Best Friends Cases. Finally, the speakers. Learn more about how we make money. Thank you, too, for your support of these sites. However, it was never anything that I had on the PL-880; and, as such is of lesser importance. Also ATS is limited to MW and FM (and the number of memories per band is only 36). Please support this website by adding us to your whitelist in your ad blocker. for the same $$$, its better to purchase the superior build quality of the Sangean 909X2, instead of the Tecsun H-501! Also, the fine tuning knob is smaller and even using the rubber cover on the knob for more traction, it is somewhat difficult to achieve rapid tuning in 1 kHz mode. I think the filter should keep tuning and switching all the time. Best shortwave radio for $100 or more in portable february 2014. Best overall runner-up: Eton Elite Executive Digital Shortwave Radio, 3. Im living inside a vertical building. On that radio it would sync up the station and not distort the audio. Im only the regular guy, but a big fan of Jason Statham. Tecsun PL-880 vs PL-660 SSB 80M . TOP 10 BEST SHORTWAVE RADIOS IN 2022 - COMPLETE CHART. Additionally, we always try to include links to other retail options if they are available, as we support and freely advertise independent ham radio retailers. (earphone or headphone, not included) you can use headphones to receive your favorite radio stations anytime, anywhere! . fine tune in SYNC the signal just becomes distorted. It really is nice. I hope I will be pleased. Thanks Tecsun! What I will do here is provide an assessment of the 501 informed by my use of a H-501 just received, the other two Tecsun receivers, and my decades of experience using a wide range of portable receivers. Hi. Coffee helps fuel the SWLing Post! Some of the shortwave radios can receive NOAA frequencies (162.400 to 162 . This was such an obvious move and thanks to Tecsun for really hitting it out of the park. It is also used by political and religious groups in order to inform international followers or avoid censorship in certain countries. Tecsun is one of the brands that are famous for manufacturing radios. Best Vintage Shortwave Radio Reviews. It has the classic looks and styles to match its . On mediumwave (AM) you have a 9 kHz option which provides some fine listening. At least a mention of AGC performance and SSB sensitivity tuned to a marine weather frequency would have helped. There will be interesting portables as a key communication devices in next movies. Tecsun PL-380 DSP (best with ETM) Another excellent option among the best shortwave radios by Tecsun, the PL-380 DSP is one of the most compelling products in the company's lineup, with a small and lightweight design that's easy to carry. Radio Waves: Exploring a Super Tower, Former BBC HQ, OTA Radio When all Fails, and Saving Historic Radio, Follow-up to The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge, RadioGPT is a new A.I. Folks, SSB(at least on my sample)is a seriosus hindrance. I tried it and they lasted 3 x 8 hours, that equals 24 hours in total. So, from my point of view, the dilema is solved. I came to the conclusion that the H-501 that Id purchased must be faulty, as no radio at this price should sound this poor. As I noted in a recent review of the PL-330, had we enjoyed a situation back in the golden days of shortwave in the 1960s/1970s/1980s where a portable provided multiple bandwidths, advanced memory operations, and synchronous detection, DXing would have been even more of an enjoyment than it was. 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! Radios. LOOP ANTENNA, so stations from the MW band up to 50 kHz started playing. models . There are a lot of another very cool things, theyre accessible as hidden funcitons via remote. I sent the receiver for repair because my filters switched when tuning in the band. Sangean ATS-909X: FM reception is excellent $$$ 4.0: 2. Although you can find high-end analog radios, theyre usually much less expensive, costing as little as $10. Skip to content Accessibility Survey. Tecsun PL880 Portable Digital PLL shortwave radio with AM/FM, Longwave/SSB. This is the negative that I consider to be fairly huge. . I have alerted Anon-co to this issue, but its hard to tell whether its a major problem without having other H-501 units to compare to. Sorry, cant be everything to everyone. It does reach the 87MHz-108MHz FM frequencies, though, and has a full range of AM, from 520kHz to 1710kHz. But again, even with the negatives I noted here about the H-501x, what Tecsun has accomplished is significant. There are also numerous videos showing comparisons between the H-501 and PL-990x as well as the PL-330. Deals; Support & Services; . SSB signals transmit less overall information, so you can go lower than 2.3kHz for less signal interference without losing as much sound information through the filtered frequencies. To terminate DNR functions the following must be done in order, first with receiver powered up, depress additional functions key(button-6)and activate additional functions, then depress DNR key(button-6)and turn down DNR functions. Menu. The portable shortwave radios are available for purchase. Videos showing the pre-production and mainland China versions of the 501 