TECSUN PL-380 DSP FM Stereo. MW. SW. LW. World Band PLL Radio Receiver, LCD Display, ETM Function Added

I have been a shortwave listener for 61 years, an amateur radio operator for 32 years and did military communications for many years. I have owned receivers dating back to the 1920s most of which I worked on and enjoyed for many years. The reason I mention all of this is it might lend my review a little more weight than a review from someone who doesn't really know what they are talking about. I received the radio on Thursday and I put it through its paces for many hours on MW, SW and FM. I was really shocked by the performance on FM. It is better than my Sony 2010 on FM and bear in mind that the Sony cost about 8 times as much! I live in a horrible area for FM because there are mountains and hills in all 4 directions. What is called multipath distortion is caused by the station you are listening to bouncing its transmitted radio waves off the mountains and hills so they arrive at your radio at different times and angles. This little radio gives me a perfectly clear signal from Portland, Maine which is 65 miles away. My Grundig YB400 pe cannot quite do that and neither can my Sony 2010. On FM the only other portable I have which can get this station cleanly is my Sangean ATS 909 Deluxe which cost $ 289.95. I had mods done to the Sangean which cost me 50 bucks so it was worth it. The Tecsun is $ 46 dollars and it is really a keeper. The SW performance is stellar at this price point and the variable bandwidth feature is great! On MW I know there is a station in Cuba on 530 Khz and the Tecsun was picking it up about an hour ago very faintly which is surprising as I live 85 miles from Canada. I set it near my Tecsun AN-200 MW loop antenna and the Tecsun pair really hauled the signal up enough so I was able to hear it quite well. A word on some of the radio reviews and I perceive a lack of logic in quite a few. For instance the criticism that an external antenna cannot be hooked up to this radio. Wrong! One reviewer said that some of his other models of portables overload when he attaches an outside antenna. Either shorten the antenna or take and inductively couple it to the whip. It is a simple fix so do some research on radio sites if you are interested. On Youtube one reviewer said he liked this radio but then said the only negative was that it doesn't receive ssb signals. Balderdash! You wouldn't buy this radio if you want ssb capability so that is not a negative! That really is a stupid statement. It wasn't designed for ssb as it is an entertainment broadcast radio and the engineers did a great job with this little treasure. Oh yes, I once reviewed a model airplane and it was a four engine model and I really loved it. The only negative was that it couldn't maneuver near as well as my buddy's Mitsubishi Zero. See what I mean about nonsense? I am extremely impressed with this little gem and it came with an English instruction manual and a one year warranty. If the radio all of a sudden refuses to turn on with good batteries, take the batteries out of the radio and after 30 minutes or so put them back in. In winter in colder climates the air can be very dry and there is a lot of static around. A tiny static pulse from just having the radio near a miniscule charge can lock up the circuitry. What you have done is a reset and hopefully that will fix it. It has happened to me with my 350 dollar Sony 2010 so don't blame the radio as it is sometimes normal with any radios that have memory chips in them. Today I went to turn on my new PL 380 and it was dead. Did a reset and now just picked up Cuba on 530 Khz a few minutes ago barefoot without the Tecsun loop. Amazing for such a small 46 dollar radio. Oh yes, I think the audio produced by this radio is excellent and can fill a decent sized room. Have fun, read the manual and remember to do a reset if it locks up!

