PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM Longwave Shortwave Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception

I bought mine in 2014. This radio is the first of a renowned Tecsun radio family: started with the pl880, followed by the s8800, pl990, h501x and finally the s-2200x. They all are premium products, and priced accordingly. Besides the pl880i also have a s8800 and a h501x. I can attest the pl880 is the best sounding of these. Based on the specs and other reviews I believe the s-2200x is even better, but you will pay $300 more for a beautiful but bulky tabletop radio. This is the radio you want if you want a radio small enough to take in your carry on luggage, decent AM, very good SW performance and amazing sounding FM reception. About the SW reception: unlink the majority of modern DSP based receivers, this radio does not soft muting when cruising the dial, so you will be able to find faint stations much easier. About SSB capabilities: it is usable but not great. If you are an avid SSB listener then you will be better served by any of the other members of the family; both my s8800 and h501x are perfect. The local oscillator is somewhat unstable and the pitch will be wobbly (perfect sounding person will would like Donald Duck in seconds). There are some undocumented settings and features. Some are useful, some not. In particular: the product detector for AM. It is available, it is awful. But you did not pay for it anyway… Other than that, the radio is solid. After 11 years I replaced the rechargeable lithium battery a couple of times, the antenna became a little wobbly and recently the main tuning knob failed. As there are several ways to tune it the radio is still operational. I have had several radios (Gundig, Tecsun, XhData, Hammarlund among others). If I had to have only one, this is the one I would take.

I received my Tecsun PL-880 just a week ago, and I have to say that from my perspective, it's the *almost* perfect portable shortwave radio! I came close to purchasing a Grundig SAT 750, but when that order was delayed, I opted for this radio instead. I'm certainly glad I did! I can't imagine how the Grundig could be much better, and this radio provides a more portable option. PRO's: * Amazing sensitivity on the SW bands. No matter the time of the day, the auto-scanning function seems to always pick up 40-50 (or more!) shortwave stations. And these are stations that are easily copied. (The only antennae I'm using is the $10 Sangean 'reel'. And it just runs up a corner of my room to the ceiling.) In the limited time I've operated the radio I've already copied Radio China (came "booming" in on the 22 meter band), Radio Australia, and several far eastern stations. (I'm located in the southern United States.) BTW, if you own an iPad, you can always check the frequency with the "SWBC Sked" app to ascertain the station you're currently listening to. * Very good SSB reception on the Ham Bands ... all the way through 10 Meters! I've seen some YouTube videos of this radio providing a "muffled" SSB experience, but I've had no such issues (Firmware 8820). The only thing I can think of that could cause that is having the selectable Bandwidth set to 1.2 kHz or lower. I keep it at 3 kHz for SSB. (BW Options for SSB are 4, 3, 2.3, 1.2, and 0.5 kHz. That alone is astonishing for a portable SW radio!) When switching to SSB mode, the regular tuning knob automatically switches to "slow" tuning mode (1 kHz steps) while the "Fine" tuning knob switches to "Ultra-fine". You can literally tune in 1/100 kHz steps! Needless to say, this makes it super easy to get good quality speech from SSB signals. The only problem I've seen with SSB is a bit of "splatter" for very strong signals. In those instances, I would like to have a RF gain control. The three-position antennae-attenuator switch will do the job here, but is not as convenient. In any event, that's a very minor quibble. This is still the best SSB I've ever experienced from a portable. * Very good scanning options. You can scan just one International shortwave band, or *all* the bands. Use "Page 0" for scanning, and just the most recent scan results are stored. You can then easily step through all the stations it found by simply turning the tuning knob. Only the International SW bands are scanned; it automatically skips over all the Ham Bands. Since shortwave conditions change hourly, this makes it real easy to find the current "hot" bands. * Great sound! The speaker sounds great and can easily fill a small room without straining. It almost makes me wish a Bluetooth option were available so I could run Pandora through it via my iPhone. (Maybe the next generation, perhaps?) * AM/FM --- The "AM" band is adequate. If I were serious about AM I would opt for an external antennae optimized for AM. FM is *great*! * As mentioned earlier, this radio has incredible bandwidth options for a portable. In AM/SW mode you have 9, 5, 3.5 and 2.3 kHz options available. A strong music AM station with the 9 kHz BW option engaged sounds absolutely amazing. For most AM listening I keep it on "5". I use "3" as the default for most SW listening. The SSB bandwidth options were mentioned above. It's just *great* having all these options! * Rechargeable battery with "intelligent" charging. You don't have to tell it how long to charge like some portables require. Charging is through a mini-USB port. The cable for charging was supplied, but not the charger itself. I just use my iPhone's charger, which works great. CONS: * As mentioned above, the only real feature I miss is a variable RF gain control. I think it could really help out with the SSB "splatter" mentioned above on strong signals. Again, the three-position "Ant Gain" control can help out here; it's just not as convenient to use. As far as CONS go, that's pretty much it as far as I'm concerned! Summation: I *Love* this Radio!!!

I was debating over getting this model or the Tecsun PL-680. There are many reviews and pros/cons for each model. I eventually chose the PL-880 and I've no regrets. This model has many features, and a number of them are "hidden". Doing a search you can find how to access these new features, some useful (battery run time), others not so much. The included case is nice and will keep the radio from damage while traveling. It's not leather, but sturdy and holds up well to packing into my carry-on backpack. The provided 18650 battery holds a charge for a long time! I like that it's rechargeable, and I'm sure it will last a long time too. The radio has wonderful room filling sound from the speaker. On a recent trip to Tennessee I was a little disappointed by the reception, but that may have been due to my location in the hotel building. I just had to adjust the antenna, and sometimes use the provided external antenna, and got good enough reception on local FM. The shortwave works well, but that's hit or miss due to the airwave band conditions. There's also not as many shortwave broadcasters as there were 20 years ago. But there are still many foreign broadcast to be heard and enjoyed. I really like the SSB capability to listen to ham radio operators. When you hear voices like Donal Duck, you just turn on the SSB, and then tune until the voices are understood. Very easy. I'm think about getting an extra external antenna, there's many on the market. This is a great radio.

取説はチャイニーズ、英語も無い。

Excelente desempeño en onda corta y banda lateral, único con sintonía fina de dos dígitos. Cumple lo que promete. Lo mejor de todo es poder cambiar la frecuencia sin que se vaya el audio o los molestos “chuff” o sonidos de cambio de frecuencia. Podrían mejorar el rendimiento de la batería que aunque es recargable el consumo es alto. En general muy buen equipo para dxers.

I think I have bought this radio by mistake - I'm not sure if it is configured for UK - it does not pick up any AM stations - FM is fine - SW is not good.

Has very good reception on AM , FM and Amateur radio bands with SSB (Single side band ) . I have not used the memory feature yet but like the timed turn off because it helps me fall asleep and the radio turns off. I had to pick a 5 volt charging device but it does come with a mini USB plug in cord. It comes with a plug in external wire antenna and ear buds. Has a good instruction manual and a zippered leatherette carrying case . It has an easy to see display screen . I have had no reason to use the telescoping antenna yet as it has great reception for a small radio. It's approximately 7 1/2 inches (19 cm ) by 4 1/2 " ( 11 cm ) by 1 1/4 " ( 3 cm ) thick.

Good as expected.