Thank you Gilles for all your reviews and comparisons on this radio. I have got one for Christmas after having a Phillips d2999 for the last 35 years. On first impressions I am over the moon with it and pretty sure I have made the right choice. Seasons greetings from England.
Thank you for the video. I got the PL0990 based on your (and other) reviews, it arrived only yesterday. It's my first "quality" receiver and amazing. I was wondering about the differences between the 990 and 990x, thanks for a bit more information. The only other difference I could see was in specifications, it appears the 990x may have a bit more band range. I may be wrong, I'm fairly new to the hobby.
I bought mine two months ago based on your reviews and recommendations. I absolutely love it! So many outstanding features, including the external antenna on MW/LW.
Whilst unrelated to the PL990x, I've noticed with the PL330 in SSB mode it appears to shift in frequency when my hands touch the headphone cable or antenna socket, it's otherwise stable, but a minor annoyance. I haven't been looking for issues, but I discovered this one when listening to the radio whilst walking last week.
this may be an out of place comment but what do you think is the best "starter" SW radio receiver? i'm searching for something cheap (dont really want to drop 80 bucks to listen only occasionally), but i dont want it to sound like garbage on SW (like certain retekess radios and so). thanks in advance!
The 990X has the ability to tune down to 50 khz, vs 100 khz on the 990. I like the ability to be able to tune into WWVB at 60 khz since I never had this ability to do so before in any portable I have owned.
Thanks as always....Question please: What's your first choice in a high-end SW portable receiver? I have a Kiwi modified ICOM R75, an ICOM 7410 and an old refurbished Sony 2010, but I figure there's newer technology now.
@@OfficialSWLchannel The first time I saw an 8600 was on your early RU-vid channel. I wanted one sooo bad, but like you said they've always been expensive. The Drakes were nice too. Kiwa Electronics perfected the AM sync and did a general tune-up on my R75, plus the NR is quite effective. But the 7410 has very good DSP, more filtering along with passband tuning. My Sony 2010 was my first serious SW receiver after giving away my childhood Hallicrafters S120 to a coworkers son. For a small portable, I have an Eton Elite Executive and the tiny Eton E10. Obviously I'm a SW nerd! The bench receivers are wonderful... But is there a medium sized portable that can compete with their signal handling? Maybe the PL-990X, or is there something better coming later this year? Thanks again for your expert thoughts and congratulations on becoming a ham. I got my General about a year before COVID. 73, KZ5MSE
Hello, Because of you I bought one on Amazon last week for $ 269.00. It is a great radio. Mine is a PL-990, no X ,also no Bluetooth. It just has digital audio in tied with the mini USB charge port . In the description on Amazon at the end it says "And some hidden gems to be discovered by the end user " Maybe they are talking about some of the hidden features that you have posted. Thanks Steve from New Hampshire.
you do have bluetooth, it needs to be activated, all 990 have this feature to have it just press radio mp3 button until you see BT flashing on display, you then can pair with a computer, phone or tablet
I have the PL880, dismal AM band sensitivity (compared to the Panasonic RF2200). I was hoping the 990's sensitivity would be better, but from what you infer, perhaps not.
@@OfficialSWLchannel Yes, I understand the radio can be made to have better sensitivity coupling in an external antenna of some sort, but in my opinion, the mark of a good radio is for it to be able to have great sensitivity WITHOUT any external antennas. Again, if you've ever had a Panasonic RF-2200, that would be a prime example. External antennas do not help the RF-2200, it has all the sensitivity possible as a stand alone radio. I would buy in a heartbeat any Tecsun if it had equal or even near equal performance. Again, I own the PL-880. Daytime reception is dismal.
I have a PL-880. It does work well, but one thing I do not like about it is the power arrangement. Even high-capacity 18650 batteries do not last especially long, and if I try to run it with external power via the USB port, it generates a *lot* of noise. Enough to make it essentially unusable. I wish it had true external power capability, like my ancient Sony ICF-2010. I like the radio, but I wish it was not battery-only. Is the PL-990 any better in this regard?
you could find a linear USB power supply (CCrane has a linear USB power supply) it very well could knock the noise down, That is only if its not being caused by the internal charge circuit.
My PL-990 gets noisy as well when connected to USB power. The manual also states this. I'm still shopping around for actual good 18650 batteries, many that are rated high mAh are very poor like closer to 2000 mAh or less. Maybe about 2800 mAh name brand will be best overall. Actual good higher mAh batteries will likely have a dramatically lower cycle life. Like less than half. There's usually a tradeoff when it comes to very high performance.
