Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
Okay, I can help you with the 9 key, that's the control for the muting threshold so here's what you do assuming you want to turn that off which I'd imagine you do. Hold down the 9 key for 4 seconds and then rotate any of the tuning knobs anti clockwise for say half a turn. Then press the 9 key again and that should do the trick. You also may wish to turn off noise reduction, this is done by holding down the 6 key for 4 seconds. On 3 Apr 2014, at 8:18 pm, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
dane have you fouhnd any of the problems noted in gthe earlier reviews regarding ssb reception. - Original Message - From: Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 7:30 AM Subject: Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today Okay, I can help you with the 9 key, that's the control for the muting threshold so here's what you do assuming you want to turn that off which I'd imagine you do. Hold down the 9 key for 4 seconds and then rotate any of the tuning knobs anti clockwise for say half a turn. Then press the 9 key again and that should do the trick. You also may wish to turn off noise reduction, this is done by holding down the 6 key for 4 seconds. On 3 Apr 2014, at 8:18 pm, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
OK, I will try that and see what happens. Thanks. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: Okay, I can help you with the 9 key, that's the control for the muting threshold so here's what you do assuming you want to turn that off which I'd imagine you do. Hold down the 9 key for 4 seconds and then rotate any of the tuning knobs anti clockwise for say half a turn. Then press the 9 key again and that should do the trick. You also may wish to turn off noise reduction, this is done by holding down the 6 key for 4 seconds. On 3 Apr 2014, at 8:18 pm, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
Time to get out all the indo I have on all those undocumented functions and put them on list me thinks smile. On 4 Apr 2014, at 1:00 am, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: OK, I will try that and see what happens. Thanks. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: Okay, I can help you with the 9 key, that's the control for the muting threshold so here's what you do assuming you want to turn that off which I'd imagine you do. Hold down the 9 key for 4 seconds and then rotate any of the tuning knobs anti clockwise for say half a turn. Then press the 9 key again and that should do the trick. You also may wish to turn off noise reduction, this is done by holding down the 6 key for 4 seconds. On 3 Apr 2014, at 8:18 pm, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
No! SSB/CW has been better than I thought, the only thing I wouldn't recommend using at this time is the Synchronus Detection System, that sounds God damn awful so perhaps the firmware will be upgraded at a later time if the users of the radio yell and scream enough smile. As I hardly ever used that feature anyway and never relied on it in other sets I have I find that I'm not missing anything at all. Because the PL880 tunes in 10HZ steps whilst in SSB modes its possible to get some really good and clear results. On 4 Apr 2014, at 12:44 am, tim cumings thcumi...@comcast.net wrote: dane have you fouhnd any of the problems noted in gthe earlier reviews regarding ssb reception. - Original Message - From: Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 7:30 AM Subject: Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today Okay, I can help you with the 9 key, that's the control for the muting threshold so here's what you do assuming you want to turn that off which I'd imagine you do. Hold down the 9 key for 4 seconds and then rotate any of the tuning knobs anti clockwise for say half a turn. Then press the 9 key again and that should do the trick. You also may wish to turn off noise reduction, this is done by holding down the 6 key for 4 seconds. On 3 Apr 2014, at 8:18 pm, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today
I never would use the sync, with the fine tuning you can get ssb exactly, sounds a very clear signal, almost as if a carrier were there. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: No! SSB/CW has been better than I thought, the only thing I wouldn't recommend using at this time is the Synchronus Detection System, that sounds God damn awful so perhaps the firmware will be upgraded at a later time if the users of the radio yell and scream enough smile. As I hardly ever used that feature anyway and never relied on it in other sets I have I find that I'm not missing anything at all. Because the PL880 tunes in 10HZ steps whilst in SSB modes its possible to get some really good and clear results. On 4 Apr 2014, at 12:44 am, tim cumings thcumi...@comcast.net wrote: dane have you fouhnd any of the problems noted in gthe earlier reviews regarding ssb reception. - Original Message - From: Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 7:30 AM Subject: Re: Tecsun PL880 Radio Arrived Today Okay, I can help you with the 9 key, that's the control for the muting threshold so here's what you do assuming you want to turn that off which I'd imagine you do. Hold down the 9 key for 4 seconds and then rotate any of the tuning knobs anti clockwise for say half a turn. Then press the 9 key again and that should do the trick. You also may wish to turn off noise reduction, this is done by holding down the 6 key for 4 seconds. On 3 Apr 2014, at 8:18 pm, cov...@ccs.covici.com wrote: I just got mine as well and its seems quite nice -- my environment is not great -- two computers running, but the radio does very well in the short wave and fm bands and the am is not bad at all. I was unable to activate some of the hidden features, however -- holding down the 9 key had no effect whatsoever. One nice feature is if you are using ssb the band controls cycle through the ham bands, if you switch to normal the band selector cycles through the broadcast ones. Dane Trethowan grtd...@internode.on.net wrote: I've had the radio for 8 hours and I'm utterly delighted with my purchase, here are a few observations I've made about the radio. Firstly this set is not a killer set when it comes to Medium wave sensitivity though its far from dreadful so if you're looking for a good performing AM set and not bothered with Short Wave, SSB and CW then your money would be perhaps better spent on the CCrane 2E AM/FM radio. The Pl880 is squarely aimed at the traveller and AM reception through this radio should be good enough in 99% of cases but its on the Short Wave, SSB/CW and on FM that this receiver shines. Having said all that however the audio quality on the AM broadcast band is far better than a lot of similar sized portables on the market thanks to the selectible Band width filter which can be adjusted between 2.4 and 9KHZ thus giving superb quality for audio on AM stations which permit it - most in Australia do smile. Short Wave reception his hot on the built-in telescopic whip which is reasonably long and very thin at the top end so be careful with it. The PL880 charges from a USB socket and takes around 3 hours to charge the lythium-ion battery. Sound from the internal speaker is something which puts similar portable radios of the same size to absolute shame, in particular the Sony ICF-sw7600G and GR sets sound like paper compared to the PL880. 2 tuning knobs are presented, one for fast and one for slow tuning, they have a nice thick smooth feel to them, just like tuning an older 60s style analogue radio. More notes to come as I play and explore. ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane ** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici cov...@ccs.covici.com
