While working outside today, I propped the PL-880 up on the tailgate of my truck and listened to some international broadcasters on shortwave. I then received a message from a reader asking if I would make a video of the PL-880 being tuned to CW (Morse Code).

I switched the PL-880 into SSB mode and quickly found a “pileup” of CW operators around 14,035 kHz.

In this video, I used the fine tuning control and the bandwidth selector to give you an idea how the PL-880 sounds in tight conditions. The bandwidth will narrow all the way to 500 Hz (.5 kHz)–a very respectable width for CW. While it doesn’t sounds as good as an amateur radio transceiver, it is certainly better than any other portable shortwave radio I own.

Also, about halfway through the video an operator begins tuning up in the middle of the CW pileup (terrible manners!); I used it as an opportunity for you to hear how smooth the PL-880’s 10 Hz steps sound as I move away from his signal.

You’ll also note that I press and hold the number 6 and the display flashes “OFF.” I believe this is a noise reduction feature, but will need a little more time to experiment.

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