Tecsun PL-680 vs Sony ICF-7600GR: KCBS Pyongyang, Voice of Vietnam, Yemen Radio

[@gorankoilic6571]

Merry Christmas!

[@swlistening]

Thank you Goran and Merry Christmas to you too!

[@ArnieDXer]

Hi André, to be honest... I can't make out any difference between the two radios in your test! 😵 And I'm blown away by your reception quality of NHK on 11815! 😍 Also, that crackling on 11680 KCBS... Makes the broadcast sound more vintage than it is 😂 Speaking of NHK, I wonder what 15130 from Issoudun @ 19-21 UTC looks like in your location? France is fully in darkness at the time of the broadcast, and it's really deep in darkness at this time of the year. So I wonder if this broadcast can actually make it to its intended target area of Africa? 🧐 Here, DXing has suddenly become a lot more difficult, and for long hours 😞 my direct neighbour put some blinking Christmas lights both in front of AND at the back of their home, and I can actually see both lights from my room's window 😆 the front one pulsates slowly, but it's so strong, it even illuminates nearby powerlines 🤣 while the other is an animated one, with varying speeds & types of flashing -- these seem to be the worst, from my experience. And now, on all bands, I have blobs of noise every 50kHz or so -- in addition to increased noise floor! And I'm not even aiming my small-ish terminated loop at them 😂 Merry Christmas & stay healthy 🎅

[@swlistening]

Hi there Arnie, Merry Christmas to you also! To my ears the only difference between the Sony and the PL-680 is that the Sony seems to be slightly less noisy, which seems to be one of the main advantages of the Sony over the PL-680. But the difference in this video is not huge, as most of the signals are very good quality. I am always surprised by the quality of NHK signals here in South Africa. I hear the Yamata signal as clearly as in this video almost on a daily basis. I also hear the Issoudun signal well, but it is never as clear as Yamata. I will check Issoudun tonight at 19:00, I am sure I have heard it often, but I will just make sure tonight and let you know here. Good luck with your Christmas lights problem! 🤣 I guess your neighbour might remove the lights after new year, so a few more days of noise to live with...

[@AnthonyJones-vk6xq]

Excellent video as always, just had a look here in France, they are selling the Tecsun PL-680 for 199Euros.......having listened to this i am more than tempted to buy one, thankyou for the video and wish you a fine weekend.

[@swlistening]

Hi Anthony, it is quite expensive at 199 euros, have you looked at the anon-co website? It is 155 euros from anon-co, taxes included. It is a very trustworthy company. Have a look here: www.anon-co-eu.com/product/tecsun-pl680-ssb-radio Definitely worth it at 155 euros.

[@Patriot-American]

Great video on these two receivers reception ... Doesn't look like you are running the Sony in synchronous detection from what I can see on the display?? Thanks for your channel and videos ...

[@swlistening]

Thanks for your comment! Yes, I am not using synchronous detection on the Sony here (and also not on the PL-680). This is just a regular SW comparison, the signals were clear enough that there was no need for the sync detection.

[@kurtbrauer855]

Merry Christmas and Happy New year Andre HS0ZBS East Thailand

[@swlistening]

Thank you so much Kurt, Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you too!

[@mustafa9100]

Hello there, in all these videos I wonder how it goes without the loop? Thanks for sharing!

[@swlistening]

Hi Mustafa, good point. I will make some videos in the new year without the loop, with just the whip antennas.

[@JosephTyson]

Did you have to do anything special when using the MLA-30 with the Sony 7600GR? I ask because the Sony provides a voltage on the external antenna jack to power the optional Sony AN-LP1 portable loop antenna.

[@swlistening]

Hi there Joseph. No, I did not do anything special. I know about the antenna jack that provides some voltage to power a Sony antenna. I searched for information online and found various forum posts and articles. The consensus seems to be that you can use other external antennas as well. Here is one article with some comments: swling.com/blog/2017/04/using-the-sony-icf-sw7600gr-with-external-antennas/

[@JosephTyson]

@@swlistening thanks for the info and article.

[@plls5]

That NHK is crystal clear. Jealous here in Eastern Canada.

[@swlistening]

This NHK signal is one that I can always rely on, most of the time it is as clear as in this video. It is amazingly strong at my location.

[@gorankoilic6571]

Merry Christmas to Radio Vatican, WMLK, Brother Stair and World's Last Chance!

[@MusicLover-c88]

I am brand new using a short wave radio. just a few days ago I purchased a PL-680. but I can't figure out how to manually add a frequence, such as 34.90 for example. I don't know what to hit on the radio to put that in & how do you put a point (period) in the number. I know this sounds like a silly question, but like I said, I'm a newbie. I don't know who to ask for help.

