Tag Archives: Tecsun

The Tecsun ICR-110 packs AM/FM and digital recording/playback

In a comment, SWLing Post reader Owl mentions:

“Tecsun has just released ICR-110 which is as BIG as the PL-880 and seems to have the same speaker too.”

The ICR-110 can be found on eBay–click here to search. At $46.00 US shipped, I’m very tempted to purchase it. Though it lacks shortwave, it appears that it can record AM (MW) and FM broadcast stations in either MP3 or WAV formats. While I’ve yet to find a radio that can make a digital recording with acceptable fidelity (the CC Witness Plus being a notable exception) I would like to think the engineers at Tecsun have nailed it.

I have a friend who has recently purchased the ICR-110, and am looking forward to his review! (hint, hint)

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Forcing the Tecsun PL-880 to use an external antenna on MW/LW

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For those of you who aren’t satisfied with the PL-880’s internal ferrite antenna for mediumwave and longwave reception, here is a video explaining a work-around that will force the PL-880 to use an external antenna on those bands:

Many thanks to YouTube user pesnyaozemle for posting this video and to SWLing Post reader Jon for sharing.

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Christos’ Tecsun PL-390: problems switching between MW/LW

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Christos’ trusty Tecsun PL-390 started having a problem recently. He writes:

“My PL-390 can no longer shift from MW [mediumwave] to LW [longwave]. I left it without batteries for some hours in order to achieve a sort of reset, but nothing happened. If I press the MW/LW button longer than usual, then it start presetting stations.”

I suspect this could simply be a problem with the contact underneath the LW/MW button. Has anyone else experienced this problem or found a way to fix it? Please comment!

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Kaito able to update PL-880 firmware in-house

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Earlier we posted that Tecsun PL-880s being sold by Kaito Electronics had an older firmware version (#8819) than those being sold by Anon-Co on eBay (#8820).

Fortunately SWLing Post reader, Tim, has been working directly with Kaito in California. Yesterday, he visited their headquarters where they updated his PL-880 from firmware version 8819 to 8820.

Tim writes:

“Just got back with my PL-880 from Kaito. It took about 5 seconds to update the firmware (they let me watch). Tecsun sent them a little silver box with a cord that plugs into the radio just below the LCD screen. After removing the face plate, they merely plug in the cord, press a button and voilà, the firmware is upgraded to 8820, and no more soft mute problems. They told me mine is the first one to get the update and it seems just great so far!

I asked if they will be updating new radios before they ship, and they said, “of course, by all means.” [T]hey are now selling the radio with 8820 firmware. People who bought the radio before are also welcome to send theirs back for the upgrade.”

The review of the Tecsun PL-880 we posted two weeks ago was purchased from Anon-Co and has the newer 8820 firmware version.

Tim, many thanks for the report!

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Video: PL-880 soft muting on SSB

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Many on the PL-880 Yahoo Group have been reporting “soft mute” or “noise gate” audio jumps that are heard when the PL-880 is tuned to a weak SSB signal.

SWLing Post reader, Tim, has a Tecsun PL-880 with firmware version 8819 (mine is 8820) that exhibits this soft mute behavior. Check out the following video where he uses the built-in attenuator to force the PL-880 to engage the soft mute. Tim notes that the sound quality of his $30 camera phone is poor, but I can still easily hear what’s happening:

There have even been confirmed reports of SSB soft muting in PL-880s with 8820 firmware. With that said, I have now spent hours trying to force my PL-880 to engage soft muting in SSB, but to no avail. My SSB copy is solid, regardless of signal strength, noise level, or adjacent signals (at 5, 10 or 15 kHz and much closer)–no muting at all in SSB.

While I’m very pleased with my PL-880, I would encourage many readers to consider waiting a couple of months before making the purchase. Many of the PL-880 early adopters have felt a bit like Beta testers–admittedly, I’ve felt this way as well–but with time, I imagine many of the 880 quirks will be ironed-out by Tecsun.

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Hidden feature: Displaying the Tecsun PL-880 date of manufacture

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Thanks to SWLing Post reader, Tim, we know how to display (what we believe is) the date of manufacture for your Tecsun PL-880:

1.) With the radio turned off, simply press and hold the “AM BW” button and the full display panel will turn on.

2.) Then press and hold the “AM BW” again and your 880?s firmware version will display (a four digit number).

3.) Finally, by pressing and holding the “AM BW” button one more time, a date appears in a year-month-day format. For example, my PL-880 (see above) was manufactured on November 13, 2013.

Again, we have no confirmation from Tecsun if this is truly the date of manufacture, but there is a strong possibility.

You can follow all Tecsun PL-880 updates by bookmarking/checking this link.

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