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Reviews For: Tecsun PL-210 FM Stereo-SW-MW-LW Dual Conversion Receiver

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Tecsun PL-210 FM Stereo-SW-MW-LW Dual Conversion Receiver
Reviews: 3MSRP: 55.00
Description:
The Tecsun PL-210 is a compact dual conversion receiver, with direct-key-entry tuning and 1,700 station memories.

FM: 64-108 MHz (may set range by region)
AM: 522-1710 kHz (9/10 kHz step)
LW: 150-519 kHz
SW: 1711-29999 kHz

Sensitivity: FM band < 3uV @30dB. MW band <1mV/m @26dB. LW band <5mV/m @26dB. SW band < 20uV @ 26dB.

The radio tuning and status is shown in an orange back-lit LCD screen. Sleep timer, clock and alarm are included.

Power supply: 2 x batteries (AA size) or USB Power adaptor. On-board charging of batteries.

Size: 125 x 75 x 26 mm.

Weight: 200g (not included batteries)
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.tecsun.b2s.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0033.3
KF2YD Rating: 2013-07-14
Tecsum PL-210 Review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Its basically a very small entry level potable shortwave reviver that also receives MW and FM. It has good sensitivity but very poor selectivity. There are many birdies and unwanted signals all across the shortwave band due to a poorly designed phase locked loop frequency synthesizer. It also has a poorly designed AGC that is too slow and when you are trying to listen to a weak signal it will fad out completely then come in strong and is very unpleasant and annoying to listen to. Finally, the sound is OK but is little harsh on the ear after listening to it for a while. I will probably have to install a tighter ceramic filter and change the AGC cap and also may add a larger audio coupling cap to make receiver perform and sound better. All in all its OK but needs a little help.
F61 Rating: 2013-06-18
An Improved PL-200 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought a silver PL-210 from China for $52 shipped. This is the same price that I paid for a PL-200 in 2007.

The Good: The AM-BCB ferrite antenna is properly aligned on the PL-210, and not nearly deaf below 700kHz. 1200 more memories. The set is of near-equal performance to the PL-200 otherwise. Very portable... about the size of a kaito WRX-911 or Tecsun R-911, but heavier.

The Bad: The designers gave me 1200 more memories rather than a better 455kHz IF. On AM-BCB even with double-conversion, the IF skirt just opens alot below -20db. Cross-talk and adjacent channel bleed noted. After about 9 months, the numbers on the buttons are wearing off. Battery life is 1/2 of the PL-200 and closer to 40%. PL-200 = 90-100 hours... PL-210 = 45 hours +/- 1 hr.

The Ugly: Images all over the SW band due to 455 kHz IF. At this price a DSP version like the PL-310/380/606 has none, basically due to a 45kHz IF. This is a nite/day experience!

For a traditional PLL 2x-Conv. set its really not a bad choice. After one experiences a cheap DSP set at the same price, these PLL sets will go the way of the dinosaur unless having SSB/BFO. DSP/SSB isn't availible the $US50-100 range.

Note: Beware of the clones of this set other than the Eton E-100 and PL-200. Some use band-switching, and do not continuously tune 1711-30000 kHz. And some are reported as inferior on AM-BCB due to smaller ferrite antenna. An aligned PL200/E100 or this PL-210 is quite good on the AM-BCB... just a little sloppy with adjacent channels.

F61-out
KWDAVIDS Rating: 2012-05-24
Compact Receiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What can I say? I bought this because it's red and sexy (gray and silver are also available).

This is a small radio, the same size as the Eton E100 or the C Crane SWP, and smaller than the Grundig G6. It's stylish and well-laid out.

The microprocessor-controlled radio operates very much like other recent Tecsun models. I think these radios are very logical in how they work and easy to learn. For example, if you want to listen to 90.1 FM, just press the Power button, the FM button and type "901" on the keypad. Frequency coverage is continuous from 150 kHz to 29.9999 MHz (except for 520, and 521 kHz for some reason).

The memory system is fairly straightforward. This radio has a paged memory system, meaning that you select the page, and then select from the list. There are 500 memories on Page 0, and 100 each on page 1-12 for a total of 1,700. (The manual says that there are two sets of 1,700, but I can't see where you access them, and 1,700 is plenty.) ATS lets you automatically tune and store all available stations. ATS can be done for a shortwave meter band or for all of shortwave at one time. MW/LW/FM are each scanned separately.

The display is readable. The even orange back light comes on automatically when controls are operated and goes off after 3 seconds of inactivity, or you can set it to be on all the time.

Stereo sound with headphones was good, with a little more bass than some other small radios.

I really liked the smooth tuning knob. This radio uses the automatic fast/slow tuning method employed on other Tecsun radios. For shortwave, the slow tuning is 1 kHz and the fast tuning is 5 kHz. It switches from fast to slow depending on how fast you turn the knob. I've found this annoying on some of the Tecsun radios (some let you turn the feature off), but somehow the timing just works better on the PL-210 and I like it. There is no chuffing sound whatever with tuning.

Here's a quick feature list:

- 3-position antenna sensitivity switch (only seems to work on shortwave)
- Intelligent battery charger powered by mini USB cable
- Earphone jack
- Sleep timer
- Alarm clock
- Settable AM/FM frequency ranges and AM step
- High - Low tone switch
- Lock to prevent accidentally turning the radio on, although the display light operates even when locked
- Comes with padded carry case, clip-on wire antenna and ear buds

Overall, performance is good, sensitivity on par with other Tecsun radios like the PL-380; however, the PL-380 doesn't cover frequencies over 21950 kHz. Unlike some radios, the PL-210 has decent sensitivity at the higher frequencies, and I was able to receive a fair number of CB radio operators.

I would have given the radio a "5" rating except for one big drawback, selectivity. Shortwave selectivity on one of the Tecsun DSP models (like the PL-380) is 60 db, a high-end dual-conversion model like the PL-660 has 40 db. The PL-210 is only 25 db on shortwave and FM, 40 for MW,LW. The lack of selectivity was obvious before reading the specs and it's a problem with strong stations on SW and FM spreading over a wide frequency range. There is no bandwidth setting either.

Particularly at the price I had to pay on eBay ($64), I would not recommend the radio because of the poor selectivity, unless you just want a very sexy-looking, small red radio - which is what I wanted and why I bought it. If you are looking for one portable shortwave, I'd recommend one of the Tecsun DSP models like the PL-380 for a lower price. If you need SSB in a small portable, you might look for a used Grundig G6.