This is a fantastic little radio. The best handheld I own, and I have a ton of them. I enhanced it in a number of ways : - replaced the ferrite antenna with a bigger one. Now receives a LOT better in LW. - replaced the bl5c battery with a 2500mah li-ion battery (had to remove plastic underneath the bl5c battery) Battery life is a lot better.
I have the 880 and it’s good but it did take me a little while to figure out switching to LW. I like to listen to the short wave in bed at night and it’s ideal. Wow that Grundig is a lovely looking radio. I bought one of those components testers after your review and it’s great very impressed with it functionality and low cost. God I hate those radio amateur bores that tell you every detail of their station in excruciating detail. , Thanks regards Chris
I just bought this radio and the manual is all in Chinese so it doesnt help me since I cant read Chinese. So "thankyou so much" for explaining the features of this radio to me !
Good video. Just had to return my Xhdata due to faulty fine tuning knob. I'm waiting for this one to appear in UK. Been inform that it arrives on Amazon in February. Xhdata was good but loss confidence with it due to fault. Not bothered by RDS or Air band.
If you like SSB then don't, get a PL-680 instead, the 880 and 990x suffer from poor sound on SSB with distortion. The PL-680 sounds much much better and costs a lot less.
@@Roundymooney You are very Welcome, you will be delighted with the sound quality from the Pl-680 on SSB it really is a great radio for the money. You can even use ECSS on a shortwave commercial station, this is a real DX'ers tool against fading signals and interference from close by stations or noise, just press USB/LSB whichever has the greater effect at reducing the interference, then tune the BFO until the sound is as natural as possible and the PL-680 is one of the best out there because the sound hasn't been mutilated by poorly implemented DSP. You can't do this with the Pl-880/990x because they sound really bad on SSB.
I bought a tecsun pl-380 last summer for £32 and it's a great wee radio for the price imho! I couldn't justify spending much more as I'm only an occasional listener on sw.
I also have the 380 and it's very nice for the price. However the pl-330 has a much better sound, added ssb functionality and etm+ mode. The 380 however has a big advantage over the 330 : it still uses AA batteries. Anyway I did a mod on the 330 to use a 2500mah battery. Way better than the bl-5c.
This is a radio I would consider buying. I would probably wait a little while though. I recently bought an Eton Elite Executive. Very impressive on most of the bands. I don't get much on LW since I live in the United States so I can't really judge that band. Thank you for showing us the PL-330.
I think it's good value for money. The tuning knob has a very plasticy feel and is not great, LW is not great either but that's not a big deal for most people. The HF end is good and to have SSB capability at this price point is great.
I have a similar DEGEN 1103. Now it has an external antenna socket. These are normally mono plug socket., type 3.5mm . What you do is build a 1:3 step up trifilar transformer built on a Farrite BN 61-002 core . I used conductors stripped from a Cat 5e cable. This arrangement allows the use of a Dipole antenna and a coax feed in. This is a professional way to get the signal in and the radio will be a lot quieter. Remember a dipole is a resonant antenna. TE Fidler NzL. DO NO SUBS that core. Anyt
here is my evaluation on the PL330 received yesterday morning. I don't know if the Chinese version is the cause of my problem but I was particularly disappointed. I suspected that the long waves would not be great but I really hoped that the possibility of using the telescopic antenna or a external antenna was going to improve the thing but it only amplifies the noise. Ditto for the medium waves not terrible in any case inferior to the XHDATA D808 and as regards the FM the telescopic antenna seems to me a little too short. In addition when I stall on a frequency, the sound drops and goes up as a false contact. I have just redone an order for the official version with Firmware 3305 and I was wondering if that would change my opinion on this radio that everyone seems to love. If you have an answer, I am interested. In any case I would have at least an English manual and the possibility of knowing how to memorize the stations. When I think of the PL880 which had such a good reception on LW things did not improve
My frend bought a Tecsun, but i cant recall the model number, it's likely similar to yours. Same size as yours but i didnt think much to the receive, rather hissy and deaf sounding. But im a picky sod lol. Yours sounds a lot better :-D I didnt know there was a china version, all made in the same factory i would think lol. Ahh the grundig, thats a loverly bit of kit, did you identify the i.f transformer numbers and there frequency?. A schematic would help you find a compatable transformer. I would look but i didnt hear what you said.
Good review, cracking little radio. Right now, March 2023, it's retailing in GB at £90 and you can find it for about £75; the best units at £250-300 don't seem significantly better according to the reviews, except for speaker sound quality.
@@IrishvintageTVRadio I just recieved my tecsun 330 with firmware 3305, been using it for 2 days now and the battery indicator has not moved a millimeter, didnt even charge it yet either!
Mine arrived today from the "slow boat" its got the latest firmware 3305. The Xhata D-808 is another great little radio and very good for MW DXing, got a lot of transatlantic MW stations on it when in the Canaries a couple of years ago - seems to overload easily on SW though. Keep up the good work! 73s from Cork
I enjoyed your review of the PL-330. I have one and like it - amazing all the features in a small radio wish we had these back in the 60’s/70’s. Did you ever get the Satellite 700 working? I flipped through your videos and didn’t see one for the 700. I would like to see your comments on that radio so I look forward to that. Thanks, enjoy your channel!
A really helpful review. Have just sent back a D808 which had a problem. My old ,good Roberts R861, origin Sangean, is weighty, but further research on three Tecsun models led me to order this model , a little cheaper too,. free Amazon delivery in France tomorrow afternoon to a nearby locker, which will be ideal to try it out on the coming bank holiday monday, and a start a little before, but the clear testing seen on the video shows me that I will be more at home with this Tecsun, than the Sihuadon D808, which will also fit a secured pocket when out, unlike the solid Roberts. Have subscribed to the channel, and will catch up on other reviews. I now know how to get going on the PL 330 as well as using the English handbook said to be useful é as long as it is not the Chinese version but that can be got over.
This could be a radio I would buy, I still have a Panasonic RF-B45 that works and has been a portable that I would take camping. But, depending on price, I might be enticed to buy it. Keep on reviewing the XH DATA radio as your experiences increase - come on and tell us about the negatives and positives as to battery and keyboard.