started appearing online at least a year ago. 2. Check Out Price. No further details were available as of the time of this writing. Antennas on the H-501x, PL-990x, PL-330 swivel but cannot take up vertical position, and of course they are nested on the top of the radio. I stopped using it because if the sticky plastic case that those had a problem with. This is a real deal breaker for utility listeners so beware before buying. Thanks to great reviews such as these, I have finally ordered an H-501. It does, however, provide clearer and more intelligible audio. Im Tecsun PL-880 owner. Does the Fine Tune feature fix that easily? Check Latest Price. After a long 14 months of work, I'm happy to present the completed Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide, a three-hour documentary broadcast exploring the Seoul AM band one frequency at a time, plus a look at the radio war on the Korean peninsula accompanied by a . It is an upgrade to the still-available and very popular PL-880 (another excellent choice). Tecsun PL380 DSP AM FM Shortwave LW PLL Radio Receiver PL-380 Gray. Tecsun could help 501x owners on the issue with the tuning knobs by including spare rubber knob caps. (Youll get 10kHz increments, as opposed to 1kHz or even 0.01kHz in some higher-end models.) While the Tecsun PL-600 is an older model compared to the PL-880, it packs some features that rival many other shortwave radios in the market today. Nice review, I fully intend to land myself the 501, that said, I remain puzzled by all this synch circuitry interest, these radios, and their superb selection of bandwidths, along with equally superb SSB performance, will excel at ECSS which in my book effectively neutralizes any need for a synch circuit! Save $3 . It doesnt have as many bandwidth choices as the PL-880 does (it only has the two general options of wideband and narrowband), but the PL-660 does reach higher frequencies. Beauty . GPX - Portable AM/FM Shortwave Radio - Black. and move through the excellent bandwidth options. The only radio I have owned that the synchronus detection worked well on was the big Eton (Grundig/Drake). These receivers (as well as the PL-330) all have a hard limit if 100 channels for storing shortwave SSB frequencies. A radio for this price should have a proper antenna connector like a BNC. The runner-up: Tecsun PL-880. C Crane CC Skywave. Yes, when I first saw a PL-880 I was immediately reminded of the 1990s Grundig sets. I would urge Tecsun to make 9 kHz available in shortwave. 8 Best Tecsun Radios March 2023 Results are Based on. Overall convenience. Thank you Dan for your review, Ill share it in the Rodada dos Radioescutas facebook group here in Brasil. The number digits are absolutely huge and make it easy to read frequencies. Signal Lamp. Unfortunately, we dont get the ability to record audio from the radio on to microSD cards that would truly have been a major step forward. I posted a video on a FB shortwave group. Dans review of the flagship Tecsun H-501x portable shortwave receiver. Shop for shortwave at Best Buy. Which is better if I want something like PL-880 bigger bother? Finally, they provide a different experience while using them, just like any old analog radio; the difficult and imprecise manual tuning can also be part of the charm. . Thank you very much for the answer and maybe GooGLE translated it well. Frequency range. Click here to view a list of all sponsors. At the very bottom of the right side is the 5v 1.0 amp micro-USB charging port. The PL-990x has the same issues. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Even classic older receivers have this limitation. Best Overall: C. Crane Tecsun Drm Radio. Pardon me I typed the process incorrectly, the additional functions key is button 4, that must be depressed to on while radio is powered up, then depress the DNR key(6) and terminate DNR functions. 2) When tuning the exact signal (5 MHz, 10MHz) I have to tune 2 kHz + and that is on all bands LW, MW, SW 3) I dont know if stereo FM is ok. My RDS manager does not respond at all, it works 100% on other receivers. Best emergency radio with shortwave: Kaito Voyager Pro KA600 Emergency Radio, 6. As it is, the knobs on the 501 barely extend beyond the cabinet edge, including the end and rubber cap. As I note in my reviews, and this is amplified in the manual, do not expect to be able to charge a battery internally and listen to the radio at the same time because there WILL be noise. Sangean ATS-909X. Below the display is the keypad, with special dual keys for 9/10 kHz mediumwave, Longwave activation, and FM range adjustment. Any additional frequency range is a plus. Best Budget: Tecsun PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM, Longwave & Shortwave Radio. As you go lower, youll pass through fewer frequencies. Shop today! Often, my advice is to consider older portables that are still quite competitive, especially considering the reduction in the number of stations still on shortwave. However, even with more expensive digital radios, you wont be able to tune that precisely between those frequencies. Many of you have suggested in the past that the SWLing Post join an affiliate links program. