Review of the brilliant little Tecsun PL-310ET shortwave portable

Hi there, a good friend of mine Thomas Brogan recommended the PL-310ET to me on the basis that it's relatively inexpensive (under £40) but performs very well indeed. I took his advice (as I have previously and never regretted it!) and well, it was a revelation. Here is a brief review, with reception videos and a quick comparison to the wonderfull little PL-360 to follow. Thanks for watching.

[@alphaandomegaministry2718]

I received mine a few days ago and am totally wowed by the tech and the performance and sound quality packed into this thing. And all in such a handy pocket size. It's going to be travelling the world with me for sure. Tecsun - a company that really knows what it's doing.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

I travelled with mine - just a brilliant little radio. 73

[@qrpradiolistner7232]

Hello Clint, I bought the Tecsun pl 360 about 5 years ago and is a great performer for medium waves, even with its small ferrite I heard in Ponza Island transatlantic various stations during winter nights in the past years. You have made a good buy. Ciao from Giuseppe.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hello Giuseppe my friend, I hope you are well! Indeed. the PL-360 have served me very well for the past 18 months, but the 310ET seems to be a step up in performance for not much money. Glad you enjoyed the video. 73! Clint

[@draff1662]

I purchased a second 310-ET to carry with me. It took a tumble off the night table while still in the soft case and the ferrite bar snapped in two. I never had that happen with a radio before but actually seeing the ferrite it appears a jolt would be capable of doing that. I thought it was a lost cause on MW but I decided to simply reattach the two ferrite pieces with (you’re going to laugh) a piece of duct tape on the top and one side of the ferrite. It held perfectly and not only did it work as before on MW I swear it is slightly more sensitive now! Duct tape - the cure-all for life’s ills.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hello my friend, thanks for your story - how interesting!! I've never seen a ferrite rod snap whilst inside a radio and your fix seems to have more than worked! Great stuff! Happy New Year and 73! Clint

[@SWRadio36]

Congrats with new radio, Clint! 73 and best DX! 73!

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Thank you very much my friend! I wish you good DX also. 73! Clint

[@ricktemmen6272]

With the addition of a key pad and an external antenna jack plus the small form factor this looks like the winner. Thanks for a great review. 😎👍📻

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

My pleasure Rick. 73! Clint

[@rayneeny]

Tecsun really do make some fine radios for the price.I have the 680 and the 360 and both perform well for the money spent on them.Looking forward to the face off lol.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Totally agree with you Ray! The face-off is coming in about half an hour - with surprising results - in terms of how differently those two radios perform. 73! Clint

[@craignehring]

I'll be looking forward to the next reviews, I recently ordered a PL-680, it will be my first Tecsun

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Craig, thanks for your message. You won't be disappointed with the performance of the PL-680 - one of the most sensitive portables out there and it can take a large antenna. 73! Clint

[@craignehring]

Thanks, and yes I am fairly well read on the Tecsun line up, thanks to folks like you doing these reviews. BTW I ordered it direct from ANON's web page, cheaper than their Ebay store by $11 USD Good to know about the antenna thing, I hate it when the front end overloads

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi there, well done on getting such a good deal! I've just posted the video with the comparison of sensitivity between the PL-360 and PL-310ET on their respective telescopics. Hope you enjoy it. 73! Clint

[@craignehring]

Fabulous, with regards to this PL-310ET. You know I had mentioned ordering the PL-680 from anon-co.com ? The process went very well, I received the radio in less than seven days, not bad from Hong Kong to the center of the USA. The PL-680 is really a very good radio, I could not believe the noise it rejects. Sitting in my PC room with all sorts of noise coming from two computers, router, modem etc. I am flabbergasted as to how many stations I could pick up on MW broadcast. Moving away to a quieter spot in the home I tried the HF bands and "air band", I am blown away as to the radio's ability to just grab hold of stations

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Craig, really good to hear your PL-680 arrived quickly and is performing very well. If you get the chance to take it out somewhere remote, away from the usual sources of QRM, you should hear a lot more on MW and SW. Definitely worth a try! Let me know how you get on. 73! Clint

[@markwilliams8702]

Both great radios. Especially on SW but also AM and FM. Love the ETM feature.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

The ETM is absolutely brilliant - couldn't agree more. Both great radios for modest money. 73! Clint

[@marcosmza1962]

Thanks for sharing!! I love theETM function. Probably the difference between both receivers could be the software, but the direct keypad frequency entry is another goal :) 73!

