Two DE1102 radios tested together

 

Two DE1102 radios tested together

this is the 3rd and last radio from my other site

Test of two 1102 radios!

Above shown  the  new and the  older  items . The new model  is black coloured.

Aug 31, '09 10:06 PM

http://zlgr.multiply.com/reviews/item/94

Hello .

The last days of  2004  I received from Degen's int'l exporter Tecsun a new 1102 and a 1103. The 1102 is a gift to a beloved person. Checking a little the new 1102  several enhancements  found from the older item bought on Oct 2003 (it was one of the very first copies and bought from a different exporter ) 
LAst year's  model costed  US$32 plus shipping  The today's costs $45 plus shipping . Using standard mail it was received after 23 days.


Here are my results in concise:

VHF-II
Freq Accuracy VHF-II: new goes exact      old shift by 50 KHz  ( ie 105.5 is heard on 105.55)
VHF-II Images: 21.4 MHz same as with older model, same signal levels
VHF-II scanning has a stepping sound esp. in vacant band parts as lower FM in the new model. No stepping sound  during scan on older model.
Poppy  sounds  on several vacant  freqs on both.

MW:
all are the same .There is a poppy  sound on vacant frequencies in the new item

SW
SW images: on older  have been fond on 8 and 5.5 MHz using the external antenna Also same images with same level have been found in the new model
Preamp levels: same level as the older. Higher gains on lower bands
Overload  using external  antenna : The same

IF -passband
LED indicator is more 'sensitive' for same signals
Selectivity:  seems little better than older in both VHF and MW-SW . In older item the 5/10 kHz hets are audible, in newer not! It is posisble due to lower fidelity?

Audio
Fidelity: (FM mode )  Audio now suffers  from lower  fidelity. The very  high freqs are lower than older's
Volume: New: 3-4 bars less  than older  item for same level. Using full audio in older model , the  volume level on the new model is 5 bars.


Notices:
Parallel audio testing with their own earphones
Fidelity testing with Koss headphones UR20

As in result:
Degen   has made the model  with better  audio volume ( something  that i really wanted)  and lowering the  audio  fidelity (what i dont like) or adding  little higher selectivity. (I could prefer this)  with no difference to the remain specifications

Tivdio V115 mini radio

 .....which immediately was given to  the recipient

and a new unsuccessful order (update in the end )

I disregard as serious radio

In April this year (17) I had a query from a very good pal to  find a  small  radio and mp3 player recorder  .She  has a problem of dyslexia and possibly  this  radio could be a good solution  to bypass her problem.

Though I originally proposed her to order  for Q3 I thought then that  tivdio V115 model could be more suitable  for her for the reason that it shows the filename  instead of the serial  name Q3  shows .Hence this requires you to have a full  listing in print of all audio files are  included in the  memory to know exactly what you are listening. This was the main   to order it for her. For family reasons I preferred to order via express way advising  her otherwise i sold for her after one plus month later   She would pay the expenses once we meet her .More on this subject after. Its price is just15 GBP plus 10 for shipping.Tha time the selelr from Amazon was not affiliated with Tivdio nor Retevis.  

The radio had a funny  delivery curve. It was ordered  on Friday but dispatched the next ...Tuesday delivered  in Wednesday !  I cant understand why  delays happen for no reason. 

Immediately receiving it I made several tests and opened the very small box that included :

-OTG midi D cable for charging and connecting computer , the radio, Nokia compatible BL5C battery and 4GB  miroSD  inside the radio and earphones.

The radio is simply as  a old fashioned menu driven 'archaic' MP3 players of mid 2000   with all-band radio version SDR included and the "Chinglish font" used on the LCD display  proves it    .

 Her are some nice pictures of the radio :

A nice LCd display though seems nowadays very primitive

 

The  connections of the right [side of radio .
Headphones, line in with provided cable , microSD card
and micro-USB connection for charging and more

Most of the important mp3 information ,
Number and name of file , spectrum curve , equalization (jazz),
 playing point, song total time battery and file location on external Sd card

The radio set is little  smaller than the Tecsun PL380  and its features are as follows as  checked from its usage:

-FM - MW - SW radio . Its span is   68-108  MHz for FM 531-1620 for MW and  4.7-23 MHz for SW

-Micro USB socket for charging and computer  speaker as the product sheet  notices The speaker is less than1 Watt power (personal estimation)

-SD card  socket that can support up to 32 GB as per company’s information

-MP3 player with separate  'old fashioned' mp3 playback menu

-Separate general menu with ability  to change recording rates and folder  play.

