PL 330 Multiple Bandwidths and Re Calibration

[@robinj.9329]

My first Tecsun was a PL-660 purchased about 4 and a half years ago. Impressive performance for the price. A few months ago I bought my first PL-330. And again, it's amazing! Since Sony deserted the shortwave receiver market, there are few choices. But Tecsun is doing pretty well.

[@klaaskay2685]

between PL-660 and PL-330, which one do you recommend me to buy as a beginner?

[@StratmanII]

@@klaaskay2685 Great question! If you're not sure if shortwave listening will become a serious hobby, choose the PL-660 (better still, the PL-680 for just a bit more money) and see how you far this hobby takes you. 😀 The PL-660 is my first Tecsun shortwave radio and I use it every day, even though I also got the PL-330 and a few more receivers from Tecsun and Sihuadon. Buy the PL-330 only if you only want a small and compact SW radio that you can easily bring with you anywhere. Seriously though, if don't plan on buying more than one shortwave receiver I would highly recommend the PL-680. The buttons on the PL-660 are harder to press than the 680 and you also get the cheaper pouch instead of the deluxe leatherette case with a zipper. 📻👍🏼

[@sidneycavalcant]

@@StratmanII Bom saber sua opinião sobre o PL 680, venho notando vários comentários da qualidade dele, principalmente em SSB. Qual a característica principal do 680, seria a escolha mais acertada ?

[@StratmanII]

@@sidneycavalcant Se você pretende comprar apenas alguns rádios de ondas curtas o PL-680 é uma excelente escolha. Não é muito caro, usa pilhas AA alcalinas ou recarregáveis e é de um design de circuito sintetizado PLL duplo (sem DSP). Eu recomendaria isso para quem está procurando apenas um recetor portátil multibanda para o seu hobby DX'ing ou audição casual.

[@sidneycavalcant]

@@StratmanII Além do 680, qual seria outro modelo ?

[@StratmanII]

Hi Dan, I'm one of your channel subscribers. You mentioned in this video that the Tecsun PL-368 doesn't support frequency calibration. I bought one last year and was surprised that it does calibrate like my PL-330 and PL-990. My copy has the firmware #3684, which I think is the latest for 2022/2023. I suspect the earlier versions of the PL-368 didn't have frequency calibration. BTW, you might also want to check out the new PL-320. I got one recently but it came with a Chinese only user manual and firmware #3202. Unlike the PL-330 it comes with an additional 9 kHz bandwidth for SW. The PL-320 has some interesting hidden features which the PL-330 doesn't have but I have no idea what the adjustments do. The PL-320 uses the Si 4734 DSP chip, therefore it lacks SSB mode and has 650 memories instead of 850. It has a new Favorite button that remembers only one frequency and band. Like all non SSB Tecsun radios, the PL-320 doesn't have the frequency calibration feature.

[@mcdeadsquirrel]

This is not only informative but very useful. I have subscribed for all of your future SWL vids....Thank you!!! I now have this radio and it is an amazing piece of equipment. Thanks.

[@DonzLockz]

I love my PL-330 but still have lots to learn about its functions. That's for your invaluable information.👍🤓

[@tonymagnier9846]

Excellent little radio that punches was above it weight from the price, glad I got this and not the 909x2. Thanks for the demo, much appreciated. 73s from Ireland

[@snowpuppy77]

Nicely done. So far I have the PL-990x and the PL-330. H-501 is a maybe for me at some point. While I love both the PL-990x and the PL-330 I believe the PL-330 is the most uniquely excellent for its price point. That said the fact that the PL-990x allows me to play podcast from my phone via blue tooth through the PL-990x with very good sound quality sets is apart from the Sangean 909x2 for me personally. Just makes the PL-990x a great talk radio hub. Not to mention that is plays MP3s. I have only one thing on my PL-990x's micro SD card and that is the entire Bible read by Alexander Scorby. It takes up 3.83 gig of the 16 gig card that came with the PL-990x.

[@dxace1]

Thanks -- yes the PL-330 packs a lot of bang for the buck

[@sidneycavalcant]

Gostei de sua informação em relação de colocar a Biblia no cartão SD, dando uma opção marivilhosa para o rádio. Não tinha pensando nisto.

[@snowpuppy77]

@sidneycavalcant The Lord bless you brother

[@bobsoldrecords1503]

I've been a DXer since the seventies. Dropped out of the hobby for decades. I'm coming back with a vengeance now that I have a 330

[@sidneycavalcant]

Qual característica gosta mais do 330 ?

