▶ The Tecsun PL-330 at Amazon: amzn.to/2OD6qbR (paid link) As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There are no additional costs to you. ▶ The Tecsun PL-330 at eBay: bit.ly/TecsunPL330 (paid link) As an eBay Partner, I may be compensated if you make a purchase. There are no additional costs to you.
Just bought one on Amazon. I was a DXer from childhood until my thirties. Then my R 1000 and my ICF 7600 both died on me many years ago, so my hobby pretty much bit the dust. I'll have it before the pirates do their 4th of July antics.
I picked up a PL-330 because it is much smaller than my older PL-660 and no BFO fiddling and better battery life. I like it. I really can't have a SWL radio without SSB, but I'm also a ham so this is of interest. SSB also allows access to some interesting utility signals. I don't really use the sync feature, but I know it's something that Tecsun has always kind of struggled with.
I have both and I like them very much. Pl660 has very good ssb performance and operating it is a breathe. It's using AA batteries so I think it's a better option than the bl-5c battery. BTW I have modded the pl330 : replaced the ferrite antenna with a home made one (very good LW sensitivity now) and I have replaced the bl-5c With a 2500 mah li-ion battery. It requires removing the plastic which is under the battery. It should more than double the listening time of this fantastic little pocket radio.
Hej i think you gonna love the Tecsun PL-330 many nice features on this radio love it. And the sound from the speaker is so nice as Todderbert also mentions me also like compact radio devices take care and have a nice week.
Hej Todderbert thanks for the bandscan oh yes I am very happy with my Tecsun PL-330 in the short time I have had it. Tecsun PL-330 is absolutely a black little jewel and i agree with you it is worth every penny. And I'm surprised it does not cost more money considering what it can handle take care have a nice week.
Love this Small PL-330 it is one of my new Favorite Small Portables so many great features lots of Functions in such a small radio . Love my PL-990 also, these two radios are Must haves. On my wish list is, and I Cannot wait for the Production version and availability of the Tecsun H-501 to become available maybe by end of this year, this should be a Good Desktop radio from the reviews i have seen.
I just ordered the Tecsun S-2000 Earlier today my wife let me get just because my birthday is coming up and that was the only way I was able to coax her
Sync and ssb cleans up those fluttery signals if you haven't tried that yet. I've logged a lot of stations this way I couldn't ID in straight AM mode. Thanks for the bandscan Todd.
Just bought the new Tecsun radio the Tecsun PL-320 its a pretty cool radio and very similar to the Tecsun Pl-330 but I think the Tecsun Pl-320 is a good radio for the price
So. I am new to all this also.... Very interesting & I am anticipating ordering one of this model. Just curious.... Wouldn't your reception/ demo be better if you attached an antenna or at least extend the built in antenna? Thx, cheers
DG King It costs more but you can order a 450pf tuning capacitor, a 250 ft spool of 24 awg magnet wire, and try to find a large pizza box, then wrap a coil on the pizza box and you can make an incredible AM loop antenna that blows the AN-200 away. I made one with a 16 inch pizza box using 16 turns of magnet wire side by side and very slightly spaced. Two of my radio videos demonstrate it. There is static here from a bad insulator on a pole but my latest radio video showed the full power of the loop. Next I`m building one using a box nearly three feet tall and 30 inches wide a solar panel I just ordered will be in.
XEX is a “Los 40 Principales Mexico Station.” It does play music overnight. Try 1050 which is XEG. “La Ranchera del Monterrey.” Used to be a 100 kW station but I still like to listen to both. It’s a bit of cheating but I love listening to these stations on my Ocean Digital WR 210N internet radio. It does help. Your medium wave band scans are awesome. I still remember when I was with friends long ago when we would try to find a baseball or football game on the radio I was always asked to find it since I knew most of the stations across the MW band. If you try hard enough you will receive 800 from the Netherlands Antilles if it’s still available. I think that they cut their power back on this one, though. 900 is usually XEW if you receive Spanish on this frequency. I used to pick up every one of them. Used to be that 540, 730, 800, 900, 1050, and 1570 were all “lit up” at night... almost all night. Those were great times.