-Voice and  line in recording or playback

-Operation while charging

 

Below  you will find the results of my tests after experimenting with this GBP15 radio with BL5C 1Ah  battery included  (shipping excluded of  10GBP).  They are written in just headlines in order to conserve space and writing time  due to other writing and family tasks currently in charge. There are comparisons between  Tecsun  models PL380  pocket radio ($44 price my main DSP pocket radio ) and Q3 voice and line-in recorder ($24 price both bought  from  anon.co previous years  )

 

Operation  on radio:

• FM :Fair to good reception nearby  PL380 ,  Needs full detached  antenna to have the best reception  results  Some signals are shown as 'dead' in case they are below the threshold level. Earphone cable greatly affects  reception even the antenna is fully detached! I think cable wire needs  receiver's isolation. Please  read below about stereo reception.
• -MW reception is rather poor to fair . I tested having much levels of internal noise that  greatly lower signal reception unless  signals are more than 26 db  as tested with PL380 that  translates into a fair to good signal   . High frequencies  with  nearly same sensitivity while lower frequencies lack both   . A  mini MW loop such as Tecsun AN200 can greatly  enhance  reception.
• -SW needs  for sure external antenna for better reception Radio's internal noise is introduced in all bands. Sensitivity seems close to PL380  .Some signals have lower audio than nominal possibly due to QRM .Bad detection ?. Does not overload with long wires inductively wound over the antenna as happens  with my PL380 .I m referring to my shack's  inverted V of 2x16 and a  nearly horizontal wire of 16 m. Still no overload  found if a lengthy  wire is connected to the radio's antenna. 5 KHz steps and abt 5 scan steps per sec. It scans  all the frequency  range .

 Pass band /selectivity/stereo  reception

• AM pass band  filter is quite wide close to 10kHz .That introduces QRM 'whistles' of 10kHz especially on shortwave and  can be heard (only?) using  the headphones
• FM pass band is also very wide. QRM can be caused  by strong stations as far as 200kHz Stereo sound reception for signals above 45 db with more than 20 dbS/N as shown the Tecsun radio. This translates  into  strong to local signals

 

Memories   : Once you add memories you can't  tune them unless  you enter the frequency or press  for bad scanning !Adding a memory is a bit weird . You have to press [5-memo] to activate  memory then press >|| for storing it! Separate memories  for each band to a total of ?? memories.

There  is also ATS fro automatic bands can  memorizing even the poor  signals as PL380 , starting  from 1 deleting any previous memories.

 

MP3 playback:

It plays MP3 and WMA formats for  nearly all  kbit rates .MY music collection has been  down sampled to 44 kHz WMA that is enough for my ears.  Let's  see if the company enhances the chip to be able  for mp4/aac  recording  or playback   as today's smartphones  do.

 

Operation menu

Music  menu is made by pressing >|| key for at least 3 seconds to adjust : folder  /play mode (repetition ) / equalizer (among 10  eq curves)

File name is shown. Very good for someone to know which mp3 file he listens. Q3 does not show  anything  except file's serial  number

It s very sad that  you have to press the key  as many times as requested until you find the requested song. I could prefer that   the company  corrects also this problem so that FF or REW  buttons can scroll the  mp3 files as happen  with other mp3 players.

 

Recording and playback:

• Separate  recording folders  per operation : fmrecord/lrecord/mrecord with format radxxxx/linexxxx and micxxxx named files.Here is a photo
  

• three  mp3 recording bitrates: 64  96 and 128 kbit referred as superfine.
• plugging the line in cable immediately  enters the line in mode.

Some 64 kb radio recordings in shortwave shown to have 'moving  panning'  . 'Sound point' can wander between  mid-left to mid-right channel instead of being always in middle as you hear it with head- or earphones  .

All recording rates and mods have good audio response identical to Q3  recordings, as tested later in my computer. That means the sound problem comes from radio's  internal amplifier as noticed below.

 

Audio :

Digital Volume change is smooth with 32 steps

The internal amplifier has a very bad design response adding trebles  and  totally lacking bass.   This reminds me the problem with the Tecsun  Q110 used for short time one month before . You need a bassy headphone to cope this lack. I also hope tat soon they adjust this problem.

Using the built in speaker audio seems nice  and sharp

 

Charging :

After complete  first time battery drain the battery seemed to be charged 'in full'  in less than 1 hour using a 2 Ah mains adaptor .The battery however was not fully charged and after removing and putting it back to the radio it charged  again for less than 30 minutes and still no fully charged . 
It thus bvecomes sure that lower power chargers are required, not above 1000mA
I finally used an external Nokia battery charger to charge it faster and better.