This radio has an amazing set of features for its size. The Silicon Labs radio receiver chip which does anolog to digital conversion off the air. Once the signal is in the digital domain, the DSP portion of the chip can do filtering and other cool stuff giving you better sound than a radio this size should. The ETM (Easy Tuning Mode) button lets you scan the band and automatically store each frequency that has good signal strength and noise floor into a memory channel which is band specific. So if you take it out of town you press ETM and in a few seconds the memories for that band are filled with local stations. It has a full numeric keypad so you can key frequencies directly or you can use the tuning know. The VM button(VFO Memory mode) you dial the tuning knob and it only tunes stations that were found on the scan. The DISPLAY button shows the current time and the wake up ALARM time or the TEMPERATURE when the radio is off. It can also show the SIGNAL STRENGTH in dBu and NOISE LEVEL in dB as a number (as opposed to an old style analog gauge) when the radio is on. You can change the temp to be in C or F as well as set the band step to 9KHz or 10KHz which also changes the band's range. You can use the POWER button to turn radio ON as well as set the time before the radio automatically shuts off. I set mine to shut off after 30 minutes. If I'm still listening and it powers off, I just turn it on again. There is a DISPLAY light button that turns the light on, but turning on the light is hardly necessary because the display comes on anytime you touch the tuning knob. The BW button changes the bandwidth which is often done with a switch on other radios but software handles this button and you can change the bandwidth from 6KHz to 1KHz. The narrower bandwidth makes the sound a little flat but can limit the amount of background noise considerably. BW only works on AM and SW. The MW button can switch the radio to AM mode (also called MW) and LW (Long Wave) mode which is 153-513KHz. I haven't heard anything here but I imagine you need a much longer antenna to pick up long wave. FM reception is exceptionally clean. You can switch a stereo station to mono I suppose it gets better quality. With headphones you get great stereo imaging. Sound is about as good as you can expect for such a small speaker and is quite acceptable. It uses 3 AA batteries which I prefer to propitiatory or oddball lithiums. I've owned this radio for over a month and have used it extensively. Battery life is exceptional and so far I have not replaced the alkaline batteries yet. I read it can get up to 70 hours but that is probably on earphones. It has the ability to recharge via USB connection but the alkalines last so long that I'm conveniently wasteful here. A USB cable is provided but not a wall wart charger. It comes with a nice little carrying pouch, cheapy earphones and a clip on wire antenna that clips to the telescoping antenna. There is no antenna input socket. The radio has a built-in AM antenna so the telescoping antenna only works on FM and SW. I do have some minor complaints. There is a very slight bit of a speaker whine on weaker AM stations. I'm not sure if it is because everything in my house radiates RF or if it is caused by the radio. I tried to tune a very weak FM station that my Tecsun PL-660 picks up but the PL380 does not hear anything even when clipped to a long wire. So its big brother is definitely better at some reception. I got my PL-380 for approximately 1/2 the purchase price of the PL-660 and that makes it a real good value. If you want a Cadillac and can afford the extra cost, weight, size, or you want to listen to SSB or air traffic, get the PL-660. If small size, low cost, long battery life and very decent AM/FM/SW reception are what you need, the PL-380 is an excellent choice. Tecsun is made in China and both of these radios are exceptionally well made - far better than their pricing would suggest. The PL380 has become my travel radio and also I use it in the kitchen.