An Amateur's Call Sign will normally have their location. The broadcast radio stations usually give top of the hour Station IDs. You can then look them up, and determine the distance to those stations from your location. Shortwave will travel the farthest.
I have a question that's not really about the PL-330, but perhaps you can help. With my TV DVR, I often get into a "wait, what did he/she just say?" situation, and I can easily rewind by a few time increments to replay some portion of a program. I'd love to find an AM/FM radio that let's me do the same thing. Are you aware of any radios that have some kind of an audio equivalent of this DVR function? I don't want to record everything I hear, but having a "rewind" function would be awesome. Thanks in advance!
Hey Todderbert, I have a question. I would like to know how you can tune on shortwave go into USB or LSB and then go back to shortwave. What button should i press? Now i normally turn on FM button then slowly go to Shortwave which is the "
What are the four digit numbers in upper right corner above frequency after you finish adjusting the volume? Also, what brand of AC adapter/charger are you using to charge the battery?
The same as on an 880. This toggles between the time, an alarm time, a signal strength indicator ( in dBu/dB) tuning ratio, and when you shuttle through frequencies, it tells you the metre band. When the volume operates, it shows a volume value.
Hello Todd. Great review. Quick question - my local shop sell this radio with firmware 3506. Should be I concerned with bugs on that version of the firmware?
Mr todd, somebody saying in many reviews DSP radios hiding many faded signals especially at night time due to soft muting arrangement. So how we will get very long distant station like this digital radios for dixing ?
What would you say were the biggest jumps between the 330, the 660, and the 990? I'm trying to decide which one to get, and what you get for the money.
He was tuning a station on 660, had a 670 interferer, but tuned USB on Sync. You would want to tune the lower sideband in that case, since it's on the other side of 670, farther away. That's the way you do it. Then he did the opposite when trying to tune 710 with WOR on 700, he went on lower sideband. No!! get on the other side of the interfering station! So USB was what he should have tried.
Just bought one on Amazon. I was a DXer from childhood until my thirties. Then my R 1000 and my ICF 7600 both died on me many years ago, so my hobby pretty much bit the dust. I'll have it before the pirates do their 4th of July antics.
▶ The Tecsun PL-330 at Amazon: amzn.to/2OD6qbR
(paid link) As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There are no additional costs to you.
▶ The Tecsun PL-330 at eBay: bit.ly/TecsunPL330
(paid link) As an eBay Partner, I may be compensated if you make a purchase. There are no additional costs to you.
What a wonderful little set. I am mesmerized by mine. Amazing technology and features packed in such a compact package. Thank you for that bandscan!
Hej I agree with you I call my Tecsun PL-330 my little black jewel take care and have a nice week.
I say the same for mine
S small pl880
Very excited! I ordered a PL-330 today!
Nice you caught KMOX when airing one of my favorite programs of theirs: “Overnight America”.
Another great Tecsun PL-330 demo
Just bought one on Amazon. I was a DXer from childhood until my thirties. Then my R 1000 and my ICF 7600 both died on me many years ago, so my hobby pretty much bit the dust.
I'll have it before the pirates do their 4th of July antics.
I picked up a PL-330 because it is much smaller than my older PL-660 and no BFO fiddling and better battery life.
I like it. I really can't have a SWL radio without SSB, but I'm also a ham so this is of interest. SSB also allows access to some interesting utility signals.
I don't really use the sync feature, but I know it's something that Tecsun has always kind of struggled with.
I have both and I like them very much. Pl660 has very good ssb performance and operating it is a breathe. It's using AA batteries so I think it's a better option than the bl-5c battery. BTW I have modded the pl330 : replaced the ferrite antenna with a home made one (very good LW sensitivity now) and I have replaced the bl-5c With a 2500 mah li-ion battery. It requires removing the plastic which is under the battery. It should more than double the listening time of this fantastic little pocket radio.