Playback time: 

I used for abt 3 hours in  low volume (5-11). it has also recorded around 6 hours with  zero volume four and half from shortwave and around two hours  on FM  before it shut down, saving the  file .

 

Verdict : For 15 GBP  including battery  the radio is real value for money with lots of features, aimed mainly  for entry or casual  listeners /users  . It needs only to have a redesign in the audio stages to correct  the lack of bass for headphones and by a way the AM recording problem though it is less important. Downsampling it with a computer program is recommended.

 

Any way it is intended to a very good but dyslexic friend , part time employee ,who needs it for listening to  voice clips  on selling techniques and translate Greek texts using the built in microphone. Her parents 'stolen' her Q3 for listening to traditional music leaving her without the player. This is the reason I bought the second player for her. I  prepared the memory for the Q3 with a very big audio collection with selling techniques from various free internet sources including   podcasts. I subscribed to several sales coaches especially for her.

Her audio and radio requirements are very low. She uses an extremely  bassy headphone from Degen. It adds of at least 9db awful spatial   bass and  very poor audio  fidelity that sounds perfect  for her but not me! I have used it once before and immediately removed from my heads   .She now uses it as  external speaker.

New model on 2018:

Tested a second item one year later , on June tht  was bought via the eBay for around 13Eu . The item has been sent in less than one month delivered to the  post office  and immediately tested with the  following problems

1. all bands  are full from internal noise . the noise overweights the reception even in the Fm band .On SW and MW it is so string that only ‘local’ signals can be heard . That means it has to be connected to antenna  so that the noise can tapped by the strong signals

2.Sound  fildelity is the same if not even poorer . Bass is totally missing comparing to the ‘linear’ Q3 . It s from the bad amplifier design. Some of the recordings made and heard later in the Q3 have shown   quite good audio but with unstable 'panning'.

3. The battery has been changed  from Nokia 5C to 5B   . Tthe only good idea as this offers  higher capacity.

Verdict: the  new version (?) I even worse than its relatively poor predecessor if not admitting for a total garbage. Item that "passed  QC" (???) and instead them  littering into the dustbin,is   promoted under low prices.After having contacted the seller for returning it , they prefered to refund me with nearly the total amount.The radio however has not been littered into dustbin.Instead i use it in random  as a backup radio used only with the AN200 antenna for MW and the magnetic SW antenna for shortwaves. It is good for making mini recption clips  or for time shifted listening to the news.

The magnetic loop

 

This is the mag loop  that has been  given by a ham radio operator, who designed it 3 years  ago and used not so often unless the weather was  good for outdoor reception .

In the start  i will  show several close up pictures of the so interesting   loop which is actually a Faraday loop.

The loop has been sent with all the parts packed in foam plastics to separate between.

The main loop has a circumference of ca 2 m and the secondary inductive loop is ca 40 cm and matches to the theory of Faraday loops This theory requires the secondary loop (Faraday loop ) to be the 1/5th of the main loop . It seems that the  supporting tube is raltively smaller than the required making the  loop in oval form but that really didn't matter  as its job is really very good as far as it meets its specifications.
 

The above picture shows a close up of the small inductive  Faraday loop. As you many see the joints of the  loop  made from RG58   cable are in reverse in order for the loop to work properly . What is not shown clearly here  is that also on the top of the sec loop there is also another cut area from the shield asnd protected with insulating tape.

The guy did a great job to make this design with nice plastic material for the axis including 'hratches' as we call the benders on the top of the loop .

The main cable is LMR400 as the maker of he loop advised me  with ca 2 m of length .

The above  picture shows the  capacitor base which is a  muλti-turn double  cap with a switch on the left upper part.

And this picture shows the base for the RG connector including a  banana socket should the base be used for uses other than this loop . I used it once with the 1 m square loop. 

And this is the last picture of the  mag loop showing the 'nippel' adaptor  system (fem to fem adaptor /bridge with two male plugs  )  for connecting  to portable shortwave radios thru the 3.9 mm plug.

After this  presentation  i  will notice my observations testing with several radios.

Range has been measured to  be between  8900- 29000 kHz for the fist capacitor &  5350-10100 KHz with the second (approximate frequencies ±150 kHz). Notice that there is an overlapped  band range.

Bandwidths  vary and here are some examples:

For 16 MHZ the range  is about 100 kHz

For 10 MHZ  is at 40 kHZ

For 8.9 MHz is below 30 kHz ...........using the lone condenser

For 8.2 mHz  is abt 200 kHz

For 6.8mHz  nearly same  (200 kHz )

For 5.6 MHZ about 50 kHz and less .............using both condensers

IN the overlapped band  range I prefer to use  the alone  condenser as the  twin condenser setup  offers lower Q (broader bandwidth)

This antenna as loop has the ability  to null out interferences as well as local  noise (QRN) His is inw of the reasons  i asked the antenna  from the radio amateur. The date i made this test there was not any significant QRN as for example 3 weeks  before , when a local machine (?) caused a  S7 noise across all  the bands (as tested with R75 ) that could not fully be nulled  out.