I just received the Tecsun PL-380 radio and I'm pleased - very pleased. The radio is small, and comes with a bunch of advanced features, but those features may frustrate a user who is just looking for a shirt pocket radio. Using ANY of the features will require that you open the 30 page manual to use the radio because they aren't obvious at first glance, but with a little effort and experience, you'll see there is a coherent user interface to the radio. The radio I received came in a sealed plastic bag with all the accessories. At the low price point for the PL-380, the bulk packaging is understandable, but may disappoint buyers looking for a nice box if the radio is intended as a gift. In the bag, there's the radio, a custom fitted zippered storage bag, an English manual, a clip-on external antenna, and an especially nice set of stereo ear bud headphones with a small storage pouch. All the gear in the bag was clean and well made. The English manual is usable, and had all the information I needed to get the radio up and running, but the manual and its illustrations are small and somewhat difficult to read. In addition, some of the wording (probably translated from Chinese to English) is awkward but not completely incomprehensible. Just stick with it, and don't get too frustrated. It may take two or three readings before all the functions become clear to you, but eventually, you should start feeling comfortable with the controls. Many of the buttons have alternate uses, or need to be configured before they start working the way you suppose they should work. As an example, out of the bag, the radio was configured for 9kHz steps between AM (or MW) stations. The U.S. and Ecuador where I live use 10kHz steps, and there's a button on the number '3' that says 9/10kHz. I pressed it repeatedly, but only when I got to page eighteen of the thirty page manual did I find out that the button only works when the power on the radio was switched off. The table of contents only listed page 18 as "System Settings" without sub-headings of what those settings might do. Once you have the radio configured for your locale and preferences, you'll be able to concentrate on the features that make the radio fun and easy to use. One thing that the PL-380 makes easy to do is tuning, but even it requires a bit of reading to operate initially. There's a tuning knob on the side of the radio, but it can tune either the radio frequency, or it can be used to switch station by station through the preset memories. The mode of the tuning knob is controlled by the buttons, 'VF' (View Frequency) or 'VM' (View Memory). There's no indication on the display which mode you're in, but a click of the tuning knob makes it obvious that either the frequency or the preset memory has changed, and you can press the a button for the function you intended for the tuning knob. Once you understand the dual use of the tuning knob, the radio becomes a whole lot easier to operate. Automatically memorizing stations and presetting them is easy. Just select a band, FM, AM, etc., and hold down the button, and the ATS (Automatic Tuning Storage) will kick in and start memorizing stations for you. This method will store up to 550 stations for you, 100 each in FM, AM (MW), and LW, and 250 in Shortwave. If you're traveling, or if you want to check what stations are currently available, the ETM (Easy Tuning Mode) lets you scan all the stations that are currently available without changing your presets. It's easy and fast except for on shortwave where it scans the entire shortwave band which can take five minutes or so. Once scanned, you can hop from pre-scanned station to station with just a single click of the tuning knob. The radio also has a clock, sleep timer, and a two-way alarm. You can wake to a radio station or an electronic beep, but the manual cautions you that if you select waking to a radio station, be sure the radio station will be audible when the alarm activates. (A real concern if you select a shortwave station.) To be absolutely sure you wake up, the electronic beep may be your best option. There are several other feature described in the manual that may be of use to you. The radio can be made to display the signal to noise ratio and signal strength of a station. It can use a mini USB charger as an external power supply or it can charge Nickle Metal Hydride rechargeable batteries. The radio can receive LW (Long Wave) broadcast provided they're available in your region, but that's another configuration option you'll need to read about in the Configuration Settings before it works. The FM reception is very good, and if you enable the stereo headphones, the sound is very good. The built-in mono speaker is acceptable, but it's not hi-fi. AM reception is pretty good too. Shortwave is hit or miss, but that's the nature of shortwave. During the evening, using the ATS system, the radio found 55 stations, and several had reasonably good reception. During the day, no stations were found even with the external antenna attached. Here in Cuenca, Ecuador, I didn't find a single long wave station night or day. Long wave may work somewhere in the world, but not here. If you're looking for an small pocket sized radio with advanced features, the Tecsun PL-380 is worth looking at especially at the price. You'll get a good set of stereo ear buds, a very good FM radio and very usable AM radio, and some clock radio features. You'll also have the option of listening to shortwave radio, at least at night.

This radio was shipped quickly and well cushioned with air packs along with a few other items. I received it “on time” as promised, and even had a follow up email from the Hossen Company who was the distributor of this product. I think both the distributor and producer of this item is committed to customer satisfaction. I would not hesitate to make future purchases from them. This is a superb little radio. Small and lightweight; it’s easily carried in a day pack, briefcase, or flight bag. It’s also very well designed and has lot’s of features which, although I've not seen on other radios, surpass your expectations of past portable shortwave radios. I’m very impressed with this radio although I've only had it around two weeks. This is not your usual “small shortwave radio”. The feature I find most pleasing is the ETM (easy tune mode). It’s a remarkable scanning mode which automatically stores busy frequencies into a specific memory bank. The ETM mode can scan the entire spectrum available in the radio. There are five hundred possible stations which can be stored using this, and other modes, all at the push of one button. There are also several other scanning and memory possibilities. Of course, you can “manually” turn the tuning knob but you can also enter the frequencies with the keypad. You can scan individual segments of the bands or you can capture busy frequencies and place in memory mode, or delete as you choose. Once in memory mode, moving the tuning dial brings the frequencies into a convenient display and a quick recall. This is VERY nice! Sensitivity is good and also selectivity. It has surprising good audio from such a small speaker. FM stereo is very good with the accompanying ear buds. The "digital signal processing" makes the sound quality a joy to hear on all the bands and the “pitch” can be custom tuned by increasing or decreasing bandwidth. The addition of the external antenna doesn't seem to overload the “front end” of the receiver. The AM and FM bands are both surprisingly good. I find this receiver to have all the features, and much more, than most more expensive models. I’ve previously owned small Sony, Sangean, and Toshiba brands costing twice as much as this model. This radio is an excellent choice for the money and doesn’t lack any amenities. It has alarm, both buzzer and radio, or sleep and snooze modes, which work well. Time displays can be set for either twelve or twenty four hour modes. The display mode also shows signal strength and signal to noise levels, and also displays the current temperature. The choice of tuning steps for American or European AM stations determine the Celsius or Fahrenheit choice and is done automatically. My only complaint about this radio is the manual that came with the radio. I was in a bit of a panic when I first viewed it, since it was, for the most part, written in a different language. I easily printed out an English version which I found on the web. Don’t be overly alarmed when you view it for the first time. Take the time to read it carefully to utilize all the great features of this radio. It’s adequate, although not perfect to our way of thought. All the features are easily grasped by reading the English version. Take the time to do so, and you will realize just how great this small radio performs. It’s a jewel as far as I’m concerning.

