Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, George Joachim, who shares the following photo of his recently acquired Tecsun PL-990. George also shared the following comment:
I have just received my PL 990 from Ali Express. Suitably impressed everything works as advertised and yes it is the newer (TIME TIMER A TIMER B) version. The serial number shows a production of July 2020. Comes in the usual box with all accessories as the PL -880. They even include a Micro SD card with prerecorded songs. Well done again Tecsun!!!
Photos
Thank you, George. You’re obviously not only a fan of shortwave and rails, but also the Queen of the Skies!
A quick update about my Tecsun PL-990 review
Hopefully in the next week or two, I will be receiving a pre-production export version of the PL-990 that will eventually be sold by Anon-Co. I should have received a model a couple weeks ago, but they discovered a last-minute issue they had to address in the firmware. Once this is sorted, I will receive a pre-production model to carefully test. I’m guessing the model I’m testing will have some slight differences with that of George’s above only because it’s my understanding Tecsun hasn’t made a production run of the variant Anon-Co plans to sell yet. Cosmetically, I’m sure they’re near-identical. I’ll certainly post an update when I receive the test model. Thanks for your patience!
many thanks for the updates, we wait your reviews, 73
Does anyone know which Tecsun and Kaito model radios are currently manufactured?
…hey, this radio seems to have everything (including the “kitchen sink”!), but why NO VHF Air Band…..?
Same point here. Why put a mp3 play feature (imho useless) and not VHF Airband? A mp3 recording feature would make it a highly desirable radio.If it had Airband I’d certainly grab one.
The Tecsun H-501 is available now from China via aliexpress and banggood as well, though currently at a $400+ price tag I will be waiting on reviews and most likely the export model before clicking the buy button.
I hope Tecsun sorted that dreadful sound on SSB and made the receiver quieter than the PL-880 and S-8800 they were expensive radios and far too expensive to have this huge problem.
You really have to get the cheap PL-680 to appreciate what a radio should sound like, really sweet soft sounding audio with a really quiet receiver not destroyed by bad agc issues or DSP related harshness to the audio.
Hopefully this DSP version 990 has none of the. 880 and 8800 issues.
I’d no longer pay the money to find out and then take the hit selling them but really I should have returned them, couldn’t even use SSB to listen to broadcast stations the sound was so bad.
I think it’s only a restyle, with some little add-on. China radios are clones of clones..
Aliexpress has priced this model from approx. $380 – $460 USD, delivered. I’d like to see what Anon-Co’s price is. I’m hoping it’s lower 🙂
This info is just to compare prices & that is why i am not posting the direct link … i show it at a Thai shop (lavada) for $272 the new version with timers A/B
Nevada Radio in the UK have the pl990x on pre order at £259.95.
They say they will have stock “next week”.
A few months ago, I watched a video on Youku of the preproduction PL-990 in action which appears to show the radio going into Bluetooth mode. Notice at about 5:10 in the video linked below the reviewer engages the Radio/MP3 key and a BT indicator displays at the top of the screen. Based on the icon features photo in the this post it appears Bluetooth is not listed as a feature but I’m curious if the BT indicator in the video is indeed Bluetooth and if Bluetooth was a feature being considered by Tecsun.
I have always appreciated the sound quality of the PL-880, adding Bluetooth capabilities would be a welcome feature for streaming music from my phone when I travel.
https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDQwMzc4OTE5Mg==.html?spm=a2h0j.11185381.listitem_page1.5!4
i am not sure 100% but to me it looks like was testing with some older beta or prototype with bluetooth enable … now seems final version not supported … perhaps they come out later on with an other upgrade ( example pl-990BT)
I have noticed the BT indicator on mine also but I haven’t tried that yet to see if it is actually Bluetooth.
please let us know … thanks in advance … maybe is function to connect pc to pl990 speaker (perhaps wired or via wifi / bluetooth – just for speaker use)