Tecsun Radio PL-380 DSP FM AM Stereo World Band Receiver with Pocket Size

I purchased the Tecsun PL-380 for use at my tiny cabin, primarily for the shortwave reception of world wide news, and it works great for my application. It receives AM (MW), FM, SW, and LW broadcasts. Like all shortwave radios, reception is best at night, and depends on atmospheric conditions, so be aware of this. I use it to receive shortwave broadcasts from all over the world. I noticed that some reviews mention signal overload when using a longwire antenna clipped to the telescopic antenna on the radio. I have not had this issue, and routinely use a longwire antenna of 18 ga. insulated, stranded wire with an alligator clip on the end, and simply clip this to the telescoping antenna. You don't need anything fancy, I just ran the wire randomly around the rafters of my cabin. You will rarely hear Ham operators on this little radio, as it lacks sideband capability, where most Hams choose to operate, however there are a few Hams out there that are not running sideband, as I have listened to them as well. AM (MW) reception is great at night with reception of stations many states away, and FM reception is great day or night. I have not heard anything on LW, and I suspect that there is not much to hear there anyway. SW reception, as I mentioned is great at night. I really like the ETM (Easy Tuning Mode), especially for shortwave. With ETM selected, the PL-380 will scan through the shortwave band (or any other band selected for that matter), storing found signals in ETM memory. When scanning is completed, using the tuning dial jumps from one found station to the next. Favorite stations can be stored in permanent memory, which is another great feature. This little radio operates from three AA batteries, and I opted to install lithium batteries, which have been working great for me. My tiny cabin uses 12 volt solar for power, and this little radio allows me to recharge my batteries with a usb charger plugged into a 12 volt lighter receptacle at my cabin. Just be sure to set up the radio to use rechargeable batteries. I will say that the manual is a little "wonky", and you will need to refer to it repeatedly, the first few times you use this radio. The Tecsun PL-380 is an excellent little shortwave radio that seems to get some bad press from reviewers, and in my opinion, the bad press is unfounded. Every hobby experiences one form or another of snobbery, but, truth be told, you really don't need to drop a bundle to enjoy shortwave listening.

UPDATE 8-14-13 ,,, I want to add ,,, "The Battery Life is EXCELLENT" ,,, but the "Battery Strength Indicator" is NOT ANY GOOD. The "Battery Strength Indicator" will show "Battery Low" and will Turn-Off the Radio! YIKES! That is not good! But WAIT, DO NOT CHANGE any BATTERIES. Simply POP one battery out of the radio THEN PUT IT BACK, SAME BATTERY. The radio will CONTINUE to play for many hours and HOURS ,,, and whence it Turns-Off again! Pop the battery again ,,, and the radio will play for many-many more hours. Yes, I still love this radio when comparing it to others, even if I have to "pop" a battery every few hours (many-many hours actually) NOT a PROBLEM for me. ====================================================================================== I love this Radio! I just received my New Radio today ,,, and ALREADY ,,, I ordered a 2nd Radio! Why(?) Because I've owned many a pocket radio and usually their short-comings are😱readily evident😩apparant ,,, but NONE for this Radio!😃 ,,, It does not take long to realize a Fine ,,, Fine instrument!!! Just a couple of mentions evident and appreciated: - UPDATE, Very Rugged too! I admit I clumsily dropped it, yes, from my hands down to the tile kitchen floor, YIKES! It landed, thankfully, FLAT on its BACK with absolutely NO DAMAGE of any kind, WHEW! And kept right on playing! - Backlight can be set ALWAYS On or ALWAYS Off or Temporarily On for 3 seconds when push a button, Outstanding! - Hundreds of Save Memory Locations. - Small Footprint, Rugged, Heavy, Pocket Sized, has a fine feel a Texture ,,, a beautiful conservaive Color. - Sound Quality is Most Excellent!!!!!! and Easily Adjustable with a push-button, Outstanding! BEST I've heard! - Includes Quality Headphones, an External Wire Antenna, a USB Jack for Power and 2 Pouches (big & small). - many,Many,MANY fine Features, Functions. - Must read the all inclusive and COMPLETE, very good for content, Manual. Let's hope it lasts for many years. I think it will.

