Tecsun PL390

[radioman148]

Is there Radio's like Tecsun PL-390 under $20?

No. Unless someone sells you a used one on ebay - and I would be very wary of those.

That sort of technology will run you about $50, give or take. Which really is a bargain when you consider just how well these radios do. Under $20 basically gets you an analog portable such as the Sony ICF-38, Sony ICF-S10MK2, Sony SRF-59 (all three have gotten decent reviews) or a piece of crap from Coby which can be obtained at your local drug store.

Even the best $20 radio is not going to give you the sort of FM reception that you'll see with the likes of a Tecsun PL390. AM is a bit more debatable because I've read some raves about the AM reception on the SRF-59. The FM isn't going to impress. I have a couple of ICF-S10MK2s. They're great for the price, but really basic. My Tecsun PL310, PL606 or Grundig G8 will clobber it in any reception contest (especially FM). But they cost 4 times as much. So, the Sonys do seem to offer good value for the money.

I'd stay the heck away from anything with the Coby brand plastered on it.

I had a coby radio once. Worst piece of junk I ever had.

 

[MarioMania]

Ok, how about with FM selectivity for under $20??

 

[BRNout]

Ok, how about with FM selectivity for under $20??

FM selectivity is hard to obtain on the cheap. And the <$20 price point is a tough one. I'd have to reiterate the Sony range that I mentioned above. Not great, but less bleed than any other radios that I have seen in that price range.

OR, you peruse eBay and see if you can find a used version of a better radio. But you'll have to be VERY cautious doing that. There's a lot of junk out there, or at least equipment that requires repair and rework which I personally would never do. Maybe a disgruntled soul has an Insignia HD portable listed on there. Great selectivity. Still, same cautionary note applies - I'd worry whether the rechargeable battery still works.

I had a coby radio once. Worst piece of junk I ever had.

Ugh - my wife had one. What a POS!! Cheap, poorly made, lousy tuner, hilarious reception, lame sound. Basically a poster child for everything that's wrong with radio on the equipment side. But they're cheap and readily available in places like Walgreens, Rite Aid, Wal Mart, Target, etc. When we talk on this board about a "local grade" signal, we're talking about a signal that a Coby might actually pick up!

 

[nd2023]

I'll sell you an Insignia portable that has great reception but a broken screen for $20.

I bought a Coby portable radio about the size of the Insignia portable back in 2005. It was a waste of 9.99. First adjacent stations of equal strength that don't bleed onto each other on normal radios sounded like co-channel interference on the Coby radio. A station 40 miles away on 96.5 was heard clearly even at 96.8. I used it for one day and then left it in a public place for someone to steal. The next day I got the Eton E100 radio and that was a great radio that still works even today. I liked that it tuned in 0.05 mHz increments, so I could tune it directly to 87.75 to hear Pulse 87 or tune up or down 0.05 to get away from an adjacent. I don't use that one much because the Insignia portable is better. They don't make the Eton E100 anymore.

 

[ddsparxx]

All those positive things about the PL-390 I have read, including the Amazon consumer reviews, about has led me to buy one as well, especially if the 390 has less "soft muting" like on 310 and 606. I already got a PL-606. The supplied external SW/FM antenna appears to be useful but I probably would prefer the 390's longer whip. Now to wait for the 390 to arrive. Probably should have gotten the 390 in the first place, though I like the smaller size of 380/310/606 for taking along with me to beaches or hiking trails.

 

[ddsparxx]

My PL-390 has arrived today . The AM is even better than in my other DSP-based radios and FM sensitivity appears to be better as well. Haven't tried out the shortwave yet.

 

[nd2023]

This is about as sensitive as my Sony XDRF1HD with just the whip antenna! I wish it could decode RDS and HD, but other than that it's great.

 

[ddsparxx]

The Chinese companies (Tecsun, Redsun, any others) probably didn't plan to make their radios decode RDS and HD, probably would drive up costs of radios...

I found that the PL-390's sensitivity is good enough as I could hear Richmond's WRVA 1140 on the Blue Ridge Parkway west of Lynchburg, at a distance of about 115 miles away in the middle of the day.

 

[Darth_vader]

Hmmm...almost four pages and a month in, and still no-body has bothered to answer my question:

Does the PL390 have a single-sideband demodulator in it, or not?

Anyone?







Hellllooooooo??

 

[ddsparxx]

No, there's no SSB. Sorry.

 

[Dave-N2DS]

Hi Friends,
I also bought the Tecsun PL-390 from Amazon. It arrived at the beginning of this week. It is a very nice radio. Not sure if the FM is
that sensitive, but I don't listen to FM much. I mostly listen to MW. The radio is "friendly" to operate. I like all the tuning modes.
The ETM is a hoot.

I scanned the manual and put it up as a pdf on my homemade radios website. I made a high res and a smaller medium res versions
for anyone that is bandwidth impaired. Here is the link. Go down to PDF File Downloads to find the files.

http://makearadio.com/downloads/index.php

I think that most people would enjoy this radio very much. Thanks for the tip on this forum.

Best wishes.
Dave

 

[BRNout]

Not sure if the FM is
that sensitive, but I don't listen to FM much. I mostly listen to MW.

Dave, the PL-390 is supposedly one of the very best FM tuners ever sold in such an inexpensive package. Perhaps you should "play" with the FM side and compare it to your other radios before throwing in the towel like that. Based on other reviews, you've got a real jewel there that actually shines brightest on FM.

 

[spunker88]

Ive compared this unit to the DXers favorite the Sony XDR-F1HD.