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Marcos, my pleasure! It almost certainly is the software as Matthias confirmed they share the same receiver. Either way, I can now be certain the PL-310ET is more sensitive overall than the PL-360. For sure the direct entry keypad makes a huge difference to the ergonomics. 73! Clint

[@jeffking4176]

Good review. Tecsun makes some excellent radios. I really like the R233, and PL660,but my favorite is the PL390. It has a longer MW antenna in it. 📻👍🙂‼️

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Thank you very much Jeff and yes I agree, performance as a function of price on most Tecsuns is nearly always superb.Only the S-8800 doesn't quite make the grade in that respect - it's too damn expensive lol. 73! Clint

[@MrBrian8749]

Hi Clint...well I took your recommendation and ordered a PL 310 All the video's I watched, not one was negative. I did consider the PL380 and saw very little difference. The price was the deciding factor. Thanks for the great videos. Brian

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi there Brian, congrats on your PL-310ET! I am confident you won't regret the decision, it's a fantastic little radio with performance way beyond it's modest price tag. I hope you will enjoy many hours of listening to it. Let me know how you get on. 73! Clint

[@ninguemninguem1913]

I bought the 310et should arrive for me in Brazil soon

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

You made a very good choice my friend! 73! Clint

[@chrisd756]

Hello Clint, really nice video! And congratulations on your new radio :) Indeed all these little Tecsuns based on Silicon Labs DSP chip are really great performers. I have PL-398mp and I'm really amazed that ETM function can find even really weak signals. I think it's because DSP can measure signal to noise ratio and that why ETM works so great in those receivers. 73!

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Chris, thank you very much! The PL-310ET is a great little radio and indeed, most of the Tecsuns, if not all, offer really wonderful performance for the money. I love the stero PL-398MP! What a great little radio that is. I'm sure you're right - there will be an algorithem in the code somewhere measuring SNR...makes perfect sense. 73! Clint

[@draff1662]

Hi Clint, I have both radios and the 310ET to me is the superior radio. Amazing what it can pull in, very good also on AM and FM. I take one in my DX away bag. Great with a long wire or active antenna. Wish we had these DSP chip radios years ago. Can't wait to see you use this on your DXpeditions!

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hello my friend, thank you very much for your comments! For sure the PL-310ET would make a worthy portable for any DXpedition and in my very limited experience with it, seems very able to handle quite a large antenna, which is very helpful. Some reception videos to follow very soon. 73! Clint

[@ofthedawn]

A pure analog beats dsp.

[@Goblinbasher79]

Just got a 310 off eBay for £20, like new, great little unit, learning the functions was simple enough. I've become interested in SW because of all the oddities I've heard about, number stations, strange English speaking foreign frequencies etc. weirdly all our past radios had it, but as the sound was so bad, I stuck to AM/FM, then DAB became the standard and like with many other types of tech, you become lazy/reliant on that. I first got the little raddy RF750 which is an excellent little unit (sound quality and sensitivity) and came with a clip on long wire, unfortunately it's dial/rolling tuner is quite tightly packed, so touch it slightly and you can have lost the signal on SW. Andy

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Thanks for your comments Andy - you will be impressed with the PL-310ET - a great little radio. 73

[@Goblinbasher79]

Indeed, I'm using an xhdata AN-19 long wire which has a 3.5mm jack and clip on adapter. Like yourself I got N.Korea (amazingly clear in the house) as well as some English news from Ukraine and usual other bits. Cannot believe how sensitive this little unit is in comparison to some I've seen. I had a Japanese imported Aiwa midi system in the 1990's/2000's that had full range FM/LW/MW/SW and picked up all sorts of weirdness ... But this equals the performance of that system other than the sound (those speakers were just awesome and I should have kept them) it's just a pity we've lost so much in this country from the older bands !

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Well done and thanks for your interesting comments! 73

[@richardtichaux6069]

Yes, the PL-310ET is pretty good, though I find the original PL310 (without the "ET") was much better. I now have a PL-380 and it is excellent.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Thanks for your comments Richard. Tecsun make some kit that really offers superb performance as a function of price - except the S-8800! 73! Clint

[@regionaldx]

As I could read, the 310 is a nice FM performer too.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi there, thank you very much for your comment. I will try mine out on FM very soon. 73! Clint

[@senderjaeger]

Hi Clint, congrats on the PL-310ET! It's certainly a great performer for its price and I'm considering to replace my defunct PL-380 with it some day. I'm sure you'll like the excellent digital bandwidth filters (the selection of bandwidths is actually better than on the PL-880). 73, Matthias

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Matthias, thank you very much! Indeed, the PL-310ET is quite an amazing little radio and from what I've gleaned so far, it's quite a bit more sensitive than the PL-360. You're absolutely right about the audio BW filters - 1 to 6 kHz gives lots of useful options. Some reception videos to come soon. 73! Clint

[@teeeeeveeeee314]

To me, the PL-310et has better reception and sound to the PL-360. I like it as an ultra portable and the PL-680 as a medium portable...

