#37: Tecsun PL-880: Short review 

Finally a review of this wonderful radio by someone who actually knows something about radios! He articulates the fact that it has different levels of filtering and 10 Hz resolution in the frequency display - something not found in other radios!

Thanks for actually demonstrating this radio. Most reviews just talk with no actual radio usage. My 880 arrives in two days.

I ordered the PL-880 from the main dealer ANON CO in Hong Kong after seeing your excellent review and thank you for making this video. I wanted a portable AM/FM/SW radio that was engineered right and this one sounded like what I needed. I ordered their PL-880 Deluxe Kit that comes in a Pelikan style, heavy duty, resilient, black plastic hard case with many other things besides the radio itself. I saw this Deluxe Kit on a UTube video made from an enthusiast in Scandinavia. I went on a mission to find it and contacted Anon Co who had these in stock and the price. Included were a very high quality wind up long wire that can be strung up in a room, a Padded Tan Color Zippered Case to protect the radio, Digital Recorder Unit for recording whatever I would be listening to, An Apple like charging block, other miscellaneous earbuds, interconnecting cables and paper work. and I quickly received a very nice e-mail advising that the radio would soon be shipped and should take 5 business days to reach me. I was completely surprised and happy when it arrived in just two days! I have spent quite a bit of time playing with this radio and would recommend it to anyone serious about SW listening or for AM/FM reception for that matter. It has beautiful sound for such a small footprint and it's controls are intuitive and easily learned. I love the USB & LSB on the Tecsun because with the extensive filters both Phone and CW signals are isolated extremely well. From what I can see a great deal of engineering thought has gone into this receiver. It feels very sturdy in your hand and so fat it's worked flawlessly. I've used the Tecsun Wire Loop to help my old Boston Receptor table radio help receive AM sports stations from Chicago. I'm located in Louisville, KY. That Loop make a HUGE difference! And when paired with this radio performance is stunning! I could not be happier. Cheers! Mike -- KG6FD

The way you explain how the radio works is absolutely informative. I wish I could have it because it could be easily be bought by online shop here in Indonesia. Thank you for your review. Warmest regards.

This a fabulous review. I really enjoyed watching this .Thank you.

Day 2 with my new Tecsun Pl-880, and I found something I'd like to pass along. When in the AM Bandwith selection mode, you can use the tuning dial to scroll to your bandwidth selection. Better for doing instant sound comparison. Cheers!

This is a good technical review. I appreciate both the objective and subjective comments and the demonstrations. I just ordered one and will be the true judge of its quality and value. Hopefully there will be a consensus. Thank you. 👍👍👍

I have had both the PL880 and the PL660 for a few years now and here are my thoughts. First of all the poster's thoughts on the PL660 are not warranted , mine has performed flawlessly, it's a great radio especially for the price. Now for the comparisons. The 660 wins in a few categories. It has good synchronous detection that does exactly what it is supposed to do, which is make a SW signal intelligible and hold on to it. Its reception is only very slightly better than the 880, but the 880 has better audio. The 660 has the Aircraft band and uses AA batteries that you can buy almost anywhere. Where the 880 shines is mostly on sideband, The variable bandwidth on this radio is awesome. It has very nice audio. If you get this radio I would suggest getting extra batteries and a plug in charger, it's not that expensive. I never recharge my batteries inside my radios. These are both very good radios and both have good reasons for owning them, which is why I have both. The display is quite a bit nicer on the 880 They both come with nice protective cases. The 880 stands a little better than the 660. It's hard to pick a favorite because it depends on what I'm using it for.buy both and you can't lose....73

Thanks for the review. Comprehensive. I am looking at this radio and the Sangean ATS-909X.

Great review - thanks. I really like Tecsun's passive radiator speakers (also in the ICR-110 & ICR 100).

Very good review. Based on your review I have purchased the radio from Amazon. 👍

Just ordered mine today and great review. TY

I just ordered an 880. Had I watched your video I would have bought one even earlier. Thank you, n0wdm.

