When I flew cross-country to visit a friend on the coast of British Columbia earlier this year, I had very limited space in my carry-on bag. I required a radio companion of a modest size, one that performs well on all bands–not just the shortwaves–for I intended to listen to local and distant AM (medium wave) stations, too. My choice was simple: the Tecsun PL-380. This little radio is affordable, compact, and has (especially with the aid of headphones) excellent audio. It’s powered by a pretty innovative DSP chip that helps pull stations out of the static, as well.

I live in a ground-floor apartment, with a small porch, lots of RFI and restrictions against visible antennas. Also there are no trees within 75 ft of my porch, which faces on a parking lot. My radio is a Tecsun PL-660, which works okay inside with my 10-ft bare wire antenna hidden on the porch. Air Band (VHF):For intercepting radio communication in aviation – e.g. commercial and general aviation, radio navigational aids, air traffic control.By using your PL-660s air band function, you may intercept communication between pilots and the air traffic control, but also other communication from commercial and general aviation, radio navigational aids and air traffic control. The PL-330 invites comparison with the earlier PL-380, both at similar price points and size, so I dug out my old A/B switch, plugged in the headphones and compared reception of CHU on 3300 kHz. I could not detect any difference in reception between the two radios — I thought the switch was broken. The switch was fine; the radios were just that close. Tecsun PL-330, PL-380, PL-660 The 330 is basically a PL-990x in miniature: smaller speaker obviously, shorter antenna, no bluetooth capability or card slot. But as many people who frequent the Facebook groups have observed, pretty much anything the 990x can do, so can the 330. Great internal speaker–an improvement over the PL-660 (but not as good as the PL-880 or Sangean ATS-909X)Although all of these receivers are considered best in the portable realm for a particular manufacturer, each has a character that suits individual listening skills or requirements.

Survey results from the WWV and Radio France International recordings showed a strong preference for the Tecsun PL-680. Again, here are the original recordings: The survey had recordings from a total of three broadcasters: Radio Prague, WWV, and Radio France International. PL-330. 850 memories, 100 LW, 150 MW, 300 SW, 100 AM, 100 SSB, 100 SYNC. In addition there is a separate memory set for the Enhanced Tuning Mode (ETM+) that stores stations found by automatic scanning, organized by band and for some bands, by time of day. For shortwave, there is a separate bank of memories for each hour of the day, and for AM there are 6 segments of time with their own memory bank. FM has only one bank. The user can also store individual stations manually. There is a total of 21 banks of ETM+ memory, but the number in each bank is not specified in the manual. I have never attempted to receive weather fax; however, based on this information I found, the PL-330 should be suitable:

Evaluating performance

The AM bandwidth choices are useful but basic (down to 2.5) but when put in SYNC (even on MW) the SSB bandwidths of 0.5 1.2 2.2 3 & 4 become available along with tuning to the sideband – surely enough to single out a station? I like the control up and down the bandwidth choices with the volume control where on the PL-380 one had to press the BW button repeatedly to go through the options the volume control enables retrying two or three until satisfied. I was also able to locate schematics for the PL-600 and PL-660 radios - both printed in (what I am guessing is) Chinese. I no longer can locate the URLs for those, but they can hopefully be found with some Googling... The PL-880 feels like a quality piece of kit: its buttons have a highly-tactile response, the tuning/volume wheels are silky smooth, and feel well-engineered. Out of the four portables evaluated here, I find the PL-880 the most pleasurable to operate. One of my favorite features is its dedicated fine-tuning knob, just below the main tuning knob on the right side of the radio. The first recording set was from Radio Australia, a relatively strong signal here in North America. Still, QSB was pronounced–making for an unstable signal–and there was hetrodyne interference in the upper sideband of the broadcast. When I switched the radios into lower sideband sync, halfway through, it effectively mitigated the hetrodyne in all of the recordings.

An informal comparison between thePL-680 and the PL-660 also leads me to believe that they are both excellent FM performers and seemed to compare favorably. I would certainly welcome FM DXers to comment with their own evaluations of the PL-680. Medium Wave Performance The last receivers I reviewed included the Tecsun PL-990x, which has developed quite an enthusiastic following since its consumer version was released in 2020, and the Tecsun S-8800.

Summary

Paging through Passport to Worldband Radio from 1990 (wow, that’s 30 years ago!) you see others such as the SONY SW-1, Panasonic RF-B65, and of course, the SONY ICF-2001D/2010 which introduced killer synchronous tuning technology in the 1980s and remains popular today decades after it first appeared. NOTE: As most users know by now, but some newer users may not, you cannot charge one of these radios – whether Tecsun or Sangean – using the mini-USB port and use them at the same time. . . there is just too much noise introduced from the charging process. Double-conversion portable world receiver with FM-Stereo, Long Wave, Medium Wave, Short Wave, VHF aeronautical band. SSB and Sync-AM mode, selectable IF bandwidth. Ideated in P.R. of China. It seems that later versions of the PL-660 are equipped with the automatic memory preset sorting function. My radio (with the 6622 firmware) has it and it’s activated by holding down the AM BW button while the unit is switched off.

But as far as smaller portables go, features such as synchronous detection and multiple selectivity were still pretty limited, and a number of receivers didn’t offer selectable synchronous as was eventually offered on the Drake R8B and later production of the SW-8. Built-in charger for rechargeable batteries. 230VAC adaptor, soft carrying case and wire shortwave antenna included. No doubt there are a number of magnetic loop antennas that could serve you well in your situation, Marty. Based on recommendations I’ve considered everything from a simple wire, to a powered loop (ala an MLA30), to a loop on the ceiling of my home office/radio room to wearing a tin-foil hat and holding the bare end of the feeder wire. I guess what I’m looking for are some options to try in a tab-A into slot-B, use this part number, connect it this way format – think ‘Shortwave Antennas for Dummies’. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve greatly enjoyed learning about the technical end of things my entire life in many different areas, but if I can get some more concrete, specific recommendations to just get going at bit then I’m very happy to study, learn and progress from there. Life has taught me to be patient and not to get discouraged but to research, find a different way to approach something and ultimately you’ll achieve your goal. Not to be a walking, talking cliche but it’s about the journey as much as the destination.You can add to or update/edit your existing review's content including the Rating and Time Owned with the Edit button on the right side of the review text body. Edits will go thru the review Approval process. A valid product review is one where you have experience or knowledge of the product that you would like to share with others. Results: For the vertical 19′ wire, 31 stations were found by the auto-scan function between 2380 – 15770 kHZ. Electrical noise was low but audible in the 3 MHz region, fading to none at higher frequencies, and not a significant source of interference with any stations. For the horizontal wire, 15 stations were found between 9265 – 13630 kHz. Electrical noise was barely audible. With the whip in use only 1 station was found. Switching the antenna gain to its DX (most sensitive) setting, 6 stations were found. Once again, the Sangean ATS-909X struggled to hear the signal, having the least sensitivity of the group.