Tecsun PL-880 Portable Band Radio Receiver with AM/FM/SSB Modes

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i have seen one more video with the first Chinese beta version 990 touching the radio to get better signal & now seems they have make it better, but maybe still there is a small issue … The same goes for the PL-330 – which has knobs that only one half inch in depth, and extending only about 1/16 of an inch beyond the cabinet edge. Part of the attractiveness of the 330 is its compact size and I doubt Tecsun will be moving to put slightly larger knobs on that radio anytime soon. But as it is, using the main and fine tuning controls on the 330 gets you maybe 10 kHz in tuning range. Those who view my videos know that I like to do fairly long hands-on tests of receivers, and this is no exception, at about 50 minutes. My test did not include medium wave or FM, focusing only on shortwave performance and using only the telescopic whip antenna. The two radios have a different approach to SSB detection. The PL-660 uses a beat frequency oscillator (BFO) to generate the missing carrier wave and second sideband. The mixture is then decoded in the same way an AM signal is processed. The PL-660 tunes to the precision of 1 kHz and the BFO control makes up for any smaller frequency step. By contrast, the PL-880 uses a digital signal processing (DSP) chip to decode SSB. This radio tunes to a precision of 10 Hz on SSB and that precision tuning is what clarifies the signal, rather than adjusting the BFO frequency separately.

Dan has just completed his initial assessment and included a long-format video. Many thanks to Dan for sharing the following:

No obscenities, discriminatory, abusive, or other content not suitable in public or for younger readers. Synch works well, the problem is, and I cannot imagine the guys reviewing the radio missed this, that the SSB, must be re-zeroed, which is a problem when trying to rely upon the synch! Folks, SSB(at least on my sample)is a seriosus hindrance. POSITIVE: One of the big positives of the 501 is the large LCD display. The number digits are absolutely huge and make it easy to read frequencies.

My takeaway from your video is how well the nearly seven-year-old (design) 880 acquitted itself against its erstwhile successor. Which proves your point, you don’t necessarily need to buy the latest and greatest to enjoy what’s still on the shortwaves. This is the negative that I consider to be fairly huge. Why, see the excerpt below (James Field’s Review/Comments – January 2018) on the usability factors of multi-band portable radios – which I wholeheartedly agree with. All in all, I really like the PL-880. It’s a quirky little rig that boasts more features than any other portable I’ve ever used (save the Eton E1). It’s sensitive, selective, has silky-smooth tuning and robust audio…but it’s not perfect. Many of the cons listed above could be fixed with firmware updates…ones which I hope users can make at home as opposed to needing to buy a newly-updated radio. Update : Current PL-660 production samples appear to be more like the PL-680 Sync , see separate review below) I’ve owned my Tecsun PL-660 since 2011 (12 years). It’s not the newest version of that radio –there have been firmware updates since then — but it works well, and is arguably the best radio I own. More recently the antenna started to pull apart from wear, but an OEM replacement was easy to find and easy to install. Now the radio looks and works good as new — the screen protector still on the display. Tecsun PL-660 with screen protector (photo by the author)Synchronous mode improved, but there still seems to be some distortion which is more noticeable on some frequencies and in some reception situations than others.