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Used Tecsun PL330 AM FM Shortwave PLL DSP Radio with SSB and Synchronous at the best online prices at eBay! Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the last three-and-a-half decades, it's . Sangean ATS-909X BK AM/FM/LW/SW World Band Receiver. Your email address will not be published. but finally we all want to know if the AGC problem on the PL880 has been solved on the PL-990 and on the H501. Buy on Amazon C. Crane has been making good-quality radios for years, thanks to a combination of clever design and high-end materials. Why, see the excerpt below (James Fields Review/Comments January 2018) on the usability factors of multi-band portable radios which I wholeheartedly agree with. The charging indicator on the LCD display will flash while charging is underway there does not appear to be a separate display for battery A or B. All of this may be overkill for most people I am just among those who obsess over having receivers as exactly on zero beat as possible. Editor's pick: Tecsun PL-660 Digital Shortwave Radio. I had to make a Preselector. Click here to donate via PayPal. Thats more difficult or impossible to achieve with older receivers that have no calibration function, such as the ICF-2010 or SW-55 without literally taking those radios apart to access internal points of adjustment. . However, the PL-880s layout is more user-friendly, and the tuning is smoother (the Eton has a stepped wheel and mutes while changing frequencies, making the user stop to listen to each one). Basically, this enables you to use the receivers internal charging capability to choose which battery you are charging. Surely, it should be possible to come up with slightly different knobs for the 501 that make it more comfortable to achieve rapid tuning. I will give a different frequency and the filter will change itself to 5 -9 kHz per MW. No one answered my questions from our DX club. Best overall runner-up: Eton Elite Executive Digital Shortwave Radio. It is more important for VHF & UHF. The fact that Tecsun provides this capability in these portables is something we should all be very grateful for. At $120, the PL-660 is a great deal, especially for a shortwave capable radio that delivers on SSB. First, portability. POSITIVE: Hooray for Tecsun in integrating BT capability into the 501x and 990x. Such a good radio and they dont have a BNC connector for the antenna? 15-Channel 2-Way Radio. On the other hand, powerful models are large and heavy and some actually require to be plugged in all the time. Tecsun PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion. Still on the back of the radio, intelligently, Tecsun marks a screw hole which can be used to remove the telescopic antenna (marked as ANT SCREW). 3. More work needs to be done to closely replicate the ballistics of a moving coil meter. Tecsun PL-680 any good tips? You can often hear two different broadcasts on the same frequency when changing from LSB to USB on your radio note, however, that not all radios can change between these at the users will. Free shipping for many products! The tuning knobs are embedded quite far into the radio body embedding of the knobs so far into the cabinet makes it virtually impossible to undertake rapid tuning using those knobs if you are just placing your finger on the top barrel part of the knob itself!. This means you can listen to VHF aircraft bands between 118 to 137MHz. Apparently there is a limit to the calibration. On the left of the H-501, from the top, are the Volume, Treble, and Bass knobs which like the PL-880 and 990x has obvious lineage back to the famous Grundig portables of the 1990's - the Satellit 500 and 700. Many of our links now function as affiliate links. At the top of the H-501 radio above the LCD display can be found the Display/Snooze/Lock button. Tecsun PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM, Longwave & Shortwave Radio. Dear can you inform us which is better for short wave reception: Tecsun H-501x or Tecsun S-2000 ? Among all their portable offerings, the PL-880 is widely regarded by the SWL (Shortwave Listening) community as, simply put, the best. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Product Description. Tools. 5 out of 5. Which of the two to choose please? Im just following up to my own question, I just took delivery of a H501x from Anon-co(from Honk Kong to NW WI in 5-days flat)and the very first thing I did was zero beat the receiver, then ran it for a a few hours, literally just a preliminary looksie, and imagine my surprise when the synch worked just fine, certainly as well as the PL660/680 and better than the worthless synch on the PL880. Black and Decker. H-501x is pretty much the same as PL-990x. Note that Sangean, which is now producing its ATS-9092 (though the radio has growing pains and is having its firmware updated by Sangean) seems to have taken note of Tecsuns dominance of the market and provided multi-bandwith capability, and an improved and enlarged LCD display on the 9092 along with finer frequency resolution. Grundig sets been solved on the H501 Dual Conversion AM/FM, Longwave activation, and has a range. You Dan for your support of these sites Digital PLL Dual Conversion,! 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