I bought one of these after watching this and other videos on YT and I have to say I'm really impressed with it. The build quality is excellent! I have read reports about poor ssb and cw performance but mine seems fine. The only failing is the sync detector. I've used it on the whip and with some external loop antennas but I've yet to see how it performs with a ful-size wire antenna. I've run it side-by-side with my PL-380 and it seems more sensitive. Best catch so far was RNZI on the whip while I was travelling in the US. I've uploaded a few videos of my experiences to add to the many on here. Thanks for a most helpful review - I see you cycle through the available bandwidths at 7:19, I prefer to adjust this with the tuning dial but everyone to their own preference!

Super review..it was so interesting and informative....thankyou!

Nice, enjoyable review. A radio that size ought to have a rigid, top-mounted carrying strap/handle, instead of the little strap on the side.

After it is all said and done, you ultimately, answered our question at 9:50 Thank you.

I have this TECSUN PL-880 and I absolutely love it. I also have the TECSUN PL-660 and like that one as well. Excellent review and thanks for sharing it.

Great voice; sounds professional like a newsperson. TY for the review very informative.

Great review. Thanks for posting

Very nice way to review a product. Thanks.....

Your reviews are excellent. Can’t wait until you review the 2 NEW Tecsun radios, PL-990 H-501 ‼️ 📻🙂

Nice review, very helpful, thanks.

Great Radio for Sure, the Receive very good and solid radio, it's well worth buying one!!!☝️

Good information, I am a total beginner when it comes to shortwave radios. I think I've made my choice, thank you.

Thanks for a great review. I've never had a SW radio. You're review has assisted me greatly.

Thank you for the detailed review!

Great demo. Just found your channel so I hit subscribe

I'm glad that I bought this one. Got a good open box price on eBay. It does tune in very well. I got to work early one day and set it on the truck and tuned in several AM stations and tuned into the time station @ 10mhz... and I was picking up Hawaii & Colorado... just on the telescopic antenna. Very sensitive radio. I had a homemade external wire antenna (just a piece of #12 wire) and was picking up a lot of Hams on upper and lower sidebands tonight, more than I usually do on my Icom IC-R71A with an attic antenna

Thank you for the review. I ended up purchasing this radio about 3 weeks ago. I am fairly satisfied with its performance. The FM sensitivity is very good and the audio is as well. AM and SW are OK. I was expecting better performance on SW though. One thing that is driving me crazy is the battery level indicator. It will show 3 bars for 4+5 hours and then drop to 2 bars. So I figure it has more than 50% left at this point. Then, it will only run about 45 minutes before exhaustion. Wondering if this is common or did I receive a defect here.

Very good review! As for quality control the factory seems to have it all well within strickt demands. I own two, bought not at the same time but the second unit about 6 months after I got the first one. And the serial numbers are very far apart. One is black, the other is grey. They perform absolutely identical, that is, apart from the signal quality indications. The newer unit indicates differently, it indicates a stronger signal. But as for reception there is no difference at all. So those indicated figures are just a very rough estimation without any real purpose other than being an eye catcher. I also have the passive and tunable AN-100/200 loops. Other than the physical differences they also perform exactly the same and these loops are a must if you are in rural regions. It brings AM (NOT long wave!) to life. Furthermore, you mentioned the antenna jack to function also on AM. It doesn’t. And that’s where those loops come in. There are modifications on internet though. It roughly comes down to winding some wire around the internal ferrite bar and attach both ends of that wire to the center parts (so not the tip) of the antenna-in chassis part. To do that you must break a seal and that will invalidate your warrenty. I certainly would not tamper with it anyway. As for tuning the loop, it will take some careful tuning as even a slight mistuning will affect the reception quality drastically. As for positioning the loop, the best position is placing it above the radio. Even a small changing of the position can make a serious difference. The loop can make a very weak incoming station clearly readable. The loop is a must and absolutely worth its money. Bought together it will save you extra shipment costs and the combination is unbeatable if compared to other portables in this, or even much more expensive, product segment. Yes, the radio also has its flaws as any other product has. It has a hidden sync feature but this feature is a failure. The good usb circuitry and the filter arrangement make up for that more than enough. Oh, just a last advice, get yourself a cheap plastic turntable as used for rotating a tv set. Place the radio and the loop on that turntable and turn the combination to get the best possible reception.

Thanks for the review. I just ordered one.

Beautiful radio.