Really pleased with this amazing radio. Won't rehash the content of other reviews but will mention a couple of things that I find most notable. I'm a radio amateur and an SBE CPBE broadcast engineer. FM performance is outstanding. One reason for this is that the radio dynamically adjusts the detected bandwidth according to signal strength. This so far unmentioned behavior results in a major threshold enhancement plus essentially eliminates adjacent channel splatter. As well the high resolution "dBu" and "dB S/N" signal strength indication is handy for snap signal comparisons among FM stations. Due to design sophistication the PL-380 FM performance is very noticeably better than my Kaito KA1102, which was already quite good. I saw that very strong nearby FM signals can desense the front end of both receivers, but that hasn't been a practical issue so far. AM band performance is good, plus the adjustable bandwidth is a great touch. The KA1102 may be just slightly more sensitive on AM, but both radios are very adequate in my opinion. Plus again there's the handy nuanced PL-380 signal strength indication. SW performance is very good. The PL-380 is noticeably more sensitive than my KA1102 plus the bandwidth is adjustable as with AM. The KA1102 does have a functional BFO so CW and SSB reception is possible, but I very seldom use that, so it wasn't a consideration. The PL-380 is the hotter receiver. On LW the PL-380 is very insensitive, but that's not a practical issue. I can't get a single aircraft beacon station on it and can with other receivers. Probably works OK in those countries with LW broadcasting as those stations are often very powerful. The PL-380 is far easier to use in hand than the Kaito. The tuning arrangement is extremely convenient and better thought out than that of my Kaito 1102. The PL 380 speaker audio quality is acceptable. When you shop Tecsun radios note that not all models use the SiLabs receiver chip as this one does. The behavior I describe applies to the Tecsun full DSP models with that ingenious chip. I haven't used the PL-380 long enough away from the batteries, but I can tell you that the KA1102 with three 2Ah AA batteries will only run a small matter of hours before recharge is necessary. It's a serious power hog. The KA1102 is not the radio to take on a multi-day backwoods trip. However, others report that the PL-380 has very good battery life. It should since it is a far simpler design. The bottom line is that I like the PL-380 so much more than my two Kaito KA1102 radios that I've set the latter around the house as little local radios and will be using the PL-380 as my primary portable. My KA1102's are a 10 year old design that has been overtaken in the march of technology.

This could be an amazing little radio, but it also holds some real disappointments. First, the good: With a DSP stage, this radio offers FIVE useful bandwidth settings with “brick wall” roll off characteristics. My $1200 pre-DSP set isn’t as good in that regard. The upshot is that you get the ability to pull weak and ragged signals out of a noisy, congested band better than most radios. The DSP also provides the linearity needed to eliminate the audible grunge that’s a by-product of the old school diode detectors. Along with that comes a more graceful handling of selective fading. When listening to distant signals, these are huge pluses. The ability to defeat stereo on FM is an unexpected bonus. Monaural FM is cleaner when signals are weak. Many times I’ve had to give up on an interesting FM broadcast while driving because— my expensive car stereo doesn’t allow me to defeat stereo in order to carry a station for an extra 30 miles. I live 2.5 miles from a 50,000 AM transmitter, so I really can’t complain when a $50 portable overloads and ALL the shortwave bands suffer for it. Well, I can complain a little because my $19 cheapie AM/FM portable DOESN’T have this problem. Hmm. The special tuning modes are gimmicky and a waste of time for me. So, I was delighted to find the familiar thumbwheel tuning and volume controls. They have detents, no less, in order to tune easily from channel to channel. Except that you CAN’T do this!! First, the controls work backwards. So you need to turn them counter-clockwise to tune upward in frequency or to increase the volume. What invariably happens is, your instincts fail you and you get the opposite response to your control input. Imagine if the left- and right-clicks of your computer were flipped. Try to deal with that all day! Here’s the greatest disappointment of all. To move up or down by one channel, you have to run through 10 detects on the thumb wheel (20 detents per FM channel). If you lose patience and do this too quickly, the tuning rates jumps to 10X and you’ll hop over a couple of channels. If you only care about a few local stations, this won’t bother you. If you are happy to jump directly to particular frequencies of interest while ignoring the other stations, you’ll be happy with this radio. However, if you like to explore, stepping channel-by-channel in a search of something interesting, this poor design will frustrate and disappoint. You’ll be fighting this radio all the way. With care and patience, this radio will clearly pull in stations from many states away and from foreign countries around the world. Just understand, what you hear will vary hugely from time to time and from location to location. The clarity can be surprisingly good or you may need to concentrate. It can be a treat and a thrill to know you’re picking up a signal from a distant or exotic location without the help of the Internet. Ending on a positive, for $50, buying the PL-380 isn’t a mistake. If you’re a young person destined to be bitten by the shortwave bug, you’ll look back fondly on your first radio if it’s this one.