To begin. I wanted an updated SW radio to replace my ancient Radio Shack DX 390. The electronics are better with DSP etc. what I didn’t get is not the radios fault. It’s well worth the price paid. To get what I want is going to cost me. $250 or more. Yes I am going to have to pay. Portability will suffer also. I need an external antenna capability. Looking at the Tecsun 990x or something in that range. Portability is great on the pl 380. Sound is decent also. This is a travel or camping radio. There is a learning curve but a few visits to a YouTube channel will help more than the manual. I do have a County Comm pocket radio that looks to be the pl-360. Another $50 radio available on Amazon. Performance on the pl-360 and Pl-380 is virtually identical. I actually give the edge to the PL-360. Imagine that. Controls are the same. Digital I get more channels on SW. my test is WWV time reception. I only get 10000 faintly on the PL-380. I get 10000 and 15000 on the PL-360. Radio half the size. AM is better also on the PL-360 with that external antenna. Recommended yes- Better than those all-in-one survival Dial radios. I’m keeping it. Pl -380 around camp. Pack or hiking I’m taking the pL-360. The big selling point for me is the AA battery capability. I’m not buying a radio that uses odd batteries. I got plenty of AA alkaline and rechargeable. Decide what is most important. This radio provides easy scanning and storage of channels plus has alarm capabilities. That’s something pocket am/fm don’t have. SW -the pl-380 will scan store the strong stations quickly and give decent reception. You have to know what and when stations are transmitting. SW is still alive but not what it used to be. Learn to use this radio. Spend time learning what it will do. Well worth the price

Recently I had the opportunity of comparing the Tecsun PL-380 and the PL-310ET. My curiosity was sparked as to why Tecsun would market two such similar radios. Here are my observations... I will refer to the 310ET simply as the 310. The 380 and the 310 are the same size (310 seems a smidgen bigger). The 310 has an external antenna port ... not on 380. The 310 has a tuning knob ... 380 has a tuning wheel. Both have volume wheels. The 380 has a slightly larger LCD. Both have back stands. The 380 comes with a wire antenna that clips directly to the built in antenna ... 310 has no wire antenna. Both come with earbuds. The features on the radios are the same ... MW, FM, SW, ATS, BW, Light, Snooze, Alarm, ETM and so on. What is notable is the buttons for these features are small and particularly hard to engage on the 310 because they are level with the body. On the 380 the buttons are raised and much easier to engage. Both radios preform the same as far as functionality, sensitivity and selectivity are concerned (both very good on all bands. They both hear the same stations. So what is the difference in the two ? The sound their speakers produce. The 310 has a mellower, smoother, more comfortable sound best for music (FM) but not unacceptable for voice (MW SW). The 380 has a brighter, crisper, clearer sound best for voice and talk (SW MW) but not unacceptable for music. But bear in mind both have small speakers so this difference is not like night and day, but noticeable if you listen to them side by side. Both radios have a solid, quality feel to them. Hope this helps with your decision ... you will not be disappointed with either.

Here is my thoughts on this radio bought via China Based Lycheers.Poor support from them lead me to return this radio and i had not arranged for UPS pickup authorization yet.I got a replacement from Kaito's Electronnix Store on Amazon where i KNOW it will be backed up 100 percent.I did a review of this radio sometime back so,won't be reposted except to say Watch out for The Ovrerly modulated spurs from Havana's "Humming" Transmitter emitting buzzes all over 49 meters in the evenings and early mornings.Good Radio,but Poorly made antenna.Tecsun needs to make a reelout version like The Kaito or Radio Shack version made in Hong Kong China.

I broke my Sangean radio turning the tuning the wrong way (who does that?) and needed a replacement. I use a portable radio when power is out, and also listen to FM stations while I take a shower. The Sangean was always a tuning nightmare as the bathrooms are interior. I tried a radio from another brand but it did not have enough volume to hear over the shower water sound. So I returned that radio and came to the Tecsun, a Chinese made multi-band radio. It has digital tuning, and is extremely well made. It has some weight to it, which lends confidence. It takes three AA batteries. I am using NiMH rechargeables, which last a long time and you can even recharge the batteries in the radio, if you have the right USB cable (Not included). It is an old style USB cable thought (not C), and I don't have any cables lying around to test how that works. The radio has clock, thermometer, and a host of bands (sw, etc). I have only used FM thus far but it just sounds amazing for the speaker size. Plenty of volume and brings in stations easily with my challenging location. Very very pleased. Nice neoprene zipper storage case that I actually use, and some other included accessories that I have yet to explore. Highly Recommended!

I bought one of these many years ago. It made it through some rough times. The old one never programmed properly...it would shut off after 10 minutes, no matter how many times I or someone else followed the manual's directions. Eventually it started turning itself on in the middle of the night. When my housemate woke up from it he broke it and lost the battery cover. Never mind, it was still one of my favorite little radios in my long life. Love the ETM finding my favorite stations. Right size, great sound, (when it played) the batteries lasted a long time, and it was so handy & portable. This new one - same Pl-380, is even better, feels sturdier. And I got some extra stuff. Kept the plug from the old one which I gave a homeless guy who loves it. Truth be told I have another two Tecsuns. My housemate wanted me to play the radio on the Amazon Echo and Google Mini he installed, but I like my Tecsuns better. One in the kitchen one in the office and this little puppy follows me around. My housemate wanted me to play the radio on the Amazon Echo and Google Mini he installed, but I like the Tecsuns sound better. Clearer. Sprang for rechargeable batteries. I'm taking it abroad, and can set the ETMs to all the different countries I pass through. Handy dandy. Life is good.

All hype and no substance ! Consumes battery fast and inconsistent sound output