[@robertosanchezpujol7889]

La acabo de pedir , también he estado más de 30 años sin oír la Onda Corta...en lo años 70 captabas un montón de emisoras en español, como Radio Hilversum...hoy día solo recibes a los chinitos" que lo han copado todo...espero poder oír a los aficionados en SSB , por lo menos.....😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 .

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

This is my first shortwave radio to learn from. Pretty cool kit. Biggest issue is receiving all the wifi and other interference. But outside works better lol. Made a wire antenna on my balcony, makes it a bit better...

[@RJDA.Dakota]

A very informative video. I put it in my list of watch recommendations. I need to remember that. I have a PL 330.

[@junrenshi4026]

It is really a strange behavior: the USB and LSB do not have the same frequency offset, and the frequency offsets fluctuate with tuning frequencies. It is unlikely a result of an inaccurate reference clock frequency. More likely a bug in Tecsun's firmware, or a hardware limitation (Si4735 cannot tune a frequency accurate to 10Hz?).

[@1959RT]

If I ever need a new shortwave radio,this one here will be my choice. ❤

[@mpatrickthomas]

I have found generally above 10 Meg I use USB and below LSB.I usually keep bandwidth at 3.5.That seems to work best in clearing up noise but keeping signal strength. I am shocked by all the added functions you normally see on higher end radios

[@User-DX-radio]

What is the width of filters in SSB narrow/wide for Tecsun pl660? Firmware 6622 is the latest?

[@StratmanII]

My PL-660, which was manufactured in 2021 has the firmware 6622, which I presume to be latest. I could ask my China based, online seller (XHDATA) if their newer PL-660 stocks have newer firmware. As for the bandwidth filters for the PL-660 (and possibly PL-680 too), it's 7.5kHz (Wide) and 3.75 kHz (Narrow) according to the Tecsun Australia website.

[@ronaldzuccala-pv8tu]

Hello. Yes the 330 is a remarkable radio for the price. Also oddly enough of the 4 new technology radios it's the only one that has a sync. Function that works. A truly wonder of a little receiver. Best regards. RON. . WA3090SWL.

[@tonymagnier9846]

One persistent bug in my PL-330 is if you set the radio to external antenna (long press 3 with the radio on) and you run an ETM on MW or LW, when you get to tune through the channels it heard on ETM, the external antenna function has disabled itself, you have to long press 3 again...but when you move onto the next station it heard you have to once again set it to external...very annoying...anyway maybe the later models have sorted this, I dont know.

[@mikemortensen4973]

Anyone know how to do a factory restore on a PL-330. I have a major problem with my new 330 but a factory restore would fix it. If anyone responds I'll explain the problem more but if I can find a way to restore defaults the problem would for sure be solved.

[@yuvrajkote5918]

Which models or firmwares has 650 memories, and 850 memories, or it is Chinese vs English version. for the Tecsun pl330.

[@mononcyoyo]

The 3306 firmware version has 850 memories available. Yes, it is the Chinese version, but the display is in english

[@StratmanII]

The earlier versions of the PL-330 have 650 memories, while the later ones have 850 memory slots. Furthermore the later versions are able to reorganize the memory frequencies at push of a button, which I find extremely useful. The only other Tecsun radio that is very similar to the PL-330 in terms of features is the PL-368. If I'm not mistaken PL-330 units with 850 memories come with firmware version 3305 or 3306.

[@poseypapusdiazfamily4630]

Does it have any bass sound like the r108?

[@mononcyoyo]

Well, if you plug good quality headphones in, chances you'll experience okay to decent bass/treble in FM mode only... plus it has stereo output in FM

[@StratmanII]

No, unfortunately it does not. The R-108 is fitted with a more powerful 3-watt speaker, which is why its bass response is simply amazing for a such a tiny pocket radio. The R-108's fantastic sound however, comes at a small price - higher power consumption.

[@Rassian639]

Он работает без батареи от шнура?

[@Homer19521]

Soft mute on the 330 really ruins it for me. Such an amazing radio otherwise. Great vid. 👍

[@Jeff_AA8HF]

You are assuming that most stations are on exact frequencies. This is not true. In North America only the US and Canadian time stations are guaranteed to be correct. The idea of this feature is to find a known good station such as CHU or WWV, calibrate to that and leave it. Then if you notice other stations are off frequency it’s because they are off frequency. At that point there is no benefit to recalibrating. If you do you are just chasing your tail so to speak.