Helped me begin to understand this radio, thank you sir 👍🏻

Excellent review Sir! Based on what you have said, I look forward to receiving my new PL-800 Special Edition Deluxe Set with the 8820 software update that I just ordered from Anon-Co in Hong Kong. I'm very excited and can't hardly wait to try this beautiful radio out. I have subscribed to your channel too! Mike KG6FD

Your review is very good

Great review! Made me decide to get the PL-880. Quick question, is the external antenna jack single pole? Need to prepare to make a converter for a better antenna.

Great review, thanks. I'm considering both XHDATA D808 and TECSUN 880 on dxism purposes. Which one do you think is better? Thanks and 73!

Getting into the hobby of radio something to do during lockdown also OAP

Interesting review. I am looking at options here in the Philippines where prices are often a bit higher for electronics actually.

You can calibrate Tecsun PLL radios to adjust the SW wide band offset that is common in many radios, particularly the 660, 680 and S2000 and several other brands of PLL radios.

Well, I’m glad I held off for a little while, as they have updated and fixed some of the “glitches “. Like you , I had a PL-660 and had an issue with it. ( my friend placed the order for me, and to save a few bucks, went through eBay. - I got no Warranty 🙁). Radio was a total loss. Replaced it with a PL-600. Problem free, but not very impressive. Tecsun has been working hard on quality with most of their products, and their California outlet/ Warranty Center has been quite helpful. I have several Tecsun radios, including 2 AM/FM pocket radios, and a PL-390. All are excellent. So eventually I will have one of these PL-880 (. Unless I can afford the new PL-990❗️) 📻🙂

Thanks for your review & greetings from BHOPAL in India, please try to make your next review in a place which is away from electrical disturbances

Yes the attenuation switch works for AM as well. I have a PL880 I got it as a replacement for my worn-out radio shack dx390 that I've had since the 90s. I decided to purchase the PL880 after watching the videos on todderbert's RU-vid channel , I noticed his channel was not in your list.

The biggest weakness of the 880 is AM. It suffers from a small ferrite but does play nice with a loop like the AN-200. It's great on shortwave.

I am looking for a good easy to use shortwave 1. For house and work when I don’t want the clunky ham radio on. 2. Emergency prep 3. Travel. I tried to purchase a PL-990x but couldn’t find one. This one half the price. Thanks for the review

Great review! One question for anyone who may know: If I intend to use this for emergencies (regional or local) where electricity may be unavailable, and charging the battery may not be an option, how do you provide back up power using a stored power supply like batteries, etc. I am assuming a week or more without power. Thanks!

Thanks for your video, I bought this radio 2 weeks ago and the only part that I don’t like is the usb/lsb and sync. the sync doesn’t work and makes the signal inaudible and the upper and lower side bands are not very good. I heard that this is common issue with this model and on contrary PL 680 excel at these features. Would you please elaborate or perhaps demonstrate in a video the use of these features that I’m having issues with. Thank you 🙏

Good job. For this price it is the best of my other Tecsun Receivers. 1. 8800e 2. S-2000 3.PL-880 4.PL -600 5.PL -360

Thank you for this informative review! One question I could not answer. Are there any similar SW radios but also with DAB? ideally with stereo speakers and capable of acting as BT speakers ? Maybe I am asking for too much but I can only find DAB - FAM radios or SW with FM but never SW world receiver with DAB?

Does this set scan all of the SW or just parts of it? some sets skip the Ham SW bands on scan.

Please help me with your opinion, I want to buy two radio and I am in doubt between a Tecsun PL 660 or PL 680 ??? what would be your suggestion? and another Tecsun PL 880 or Sagean ATS 909 ?? can you please help me with your opinion ??

Radio physics your tecsun shortwave receiver is cool I am thinking of getting Tecsun Pl, 80, 8 or the sangean ATS, 90, 9x 2

I have ordered this radio to put in a Faraday cage for emergencies.

Using a loop antenna on the AM broadcast band is not really a good test of the radio. The sensitivity - ability to pick up weak stations - by the radio itself is more useful as one doesn't always bring a loop along for portable listening.

The only thing I would dispute is that filters are not meant to be used for noise reduction. There for selectivity. You might perceive a reduction and noise but that’s basically a reduction didn’t band with.

