Reddit reviews TECSUN PL-660 Portable AM/FM/LW/Air Shortwave World Band Radio with Single Side Band, Black
We found 6 Reddit comments about TECSUN PL-660 Portable AM/FM/LW/Air Shortwave World Band Radio with Single Side Band, Black. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Dual Conversion, AM, SW-SSB, AIR Band receptionSYNC detector for AM with selectable sideband reduces adjacent channel interference and fading distortion at nightConvenient rotary dial or Auto Tuning Storage Function (ATS) For FM, MW, LW & SW Band; six tuning modes in allBuilt In Dc 5v USB Jack, Earphone Jack, FM & SW Antenna Jack, Built-In Charging System To Charge the supplied Ni-Mh Rechargeable batteriesIncludes stereo earphone, wire antenna, and carrying pouch
I keep this in my trunk in case of emergency or extremely boredom. Pretty cool listening to Cuban radio and on summer nights I lay on the roof of my office out in the county and just listen to random international stations for hours. Probably one of my favourite things to do in the summer.
I'm in NB and have a Tecsun PL-310ET with an external AN-03L antenna.
Reception has always been great when I take it out camping or on hikes. It's also very easy to ground it to further increase reception (see quoted text below). If you're looking for something with SSB so you can also hear ham, the Tecsun PL-660 is quite well regarded, though might be harder to come by now.
> Run a wire from the negative battery terminal to a ground like a cold water pipe or a rod nailed into the ground. It's easy to just crimp it in the spring on the negative terminal. Instant ~20 dB improvement in reception, about 40 dB improvement total with a longwire attached. Just be careful if you come across a very hot signal. I'm in New Brunswick, Canada, relatively inland and at sea level, and with the longwire and grounding I was picking up NHK broadcasting from Issoudun, France at 99 dB and it was overloading and distorting. Detached the longwire and was getting around 80 dB with the whip antenna. This was in my apartment with the longwire half-assedly looped around a curtain rod. Pretty wild signal for a 5000 km shot but it's apparently a 500 kW transmitter so it kind of makes sense.
$110 from Amazon, and it's Prime.
https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-PL-660-Portable-Shortwave-Single/dp/B004H9C4JK
Why you ask?
Tecsun produces some of the best general coverage portables on the market. If you like FM?--excellent FM reception. You like AM?--unmatched AM and SW reception. Want to learn more about shortwave? There are features in this radio that make the mind start churning and visualizing how it all works, (like repairing a SW signal with synchronous detection.)
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--Frigid from hfzone.org
Specs for the Tecsun are here
TxSurfer,
I would recommend something like a Tecsun PL-660 if you don't want to spend too much money. Check http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H9C4JK/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004H9C4JK&linkCode=as2&tag=swlcom01-20
The Sony ICF-SW7600GR is also nice. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IS4X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00006IS4X&linkCode=as2&tag=swlcom01-20
If you can spend money like in the $300 - $500 range look for a used Kenwood R5000 or Icom IC-71A or Icom R-75. Those are all really good recievers as well and many times you can find them for a bargain under $500. It all depends on your budget. I would recommend reading about them a bit first before you decide so that you can get the features that you want. But those radios are my general recommendation.
Hope that helps! 73! de Nick N9SJA