Still  this little  QRN could be  nulled out within 10 degs of turning the loop This has been  tested with 1102 and 1103 directly connected via the cable   My other 'cheap'  small radios  required a wire and female 3.5mm socket configuration to connect the one end to the ground and the other end to the antenna.Also a audio splitter  is required to separate the ground for the earphone otherwise no audio could be heard!

In contrast  to what i have been  noticed the loop can be used also inductively with small radios:
1. with the radio's antenna to inductively couple over the loop.

2. with a as thin as possible wire over the one part of the  big loop that can be then connected to the radio's antenna.This was my first on older times and the last experiment these days with it. And seems  to produce very good results .

This idea on the older times didn't work , but if a radio was connected  to the loop the above setup worked properly for remain radios. (all other radios that dont have plug socket ). I don't know if something happened to the cable but the loop  seems operating properly  .

The recent times the  loop was used (last and this year ) seems to work OK even a radio is not connected to it. The video below shows a demo of this inductive coupling tough that time the  antenna  was connected into the DE1103 radio

Verdict : 9/10 very good in its operation.

The only i don't know is to  which wire length this design  equals .The older times  i had the  idea  to redesign this antenna to include lower frequencies. My interest is mainly  between 4.5-15 MHz  a good idea is to double  the dimensions of this loop. The guy (radio amateur ) counter-proposed me to use a 3x1,5 mm cable (the typical cable for electricity connections) of ca 4 m length as loop and use the same capacitor system to tune it. I tested   this idea with the 1 m loop but found no results ....

(NEW )BTW  with kudos  to the designer he added me today  that the idea of the 3x1.5mm2 cable (3 wind looped form )after the making can be inductively coupled to the Faraday loop to be used for lower bands 

the blue texte are the new additions 

Unfortunately the loop was geting elder : the inner part of the Faraday loop has been cut and it was quite time consuming in my life to get it repaired> it can be rqiured either to  get it redesign it again or just repair it. However with the adtition of mthe new SDR itbe not be use this way ..

 

 

 

 

Testing a friend's PL880

The  previous days I had a discussion with a friend in a nearby place in the village and gave it to  me for making a review . He  bought it recently and used it for a short time but had no problem to give it to me for a some further testing for publication to return it after a short time .

The box was with full material: the   radio inside a leather box , the earphones a  wound antenna  and a cable to be connected for a supposedly ubiquitous as it is called  (?)USB  charger . Also there was  the documentation a big paper of ca 80x60  cm with all specs in a blitz with the rear side  showing the codes  of the world in a big map,seebelow for more

In this picture there are  all documentation including the  sheet with the  special adjustments from the keypad

The is included  a  very largre  shhet  with all operations of the  radio in the one side , with the amateur radio map that includes also codes ertc

The radio  has a very nice though quite narrow  designed  leather box for transferring

The radio has a nice design nearly same dimensions with oterh PL radios  but quite heavier . Its weight is 555 grams  measured with a kitchen scale

A close up of the panl at right . there is a tuning knob at the right , a fine tuning in middle and the volume control .ALso a tone switch an a light switch

on the left side there are a USB charging socket , line out , Headphones , attenuator and  antenna in.

here the  presentation ends and yo can read more about it in otehr sites as the purpopse of this page is to provide some important  i hope personal observations and comparisons to other radio i use mainly  comparative test with 1103 and 380

What I liked with this radio, it  has a 'analogue' volume control that behaves differently than the 380 and is close to 360

I didnt like that the  antenna  used has quite thin elements  that once fully  unfolded , the last withch is less than 1 mm think can easily break

AM Filters & tuning  :  there is a series of filters of 2.3 /3.5 / 5 and 9 kHz   which are close to the  PL380  of 1 /2 3 and 6 kHz respectively in terms if audio fidelity

• Bandwidths can be changed in htse 3 ways :  
• Using the b/w switch The   filters are changed in a up and down style ie  start from low  to hi then high to low and vice versa !
• Using the freq switch
• Using the fine tune switch
• Fine tuning is to 1 kHz
  
• Notice that  changing the freq in either tuning knob there is some 0.1-0.3  sec latency (blank audio )

SSB:

• In SSB  the filters use nearly the half  of the  bandwidth e 0.5 /1,2 /2.3/3.0/4 kHz
• The manner to change the bandwidths ar the same with AM
• Fine tuning is to 0.01 kHz
• Here is a ‘but’ in the situation : the filters  of 3 and 4 kHz  don’t   have any significant difference in audio fidelity and are close if not lower to 2 kHz !!
• Though  not easily recognized  there is a shift  from the exact freq by 130 HZ in both sidebands . ECSS  (fine tuning) to an Am signal )seems  to operate properly .There is a  technique to adjust it via the table provided  n he separate sheet
  

SYNCHRO :

• Synch  is a special  feature thought not operating properly in cases that the  signals have strong fading and a buzzer is quite apparent but locks quite well to the  signal (even with more than 200 Hz   there is no shift to audio )
• Once I tested  the synchro feature in a  SSB signal : ther result was a totally garbled sound
• I prefer to use  the ECSS technique (using the SSB totune ). It works much better for listening to signals more stable  

FM reception and  usage :

• The FM tune knob has a 0.1 MHZ  step  and the fine tune  knob uses  10 kHz
• The BW filter is the standard of all Silicon based radios  , I think it is ca 200 kHz
• The audio is pretty good but is a little less than  the 380’s fidelity if using earphones
  
• Reception  is ca the same with PL380 . But there is a  very nice advantage :the  audio level of the very poor signals  is the same with the strong signals , in contrast to the  PL3x0 series
• Attenuator  operates also in this band
• This is  the only Filter.  I could prefer to see a narrower filter !
• Earphone cable can affect reception . IN several cases  also the  hand over the radio can enhance reception of low  signals . But detaching  the  antenna to its  ful length can restore to better reception

MW reception and usage :

• Slightly better sensitivity over PL380 : tested in various frequencies (1503 810 and 567 )
• There are no  problems with self images as in PL380 that occur in several important Greek freqs as 1404 or 729  but still there are some carriers in other frequencies
• Attenuator operates in this bands too
• Synch also works in this band
  

LW

• IN contrast to PL600 ,and PL380  the 880 excels in reception on nights with clear signals even if the band is attenuated for more than 20 db in between 160-200. One of the nicest operations of this radio
• Attenuator  does affect the band a bit but not so much as in other bands
  
• Seen a fall of sensitivity in the range of 160-200 kHz. Just a few kHz  and the  radio's sensitivity restores
  

Shortwaves :

• NO overloads even using the 16 H antenna connected to the radio of the antenna on local nights
• Operates properly with the mag loop via the  3.9mm antenna plug
• Once you change a band the last  freqs remain of the band 
• I found several carriers
  

Speaker : The 880 is bassier than the 380 (380 is heard very sharp comparing to 380 , as the DE17  is heard comparing to PL380)

Earphone : The earphone included  tested with mine's AKG 909 loses trebles and has little more bass . Didn't  made any parallel listening for it btu just changed earphones  during listening  the same song

Result and verdict : 3.5-4 /5

The reasons (downs):

• could prefer the filters to be exact (unless  the  filters on the 380 ar more wide than the displayed!!)
• the SSB  modes have correct filtering eg 4kHz  to operate as 4khz (and better audio correspondingly)
• a second narrower FM filter could be a nice addition esp fr the FM DXers
  
• as for the synch is quite known  problem also mentioned in the yahoo group quite much (?)
• the high internal noise herd in all the bands (possibly problem from the internal analog  circuitry this happens also to the MW reception  of the PL380  )
  

The ups of this  radio:

• No SW overloads even the radio's antenna  is connected to the external antenna
  
• Nice FM audio normalization on all stations from the soft tune (something the very cheap De 17 has also for the SW) 
• Good LW reception better comparing to the vacancy of PL 600 and 380 

If you are member of the yahoo group https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Tecsun_PL-880  you can search some interesting material on the files including spectrum analysis for SSB and ECSS reception . I will not include any photos here It also includes the sheet with  the hidden  operations

BTW   the hidden features are  as follows:

• Adjustable FM De-emphasis  (no audio difference )
  
• Adjustable Line-Out Level
• Adjusting Muting Threshold
• Battery low voltage shutdown
• Digital Noise Reduction
• Force Receiver to accept LW/MW antennas into the external SW antenna jack (a complex 7-step process)
• MW and SSB Calibration
• Radio Run time
• Seconds on/off for clock

Tescun PL380 review

 

PL380  is one of my latest  catches   and comes two months before I  bought the De17  PL 380   replaces my older PL 200 which is used mainly as clock radio instead of a DX toy !