Would you be able to tell me why, when I input 2850kHz, the radio changes it to 12236kHz, or when my input of 1800kHz suddenly changes to 7600kHz, 1749 kHz,15916 kHz or even 13149kHz? Thank you!

Wish you showed behind or back of the radio. Looking for something more or less for emergencys and the use of alkaline batteries which are obtainable everywhere.

This radio is great on am/sw

Having an eye for this radio. Are you still enjoying it? Awesome video btw.

SSB is a winner for me

I wonder why they never carried sync detection over from the 680?? That's got me on the fence. the 990 has sync detection.

Enjoy your vids! My Tecsun 880 has a lot of "noise", anywhere in the house, and it doesn't help that I have an electrical utility line just a few yards from the house. It doesn't matter how I run my random wire antenna. Please advise your suggestion. Thank you! N4ANO

Can the battery be replaced? I do more like one thing about this radio it has a separate knob for bfo or to tune in SSB They call it bfo on my realistic some call it up or a lower side band but this is a variable knob

I wonder how this one would do with a long wire antenna.

Hi bro where have this radio pls tell detail

My PL880 doesn't display signal strength or signal to noise in the UR corner - what's there is the alarm time setting when the radio is off and the time of day when the radio is on. . Anyone else find that to be true. I got mine in October, 2017. I guess it could be a firmware change? This one's on 8820. Good video!

Cool stuff

For $300 CDN you'd think that the official distributor could provide a definitive warranty.

The filters aren't that great but so nice radio for what it does in the price point I think the loop is great thank you for sharing this great video

Whats the best dx radio for fm

I got a 310et a short while ago. I got no external antenna, any idea how i can make one and will it improve reception on sw?

How has your battery door held up? Seems flimsy should I order a spare. Just got my radio.

? I have a Question -- We will charge the internal battery and only then be able to listen to this radio? One of the comments said that listening while charging is very noisy due to the charging process itself ?

Great video. I have both radios. I like both of them. I didn't realize the 880 had ssd. I assumed it didn't and was wrong. Would you ever consider matching them for a video showdown? Great work Bro!

Does anyone else have the problem with their PL 880 turning ON by itself? Mine does this a lot.

does it have continous tuning? will it cover 27,185 mhz?

three Radio review thanks !! Radio like!

which radio is good for long destination for example from Austria to Iran radio station ?

Is this radio better than the Japanese Sony and Panasonic radio

I have just bought one of these, works well, is it normal not to come with a charger....cant see one anywhere, got the lead...Fred in UK g4vvq

Thanx

I think he just talked me into getting one ?

Can you comment on the tuning and volume knobs. Are they coming loose and flopping around at all? They look kind of cheesy and I have heard that this may happen over time. Thanks, Joe in PA

how did u connect the loop antenna?

A great radio to have also good for dx

اللهم صلِّ على محمد وعلى محمد كما صليت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم و بارك على محمد و على آل محمد كما باركت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم في العالمين إنك حميد مجيد

does mw benefit from a external antenna.?

Is this better than the Tecsun PL-660?

rechargeable battery, what if it goes out in a shtf situation, can you use regular batterys instead ???

So which on eis better? PL-680 or 880? :/ 880 is more expensive, but i heard that 680 have better receiver :/

The 4khz filter doesn’t work on SSB. There is no difference between the 3khz and 4khz filters. Which is a shame because it would make the speaker sound more crisp.

Only things I don’t like about the PL880 is no AM medium wave antenna jack input, and the kickstand is much too low. Otherwise a great radio for the price.

00:03:00, must have USB C connector, as it is top model.

Hello , i am thinking of buying one of these, i would prefer its desktop brother (s2000) but my balance does not allow it. I have one question, Can it only work with a wall adapter, without baterries? I mainly want it for my house and not use it as portable. Will it be fully functional? and what adapter should i use if one is not included? thank you very much

I'm surprised that Bose doesnt make a shortwave radio.

Finally a digital portable that doesn't mute when you tune up and down! Why can't my PL-380 (or even the late great Radio Shack DX-392 I started out with in 1995) do that?

I have this radio to me It Needs A Treble Control That Would Be Icing on the Cake.

5:45-5:47 into the video- button press and click sound but radio unresponsive. You get what u pay for. Great video though.

You sold me.