Tecsun PL 990x Full Review What is negative about this radio Part 3 of 3

What are the downside to the radio

[@jfuentes2009]

The Sangean ATS909x2 does not exhibit SSB distortion on strong signals from my experience and the audible quality of SSB has high frequency fidelity. I think you give well informed videos to your audience. I just want to provide a more complete picture of competing radios also. Thanks

[@Kritiker313]

To perfect the 990x, it needs to have: 1. A bigger encloser to house a beefy wide-range speaker that could deliver plenty of quality volume 2. A rigid (not floppy) top-mounted carry handle. 3. Regular batteries 4. A Sync detector that works really well. Strong signal rejection seems to have always been a weakness on portables that I've known but on the whole, the radio is a nice one, especially when you take its layout and capability into account.

[@marckus2007]

I have a PL-660 that serves me over a decade, but it comes having issues since two years ago. I decided to buy a new radio do raplace but I chose the H-501 over the PL-990. They are very similar except the size and audio quality. In my humble oppinion, the fact that it does not record the audio in sd card is because its hardware when in action, generates noise and it will probably interferes in reception. Bluetooth modules, wifi modules genenate this interferences in audio equipaments if they are not very well insulated.

[@dougmein3071]

Thanks for an excellent review, Gilles! I completely agree with you about the lack of an audio recording record function. IMHO, The addition of record capability with a timer function would have have made the PL 990x a KILLER radio!! Maybe there will be a PL1000X eventually!!!

[@user-dv6im4cc6m]

Thanks for the review. I'm about to purchase this type of radio. You' ve given me a lot of useful information about it. I think for powerful SSB station it would be useful to reduce sensitivity of the receiver with the antenna switch. This can improve AGC performance.

[@WilliamParmley]

Excellent, thank you.

[@mootpointjones8488]

My unit works OK on Synch when using an external antenna. I bought my 990x in August 2022. It is not perfect but still functional. I have owned an 880 and it's much, much better althought my Sony 20120 is still the best IMHO.

[@Kritiker313]

Tecsun ought've placed a carry handle on the top of the radio like they did the S-8800. A fast/slow agc attack switch would've been nice as well. Thanks for the review.

[@cyberghost74]

Thank you, Sir. I ordered mine today, upgrading from my TECSUN PL-380.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

you will love it

[@alan4441]

My one arrived from Anon Co today. So far I’m impressed 👍

[@corpo33]

@@OfficialSWLchannel can I ask a question jm buyn a new radio soon and I need advice which radio should I get the 660 680 880 or the 990 thank you sooo much.

[@georgiathai4961]

Thank you for you excellent review of this radio. In your opinion, what portable does have good sync detection? Thanks again...

[@jimgordon1563]

Hi Gilles, thank you for this review. I think that I will stick with the best Tecsun in my collection ; the PL660. As you have noted its Sync Detection is really good and, IMHO, comparable to that of the Sony ICF 2001D. Thanks for you reviews of these new Tecsuns. I'm sure they will help myself and others to make decisions concerning purchases. 73s

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

PL-660 is a great receiver!

[@patrickkerns2022]

I agree but the cosmetics of the 880 and 990 are so much better what a pity Iike the 880 but truth hurts the 660 sync is better and ssb is much clearer to my ears

[@korteksvisceralzen2694]

Looking at this vs 330 now and agree the sd recording would have pushed me to the 990. So will be getting the 330.

[@redf7209]

voice activated dictation recorders are so cheap and could be alongside or plugged in, it may have cost a lot more to the price if they had built in the accompanying facility to access what was recorded too

[@azamatkarasaev9933]

Hi Gilles, thank you for your review. Mentioning AGC, have you reviewed Grundig Satellit 700, which has AGC. Would be interesting to know your opinion on this.

[@rolandmenero6490]

Thanks for the review. I cannot find the 990X only the 990. Is there a difference?

[@lambertpga]

Can I consider the 990X an upgrade to the SDR RSPduo connected to longwire-, MW-loop antennas?

[@rvdb8876]

In Europe the medium wave band is deflating. More and more channels are closed there. I associate DRM with shortwave and it can also breathe new life into the medium wave band. I do not understand that this digital mode (DRM) is not provided on such shortwave devices. This would really make such a device a bestseller. I have no doubts about that. What are they still waiting for?

[@ritmo1130]

Santa already knows what I want for Xmas! LOL :-)

[@sepiroth8618]

Hello Gilles thank you for your honestly Report of the 990x can you Show a comparsion of the Sync Feature between 680 and 990x? Best regards from Germany

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

will do

[@zvjezdaniput6121]

Hello, would you give me an advice wich one to buy? PL-680, PL 880 or the 990 or 990X(are those two 990s the same or what??) Wich one of those has a good sync. detection and are they have the same batteries or there is some difference?