I bought the Skywave SSB after your reviews and I love it .. This radio is next 👌
Hej i think you gonna love the Tecsun PL-330 many nice features on this radio love it. And the sound from the speaker is so nice as Todderbert also mentions me also like compact radio devices take care and have a nice week.
Hej Todderbert thanks for the bandscan oh yes I am very happy with my Tecsun PL-330 in the short time I have had it. Tecsun PL-330 is absolutely a black little jewel and i agree with you it is worth every penny. And I'm surprised it does not cost more money considering what it can handle take care have a nice week.
Love this Small PL-330 it is one of my new Favorite Small Portables so many great features lots of Functions in such a small radio . Love my PL-990 also, these two radios are Must haves. On my wish list is, and I Cannot wait for the Production version and availability of the Tecsun H-501 to become available maybe by end of this year, this should be a Good Desktop radio from the reviews i have seen.
I just ordered the Tecsun S-2000 Earlier today my wife let me get just because my birthday is coming up and that was the only way I was able to coax her
Sync and ssb cleans up those fluttery signals if you haven't tried that yet. I've logged a lot of stations this way I couldn't ID in straight AM mode. Thanks for the bandscan Todd.
It helps slightly with this radio.
Just bought the new Tecsun radio the Tecsun PL-320 its a pretty cool radio and very similar to the Tecsun Pl-330 but I think the Tecsun Pl-320 is a good radio for the price
For MW it should have a 6khz bandwidth selection, not 9khz, but no radio maker ever makes perfect decisions.
So. I am new to all this also.... Very interesting & I am anticipating ordering one of this model.
Just curious.... Wouldn't your reception/ demo be better if you attached an antenna or at least extend the built in antenna?
Thx, cheers
DG King It costs more but you can order a 450pf tuning capacitor, a 250 ft spool of 24 awg magnet wire, and try to find a large pizza box, then wrap a coil on the pizza box and you can make an incredible AM loop antenna that blows the AN-200 away. I made one with a 16 inch pizza box using 16 turns of magnet wire side by side and very slightly spaced. Two of my radio videos demonstrate it. There is static here from a bad insulator on a pole but my latest radio video showed the full power of the loop. Next I`m building one using a box nearly three feet tall and 30 inches wide a solar panel I just ordered will be in.
Hello yes I will buy the 330 for sure. Really enjoy the reviews. Thanks. RON Z. WA3090SWL.
Hi. I own the Tecsun PL310ET. Will you recommend to upgrade it with the PL-330? Thanks
17:04 730 is XEX from Mexico City, Mexico. It's a Spanish sports format.
That was a great catch! I absolutely love my PL-330.
XEX is a “Los 40 Principales Mexico Station.” It does play music overnight. Try 1050 which is XEG. “La Ranchera del Monterrey.” Used to be a 100 kW station but I still like to listen to both. It’s a bit of cheating but I love listening to these stations on my Ocean Digital WR 210N internet radio. It does help. Your medium wave band scans are awesome. I still remember when I was with friends long ago when we would try to find a baseball or football game on the radio I was always asked to find it since I knew most of the stations across the MW band. If you try hard enough you will receive 800 from the Netherlands Antilles if it’s still available. I think that they cut their power back on this one, though. 900 is usually XEW if you receive Spanish on this frequency. I used to pick up every one of them. Used to be that 540, 730, 800, 900, 1050, and 1570 were all “lit up” at night... almost all night. Those were great times.
Border blasters radio stations @@RJDA.Dakota
I'm new to all of this, but very
amazed. Is the radio telling him the distances?
An Amateur's Call Sign will normally have their location. The broadcast radio stations usually give top of the hour Station IDs. You can then look them up, and determine the distance to those stations from your location. Shortwave will travel the farthest.
