be noted as such]. and move through the excellent bandwidth options. This is where the 501, with its large dual speakers, excels because if you’re on a strong station – Greece is a great example because of its great music programs – and you have that wider option, it’s really pleasant to listen to. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am to learn that Sangean will not produce any more SW radios. Sangean continues to develop and improve their AM radios with some innovative designs like the PR-D4W.When I first received the H-501 it appeared that the receiver was fairly on zero beat from mediumwave up through 25 meters shortwave. Further testing revealed that re-calibration was necessary, but the degree of error from mediumwave up through 19 meters was not as significant as I have seen on the PL-990x. Re-calibrating at a mid-point of 25 meters appears to be a good mid-point choice, but inevitably, doing re-calibration on shortwave will throw the receiver off by a bit down on mediumwave. Our Tecsun PL880 Radios are supplied with the latest firmware which is currently version 8820. Available in dark grey. This receiver is the preferred model for communications enthusiasts around the world who require multiple IF bandwidth settings, good battery endurance for portable operation, in a small yet very capable footprint. The PL-880, like its predecessor, is a PLL synthesized analog-tuned radio with digital display; the PL-660 is a dual conversion superheterodyne radio and the PL-880 is a triple conversion superhet. Unlike the PL-660, the PL-880 employs a digital signal processor for decoding signals and controlling bandwidth. The PL-660 has 2 bandwidth settings (wide and narrow) compared with the PL-880 that has 4 values (9, 5, 3.5 and 2.5 kHz) for AM and 5 options (4, 3, 2.3, 1.2 and 0.5 kHz) for SSB.

Tuning increments are in very fine 10 Hz increments with absolutely no muting between frequencies…Brilliant. I ran my usual outdoor daytime band scans on the Tecsun PL-880 and re-confirmed prior results from the PL-660. In the MW scans, the radio is facing southeast, the general direction of most stations. I don’t turn the radio for best reception, but compare all radios oriented the same for consistency. The FM scans all use the radio’s fully-extended telescopic antenna. Can’t seem to find a review on SSB, this is the reason I got rid of the PL-880, it had disastrous issues on SSB especially with stronger signals with external antenna.I will leave extensive tests of the 990x on medium wave and FM to others – there are already quite a few YouTube demonstrations online showing this. In the tuning I did on MW and FM, the radio did seem quite sensitive. I noted that whereas the 9 kHz bandwidth is not visible on shortwave, it is on MW. either test sample was NOT able to do the SW calibrate functions, as covered below. Firmware was too old.] I always tell people who come to me for advice about radios that you don’t always have to have the latest receiver to enjoy what’s left of shortwave. Each of the left hand control knobs on the 501 contains a dot to indicate where you are in the Maximum/Minimum range. At the bottom of the left side is a micro-USB port for when the receiver is used as a computer speaker – quite a nice feature!