On FM is doesn't soft mute on really weak signals like the Sony does which means you get to hear some weaker signals.
Its sensitivity is just about the same as the Sony. They both pick up weak signals really well thanks to their DSP chips.
The Sony wins on selectivity though. Once a signal gets over about 60dbu on the Tecsun you'll notice some adjacent channel signal bleed. Although a relatively weak signal on an adjacent channel will override the signal bleed. Its not much of an issue, its still more selective than most car radios. The only other bad thing about the Tecsun on FM is it takes a stronger signal to get stereo than the Sony does. Not really a concern as a DX radio since mono is fine, sometimes preferred since there is less noise.

The Tecsun is obviously a lot more portable than the Sony so its still worth it to get. Its just hard to beat the best is all.

 

[Dave-N2DS]

Dave, the PL-390 is supposedly one of the very best FM tuners ever sold in such an inexpensive package. Perhaps you should "play" with the FM side and compare it to your other radios before throwing in the towel like that. Based on other reviews, you've got a real jewel there that actually shines brightest on FM.

I believe you are right! I grabbed my Sony 7600 and put some new batteries in it. I then tuned around 88 to 90 doing my comparing. I found the Sony to be less selective than the Tecsun. But I would say that the Tecsun has a slight receiving advantage. Not real great but I could notice. I thought the FM band was more populated than I found on either radio. Perhaps I was thinking of some middle of the winter experience.

The Tecsun has become a favorite carry around the house radio. I just have to keep it a small distance from my computer when I am in this room.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up.

Dave

 

[radiorob2.0]

I have found the 390's kryptonite/Achilles heel, a high RF environment. I tried the radio at work with about 50 KW total power (two FM's and three LPTV) a few hundred feet away and the receiver is overwhelmed on all bands.

Regardless, away from a high RF environment the 390 is amazing for its size. The FM selectivity functions wonderfully. I haven't had good AM conditions due to the season but can't wait.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I have found the 390's kryptonite/Achilles heel, a high RF environment.

Same on the 310 (which I have). I live 50' from a 4.9KW FM station and the radio is not sensitive at all here...but when the FM station isn't on, 100+ mile FM signals are common using the built in whip. The selectivity is amazing. Does anyone have both a 310 and a 390? If so, is there any advantage to the 390 on either AM or FM?

 

[BRNout]

I have found the 390's kryptonite/Achilles heel, a high RF environment.

Same on the 310 (which I have). I live 50' from a 4.9KW FM station and the radio is not sensitive at all here...but when the FM station isn't on, 100+ mile FM signals are common using the built in whip. The selectivity is amazing. Does anyone have both a 310 and a 390? If so, is there any advantage to the 390 on either AM or FM?

I can agree with this too - and I think it's the DSP chip. If you're REALLY close to a powerful tx site, the chip seems to desense all over the band. And it's not just the Tecsun radios, but the Insignia NS-HD001 as well.

I have experienced this phenomenon twice: once right near the foot of a 4 FM tx tower in Arlington Heights, IL - my Insignia lost the ability to decode HD signals from anything but the one tower-based signal. And the rest of the band was weakened; even big Chicago signals came in weakly. Second time was in Farmington, CT when staying with a relative who lives in the shadow of the Rattlesnake Mountain towers which host several FM and TV signals. My Tecsun 310 and 606 radios both lost some of their normally incredible sensitivity. Not all, but they did not perform nearly as well as usual. Same goes for the Insignia (which I also had with me). Performance wasn't totally wiped out, but it was disappointing. I couldn't get nearly as many signals as I would have expected to. But when I went just a few miles away, all three performed up to their usually exceptional standards.

So there's definitely something to this and my suspicion is that it's how the DSP chip handles an RF overload. Both sites are bad for all radios, but a non-DSP radio will tend to send images across the band. The DSP radio simply blanks out the overload by desensitizing. It seems to take a really bad location right near a powerful transmitter to cause this to happen and not merely a strong local-grade signal.

 

[ddsparxx]

I haven't gone too close to an FM tower with a DSP radio yet, but I had noticed the significant amount of desensitivity with Pioneer car radios with the Supertuner IIID when I drive past FM towers that are located just along the road. It makes me wonder that DSP chip, if any, these Pioneers have.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

Yeah, that overload is quite annoying.  I also notice it on the AM band on the two DSP radios I have.  It even affects a portion of the band several miles from a couple 50kW stations, although not as severely as when I'm a couple hundred feet from their towers.  I even have a non-DSP Panasonic (PLL-tuned) that has poor selectivity (almost as bad as the Sony SRF-M37W) on AM and is slightly less sensitive.  However, I was able to get much better reception of some moderately distant stations on the Panasonic than on the Tecsun I tried.

Anyone know of any ultralight-sized (or comparably sized to something like the Sony SRF-59, Sangean DT-400W, etc) radios with a robust AM section for under $50-100?  There are often occasions when I'll want to hear (preferably at armchair level with full NRSC frequency response (or maybe wider - especially check out 1470 (skydrive seems to no longer let me link to individual files - an alternate site that does, has at least 25gb storage, nested folders, file permissions (including "unlisted" like picasa web albums has) would be welcomed)) without any splatter/blocking/desense) a station from twice as far as Radio-Locator's "fringe" 0.15mV/m contour during the day, while within a mile (or often within a couple hundred feet) of a first-adjacent (or 2nd-adjacent IBOC - would be 1st adjacent if IBOC was off) strong local.

 

[carmen]

Anyone know of any ultralight-sized (or comparably sized to something like the Sony SRF-59, Sangean DT-400W, etc) radios with a robust AM section for under $50-100?

a DDS-VFO softrock is probably the best reciever in under a hundred dollars range, personally i use a modified (+ AM!) lysdr on an atom board into an old shortwave reciever with a line-in as audio ampifier