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Reviews For: Tecsun PL-880

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Tecsun PL-880
Reviews: 36MSRP: 169.00
Description:
Tecsun's 2013 release of their latest worldband radio with FM/SW/MW/LW. Freq range: FM: 870108/76-108/64-108 (user selectable) Tuning Step: 0.01MHz/0.1MHz
SW: 1711-29999kHz Tuning Step: 1kHz/5kHz
MW: 522-1620 kHz with 1kHz/9kHz tuning step
520-1710 kHz with 1kHz/10kHz tuning step (user select)
LW: 100-519kHz, Tuning Step: 1kHz/9kHz
3,050 Station Memories, Alarm Mode, 3W speaker, Earphone and Line-out jacks. Powered via 3.7V Li-ion rechargeable battery or via USB jack (DC 5V, Current >300mA.
Unit dimensions: 192(W) X 113(H) X 33 (D) mm.
Weight 520g (without battery)
Zippered Leather(ette?) slip cover provided along with long-wire SW Antenna, USB charge cable, and stereo earphones. Also included was a dual USB wall adaptor plug for charging the radio.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00364.4
KF2YD Rating: 2014-07-25
Tecsun PL-880 Review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The radio still has serious flaws and defects in its design which Tecsun never corrected which makes me upset and very disappointed in the Tecsun Engineers. The 1st thing was that it was very difficult and annoying when trying to listen to a weak station because the signal would pop in and out due to a defect in the design of the built in noise reduction system. I also noticed that when listening to morse code signals there was a noticeable amount of flutter present on the tone . The last or 3rd defect in the design was noticed when the sychronese detector was turned on and you could detect more audio distortion. All in all the radio works but it still is not better then my old trusty Sony SW7600GR.
KD9AUR Rating: 2014-02-11
SSB Audio Distortion Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wrote an earlier review of this receiver with firmware revision 8819. I returned it for a refund, and despite assurances I would not be charged a restocking fee, I was hit with a 20% fee from the Amazon vendor. Also, it was speculated in the Yahoo group for this radio that Kaito would have a representative join the group so we would have direct access to the US distributor. This has yet to happen.

Kaito has managed to obtain a firmware updater from Tecsun, so they can now upgrade receivers to the latest firmware revision. You do have to send the radio for California for this service, but it is better than having to send it back to China. There is still no way for users to update the radio in the field. The USB port is for charging only, and no mods from the manufacturer have been made available to rewire the port for user updating.

I have since had the opportunity to evaluate another radio, this one with the latest version firmware 8820. This revision did address some of the problems, enough that I will bump it a star to a 3. But, it continues to have SSB problems, especially with weak signals, On strong signals the SSB works well enough, but if there is interference, or you have a weak signal, the audio will break and distort.

I, and others in the Yahoo group, have played with the "Easter Egg" settings to no avail to cure this problem. The current speculation in the Yahoo group with SSB users like myself is that this is a hardware design problem of the AGC.

It has been said that the poor performance of the sync detector can't be held against Tecsun because they never advertised the radio has having it in the first place. It is more or less a "bonus". I feel the same way about these hidden functions (such as the soft mute). If Tecsun is not advertising that they are there or providing instructions in their use, can we speculate that these are also "bonus" functions that may, or may not be reliable?

I can't answer that question, or if the SSB problems I was experiencing are indeed a hardware design problem, or a fixable firmware problem. All I can say is that potential buyers need to do their research on this radio before buying, and I highly recommend the Yahoo users group for this.

I have since bought a Sangean ATS-909X, and I am much, much happier with the SSB and overall performance of this radio in comparison to the PL-880. The only problem I had was somewhat weak sensitivity on the whip antenna. I have since done the $1.00 4:1 BALUN mod on the whip antenna, and now the ATS-909X is easily more sensitive than either the PL-660, PL-880, and my Sony 7600GR.

