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Reviews For: TECSUN PL-600

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : TECSUN PL-600
Reviews: 36MSRP: 85.00
Description:
FM STEREO/AM/SW/LW SSB DIGITAL WORLD BAND RECEIVER WITH 600 MEMORY PRESETS
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tecsun.com.cn/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15364.3
KB5AG Rating: 2009-12-20
more on my PL600 experiences Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My second PL-600 developed a habit of not receiving anything for a minute or so if it was cold. So, I bought a third one. And this one is distorted on AM again! Are they all like this? But I have a fix. The AM output from the receiver IC is too high. A 2k resistor from the right pin to ground makes it the same volume as the FM side, and everything is fine. After all this, the PL600 is still my favorite Chinese radio with SSB. The sound is great, reception is great, and it's fun to play with. I would choose one (with the resistor mod, of course) over a Degen 1103. Contact me if you need more details.
SWLPROJECT Rating: 2009-04-15
Great all around portable! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
While it's not an ICOM or Kenwood, it has all the basic features and ease of use that you can ask for. I opened this thing, and right away started pulling in all sorts of stations from all 4 bands! I'm fairly technologically inclined and have used similar radios before, so the only thing I had to use the manual for was to turn on LW and set the correct FM band length.

LW: Of course, there is hardly anything of practical use on here anymore, but I am able to get a few maritime beacons on 340 khz and 400 khz from Lexington, KY. I also have received some morse code switching to SSB, but usually only on very clear nights. An annoyance is that I receive a local AM Broadcast station (1310 k?) on 390 khz for some reason. As most know, these frequencies are prone to interference from static and other electronic devices. I live in a fairly dense residential and industrial area, so would like to try this out in a field or somewhere less populous. (4/5)

MW: Most reviews I've read of this is that the MW is the PL-600's weak point. They must have a bad radio. I can't tune 20khz without finding a new station, sometimes there are stations that are separated by only 10khz and this thing's selectivity has no problem with that. I started AM dxing with my ONKYO TX-303 receiver and could get San Antonio TX (800+ mi)and Ft. Worth TX (1000 mi). I was impressed with that. Well this beast pulls those in a whole lot clearer, and I can get Mexican stations in central KY! Canadian stations? No problem. Quebec comes in 20 khz from a local Lexington power house, no bleed over from the Lexington station. Drift is hardly noticeable, much less than any receiver or car stereo I've owned or operated. Even in the daytime, the band is packed. I can get KMOX (350+ miles) towards early evening, Cleveland OH, and many other 100-200 mile away stations frequently. (5/5)

FM: Again, the most sensitive BY far FM receiver I've ever played with. Incredible! There are stations I've picking up around here I never knew existed and I've lived here for 15 years. Daytime listening pulls in many 70+ mile stations. I can get 3+ Louisville stations with about a "3" on the S-meter all day. The fidelity is very clean, too. Even while I'm surrounded by many houses, factories, businesses and a power plant just a few miles down the road I can pull in a station every 400k apart, if not more!

SW: The reason I bought this radio. I am still amazed that I can listen to BBC with a 4 on the S-meter! Radio Habana, Radio China International, Middle eastern music on 9855 khz, a canadian time channel (7850 khz), Macedonian Music (7450 khz), CB channels, WWV's at 5, 10, and 15 MHz, many many more broadcast stations at the push of the button. With just the included 40 ft whip antenna! I even stored all the cb channels in the second memory page for easy scrolling through and listening to truckers and drunk people at night. Wide bandwidth helps for finding stations, once you get the locked, Narrow is better for eliminating noise.
People complain about the SSB, BFO stability? Not this one. I've listened to Hams from california, to texas, to new jersey. Some in spanish, some in french, plenty of RTTY and data transmissions. I find a new station almost every day. I really can't wait to take this to a farm somewhere and see how much more I can experience. The PL-600 does seem a little deaf around 2-3 meg, but I have been able to pick up some Broadcast and a couple hams here. (4.5/5)

Other comments: The included batteries seem to drain fairly quickly. The built in charge feature is excellent, but running off the wall wart introduces more static and 60hz hum than I'd like. That's why I built a 6 volt, 2000mah battery pack :). No hum, and about triple if not longer battery life! Memory functions took a little to get used to, but having multiple banks (pages) is a very useful feature. The wide / narrow bandwidth switch is a great feature that I use often. I love the frequency and tuning modes. I find myself using the slow tuning / knob the most. The up and down, fast setting is great for band scanning though. Direct entry is a huge plus as well when wanting to skip bands. The display is easy to understand and intuitive. I have never heard any heterodyning or squealing like on cheaper, digital PLL tuned radios.

Overall, the best portable I have ever used for under 100$! Shipped from China in just over a week for 65+20$ S&H! This radio has definitely started the radio bug in me. Overall, I'd give this radio a 4.5, but Im sure with a better antenna, the SW will be alot better, maybe warranting a 5!
PY4VFO Rating: 2009-03-11
excellent portable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I did not like it SSB, it is unstable, I compared with 7600GR(much better). But the LW,MW,SW and FM is superb.