Great value: Just bought the PL 380 and it arrived via Amazon today. So far I'm very pleased, used the ETM feature tonight for a quick scan on all bands (except LW). Received about 10 hits on SW, and a slew of AM/FM stations. The only drawback to the ETM feature is that it may bypass the weaker stations particularly SW, however with manual tuning I was able to locate several other SW stations. However the ETM seemed to capture nearly all of the AM/FM in the Chicago area. (I scanned for the stations outside about 7pm on the 2nd. of Jan.) The only thing I could compare the PL 380 to was an older model Radio Shack DX-399 (a Sangean ATS606). The SW sensitivity on the the Tecsun was better than the DX-399, FM reception better and AM reception significantly better on the PL380. Sound quality is somewhat marginal given the size of the speaker but not bad. Sounds good with headphones. I viewed several videos regarding the PL380 on YouTube and had no trouble setting up the radio, although instructions were included. Really didn't need them. Overall the quality of construction appears to be excellent and sturdy. Although somewhat disappointed with the SW performance, used to DX shortwave 25 years ago with an expensive Grundig and there seemed to be a slew of SW stations back in the day. My main reason for getting the radio is that we are planning an extensive trip to Europe later in the year and I wanted a compact radio which was able to receive the European AM/FM frequencies. Given it's features and it's price, it was an easy decision to purchase the PL380. Update: After playing around with the radio for awhile I've been able to locate a larger number of shortwave stations than I was able to the first time I tried it out. Unfortunately, some of the biggies like BBC are no longer broadcasting on the shortwave band. Great battery. life, was able to get a NCY station the other night (live in the Chicago area). Remain very pleased with my purchase

Update on December5, 2014: After a year plus of ownership and purchasing several other radios, this is still THE BEST portable radio I own. Let this be your first choice to get into this cool hobby! Original review follows: This is a great radio for the price. I am readily new to shortwave listening, and I wanted something portable to take with me on trips as reception can vary greatly depending on your location. I was frustrated with it at first, but that had more to do with me not understanding the nuances of shortwave radio. Now that I have learned more, this is the best out of the three radios that I purchased. Here is what I like about it: -Easy Tuning Method: hold the button in and the radio will scan the band you're on and automatically store stations with a strong signal. You won't be able to get perfect reception on each one of these; but it is a sensitive radio. -Quality build-it looks and feels solid. There is nothing cheap-looking about it. Here is what I don't like about it: -Speaker: it's small and somewhat tinny on the shortwave bands. It's pretty good on the FM though, but that's not why I bought it. It's best to use the headphones on it. -External antennas: these don't work well with it. I bought this along with the World Radio TV Handbook (highly recommended) and a Sangean external antenna. When I didn't get good reception right off the bat, I hooked up the Sangean antenna and that seemed to make it worse. The telescopic antenna should be sufficient for it. -No Air or SSB bands. Some listening tips to help you avoid frustration: -listening at night will yield better results due to atmospsheric conditions. At night, try the frequencies from 3000 Khz to 13000 Khz; during the day, 13001 through 21950. Where I am in Virginia, I can pick up Radio Espana on 17715 Khz as if it's an FM station. You will probably have the same luck with another station. Finally, I thought this wasn't a good radio, so I bought a Grundig Satellit 750 a few weeks ago. I tried it out one morning and found out that this little thing not only picked up more stations than the Grundig, but also got better reception. Most people will dismiss this radio as cheap Chinese junk, but it beats a radio that costs 6 times as much. I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to get started on this cool hobby. If you are looking for a good radio that has Air and SSB, try the Tecsun PL-660. I bought one of these too and found it to be a great radio for its price point.