 

As with my all  reports this will be a comparative review   between  380 and several  oter radios  namely DE1102 and DE17

 

 

Design : its  design is superb .The model I have , has a black  colour and  buttons  are black  though very small. Frequency and volume controls  are both digital

Som e photos of it  with some info

 

Keyboard :

keyboard is a rather  thumbs  down  feature . Its buttons  are quite stff  and require some pressure to be activated .

Some buttons have second utility . as for example the button 2  can be used also for changing the 12 hour clock to 24 hour . M can be used also for battery charging . Button 1 can be used for setting between  68-108 and 87.5- 108  number  3 can be used between American (10 khz )and European 9 kHz  standard . FM /MW/LW and SWbuttons can be used also for ATS ie auto  tune and store

Light snooze lock keys time and alarm . i only use the local function when i ma not using the radio

Volume and  tuning control. Both are digital ie with steps  . Volume has 30 steps.

 

Earphone and power supply using D connector !The same is with other PL models

AM reception : 

 

MW  reception and sensitivity : MW   has  better sensitivity than the Degen 1102 as measured by parallel listening. Due to self AVC (auto volume control ) inner circuitry's  noise  is highly  amplified , though is quite softer  and lower than the DE17's  harsh  noise and is heard higher  than  the 1102’s inner noise .  It has the sense of the so called ‘pink’ noise . Although i don’t know  the circuitry I think it  could be possibly  still lowered  more either by replacing  the fist  preamplifier  with HEMT  technology (or is it Hemt??) or by using external MW loop antenna  such as An200 or my ‘basketena’ With little experiment , 380 did nt shown any real  enhancement except  for  the signal indications !

 

MW suppression : If there are nearby  stations  with strong signals , part of the MW band will be suppressed in terms of sensitivity or dynamic range, ie  becomes  less sensitive  . As for example there is  the University’s station on 1431 KHz of ca 500 W of power (not EIRP ) produces a signal of 78 dbμ in a distance of ca 1 km . This makes the  radio increase  the threshold to ca 40 db from the  nominal of 25 db  in the remain band . This  doesn’t happen  with  DE17 or DE 1126. this is another  thumbs down for this radio .

 

Frequency extension : PL380 offers extended  MW (531- 1710 kHz )we as  well as   extended Fm band (68-108 MHz ) This is very good for listening  to Greek pirates on MW and the Bulgarian TV audio on ………. Hz Please read below for a memory funny

 

Self hets : There are some  hets esp in the MW band  I found some on 729 1405 1603 635 

 

Long waves : I have not found  any signals in this band

 

AM filtering :  PL 380 is programmed  with filters of 6 4 3 2 and 1 kHz  .  I found that 6 kHz  fits only for strong and free of QRM signals (or good  for MW )  4 kHZ fits for more cases as well as  3 kHz , but  2and 1 only for difficult conditions. Could  prefer if BW  was  stored in memory .....

 

Fading pattern : due to soft  mute , fading is heard as more intense than 1102 . co channel fading  is heard faster than the nominal

 

Accurate S/N  ratio can be shown  only if proper filtering – clear from QRM  and hets -  is used . as for  example if a signal has  QRM or radio’s  self carriers  s/N readout is shown as zero . As filtering  is lowered S/N  gets  the correct  readout

I m still wondering if these filters  are really the  correct bandwidth. The 6 kHz  filter can receive signals of +- 5 khz  from the main freq  as  it was on freq !!

 

SW reception : the same applies to  Sw with the MW reception in regards of sensitivity and selectivity .

 

S meter : this is the reason i bought the radio. Rather  bizarre operation as the S level  depends on location height above ground  and the band of reception if measured on vacant  frequencies.

Please look  on thi page   for a better  definition

 

There are two  indications : S and S/N  standing for signal  and signal to noise  ratio 

 

There were many cases  the readout sticks  to one point or  number errors occur . IN order to be 'reset' you have to detach antenna or otr put  the radio to ground   so that the signal level drops to 'zero'  (this is  meant for SW bands )

 

Soft mute errors!!! Yes that can happen ! especially  if signal  is relatively low or the processor thinks that signal drops to soft mute levels .  Using the  technique   above  can restore radio's operation

 

ON some cases  it can overload. This can be  following the reset procedure as above and only in MY Olymp  (thresholds there are at last 35db in vacant freqs )

 

 

FM  reception :

PL380  seems again more sensitive than 1102. Audio  is 'clearer' than 1102 ie less bassy  and more  trebly (parallel listening with two Carefour ear bud sets )  . Parallel  listening  with DE17  and PL360  shown lower inner noise  than other models . Selectivity is very high so that  poor signals  in between  high power  signals  can be also received. Same as  with 1126  17 and  360 !

