Tag Archives: Tecsun

Ultra Portable Shoot Out: Which radio do you prefer?

I’ve been traveling this week, but found the opportunity to hold another shortwave portable shoot-out. (You may recall the weak signal shoot out earlier this year.)

This time, I’m comparing three popular ultra portable radios, namely, the: CountyComm GP5/DSP (a.k.a. Tecsun PL-360), the Tecsun PL-310ET, and the Tecsun PL-380.

This particular trip afforded me a bit of time to test these wonderful little portables in a relatively scenic environment, on balcony overlooking the Atlantic. And even though propagation has been somewhat dismal this week, I had so much fun recording these samples, I recorded several for comparison.

Which of the three radios do you prefer? Listen to the recordings, then vote! You’ll find a survey form at the bottom of the page that will allow you to cast your vote for your favorite with weak signals, with strong signals, and your favorite overall.

We’re using a form this time to make it easier to tally the results. If you enjoy this contest–or have any problems–simply comment below.

Stay tuned for a medium-wave shootout in coming weeks!

Note: I will close this survey at 00:00 UTC on Saturday, November 22, 2014.

Global 24 – 9395 kHz (Strong)

Radio 1

Radio 2

Radio 3

ERT Open/ Voice of Greece (Relatively strong)

Radio 1

Radio 2

Radio 3

Radio Riyadh (Weak)

Radio 1

Radio 2

Radio 3

Rádio Bandeirantes (Very weak)

Radio 1

Radio 2

Radio 3

Submit your response

Click here to use our response form to vote on your favorites, or simply use the form embedded below:

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Tecsun PL-380: Displaying temperature in Fahrenheit

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I have owned the Tecsun PL-380 for years now. When my buddy Mike (K8RAT) recently asked if the temperature display could be switched from Celsius to Fahrenheit, I gave him a firm “no” as a response.

A few hours later, Mike wrote back:

“Just found out that the PL -380 will toggle between F and C temperature reading. Push and hold the “3” button with radio turned off. Cool!”

I just tried it and, as you can see, it works brilliantly. Thanks, Mike!

(Note to self: Start responding to this sort of inquiry with a softer “no” in the future!)

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Tecsun 2P3 AM radio kit

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Many thanks to the excellent Herculodge blog for making me aware of this cool–nearly retro–Tecsun 2P3 AM Radio Receiver Kit on Amazon.

Should be a fun, inexpensive and relatively simple through-hole kit. I am curious how well the instructions are written in English. Has anyone assembled the Tecsun 2P3?

Update: Bob points out that the Tecsun 2P3 is also available on eBay. (for $26.99 US shipped)

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Check out Neil’s PL-880 quick reference chart

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Neil Goldstein has created a simple Tecsun PL-880 hidden features chart based on our growing list of PL-880 hidden features. Check out the chart on Neil’s blog, Fofio!

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Field Recording with the Tecsun PL-380 and Transcend MP330

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SWLing Post reader, London Shortwave, shared photos of his portable recording kit on Twitter yesterday. It consists of a Tecsun PL-380, Transcend MP330, in ear headphones, and a simple clip-on antenna (supplied with the PL-380). He recorded Radio New Zealand International with this gear.

listen to ‘Radio New Zealand Int. received in London, UK’ on Audioboo

I love the compact form factor of the Transcend MP330–ideal for field recording. I’m curious if there are other high-capacity USB memory/recording sticks on the market.

The PL-380 is a superb ultralight radio; my favorite small travel radio, in fact. The PL-380 can be found for about $42 US shipped via Amazon; an impressive value.

Many thanks to London Shortwave for sharing images of his ultralight DXing & recording kit!

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PL-880 Hidden Feature: Adjusting FM muting threshold

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Hector (AD4C) for discovering and sharing this hidden feature of the Tecsun PL-880. Hector writes:

“I have been using the Tecsun PL-600 for some time but never was satisfied with its performance in SSB, you can read my review on eham.

Last night I received the PL-880 I purchased trough amazon.com and I am really impressed with its performance, its a day and night difference compared with the PL-600, especially for SSB–the addition of narrow filters for LSB and USB made a huge improvement to the performance, also the availability of choosing different BW either on SSB or AM also improved a lot the reception.

I have to congratulate you for the well designed webpage you did to show all the hidden menu in this great radio but I have to tell you also that when performing all the menu by your links, I found by accident another one you did not mention. I’ll explain with details:

Turn the radio ON, select FM, and go to freq that be in between two stations–an empty frequency–in my radio it will sound like complete silence because the squelch circuit is acting properly and majority of users will prefer to leave it like that to avoid the squelch noise BUT that decreases receiver sensitivity a few microvolts on FM, so because I am a dxer in any band, I reset the squelch threshold to have permanent noise or “open squelch” condition.
Now press and hold the key #9 for more than 2 seconds to display the squelch value
Use the tuning wheel to adjust the squelch value. Mine was at 3 but when I moved it down to zero using the tuning knob the noise appeared in all frequencies between used ones and I could detect weak stations more than 100 miles away. This is good to know when propagation by sporadic E is open and an indicator for the 2 and 6 M dx chasers.”

Many thanks, Hector! I’ve added this to the Tecsun PL-880 hidden feature list. The ability to lower squelch is, as you say, essential for FM DXing.

Note that I tried this hidden feature on my Tecsun PL-880 and it didn’t work. My FM muting threshold must be set to 0, however, because I can hear static between stations. Tecsun must have made this addition after my radio was produced (mine came from one of the first ‘880 shipments in November 2013).

Have any other SWLing Post readers tried to adjust the FM muting threshold on their PL-880?

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SWLing on a mountain with the Tecsun R1212A

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Last week we visited Mount Mitchell, the highest elevation in North America east of the Mississippi River.

We enjoyed a leisurely picnic at the mountain’s state park, and since I had a little extra time, I pulled out the Tecsun R1212A I carry in my messenger bag, and tuned to Deutsche Welle. Even though propagation wasn’t superb that day, the little Tecsun did a fine job pulling in a DW service targeting Africa.

My friend the Professor had convinced me to purchase the R1212A as an open-box deal Anon-Co listed several months ago, and I’m glad he did. Not only does it have great shortwave sensitivity, but it has superb AM (medium wave) reception–indeed, it’s one of the best portables I have that can null out unwanted MW signals.