Top Ten shortwave receiver summer 2022 Tecsun PL 330 DSP

Most amazing receiver for the price and performance features

[@MAGNETAR-187]

Hey Gilles the first thing I did when I got MY Tecsun PL330 is get a larger capacity BL5C battery. I knew after ordering from the Dutch AmazondotNL website that Bl5c battery with higher capacity than 1020mAh is hard to find. The most BL5c batteries have 1020mAh capacity. I managed to find a XHDATA 1500mAh capacity BL5C and i bought 4 of them. I even have one battery inside the Raddy RF750 mini FM AM Shortwave radio and it really lasts a long time on the Raddy RF750 and the TECSUN PL330!! Thanks for your reviews of the Tecsun PL330 thanks to you I have a great receiver!👍

[@tomwoehle3519]

There is a plethora of cheap chinese radios of dubious quality. This one is gem he is not lying

[@MrDoldora]

Bought it 6 months ago, based on your review. Love it.

[@RJDA.Dakota]

I have one of these radios and love it for what it is. It does a great job.

[@chrisbarnes5016]

Fantastic little radio. I sold my bigger, more expensive radios and kept the 330 as it pulled in the same if not better signals than all the others.

[@zzarkS]

Really enjoying mine. I was able to receive and decode FT8 using it last night. Good fun!

[@wa1ufo]

Mine doesn't mute when tuning at all! I am 74 and started swling at 6 and have been a ham for 37 years and did military comms for the U.S. Army. This little radio is incredibly good. On ssb mode the bandwidth can go down to 500 Hz using either upper or lower to avoid qsb. Its a winner all the way around.

[@wa1ufo]

I forgot to mention that the 500 Hz bandwidth is great for CW!

[@erikas6874]

I agree. This is a *very sensitive* FM radio, and a good SW SSB receiver. I use it as a companion to my FT-817 ham radio, scanning the ham bands. I live in a DAB+ country, with no FM-stations except a few local radios. From my home outside I can receive two FM-stations from my car's radio. From my home inside, with the PL-330 I can listen to five - 5 - FM-stations, three of them from our neighbor country. It's really an amazing radio thanks to it's digital processing. I also have an extra battery, as the radio is quite noisy when charging. Better charge first, then listen.

[@c128stuff]

Overhere, fm radio is still huge, and just on its small telescope and indoors, it does better than my late 1980s kenwood tuner on a decent rooftop antenna, both in how many stations it receives and in how well it receives those.

[@josemesquita603]

Great radio. I have one bought in 2021, new firmware 3306. Amazing features, specially the memories preset management system working together the enhanced tuning and store system, very advanced indeed.

[@ChrisC-fp9qu]

I bought this radio 📻 at the beginning of the year to put in my buggout bag as part of my communications equipment. Great little radio, smaller than I thought it would be but that's not a bad thing being that it will be carried around. Lots of features great sound for the size. If you're thinking about getting into shortwave radio listening or need a good small radio this is the one to get and the price is right.

[@hamradiobasics]

You really do get your money's worth with this radio. Great job !

[@DonzLockz]

Yep, I got this for the best portable bang for buck radio. Mine is 3306 firmware and very happy with it. I may get another to keep in the car. Love it. :)

[@kurosaki9363]

Tomorrow I should get mine! Had the 380 but didn't got much use. Sold that and opted for this SSB radio. Now with the SSB capability and external antenna jack I think I have a pretty solid radio .

[@ambush1sg]

Gotta agree with you on the 330! Wow! What a radio!!

[@ZiggZagg11]

I ordered this from amazon while I was waiting for the h501x to come from anon... I still have not hardly used the h501x because I love this one so much... 😎

[@c128stuff]

I have a PL333 as well, and rather happy with it, especially for the price. SW reception is surprisingly good for a device in this class, and same for 'fm' reception. Connect it to stereo headphones or to a small stereo amplifier and its sound quality is actually rather good (and it does fm stereo as long as you also connect some stereo headphones, speakers or amp). One thing to watch out for when using the external antenna socket, it is very easy to overwhelm the radio with strong signals, if you have a high gain antenna, you very likely want something to reduce that gain somewhat. Note that there are some 'hidden codes', for example: press and hold the '5' key to permanently turn on the display backlight. Iirc pressing and holding the '3' key while using mw or lw lets you use the antenna socket for an external antenna for those. Normally those 2 will always use the internal antenna even when something is connected to the external socket.

[@greggaieck4808]

Gilles your utube videos are awesome

[@tonymagnier9846]

Gorgeous radio but its not just the looks, it operates brilliantly, battery life is really really good, a huge bang for the buck indeed.

[@electricbloke]

NEWS FLASH...! The PL-330 now has USB-C charging, instead of the micro USB port. I received a brand new one just a few days ago, and was pleasantly surprised. UK viewer 👍

[@jjarratt]

Fantastic features for a relatively inexpensive receiver. It receives my vote for radio of the year.