I have a question that's not really about the PL-330, but perhaps you can help. With my TV DVR, I often get into a "wait, what did he/she just say?" situation, and I can easily rewind by a few time increments to replay some portion of a program. I'd love to find an AM/FM radio that let's me do the same thing. Are you aware of any radios that have some kind of an audio equivalent of this DVR function? I don't want to record everything I hear, but having a "rewind" function would be awesome. Thanks in advance!
there were a few radios back in the past with built i recorders. Now we use external recorders such as a Tecsun Q3.
@@todderbert Understood - thanks for the quick response!
Hey Todderbert, I have a question. I would like to know how you can tune on shortwave go into USB or LSB and then go back to shortwave. What button should i press? Now i normally turn on FM button then slowly go to Shortwave which is the "
Tap SSB/[SYNC] or LSB/USB buttons to Enter SSB mode. Tap the SSB/[SYNC] button to exit SSB mode.
@@todderbert thank you Todderbert.
What are the four digit numbers in upper right corner above frequency after you finish adjusting the volume? Also, what brand of AC adapter/charger are you using to charge the battery?
the numbers are a Signal Strength Indicator. I use a One Amp Charger from an old iPhone. The radio regulates the charge down to .400ma .
@@todderbert Ok. Thanks.
The same as on an 880. This toggles between the time, an alarm time, a signal strength indicator ( in dBu/dB) tuning ratio, and when you shuttle through frequencies, it tells you the metre band. When the volume operates, it shows a volume value.
Sounds like it has some internal digital pulsing noise on weak mw?
Tune 1khz off frequency to defeat soft mute. It stops that.
Hello Todd. Great review. Quick question - my local shop sell this radio with firmware 3506. Should be I concerned with bugs on that version of the firmware?
I think you are ok.
What is the constant changing 4 digit number in the top right corner?
Mr todd, somebody saying in many reviews DSP radios hiding many faded signals especially at night time due to soft muting arrangement. So how we will get very long distant station like this digital radios for dixing ?
if the signal stays strong you will.
AM bandwidth selection are odd: 2.5 kHz, 3.5 kHz, and then 9 kHz. What happened to 4, 5 and 6? 9 is too wide.
9 is fine for high performance and high fidelity MW band. But for shortwave 4 is tolerable but 2,3 is best.
Im in the market for a new radio, What is your favorite Tecsun for shortwave listening in the evening that is under 100bucks?
This one.
What would you say were the biggest jumps between the 330, the 660, and the 990? I'm trying to decide which one to get, and what you get for the money.
The 660 is a great radio because it has a three position gain control switch so you can use longer antennas
LW/MW
: 2.5, 3.5, and 9.0kHz. Can you confirm for me 9.0KHz BW is not available on shortwave AM and SSB
Pause on this Page, the bandwidths are the same listed in the manual: ruclips.net/video/_zPWhwpx6Gs/видео.html
I'm having a hard time deciding between, tecsun 330, 600, 365 or the Sony 7600Gr
Would appreciate any feedback 🙏
I personally would pick the Sony. Quality radio all around, just be careful with the antenna.
@@todderbert appreciate your feedback. Do you think it performs better than all the tecsuns I listed, on bands like SW MW SBB ? 🙏
Has anyone figured out how to upgrade the firmware should you buy one with older firmware or should a newer firmware come out.
As far as I know there's no way for users to upgrade the firmware. Looks like more dealers, including Amazon, now ship the latest firmware (v3305).
He was tuning a station on 660, had a 670 interferer, but tuned USB on Sync. You would want to tune the lower sideband in that case, since it's on the other side of 670, farther away. That's the way you do it. Then he did the opposite when trying to tune 710 with WOR on 700, he went on lower sideband. No!! get on the other side of the interfering station! So USB was what he should have tried.
is it ilegal to listen to ssb
no, it is a transmission and can be received. some countries may not allow you to listen to the air band though.
Just bought one on Amazon. I was a DXer from childhood until my thirties. Then my R 1000 and my ICF 7600 both died on me many years ago, so my hobby pretty much bit the dust.
I'll have it before the pirates do their 4th of July antics.