VK2GJF Rating: 2014-01-05
Shows great promise Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just received my 880 from Anon-Co. I was very happy with the customer service they give. On unboxing the radio, I was impressed by the look of it, well made and solid however I did notice what appears to be some very fine cracks in the plastic on the front panel which from reading other reports, may be a result of the manufacturing process. The inclusions and carry case are excellent. The manual is well written and easy to follow. I set some of the hidden parameters as recommended on various reviews on line (mine has 8820 firmware) and calibrated the MW. There are some adjustments I may still make, one being the DSP on/off but will play with that later. I had the opportunity to test against a Tecsun S2000, Tecsun PL310, a Tecsun PL660, A Sangean 909X, Sangean PR-D5 and a Degen 1103. The tests were carried out with the telescopic antennas and the ferrite rods of the radios, no external antennas were used. More comparative tests will be done later but on first impressions, the 880 performs well on MW and SW with pleasant audio. I used 15720khz RNZI for a quick daytime test on SW and 1170khz 2CH, one of my marker MW stations. FM hasn't been tested yet. All receivers were similar with perhaps the Degen 1103 outclassing the Tecsuns on SW. None of the radios came close to the Sangean PR-D5 on MW for performance. A function of the ferrite rod size. I will conduct further evening tests. Using the 880 is a joy, very straightforward to use. I agree with comments made about the Synch detector, not a patch on the Sony 2001D or the Tecsun PL660. I suspect it may have something to do with the DSP architecture this radio is designed around, much like the Sangean 909X. This radio isn't without its quirks nor is it a communications receiver but for a travel portable, it does what it's designed for very well. Would I recommend buying one? Short answer.... yes! I'm sure other firmware versions will be forthcoming over time which may iron out some of the minor foibles but overall, this radio shows great promise and a worthy inclusion in my collection.
KJ6MC Rating: 2014-01-05
Excellent $$$/Performance ratio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Much has been written about the shortcomings of this radio. No, it's not the performer that my Drake R8B is. But for casual on-the-go listening, it is quickly becoming one of my favorite portables. (Note- I did return the 8819 version for the 8820 firmware). The dual knob tuning system is a breeze for quickly locating, then zeroing in on ssb signals and the bandwidth selection does fairly good job of bringing in the "tough ones". Yes, the sync is useless, but it was never advertised as being available, so my expectations were low...and I wish it had a bigger ferrite MW antenna. But the sound and build quality are exceptional, and a offers great value for the price.
KB8DNS Rating: 2013-12-25
A good. potentially great receiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was waiting to buy for several reviews on this new offering from Tecsun, what changed my mind were a few You Tube videos. I own the PL-660 and that receiver is highly rated and I agree, so I was watching with interest, made my purchase after seeing the ability of tuning with a main and fine VFO.
One needs to remember this is a low cost general coverage receiver and very portable, the case is nicely made, this should make for well protected travel, about the size of a 7 inch tablet and about an inch thick. Fit and finish is very good and the knobs are not loose in any way. Button presses are firm and decent action.
The audio output is very good and reminds me of larger table top receivers of the old vacuum tube (valve) radios. Thanks to the push-pull output circuitry.
Tuning with the coarse and fine VFO knobs makes zeroing in on frequency a snap. These are easily made to zero beat through the use of menu-setting modes and are separate for USB and LSB. AM modes can be done is a similar fashion. Once set the rig stays right there.
The receiver has synchronous detection as part of the SSB but here is where there is a lacking. The SYNC is barely function-able. It poorly locks and when it does it has noise with the signal making it a pain to use, so I do not! Since the SSB is part of the SYNC BFO, it too has some weak signal drawbacks but it does work. I find the SSB to be good.
The signal meter along with a signal to noise ratio meter seems to be rather hard to follow than traditional meters of the needle and bar LCD/LED style. They are measured in decibels or dBμ. The signal meter readings are in a number scale where the higher the number, the more the signal strength, I have figured that a number of 34 would about equal an S9. It would seem that it follows the scale of a laboratory signal generator. The signal to noise meter S/N follows in a similar fashion where a higher number means more signal and less noise. This can be useful!
This receiver also has DSP included and this can be helpful but seems to work against the SYNC and SSB. The DSP also seems to have a bearing on the S/N meter. This can be turned off with a menu setting on button 6.
The muting can also be set through a menu set, this allows for less aggressiveness with adjacent frequency interference and seems to help with SYNC and more so with SSB.
A very nice feature are the settable band width filters, there are nine total, five for SSB and four for AM. These help tremendously with adjacent frequency spill over and clarity.
Mine is a firmware? version of 8820, many were sold as 8819 versions but recently can be upgraded to 8820 by Kaito with no charge but for the post. This may mean that the other problems can be adjusted through firmware.
The battery power is done with a Li-ion cell, the 18650. At 3.7 volts, one can have several hours of use on a charge and that takes about 5 to 6 hours. Using the switch-mode charger makes it un-listenable when monitoring the bands, FM is fine. I have ordered an extra for back-up and a charger is not far behind.
Overall the receiver is fun to use and with some fiddling, very usable. Just some refinements and it will be a super receiver
KI6WDZ Rating: 2013-12-09
Nicely done! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is an "initial impressions" review after using the radio for just over an hour. Mine shipped directly from Hong Kong so I had to change the AM step settings from 9 to 10, but the well written instructions made it easy. The reception seems at least on par with my previous PL-660. I like the changed layout of the tuning knobs. The deletion of the "air band" may bother some listeners, but I rarely used my previous radio for that. I've other radios that do a better job (vehicle mounted) of receiving the local air traffic. One really nice plus is the zippered slip cover included with the radio. It's quite substantial with good padding and will provide good protection for those times when I pack the radio with my luggage on business trips. The supplied long-wire antenna is quite simple but has a jack and a nice spool to wrap the wire around for storage. I'm a "happy camper" and look forward to lots of use!