{"id":44547,"date":"2020-07-30T07:05:46","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=44547"},"modified":"2020-07-30T07:07:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:07:14","slug":"converting-tecsun-signal-meter-numbers-into-five-strength-units","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/converting-tecsun-signal-meter-numbers-into-five-strength-units\/","title":{"rendered":"Converting Tecsun signal meter numbers into five strength units?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Rolfe (M3OZP), who writes with the following inquiry:<\/p>\n

Don’t know if anyone can help.<\/p>\n

I have a Tecsun PL-880, and it shows signal strength in db. How can I work out the signal strength as 1 to 5? All my other radio have 1 to 5 signal strength meters which is what I have always been used to.<\/p>\n

Many thanks.<\/p>\n

Chris Rolfe
\nM3OZP<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you for your question, Chris. The signal meter on the PL-880 and a number of other late-model Tecsuns that use similar DSP chips share the signal display which indicates both the signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio.\u00a0 I believe the dBu number indicates the conducted voltage across the receiver’s internal resistance.<\/p>\n

It’s perhaps one of my quirks, but as a listener I actually pay little attention to signal displays on portables unless I’m evaluating signal strength for a report or even using it to locate a local noise. Converting those numbers into an S1 to S5 number is simply something I would do by “guesstimating.” Yeah, not terribly scientific.<\/p>\n

There are folks in the SWLing Post<\/em> community who can do a much<\/em> better job explaining the readout and how to interpret\/convert signal strength across the MW, SW and FM bands.<\/p>\n

Post Readers<\/strong>: Please comment<\/a> if you can shed some light on simplifying signal strength for Chris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Rolfe (M3OZP), who writes with the following inquiry: Don’t know if anyone can help. I have a Tecsun PL-880, and it shows signal strength in db. How can I work out the signal strength as 1 to 5? All my other radio have 1 to 5 signal strength […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,43],"tags":[8701,2065,479,2066,8702],"class_list":["post-44547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-chris-rolfe-m0ozp","tag-pl-880","tag-tecsun","tag-tecsun-pl-880","tag-tecsun-signal-strength-meter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-bAv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14449,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/tecsun-pl-880-evans-notes-signal-meter-and-other-discrepencies\/","url_meta":{"origin":44547,"position":0},"title":"Tecsun PL-880: Evans notes signal meter and other discrepencies","author":"Thomas","date":"August 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post reader, Evans (in Greece) writes: I would like your opinion regarding two strange points we noticed in two different Tecsun PL-880 models, which a friend and I\u00a0have recently purchased. In particular: The signal meter is supposed to measure up to 99dBu (my Tecsun PL-390 s-meter goes indeed up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediumwave"","block_context":{"text":"Mediumwave","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/mediumwave\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PL-880 (1)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/PL-880-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/PL-880-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/PL-880-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8346,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/video-pl-880-soft-muting-on-ssb\/","url_meta":{"origin":44547,"position":1},"title":"Video: PL-880 soft muting on SSB","author":"Thomas","date":"December 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u00a0firmware version\u00a08819 (mine is 8820) that exhibits this soft mute behavior. Check out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8105,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/video-tecsun-pl-880-vs-pl-660-and-coping-with-interference\/","url_meta":{"origin":44547,"position":2},"title":"Video: Tecsun PL-880 vs. PL-660 and coping with interference","author":"Thomas","date":"December 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I normally like to do in-line recordings for audio comparisons of radios, but my digital recorder is non-functional at the moment. This fact--coupled with a bit of reader peer pressure--prompted me to take a short video with my iPhone of the PL880 and PL660 in action. While this will not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Products"","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tecsun-PL880-SWLing-Post-0526","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Tecsun-PL880-SWLing-Post-0526-1024x682.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Tecsun-PL880-SWLing-Post-0526-1024x682.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Tecsun-PL880-SWLing-Post-0526-1024x682.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48145,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/michael-pairs-the-tecsun-pl-990-and-the-aor-la400\/","url_meta":{"origin":44547,"position":3},"title":"Michael pairs the Tecsun PL-990 and the AOR LA400","author":"Thomas","date":"March 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Michael Ye (BD4AAQ), for the following guest post: In the Loop:\u00a0PL-990 and LA400, a Perfect Match by Michael Ye (BD4AAQ) I have been a happy owner of Tecsun\u2019s PL-880 world band receivers for years. In fact I have two PL-880 radios, one sitting at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PL-990-and-PL-880-scaled-e1615376264103.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PL-990-and-PL-880-scaled-e1615376264103.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PL-990-and-PL-880-scaled-e1615376264103.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PL-990-and-PL-880-scaled-e1615376264103.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PL-990-and-PL-880-scaled-e1615376264103.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14255,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/guest-post-richard-tests-the-frequency-stability-of-the-tecsun-pl-880\/","url_meta":{"origin":44547,"position":4},"title":"Guest Post: Richard tests the frequency stability of the Tecsun PL-880","author":"Thomas","date":"August 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, for the following guest post: Frequency Stability of My Tecsun PL-880 Recently, while recording the audio on a particular SW frequency unattended over night, I decided to set my Tecsun PL-880 in USB mode with the 3.5 kHz RF bandwidth setting as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PL-880 (1)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/PL-880-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/PL-880-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/PL-880-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9443,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/hidden-feature-calibrating-the-tecsun-pl-880-for-zero-beat-operation\/","url_meta":{"origin":44547,"position":5},"title":"Hidden feature: Calibrating the Tecsun PL-880 for zero-beat operation","author":"Thomas","date":"April 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to Dan who learned, via the Tecsun PL-880 group, of another way to calibrate the PL-880 in upper and lower sideband. This method seems to be\u00a0a little easier than a\u00a0previously posted procedure. Anna, with Anon-Co, translates this procedure given to her by Tecsun technicians: Place the Tecsun PL-880\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How To"","block_context":{"text":"How To","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/how-to\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tecsun-SSB-QRG-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Tecsun-SSB-QRG-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Tecsun-SSB-QRG-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Tecsun-SSB-QRG-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}