[@normbeaudoin3635]

Totally agree ! What were they thinking that they did not incluse full audio recording capability and at least 2m receiver since 2 meters resides between the aircraft band and the VHF NOAA weather band. I elected not to buy one for those reasons other wise a very nice looking, capable radio receiver.

[@cimbakahn]

Do all portable shortwaves need to be calibrated?

[@sandhill9313]

I wonder if recording capability had something to do with FM, perhaps providing an easy way to steal artists properties etc...seems there should be a lot of ways around that

[@sk3ffingtonai]

Playing devil's advocate, perhaps legal considerations drove them to leave off the recording to the SD card.

[@NickelodeonTuber]

The on-air recording feature would have been a game changer for sales. My experience with AGC is with amateur transceivers and the use of attenuators or switch to an antenna with less gain to help prevent overdrive. Scanners and portable radios go over the edge faster because of fewer parts, less filtering. For $230 it seems that the 990x is a LOT OF RADIO for the money. Most of the expensive amateur transceivers won't have the audio quality that the 990x delivers. The major problem with the Tecsun 990x is that I don't have one. :( Thank you again for your input and hours of work on critiquing this radio and I am looking forward to your take on the Tecsun PL-330. Does the SYNC actually work? That's the million dollar question!

[@germibestia]

most amateur transceivers are designed... for amateur radio traffic... This means that the audio response is tailored for SSB, thus with a narrow bandwidth. The really good ones, also have a specific speaker for better performance on voice. The RF stage is also using narrow filters. This obviously is not helping when listening to AM broadcast, especially when music is on the air.

[@germibestia]

The only reason which would have me replace the 880 with the 990x would be a better sync detector, which on the 880 is just unusable. Given the fact that the front end of such portable radios is what it is, as soon as you hook up any decent aerial on a busy band, things start heading to the south. So, it would have been great to have a manual AGC/RF control. Volume at 3/4 and you use the RF control to bring in the signal... It is kind of strange that these modern receivers are not so much better compared to similar devices of almost 40 years ago. Aside from the added bells and whistles, the performances of a Sony IC-2001D or a Lowe HF-225 Europa are in most instances as good as those delivered by the new products. One would think that 40 years of progress would have brought something significantly better.

[@patrickkerns2022]

My observations and the truth is the sync is useless and ssb has distorted sounds in both 880 and 990 most say there is slight warble to the sound I agree the 660 and 680 we're better on ssb .it doesn't bother me to much but it is a issue that needs fixed my 660 is no where near as bad and many have said this I agree

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

no distortion at all on mine except 10 meters and sync is a over rated feature. but 660 is good

[@lardissantissime]

Air Band would have been great too.

[@robertrockwell7581]

the price turns me off. that is why I bought the TECSUN R-9700 DX. no side band on mine but the price only killed it

[@franciscole3039]

I have pl-660 And 9700dx. If the 9700dx had ssb it would be the best radio with the analog tuner.

[@pisotones2348]

I can't believe a radio this expensive is not RDS in FM...

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

the display is not a matrix .. it can't support text

[@pisotones2348]

@@OfficialSWLchannel I know but, IMHO, such an expensive radio nowadays should have matrix display for RDS... and upgradeable FW via USB or uSD if you ask :-)

[@timedriverable]

Also should have a dedicated NOAH channel.

[@dxace1]

A comment on synchronous -- you're right, Tecsun has still not perfected SYNC and it makes one wonder why they would come out with this, the H-501 and PL-330 with that feature not perfect. OTOH -- as you note, SYNC is improved from the 880. It does lose lock , however, and it is fiddly with distortion on some stations. I have used fine tune to test how far above and below center frequency lock begins to be lost. You can tune a significant 10s of hz with lock still sustained, but not all the time. If I thought Tecsun was going to continiue producing SW radios, I would urge them to work on this, but I don't think that is the case.

[@guyleekn6wet557]

I do not use the sync detection on my 880.

[@germibestia]

sync detection has not been really developed in the past 30 years. It's probably not worth the investment, but even in expensive tabletop receivers, it is a marginal feature delivering at best decent performances. The only receiver I have found having an outstanding sync detection is the RFT EKD300 from the former DDR. Rock-solid sync even dealing with very weak signals. A professional receiver used mostly by the army. Not really portable, weighing in at 24 kg... kzbin.info/www/bejne/gp7QdJt9oJd0brs&ab_channel=FerdinandoBernasconi

[@tmo7734]

What drives me crazy is that goofball battery.

[@mercster]

How is it goofball? It's a very common battery that holds lots of charge, and it used in laptop batteries, Tesla cars, etc.