Me funcionó muy bien en mi rancho donde la señal de radio FM era muy mala.

I don’t often take the time to write reviews but I do when I care when this may help or influence people in going for it or avoiding it. There are a lot of other reviews - read those. Read the ones on specialized websites like eHam where people in the know can give you a proper review. Summary For the price, this seems to offer a lot of features and be of reasonable quality. Pros: Easy tuning mode(ETM): searching for frequencies with activity when you have thousands possible is impossible to do manually (well not really but you get idea) this facilitates it. ETM doesn’t overwrite your existing preferences - smart Regional settings: can customize to various settings Thermometer: not sure accurate, but get ambient temperature You can recharge your 3 NiMH AA batteries via USB - this is soo practical. I have 3 cheapo dollar store Panasonic NiMH batteries and works great. Included external antenna, which is basically a piece of high gauge wire (did not measure it, but seems like 8 to 12 feet long) with clip that snaps to extended built-in antenna, and with other end that clips to something (like a smaller version of those potato chip bags clips). Works. This does NOT attach to an internal Antenna port like other SW radios do. Backlight, clock, alarm, button lock functions etc, makes a lot of sense. Gain and S/SN display: this is incredibly useful and interesting, you can “see” what the radio “hears”. Great for adjusting positioning of radio/antenna. Works for all bands. Little display that shows you what wavelength band plan you are in (10meter band, 11 meter band, etc). As an amateur radio operator I like this. For AM/SW/LW you can change the bandwidth from 6,4,3,2, or 1 Khz. This is extremely useful on some hard to hear stations. Comes in a usable neoprene like case. I squish my radio, manual, antenna and headphones in mine. Cons: Manual is in improved “chinglish” - I’ve seen worse, but some translation needed No single sideband (USB or LSB) - this is typically a feature of >$100 SW radios, but would have been REALLY sweet to have, but alas, not here. (this is useful for weather fax and other data sent over the airs, typically used by sailors and others) If settings to North American FM spacing setting, assumes temperature in F, vs 9hz spacing (asia) in C. Canada and other civilized countries use 10 Mhz spacing and don’t use Fahrenheit (booooooo. Stupid setting). Wish this was a specific setting, but alas does not see to be the case. There have been comments about the internal AM antenna being of limited size due to the radio’s limited size. I haven’t had any issues with local AM stations, so YMMV. There are some publicized hacks on those who like to take things apart, you can find those online. Some have noted that the speaker quality does not compare to more expensive speaker sound quality. Big surprise. You can always output the audio to an external speaker or headphones. Someone noted that this doesn’t have the NOAA Weather Bands. That could have been useful, but many people have those on their FRS/GMRS two way radios, emergency radios, or dedicated units. You can get a $25-$35 baofeng dualband radio and use it as a scanner and weather radio (just don’t break the rules) or have your nerd friend configure it for you if you are unable to do so (And also benefit from other interesting bands like Marine weather, etc). Also, some people (like me) like to read the manual to get better info on the specs. This was one was hard to find, but I found it for you, so here it is: http://tecsunradio.cantonmade.com/files/2011/12/Tecsunradio-PL-380-English-Manual-PDF-Download.pdf Overall this is an impressive radio for something <CAD$60. Are there Radios with more sensitivity, better RF shielding, stronger speakers, more speakers? Sure. Not at anything near this price point. Don’t take my word for it, look at the other reviews. Good enough as an everyday AM/FM radio, scan SW/LW channels at night to see if you can pick up interesting international channels. Could be useful when camping under the stars and want to hear something else than your mp3 or other devices.

Good choice, value for money. Working as per expectation. Free delivery to AlMagrudy was not my choice.

Excelente y muy manejable

I wish to have more brighten display panel