Could be also nice if a narrower filter is used  for more extreme  FM DXing

 

Fm  band  can be extended  from 88-108  to 68-108  using the … button while radio is off

 

Important  notice : as with most  DSP radios PL380  requires high S/N  rate  in order to decode properly stereo signals .The lowest  level for Fm decoding is 10 db S/N

 

 

Audio is  low for low signals (ie S/N  levels lower than 10 db due to soft mute ) and require several volume  steps in order to be heard OK External antenna  can greatly help  low signals without distorting  band reception  as tested with short wires

 

A memory funny : 

if you activate  extended frequency bands  as eg 68-108 instead  of 88-108 and memorize some freqs , and then revert back to the standard  band (88-108) , the out band  memories are hidden  from the mem scan  ! Reactivating  the  full band  the out f band memories  are once again  activated ! 

Same applies  to MW band .

 

 

Audio :  

PLL 380   has  30 digital volume steps.  Best  level with earphones is  5 to 8  This  level is very low with the built in speaker   though  can be heard with the same headphone  level if  your ear touches the speaker !   

 

In this range (5-8)  volume steps have big skips. The least volume  is at 9 -10  to be hjard in silent places .About 20  is required  

 

 Earphones : this  radio continues the tradition of most  Tecsun radios  with very low speaker  output and  high  earphone audio. Earphone audio level  is the same with ear touched to the  speaker!

 

Battery operation : Radio has really  very low battery consumption . With ca 1 hour  per day  , from the date pf receiving it (Feb 13 ) I  charged  the battery on mid August ! ‘Blinking battery level’ can be fully drained in ca 5 hours

 

Batteries : 3 batteries are included  brand Enelong (surely Chinese )of 2100 mAh

 

Memories : the radio has 550  memories separated by bands .

 

 

ETM : A very nice choice for  PL380  for collecting all  freqs in a given band . though  not very fast in scanning it collected nearly all the signals in the very congested FM band ! 

 

ATS : it is te same as with  ETM , but with  the diference that freqs  are steored into regular memories . Any previous  memories  are deleted  Therefore   prefer  to keep  my memories intact and use ETM  for freq  scanning. ETM  memories can also be memorized.

 

Verdict 8/10  radio  is superb in terms of functionality performance etc . It drawbacks  are the loss in sensitivity in case of string local signals the stiff keyboard and sometimes the  little crazy  reception (more esp in S unit terms ) that easily  can re restored

 

MY wishes:

- suppression to be corrected

- external antenna  connector as with 390

- line out or better  include a flash  memory for recording

 

 

 add on : (update )

 usage wit external antennas. as far as i tested  this radio is very prone to overloads or even to faulty signal reading. It has been tested both internally and externally. hat means it requires immediate separation  from the antenna  and again connect or even be induced with the external antenna  in order first to read correctly as well as play /listen correctly
(that  s very bad to me )

New info

Here are  photos of the audio spectrum in SW as heard in a DRM  signal and a FM bandwith recording

ALL PICS BELOW AS FROM THE GOO SITES PAGE AS FAR AS THEY ARE NOT REMOVED

6 kHz bandwidth	4 kHz bandwidth
3kHz bandwidth	2 kHz bandwidth
1kHz bandwidth	FM bandwidth in with local noise

Tecsun PL600vs550 comparre test

 as noticed the radio has already been given )

Here is a special article on how PL600 differs from  550 !

Last week  i took  the 550  from my relatives house for a short timed exhaustive check on  the similarities and the differences between them. Believe me  this radio  has many major and minor upgrades to 550  that seems  a rather different product! Also notice that my PL are   come from the earlierst bunches they made (ard 95 ?)

Look  at  both here! They seem as the same !

 

 

Just start from  the external design for the  differences  :

POWER LOCK TIMER  is for the 550 

POWER  TIME-SET TIMER 1 TIMER 2  for the 600

By this   way the lock button gets rid from here  (correct ! )and appears in another position ,later  shown. They put the  time set for  easier  time processing

Now on the display:

Here is the 550's LCd display:

And here is the 600's display

Nearly not so significant . ut there are  2 minor changes: The battery indicator on 550 is shown as graph  in the S meter while the indicator on the 600 is shown inside  the battery 

Now on the board :

550 :

600

and now on the remain 550 :
the image is turned by 90 degress:
knobs: tuning knob , antenna  tuner , volume
light snooze /tuning mode  ------- page /scan mode/if shift /bw&stereo 

and for the 600
tuning knob , BFO/ volume
light/snooze - tune fast slow & lock ------ preset- page- ssb- fm stereo& BW 

And now more on the  operation: 

0  600 memories instead of 550 !