[@BobLewen]

Agreed wholeheartedly Gilles, Although I have many receivers, the “bang for the buck” of the PL-330 cannot be beaten.

[@L1RW]

I’d say the Sihuadon/XHData D-808 offers the best value for money. It has airband and RDS on FM (which the 330 doesn’t have).

[@daveN2MXX]

I have one...it does a great job with good audio.

[@GabrielVelasco]

I'm VERY VERY happy with my 330.

[@michaelbogdanowicz5059]

You make me feel like buying another shortwave radio

[@jastern949]

To see the other 9 of the top 10, see Gilles' full "TOP 10 of 2022" playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLXsH43I5TQ39UCKskgMWjkrFHgLPyGRMe

[@Ross13ful]

I Agree Giles It’s A Great Radio

[@djjoeykmusic]

Great video Wonderful review Thank you

[@Unther]

I can confirm this. I own one and it is a really great radio; not much wrong with it.

[@Gaalification]

I got one thanks to your review, and it's a great little radio. I absolutely love it. Does anyone know how sturdy is this radio, since I am one whose things tend to fall to the ground sooner or later? :( If you anybody noticed if it is fragile or resistant 😅

[@bigmartin]

I got to use one yesterday, a really very nice radio and I’d definitely buy one BUT I couldn’t live with the muting, that aside I loved it.. However I never checked out MW, do you get a choice of 9/10khz tuning steps for Europe and US?

[@n1kkri]

They should offer a way for the customer to update firmware via the usb charging port. Would hate to buy one then a week later they come out with a new firmware

[@rojgartr3]

Can you compare battery holding up capacity for both?

[@714SNF]

what's the best tecsun radio?

[@young_of_the_mill9560]

How’s this compare to the Sony icf-sw100?

[@greggaieck4808]

Gilles your Tecsun Pl 330 mw lw fm SW ssb 5 bands receiver is cool

[@jeffking4176]

Cool. 📻🙂

[@thisismeamneetsandhu4822]

Sir please review tecsun r 9700dx analog shortwave radio

[@sidneycavalcant]

O som do 330 supera o do d 808 ?

[@dheeraj9521]

Hello Sir, I am interested in Shortwaves radios so Which one is best among Tecsun pl 330 & Xhdata D 808 ?? .............Thank You 🙂🙂🙂🙂

[@michaelhayward9532]

Kaito USA says they're the official Tecsun source for over here and they have them but I wonder if you're gonna get the newest versions as I've bought a few radios from them before and they were not.

[@alexk8640]

I just purchased one from them last week and it had the latest 3306 firmware. It does not come with a zippered case like Anon-co has, but rather a drawstring pouch, if that makes a difference to you.

[@WilliamParmley]

How would you say this receiver compares with the old Sony ICF-SW-7600? My 7600 died several years ago and I still miss it. (Interesting to note, my ICF-4910 is still going strong!) I have a CC Skywave SSB (and an Airspy HF+ Discovery, and even my old Kenwood R-1000) so I don't NEED another portable, but this one looks so nice.

[@petermpanga8195]

How can I access one

[@wa1ufo]

I consider it to be far better!

Why doesn't it have the sticker on its left side?

[@greggaieck4808]

Gilles you have instresing information on what too bye

[@Gordonseries385]

👍

[@atticusfiori3015]

thanks, nice beard

[@L1RW]

The internal noises that come from the radio, means that listening on SSB, is not easy to listen to.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

There is absolutely no internal noise from this radio, SSB is clear, you are getting noise from where you are not from the radio for sure

[@kevinschilt133]

Please explain the firmware 3306 and how that works, and how you know your getting that.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

Firmware controls how the receiver behaves and the control works, they can fix problems with new firmware, like a computer update.

[@kevinschilt133]

@@OfficialSWLchannel sorry to keep bothering you. How do I know it’s has the right firmware and what do I need to do before or after I purchase it? Is this a deal breaker not to go ahead and purchase? Please advise.

[@mbrawn6505]

Umm if such a good radio why don’t we hear a sample of a signal being broadcast.??

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

If you took time to go through the channel there are dozens where I use it, a top ten is not for tuning

[@sidneycavalcant]

O problema é apenas a bateria

[@user-dl3uw2lk2e]

No. R-108 best/

[@stevenemert837]

@ Лещенко Назар - I have both. R-108 is good, but PL-330 has more features including SSB, fine tuning steps, time-of-day-based Easy Tuning Memory, and I believe is a bit more sensitive. Also, the R-108 discharges the battery much faster when sitting powered off than the PL-330. But I still like both radios. R-108 has AMAZING speaker sound for the size.

[@jeanfauteux5791]

Ats25