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Steve, that's definitely my experience - the PL-310ET is definitely more sensitive and has better audio. 73! Clint

[@philhenzler5308]

Looks like a great little receiver. It appears to not do SSB, is this correct? Also, what is the Sony receiver in the background? Thanks, Phil

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Phil, thank you. I'll be honest, I haven't properly read the manual lol, but I don't think it does SSB. It does have BW filtering though - 5 or 6 options. Great for the money - reception videos to come. The radio in the background is the superb Sony ICF-SW77. One of the best-ever portables in my humble opinion! :-) 73! Clint

[@jasonstringer3066]

I am tossed between buying the PL 310 ET and the PL 380. What would you buy, given that the cost is very close?

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

They're pretty similar, in fact almost identical so I wouldn't agonise over the decision. Either represents very good value for money - of that there's no doubt. Good luck! 73! Clint

[@Wavelength7mhz1]

I prefer the 310 et and it has a external antenna input where the 380 doesn't ... Bummer .. incidentally the pl 360 as of recent also has external antenna input for sw mw and fm 👍

[@eyadabusharar2457]

Hello Tecsun PL310ET vs Tecsun 380 which one is more sensative on SW your advice please

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

I think they're about the same in terms of sensitivity.

[@مهندس_علي]

Thanks for the great video. I am following your channel from the Middle East. I want to buy tecsun pl310 what are the specifications and disadvantages of this device and do you recommend it?

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Thank you very much for your nice comments and following the channel. I strongly recommend the PL310 because it's cheap, but has an external antenna socket, selectable audio bandwidth filters and for the price, it's super-sensitive. Coupled with excellent selectivity, it's just a brilliant little radio at a very reasonable price. There aren't any downsides really. There are better radios on the market, but they are x2, 3 or 4 times the price. `Hope that helps. 73! Clint

[@مهندس_علي]

@@OxfordShortwaveLog Thank you very much sir. The Lord protects you.

[@badhonrudra]

Which is better 380/310ET

[@Marcos-pe8pk]

Is the PL 660 so good as PL 310 ET? Greetings from Rio de Janeiro.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi there, I would say the PL-660 is the better radio. 73! Clint

[@aeron-mw7ofs]

where did you purchase it young fella ?

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi there, I purchased it from an Electronics shop (Maplin). Definitely a good buy! 73! Clint

[@dynamodav]

Ah, the days of maplin! Shame they went under

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Totally agree!

[@georgemercado8676]

Hello I am planning to buy the pl 360 but still I am also considering the pl 380, 600, and even the 680. I do not know what to buy for it will be my first time to try SW.

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi George, don't buy any other those - buy the Eton Satellit, or Tecsun PL-880 or if price is too expensive an XHDATA D-808. 73s, Clint

[@georgemercado8676]

@@OxfordShortwaveLog If I will consider the Eton Satellit I shall buy in Amazon which is not my priority now maybe next time. I already considered the pl880 but the price on their coming sale is $192, too much. My problem with XHDATA would be the battery that powers it, 18650 w/c I found in most reviews negative (it does not last I do not know if that is the case to all). What seems to be the problem with other Tecsun radios? By the way I'm from the Philippines so I have that problem if I can pick up some stations using SW.

[@georgemercado8676]

I saw the Eton Elite Traveler and Mini compact which one do you most recommend. Thanks.

[@TheMajkla]

Hi Clint, also based on your recommendation I got mine from Maplin when it was on sale and I love this radio! It is used everyday now. Anyway, here's my first DXing video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHPYo5ZomZWkbcU

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

hi there Ronald, great reception of The Mighty KBC! I've subscribed and shared your reception video on my twitter feed. I hope you pick up some followers. 73! Clint

[@TheMajkla]

Cheers Clint, am going to string the wire up tomorrow, looking forward to catching some more DXes!

[@debojitacharjee]

Is there any shortwave radio with recording function?

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Try this: www.amazon.co.uk/Kaito-Electronics-KA801-Shortwave-Recorder/dp/B0030MZ1NQ

[@szaki]

TIVDIO V-115 Portable Shortwave Transistor Radio AM/FM Stereo with MP3 Player Recorder Support T-Flash Card and Sleep Timer www.amazon.com/TIVDIO-Portable-Shortwave-Transistor-Recorder/dp/B01ARN28SQ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527251242&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=.+TIVIDO+V-115

[@ofthedawn]

Why did they make it look like a scanner?

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

I'm not sure! 73! Clint

[@Wavelength7mhz1]

Sure does fit my pocket nicely

[@budforler2742]

looks. like. it. whould. be. good. to. take. backpacking. and. what. not

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Bud, great idea. It would be the perfect radio to take backpacking or camping. A really good performer, that didn't cost the Earth! 73! Clint

[@Feguilosch]

Good report of 310...73!

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Thank you very much! I really recommend this radio. 73! Clint