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 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.

I had a few portable shortwave radios in my days and must say this is really a "decent buy". My most recent radio was the Eton E100. I would buy another if I could find one but can't. So the research began stumbling across the TECSUN PL-380 which I purchased two weeks ago. The SW reception is very good getting most of the usual stations that I've received prior. I didn't use the clip antenna which is included. As for the AM/FM reception they're also great. You can receive FM in stereo with the ear pods. I love the ETM function for FM. If you use it for the AM you might miss stations if you DX at night or just reset the ETM as often as you wish. It even has a signal strength and N/S reading. Pretty cool. Easy to read the dial. I'm using 3 AA alkaline batteries. Doesn't seem to drain much. All nice solid features I was looking for.Only two things I find wrong with this. The first one being the volume control when adjusting from 5 to 6 as it seems to jumps just a bit too much in volume. I wish it had a regular volume control. The other negative is whenever you adjust the volume the light goes on. This could wear down the batteries quicker especially if you adjust the volume a lot. If this is all I could find wrong you'll be pleased with the product.Believe me....I put this radio through my standards which are beyond the basics.