Photo source: Tecsun PL-880 Yahoo Group
There has been some confusion (mainly on my part) about the hidden feature behind button number 5.
Pressing and holding the number 5 will toggle the radio between 50 and 75 uS.
But what, exactly, is this function?
Thankfully, Eric Cottrell has the answer:
“The 50/75 uS setting is the FM De-emphasis. 75 uS in the US and 50 uS in Europe.”
Eric then pointed to a discussion about de-emphasis on DIY Audio’s website.
Many thanks, Eric, for clarifying this (and thanks to others SWLing Post readers who pointed this out in comments as well).
You can follow all Tecsun PL-880 updates by bookmarking/checking this link.
pressing 5 with power on just indicates 5. with power off, toggles OFF and On. have no idea exactly what is being switched. Any ideas?
New radio, new owner. So far unable to receive anything on other than FM and AM bands standard radio broadcast bands. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
With the radio OFF, pressing and holding [5] toggles between ON and OFF. I think it is the display back-lighting that is being switched.
I wouldn’t place too much importance on that. They are, after all, cheap portable radios, not more expensive amateur or professional equipment. It’s how well you can hear that counts, even if you do have a professional quality signal strength meter.
A couple of days ago I received my TECSUN PL880 from Anon-co with the latest firmware loaded. Also I own two other TECSUN receivers PL398MP and PL390. Comparing side by side the PL880 FM sensitivity with this two other receivers, I have found the PL39x receivers seems to display always higher levels of signal than the PL880. That surprises me a little.
http://www.radiomuseum.org/forum/american_vs_european_fm_de_emphasis.html tells more about FM de-emphasis.