[@n8ibz1]

What’s causing it to be off frequency. Does this need done often. Is there something wrong. I have one with current version. Lol just asking. Thanks for the instructions

[@MultiPetercool]

Likely the transmitter itself is off. Digital receivers are more precise than analog transmitters. Not the fault of the receiver but the broadcaster. In the old days we had LSB and USB fine tuning knobs. 😜

[@dxace1]

To answer this question (a bit late) -- these DSP radios will always be a bit off frequency. They're not $5000 receivers like a JRC or Watkins Johnson. But the fact that Tecsun provides this re-calibration capability is quite extraordinary. When you say "off frequency" -- it's usually not the station itself that is off. It's the radio itself.

[@MultiPetercool]

@@dxace1 Interesting. I was told transmitters always drift to some degree. I started out with a Hallicrafters S38-B tube unit. When was the fist DSP radio introduced and what was it?

[@scooterscottii]

Any idea where to get an English manual for the 330?

[@TNRonin]

I downloaded it.

[@poseypapusdiazfamily4630]

Does it feature a squelch setting too?

[@mononcyoyo]

No squelch on the PL-330

[@markgreen8015]

i neeb help on get the long wave

[@remopkr198]

I mistakenly calibrated it inaccurately please please how to do factory reset

[@sidneycavalcant]

Conseguiu a resposta ?

[@markgreen8015]

i have the tecsun radio pl330

[@sidneycavalcant]

Gosta ?

[@ronaldzuccala1889]

Hello. Well very interesting a truly zero beat. However with your critical assessment of the sangean 909z2 you forgot to mention that ssb mode on the 909x2 sounds much much better on the sangean where as ssb has never sounded as good on the 3 tecsun receivers and also please don't forget that sync mode works not on the other tecsun receivers. Which is no excuse because as you already know sync sounds great on both the pl 660 and pl 680 therefore I believe the sangean is much better on ssb even without bandwidth selection. Even on the s 8800 the San still sounds like Donald duck. To my ears the sangean is the clear winner on ssh over any tecsun model. Thanks for the information. Ron. Z. The North American shortwave radio and toy robot museum. Springdale. Pa.

[@dxace1]

Everyone with a 909x2 will make up their own minds. Mine went back to Amazon 2 days after it arrived here.

[@sidneycavalcant]

@@dxace1 Uma verdade que visualizo em vários vídeos e blog sobre 909x2, uma tristeza, pois é um rádio lindo.

[@GabrielVelasco]

I think you need to recalibrate LSB and USB per band. If it's calibrated within one band, then all of the other channels in that same band will be calibrated.

[@remopkr198]

How to do factory reset please help

[@clashrocker]

I might be overthinking this, so don’t hold my opinion as gospel haha… Are there any guarantees that 9395 and/or 11940 may not be exactly on xxxxx.000 kHz? At least if you zero beat on WWV/WWVH you know you’re exactly right? I’m going to contradict myself here now and say that, yes, on the PL-880 there is a drift in zero beat sometimes if you go from 5 MHz to 10 MHz. Anyways I only zero beat when I want to tune into the hams…that’s my habit and everyone enjoys the hobby differently. Thanks Dan for the very informative videos you post!

[@dxace1]

To answer this question -- it's usually the case that strong stations, today they are mostly the religious broadcasters, are close if not exactly on frequency. There can be exceptions, but for the most part you can use 9,395 or 12,160 khz to calibrate a 330, 990x, 501x etc If you have good signal strength on WWV frequencies, by all means, use those.

[@jeoffer]

I use headphones and I can hear a clanking or clipping sound in the background which is very distracting.

[@stridermt2k]

I have a PL-330 on the way, so I welcome more content! :D

[@DarrenN72]

I don't really understand what you are doing here. I have a pl-990. Very high tech. Don't understand some things about it either. Is why I like my pl-680 the best. Pretty simple radio to operate

[@dxace1]

Do some more reading on this feature. If you're not overly concerned about exact frequency readout, don't worry about it.

[@sidneycavalcant]

Qual característica gosta mais do PL 680 em comparação ao 990 ?

[@josealeixes2861]

Gostei muito dos comentários parabéns …

[@abbeyroadstudios4999]

I just sent one of these back to Amazon, it was terrible. I got a PL-880 instead, a far superior radio.

[@sidneycavalcant]

Você retornou qual rádio para amazon ?

[@hadenough54]

I know that voice at the beginning of the video...

[@marrkparkes3775]

I hear the x data is still the main man

[@MarcoVanzetti]

Analog!!

[@Jeff_AA8HF]

You are assuming that ser

[@stridermt2k]

Gilles sent me... 'scribed. 73 de N2NLQ

[@alternative3d87]

There is nothing amazing about this radio. The bandwidths are useless. All it does is muffle the sound to the point where you can’t hear anything on the lowest setting. Like all Tecsun products this is just another over rated piece of junk.

[@cleftoftherock6797]

Yes but for $70, I bought one.