TECSUN PL-660 Portable Shortwave FM/AM World Radio Compact Receiver Black(UK-PL660-Black))

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Changing settings often results in the radio “thinking” for a second or two, during which time it mutes the receiver. This phenomenon is most pronounced when changing modes (from AM to LSB, for example). I find it rather distracting. I suspect that authorities in countries like Saudi Arabia restricted its citizens from tuning into frequencies above 26.1 MHz on shortwave and lower than 88 MHz on FM band and perhaps listening to ham operators on HF. The survey had recordings from a total of three broadcasters: Radio Prague, WWV, and Radio France International.

Now, some cursory googling has shown a lot of people have had problems with this model of radio, and for the price they generally give up and get a new one. However, we generally take good care of our gear and the radios were gifts so we decided to see if we could do anything... Passive loops are great antennas on the shortwave bands–and easy to build–but they best serve ham radio operators who wish to transmit. Passive loops typically have a very narrow bandwidth that requires the operator to constantly tune the antenna when they tune the radio a few kHz. Most amplified wideband loops need no separate tuning mechanism.

PL-660 price

The AM bandwidth choices are useful but basic (down to 2.5) but when put in SYNC (even on MW) the SSB bandwidths of 0.5 1.2 2.2 3 & 4 become available along with tuning to the sideband – surely enough to single out a station? I like the control up and down the bandwidth choices with the volume control where on the PL-380 one had to press the BW button repeatedly to go through the options the volume control enables retrying two or three until satisfied. Simplest – cheap wire antenna (25-40 feet) ran out under your window sill – tied to line/paracord run thru pulley attached to tree limb – keep it above 6-8 feet to avoid clothes lining/harm. Attach by means of alligator clip to your portable telescoping whip (collapsed) I’ve also posted a medium-wave listener survey since many of you asked that I provide an evaluation of the medium-wave band.

The antenna is 90 inches tall; large loop diameter is 40 inches; and small loop diameter is 17 inches. The wiring is 14 gauge braided.It’s hot here in Louisiana, so I’d really like to tune the capacitor from inside my apartment, also using coax to connect the cap to the large loop. Will that work? Or does the cap have to connect directly to the large loop? Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marty Kraft, who asked that I share the following question with our community: The similarity is so striking, in fact, that I believe the PL-680 is the first radio I’ve ever turned on for the first time, only to find I immediately knew every function. I’m so familiar with the PL-660 that I could even use the PL-680 in the dark the first night I used it. I live in a ground-floor apartment, with a small porch, lots of RFI and restrictions against visible antennas. Also there are no trees within 75 ft of my porch, which faces on a parking lot. My radio is a Tecsun PL-660, which works okay inside with my 10-ft bare wire antenna hidden on the porch.

TECSUN PL-660 is a PLL AM Dual Conversion radio receiver for listening to FM, Longwave (LW), AM / Medium Wave (MW), Shortwave (SW) and VHF Air Band, and it is Single Sideband (SSB) capable. The recalibration seems to be available on both AM and FM on mine which leads me to conclude I have one of the later models. I noticed the frequencies on AM and FM are a little off on mine eg LM Radio is supposed to be on 702 KHz AM but is only clear when I select 705 KHz and on FM all stations are also off by a few digits. NOTE: As most users know by now, but some newer users may not, you cannot charge one of these radios – whether Tecsun or Sangean – using the mini-USB port and use them at the same time. . . there is just too much noise introduced from the charging process. If your new review has not been Approved after several days you can assume that it was found to not be within the product review T's&C's shown below during screening.The PL-880 also sports the most filter options of any other portable on the market. Indeed, in SSB mode, the filter can be narrowed all the way down to 500 hz, making this CW operator, at least, quite contented. I did some additional research on the PL-660 and found out that its Narrow and Wide AM selectable bandwidths are 10 and 18 kHz respectively. This is my first shortwave receiver with user adjustable bandwidth filters, therefore I don’t know if 10 kHz is not narrow enough for a Narrow filter.

To be fair, however, it’s worth noting that the Sangean performs admirably if connected to an external antenna. Again, I resisted connecting an external antenna in this particular series of tests because I believe a good portable radio’s performance should first be judged upon what it can receive with only its telescoping whip antenna, considering that, when traveling, it’s not always possible to use an external antenna. There is a downside to the improved sensitivity, however: the PL-680 has a slightly higher noise floor than the PL-660. This is mostly noticeable during weak-signal listening. Though I haven’t compared it yet, I’m willing to bet that the noise floor is comparable to that of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Personally, if increased sensitivity and stability means a slightly higher noise floor, I’m okay with that. I find that I listen better when the signal is stable and not fluttering/muting with every QSB trough.In case you’re not familiar with each of the contenders, a brief summary of each radio follows with an overview of the features that make it unique. Sangean ATS-909X As SWLing Post readers know, I have a huge radio collection – including premium receivers and portables, now nearly 100 in all. Newer models have the auto sort feature A well which is nice for eliminating duplicates and sorting your saved channels as well. Auto-sorting memory: sorting stored stations automatically according to meter band and frequency, removes duplicate stations. On Friday, I managed to set aside an hour to finally do a video comparison of the Digitech AR-1780 and the new XHDATA D-808.