1. ON the 600 you may add two more bands (mostly useless ! ) LW and AIR .
I have  tried several times  to listen to the AIR band after using my Yupi  scanner but still using strong signals  on the YUpi , nothing could be found on same freqs on 600 except  sometimes harmonics from shortwave stations. On LW  the signals  were very very poor !

2. Antenna switch : the switch  is rather and attenuator with more than 20 db in the normal  mode quite higher than the 550 . Tha means  all signals it can be used only in very strong signals. I just have to keep it on the DX mode

3. The MW  band sensitivity  that seems  quite poor on the 550 , is quite better on 600  though this is under discussion

4. The radio bands are here: full 150- 30000 mHz  in LW (150-500) MW (500-2000) SW(2000-30000)  78-108  for FM (adjustable  to 88-108) VHF  118-138 MHz with  AIR and LW firmware activated and vv.

5. The BFO here replaces  the 550's antenna tuner and operates together with the SSB button with a ca 3 kHz range. Did not test in full

6. The tuning knob has a very nice feeling Its tuning does not  have any gaps as in the 550 and is very smooth. Using the tuning button you select between fine tuning (1 kHz AM , 10 kHz FM) fast tuning (MW 9 or 10 / SW  5 / FM 100 kHz /VHF 50 kHz  ) and auto tuning (fast or slow depending on the speed )

7. Audio levels nearly same from ears and speaker . ON 550 audio was stronger on earphones

8. Audio Fidelity : 550  has better  fidelity in all cases :  Using speakers the 600  comes bassier in all cases . FM is very clear from speakers  for both  though 600 gives still  bassier audio. Using  earphones on FM, the quality  goes over 550  with more trebles.

9. AM filter bandwidths : 550  has broader bandwidths. A very strong station can be  listened 40 kHz far. narrower bandwidth increases  sensitivity . IN contrast the 600 has narrower  bandwidth and slightly decreases sensitivity.

10. Fm band images : 600 has lower image levels than  the 550 and  come from stringer signals only  . For example 79.2 mHz  comes from 100.6 . the 550 had stringer image or this station .

11. SW band images  : Images  on 600 are nearly nonexistent . A image signal of 550 on 4995  dd nt exist on 600 

12. Found that the correct freq for 600 is tuning off by -1 kHz ! 

13. The 550 had no good AGC . Strong stations  are heard  quite louder than the poorer. 

14.  550 upon start , while using ears  does a strong sound that might destroy the  ears. 600  solved this problem

About  radios sensitivity!

this is  still under discussion  as it was for easier to test 600 with 1102  than 550 !!! Using my diversity 'theorem' again here:

Two radios are used close to other. Their telescopic antennas are unfolded in  the same length / surface. Ear buds are connected into respective audio outs of radios one earbud is used for a head diversity  audio. First  audio  is determined by  a  strong and clear  station so that  both single ear buds generate a mono sounded audio in your head (i.e. at the center ).This is  what we can scale 5 at a scale of 1-9. For a very poor signal if an audio is stronger in the left  side will will rated from 1-4  and on the right side at 6-9 with 1 and 9 being the only sounded points. UNder this  theorem which audio is stronger , can mean  a higher sensitivity  towards  the corresponding radio.

Using this  theorem 600-550 were determined as 1-9 in this scale . I used the  Sandisk Fuze and the Koss 315  ears

MW band: this was  the most difficult as here this theory is invalid and required further scrutiny with diferrent reference audio stations (I used 1044 kHz a local station from ERA ) . BY a way both radios seemed to have the same sensitivity (though 600 signal indicator shown higher signals!) though as per the list below most signaling goes to 600 (with one reason 600  being bassier ):

530     2
576     3
648     4
801     4
900     2
1008   2
1133   6
1240   4

but extending it could lead to errors

SW band: here the problem  is less  difficult than the MW . I Used the 9420 kHz  as reference freq  to manage the diversity numbers . Using on start 1044 it lead me to some level of errors . A second point is that in all cases  i fine tuned  the ATU that lead  to some higher noise levels while looking at  nearly  marginal signals

3965    6
3985    5-7
4930    7
4940    5
5950    5
5975    7
6025    6
6030    8
6310    9
6976    8
7320    6
7480    4-6
9526    7
9895    8
11535    5
12095    5
13660    5
15110    5
15330    3
15745    6-7
17550    7
17560    9

Again here there was the problem of the bassy 600 that made the feeling of some shift  leftwards. As in result  from the above , 550 seems  having slightly (?) higher sensitivity  levels to 600 and in some cases  (bold numbers ) outperforms it.