[@swlistening]

Welcome to the wonderful world of shortwave radio listening! You are most welcome to ask your questions here. For shortwave frequencies you just punch in the entire frequency, after selecting the SW band. To select the SW band you press either the up or down arrows just below the AM and FM buttons. When you are in the shortwave band, punch in the full frequency, for example 15770. For AM listening do the same. Press the AM button to go to the AM band, then punch in the full frequency, for example 610. For FM you do not need to enter decimal points. So if you are in the FM band and you want to listen to 102.7, you punch in 1027. The radio will read the last number as the decimal point. So for 94.0, for example, you need to punch in 940.

[@AndrewwDXing]

Officialy confirming that Sony is the winner of this battle. Merry Christmas & Happy holidays! 🎄🎆

[@swlistening]

Thanks Andrew and Merry Christmas to you too!

[@arcticradio]

I do find the Sony’s were good. I hope you can find the legendary Sony ICF-2001D one day. It’s still the best portable even today.

[@swlistening]

If I ever find the ICF-2001D for sale here, it will be the find of the century! I will be very happy when that day comes :-)

[@stephenwright8103]

Hi Andre good listening as usual will try them tomorrow at this time listening to 7580 clock from Ottawa coming in 50% readability on the PL-660 can you receive this...

[@swlistening]

Hi Stephen, no, I haven't been able to pick up the Canadian time signal yet. As far as time signals go, I have heard BPM on 10000 kHz, WWVH on 10000 and 15000 kHz, and the Russian one, RWM, on 9996 kHz. None of the others yet.

[@stephenwright8103]

@@swlistening Hi Andre, wishing you a Happy Christmas and a healthy new year this year has flown past my TECSUN- 880 has developed a fault already when you turn up the volume over half way it cuts out not a happy bunny but these things happen, I've been in touch with the shop and sending it back after Christmas at least I'm not short of radios lol don't know if I mentioned it in the past I live 10 miles from Chelmsford that is known as the birthplace of radio in the county of Essex with its connection with Guglielmo Marconi who opened the first wireless factory here in 1899 including the first official radio broadcast in the UK in 1920 there is a great Marconi Museum here as well...

[@swlistening]

@@stephenwright8103 Hi there Stephen, thank you for the Christmas greetings. Merry Christmas to you also! I am sorry to hear about the PL-880 fault, but luckily you are able to return it. You have not mentioned that you live near the birthplace of radio in Essex! That Marconi museum sounds like a very interesting place, I guess you have been there several times already? Do they show different kinds of radios there? It must be fascinating to see.

[@stephenwright8103]

@@swlistening Hi there Andre yes Essex is on the Radio map as you say, I've not been to the museum for some time so I don't know the latest layout I guess its on google as for the T 880 perhaps it wasn't such a good idea knowing its History but hopefully they will exchange it and not mend it I've been tuning around the frequencies this afternoon lots seem to be coming in moderate to strong anyhow Andre enjoy the Christmas break and look forward to the new year and your new videos speak soon...👍

[@swlistening]

@@stephenwright8103 Thanks Stephen, enjoy your break also!

[@sentul5558]

Lucky? That my friend is an understatement when it comes to the Sony and the price you paid. .. Methinks the Guardian Angel of SWL is looking after you .

[@swlistening]

I think the Guardian Angel of SWL feels sorry for me because I pay such hefty import duties and VAT on new radios, so as a consolation prize I get second-hand radios at good prices 🤣

[@sentul5558]

@@swlistening Yes, duty is a pain same here, We we get 10% or so duty plus 11% vat. That would be acceptable I suppose. Big problem here is we have to pay duty on the full value and that includes postage. That hurts.

[@swlistening]

@@sentul5558 Here the import duties are a bit unpredictable. Mostly I pay about 30% (including VAT) of the product price (luckily not on the postage also). But on high-value items (usually above $120) I pay 50% duty (VAT included). I think it works on a sliding scale, the more expensive the product, the higher the duties.

[@sentul5558]

@@swlistening It becomes a problem, we used to get 50 USD duty free, then it became 100 USD. Then overnight almost it dropped to 3 USD. I have stopped importing now, the shipping and duty charges can be well over the actual item initial cost. A 30 USD radio suddenly becomes a 75 USD radio.

[@swlistening]

@@sentul5558 Indeed, the same here. I do like to buy new radios, but I focus on radios that are less expensive, so that the duties will not be so high. I would love to buy something like the Eton Elite Executive, but with duties and VAT my real price will be unjustifiably high.