Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Tecsun PL-990

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Tecsun PL-990
Reviews: 2MSRP: $525 AUD
Description:
Portable HF LW/MW/SW Receiver
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.tecsunradios.com.au/store/product/tecsun-pl990/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1524.5
VK3ZT Rating: 2022-12-11
Brilliant Portable LW/MW/SW Receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My goto MW/HF AM/SSB receiver is my beautiful Palstar R30A with the Palstar SP30A external speaker (no typo). Beautiful recovered AM modulation and does well on SSB. In conjunction with the Palstar I use a Kenwood HS-5 mono headphones when the listening becomes difficult.

Though when the going becomes tough for the Palstar R30A I have found myself pulling out of my fly away case with the Tecsun PL-990 receiver. The antenna I use for both receivers is an external Par Endfed SWL antenna mounted as a sloper up at eight metres. I have one Endfed running North South and another running West East. Switchable via a Diamond RF switch.

The PL-990 with its excellent filters and DSP digs the signals of a local, in my state, astronomy NET station out of the noise every time. Some times I can have a wonderful copy on the Palstar R30A. Then I grab the headphones for a closer listen. Not satisfied with all the low band noise on 80 metres I go for my Tecsun PL-990. It goes the extra distance and pulls the same astronomy NET station out of the noise every time.

The Palstar R30A may have a RST of 1,1,0 where the Tecsun with the same Kenwood HS-5 headphones will be a RST of 4,4,0. The signal can still fade away to a 2,2,0 though it is still fully understandable where it would not be on the Palstar R30A.

My pastor tells me I can not love a thing other than a person. (I am very fond of my Palstar R30A) I do not want to pack the Palstar away as I paid so much for it and the SP30A speaker from new. I am guilty of being a little nostalgic and enjoy the recovered AM modulation with the SP30A external speaker. Though when the rubber hits the road the Tecsun PL-990 wins every time.

On a side note when I do have the Tecsun PL-990 on the radio desk and listen to my normal AM SW BCB stations. The AM sync is marvellous. I would like to say to die for though it is comparable to my Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Though the Tecsun memory management eats the Sony for dinner.

If you are after a LW/MW/SW portable receiver that can play a dual roll as a desktop receiver. I will happily recommend the Tecsun PL-990 over the Sony and the Palstar R30A. I do own an Orion II. Though my shortwave radio of choice is the Palstar R30A as it has a soft spot in my heart. Though as I said, when the rubber hits the road. I open the aluminium fly away case which contains the Tecsun PL-990 every time.

In closing I am tempted to box the Palstar away and have a second Tecsun PL-990 for daily and nightly duties on the radio desk.

Also the recovered audio is lovely both through the headphones and its own built in speaker.

As a late edit. I much prefer the tuning and volume controls of the PL-990 over the Sony.

Warm regards,

Mitch.

I would like to update this review with the following recent comment. 11/12/2022

No Dove! If you are ex-military, you will understand this.

After years of relying on my FTdx101D and a 15m Parelectronics Endfed SWL antenna for listening on the 80 meter band for an Astronomy NET in Victoria, Australia (3,514kHz LSB).
After a recent move and the dear XYL not wishing for any HF wire antennas at the new QTH I found myself pleasantly surprised when I turned on the PL990 and listened to this net under a metal roof about 15 minutes drive further east closer to the source transmission which was still over 100klm away. I will be boxing the FTdx101D and keeping the PL-990. The signal strength was not as strong, though the quality of the AGC and DSP was better than the FTdx101D with the 15 meter endfed as was the case with the PL990 and the endfed. The stand alone telescopic antenna blew me away.
Absolutely BRILLIANT RADIO. It was like a solid local AM MW broadcast station. I am more of a listener these days than a talking DX'er and was incredibly surprised by the ability of the PL-990. Mine is the non (DX) model. The first of such radios to land in Oz.
I have two Tecsun batteries, and I always keep one charged via a Powertech Lithium single-cell battery charger powered by an Apple USB charger. I find the Apple chargers to be less RF noisy.
N5LAZ Rating: 2022-08-02
Only one issue - AGC distortion on SSB and CW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As a long time radio amateur spoiled by our excellent contemporary HF transceivers, my standards are high when it comes to SSB and CW reception; yours probably are too. The PL-990 falls somewhat short in this area. In these modes, I believe a singular issue, related to the AGC having too slow an attack, is an unfortunate circumstance. The leading edge of SSB transmissions are distorted, as is that first fraction of a second of CW. Then the AGC catches up and things are fine... until the next pause/transmission. The issue does not present on weak signals when the AGC may not be required.
Does this render the radio useless in these modes? To me - no. I can still easily understand what is being said and copy CW as my abilities allow. The anomaly can make reception in the communications modes a bit fatiguing, but this may be an aggravation you can live with if you take the balance of the radio into consideration. While SSB audio quality lacks - tuning is easy, precise, and stable. USB and LSB sidebands are selectable. In other words, the traditional shortcomings of SW portables when used for SSB/CW (poor precision and stability) has been overcome. It's very easy to tune to your station with the 10 Hz resolution fine tuning control. Filtering goes down to 500Hz so CW copy on a crowded band is easy.
FM, MW, SW BCB - all fine (except "Sync" which is poorly executed on this radio, but in my opinion, not important). The radio has a great sounding audio section with a low noise floor and a very good speaker. Ergonomics are superb and the radio is easy and very intuitive to use.
So, if you are looking for a primarily "communications receiver" that will spend most of its time in SSB or CW mode, you should probably look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a travel-sized rig to take along camping and such, where you will browse the SW and MW bands, try to locate a great FM station for some very nice sounding music, listen in on a few hams on SSB, then take in some code practice from W1AW, it will work just fine as long as you don't expect it to perform like your expensive base transceiver on the ham bands. To me, for its intended purpose (described above), it's great. If that pesky SSB/CW (momentary) distortion issue wasn't present I would give it a 5 star review. "Pesky", that's a good word for the issue. A detractor I have decided to live with within an otherwise very competent SSB/CW capability and overall fantastic, nice looking little radio.
I should make quick mention of the micro SD-card reader that is a part of the radio (card included). The purpose is to provide a music playback function for whatever you have placed on to the card (capable of holding many albums). I haven't tried this feature, but given the well engineered audio section, and stereo mode (for headphones), I expect it will get some use. Overall then, I would say the PL-990 offers much variety indeed; more than enough to make up for the SSB imperfections. To summarize, it delivers "fair" in SSB (by this ham's standards and expectations) and "excellent" in all other ways. It does a lot and thus provides quite a few quick and easy avenues for radio entertainment. It looks like a radio too - a smart one. That's part of it for me. It's inviting to pull out of my duffle bag and take for a spin.