73's
W2BYO Rating: 2009-02-22
Great portable SW Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just received the radio and like it very much.

SIXTEENTONS mentioned in his review that he was able to get a little airplane to appear in the display along with the aircraft band frequencies. How did he do that? I can't get it to appear.
SIXTEENTONS Rating: 2008-11-27
Excellent Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The PL600 comes in three colours, black and silver, both very nice, and a rather dull gunmetal grey. It is supplied with headphones, adaptor, travel wallet and batteries. It receives all frequencies from 100KHz to 30MHz. But not continuously if on the European setting of 9KHz medium wave bandwidth. Then it stops at 1620 KHz and doesn’t start again until 1711KHz. On the US setting it runs continuously. The radio can be tuned by direct entry, using the up and down buttons or a flywheel.

I received my parcel from China. I have the silver version. The mains adaptor is for a Chinese mains supply, so I purchased an adaptor plug from the seller. This works fine. It is supplied with 4 x 1000mah AA NI-mH batteries and the radio has a charging circuit. In Britain, German supermarket chain LIDL periodically sells 4 x 2500mAh AA NI-mH batteries for £1.99, so the batteries supplied stayed in their wrapping. The radio allows you to adjust the mAh rating of the batteries from 500 mAh up to 3000 mAh for the charging circuit. The 2500mAh batteries I use last a very long time before it is necessary to recharge.

It has an unusually large 100cm aerial. Listening on FM it pulls in stations unheard on any other radio in the house. Burgess Hill has its own small local station on 106.4MHz, a far stronger signal than anything else on the band, Littlehampton has a small station on 106.7MHz, that’s 25 miles away; yet the receiver is selective enough to distinguish between the two. Through headphones you can receive FM in stereo.

As for it’s shortwave section, it has a feature that mistakenly I overlooked when buying my first proper shortwave receiver 17 years ago, it has a proper Beat Frequency Oscillator, which can add the sound back to morse transmissions and stop conversations on Single Sideband being unintelligible or sounding like Donald Duck. Some people ask of shortwave receivers if they can receive marine fax transmissions. Attaching a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable from the radio to my computer and using Multipsk I could.

There is a feature not mentioned in the manual or the packing and I am not strictly sure if it works or not. When selecting bands you can get a little aeroplane appear in the receiver’s display and frequencies between 118MHz and 137MHz appear. Scanning is not possible, and I never have got to hear any aircraft transmissions.

What is particularly useful about the receiver is its use as a travel clock radio. The clock is very accurate. It loses only two seconds a day. You have two alarms. You must save the station and its volume into each alarm memory before use. As the clock is slightly slow if you want to wake up to news on the hour you can be sure you will. I found this useful in the Canaries as many pirate radio stations rebroadcast BBC Radio 2 before they start their proper broadcasts for the day.

There is a glaring omission in the manual and that is the receiver’s most useful feature. Hold down the button which has LW written underneath for a few seconds and the first bank of presets, with 99 positions, are filled with every FM and medium wave signal received. This is most useful in a strange town or country, when you can then flick through all local stations using the flywheel.

I have been very pleased with this radio. The manual might have been a bit more helpful, but at the price I doubt you will find a better radio.


F6GYY Rating: 2008-11-22
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have received th PL-600 portable receiver on the 18th of november from Hong Kong, in very good conditions. Congratulations to the Tecsun Company and to the developpers of the PL-600 receiver. I have been a radio amateur for 20 years , have used many receivers of different types and I can only
say the following :

- Superb design, light weight…. ( Display, buttons, functions => a real pleasure to operate )

- Very good layout , it took me about 10 minutes to operate the set on all bands an on all modes.

-Very good sensitivity and copy of the SSB signals.. I could hear a SSB station clearly
( a friend of mine, on Corsica Island ) 1000 miles away, in my bed… with the telescoping antenna…

- Rapid and easy tuning of the SSB Stations…good selectivity…

- Very clear reception of AM and FM broadcasting stations…with S-Meter indication.

- Practical charging of the internal batteries, with a control display…

Direct comparison has been made with a old Sony ICF-7600G. In SSB Mode, the PL-600 was as sensitive as the Sony, but with less noise. The SSB station on 80m, 1000 miles away , was clearer on the PL-600.

BFO adjustment is quicker on the PL-600, the big wheel control can move towards USB or LSB…. 1KHz or 10 KHz steps by the VFO-knob are also much more convenient than on the IC-7600G. S-meter readings on the PL-600 are also a big plus… The number of memories also…600 on the PL-600 !!!

The reloading of the internal Ni-H batteries can be done, with PL- 600 running on his ac-power adaptor…

In one word, I am very pleased => Well done Tecsun !!!