Radio Flynn comments:
Anon-co just posted a pre-sale for the [Tecsun] PL-880 on Ebay: $158.74
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They estimate shipping dates from Nov 30 – Dec. 10 [2013]. Just in time for Christmas!
Thanks for the update, Radio Flynn!
On a side note, I should have a review of the PL-880 posted in enough time to help you make a purchase decision before Christmas. I will do some comparison with the Tecsun PL-660.
According to Anon-co, the size of the speaker in their Ebay listing is correct. The PL-880 will come with a 40mm, 16-pin dual magnetic speaker, and it is supposed to have much higher performance than the speaker types found in the PL-310 and PL-660. I googled it, and it seems that you might find this type of speaker in the smaller Bluetooth portable speakers (like Jawbone?) that are known for size-defying sound quality. Interesting!
My mistake, it does come with SSB, without the BFO dial.
Compared to the PL-660, this more expensive unit *does not* come with SSB. I’ll like to know if the lack of SSB is an issue for locking on to signals that are fading.
The speaker size on the PL-660 is listed as 77mm (3″) on one site – my guess would be that the speaker on the PL-880 would be at least this big.
Two comments:
1. When I look at the listing again, it say *free shipping* to the US. Sorry if this causes confusion. When I first saw the listing I was using my phone, and I didn’t notice I was looking at Ebay.ca. It must be $31.25 to ship to Canada.
2. Is the speaker really 40mm (1.5″)? The PL-310et supposedly has a 57mm (2.25″) speaker, and I can’t imagine that the 880 has a speaker 2/3 the size!
I adjusted this to take out the shipping charge in the post, so no worries!
I question that speaker size too. We’ll know soon!
-Thomas