Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Pawel Kita, who writes:
Good morning Thomas.
I bought a Tecsun PL-330 firmware 3303.
Do you remember when I once reported a bug in one of the versions of the
Tecsun PL-880 radio? This error was later named as “fine tuning TECSUN reversed bug”
The same error occurs in the following Tecsun radios: PL-365 and PL-330
firmware version 3303.
Thank you for the tip, Pawel. That is an odd and slightly obscure bug that Tecsun obviously has yet to address.
[19 January 2016: Please read this updated post.]
In response to Pawel’s post about a tuning bug affecting a recent batch of Tecsun PL-880s, SWLing Post contributor Georges (F6DFZ) comments:
I have posted a new video about this important bug of the PL-880.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KZFlO-C-Gk
I did so because it seems some people don’t understand this very important issue.
This video shows the Tecsun PL-880 tuning bug which is present on SSB when using the Fine Tuning knob.
The PL-880 is tuned to the Shannon Volmet on 5,505 MHz USB.
At the beginning, I use the coarse Tuning knob to shows the effect of tuning 1 kHz down ; the pitch of the voice increases as we are on USB.
Then, I tune down 1 kHz using the Fine Tuning knob, and now the pitch of the voice decreases, indicating the bug with the reverse tuning using the Fine Tuning knob on SSB.
At the end, I use the coarse Tuning knob to hear the voice with a normal pitch, and you can see that the displayed frequency is 5,503.01 MHz, a difference of nearly 2 kHz versus the true frequency.Best regards, and a Happy New Year
Georges F6DFZ
Thank you, Georges. Since I have an early PL-880 model that doesn’t have this bug, your video and explanation does clarify the situation.
That is frustrating. Until this bug is fixed, I couldn’t recommend purchasing a new Tecsun PL-880. I hope someone can confirm when the bug is fixed and the production run is once again free of this tuning issue.
Many thanks to Pawel and Georges for bringing this to our attention.
[19 January 2016: Please read this updated post.]
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Pawel (SQ9ZAV), who writes from Poland:
Hello Thomas,
On November 4, 2015, I bought a Tecsun PL-880 from ErcomeR company.
I found an error: the last two digits of hundreds and tens Hz in SSB mode correctly change the direction of rotation of the knob fine tuning, however, the actual frequency varies in the opposite direction.
I reported a bug in the company ErcomeR, and they sent an e-mail to the Tecsun company.
ErcomeR received information from Tecsun that one of the PL-880 integrated circuits had been changed to the one used in Tecsun PL-365; no one checked whether the program was working properly.
The previous version of the radio made in May 2015 does not have this error.
Best regards – Pawel Kita, SQ9ZAV
Pawel also noted that communicating with Tecsun’s Engineering/R&D department is quite difficult since all communications are first passed through the Tecsun Sales department.
I hope that Pawel can keep us apprised of the situation. My Tecsun PL-880 is one of the earliest production runs, so doesn’t have the PL-365 IC Pawel describes.
If you purchased a Tecsun PL-880 recently, you might verify this as well–please comment.