TECSUN PL680 BEATS EXPECTATIONS! - Part 1

TECSUN PL680 BEATS EXPECTATIONS!

Part 1

(Here is an edited and updated version of an article I wrote for "The World of Shortwave Listening" column of The Spectrum Monitor magazine - August 2016 issue. Further details on this excellent publication is available at www.thespectrummonitor.com)

I have been procrastinating over investing in another portable shortwave radio to replace my ageing (but still going strong) Sangean ATS909. Also known in the U.S. as the rebadged Radio Shack DX–398, the Sangean has been a most reliable rig for in-the-field DXpeditions. My unit is one of the early first generation versions that I purchased on the second-hand market, so I’m guessing it has to be at least 16 years old now. It continues to provide a full rich tone quality on AM/FM and is very sensitive on shortwave providing you use an external antenna of 5 metres (16 feet) or more. The radio received some bad press because of its poor SW reception using just the telescopic rod antenna, which frankly was justified. The in-built whip is useless! But all of my work has been with an external antenna, and the results have been most successful over the years.

But the old ATS909 has lived a hard life, having been bounced around in the car on rough dirt tracks, dropped a few times, and thanks to a recent home renovation project it now has paint splattered all over it. On one occasion, I’d even left it outside on the ground after a spot of gardening, subjecting it to half an hour of heavy rain, before realising my forgetfulness. The radio was soaked but still going strong when I picked it up. However, the digital readout was all messed up. After 24 hours of drying, and it fired up beautifully again, and has been fine ever since! That’s some impressive build quality there! Thanks Sangean!

Anyway, a few months ago I decided to “pull the trigger” and purchased a new Tecsun PL680 AM/FM/SSB/Air Band radio. This rig has been on the market since around February 2015. So far, it has performed very well for me. Interestingly, on the built-in telescopic antenna reception is only marginally better than the Sangean, but the Tecsun is really quite sensitive with an external long wire antenna. In fact, I’ve had it hooked up to my three double bazooka (coax) dipoles for 80, 40 and 20 meters, and the performance has been excellent. The tone quality is not quite a good as the Sangean, lacking richness and depth on MW, FM and SW. But for DXing, the audio appears just right for digging out clear audio from the noisy shortwave bands.

Recently, I hooked up both portables for a side-by-side comparison using four different external antennas outside the shack with switches between the two radios. I was eager to check how they measured up in terms of sensitivity and selectivity. The results for the Tecsun were impressive, picking up all of the weaker signals that the Sangean could hear. Indeed, on several shortwave broadcast bands, the Tecsun appeared to be just a touch more sensitive at digging out some of the weakest signals. The audio also appeared a little clearer for those weak signals, perhaps because it has a narrower audio response than the Sangean. And selectivity for the PL680 was about the same as the ATS909, generally very good.

On the ham bands, however, the SSB audio quality of the ATS909 sounds more pleasant to my ears than the PL680. But the Sangean’s tuning process in SSB is somewhat more cumbersome than for the Tecsun. The PL680’s synchronous detector effectively reduces adjacent signal interference. It’s easy to use and is a strong feature in its favor. However, occasionally it can fail to lock on to a weaker signal or when the signal is subject to deep fading. One other characteristic of the Tecsun is that it has a rather overly generous S-meter, hitting S4 or 5 for all but the weakest signals. This is a meter not to be taken too seriously!

But the PL680 is not without its faults. Occasionally, it can tend to overload on very strong signals, causing some hash on nearby frequencies e.g. While listening one afternoon to Radio New Zealand International on 11690 kHz at 0630 UTC, I noted that the signal was spreading itself across 40 kHz either side of its designated channel. On another occasion, I heard the CNR jammer on 15280 kHz splattering across much of the 19 mb, when using a 15 metre long wire antenna. This could possibly be minimised by flicking the "antenna gain" switch from the DX to normal setting. But that rather defeats the purpose of having a DX setting because you are also reducing the gain of the weaker stations near the stronger broadcaster. 

I have also found an occasional internally generated signal from the receiver's circuitry appearing on both mediumwave and shortwave. This manifests itself as a high pitched whistling sound, and on my unit this can be heard around 900-960 kHz AM. On shortwave it is less of a concern but can still be noted in a few spots on the dial. More sophisticated receiver designs eliminate these issues, but I guess in this little portable receiver's price range it is to be expected.

As mentioned earlier, the 680's whip antenna alone does not produce very good results. Perhaps if you are located in Europe, Asia or USA and closer to transmitter sites, you may find the whip adequate for your needs. But in Australia, the signals have to be quite strong to be detected by the 680's whip antenna. This is normal! Shortwave receivers like to have more wire collecting the signal rather than less. The whip antenna on any shortwave radio is a compromise antenna - nothing more. I often smile when I hear people complaining about weak signals when they use a whip antenna. Get some more length on your antenna and watch the receiver really perform!

SUMMARY: Up against the old Sangean ATS909, the Tecsun PL680 is smaller, lighter, and has the benefit of current receiver design. And, of course, it is much less expensive than the currently available Sangean ATS909X model, so it is certainly a good buy and an excellent performer. A worthy replacement for my old but reliable Sangean.

However, here are the really big questions to be answered!! 

Will the Tecsun stand up to being bounced around on rough dirt tracks? Will it still operate after being dropped a few times? And will it fire up after having been soaked on the ground in the rain for half an hour? I guess time will tell......

UPDATE:  The PL680 has now been used in a variety of portable situations in recent times. We went on holiday for two months to the top of Australia and the Tecsun was the only radio I took along for the 10,000 km journey. You can read some of the reports from that trip using the 680 by checking out the following posts:

DX QUICK TIPS - JULY 3, 2016

DX QUICK TIPS - DINGO BEACH EDITION!

DX QUICK TIPS - MAPLETON FOREST EDITION

DX QUICK TIPS - THE KANGAROO CORNER EDITION!

BUT........
In the past week, I tested out the 680 against some of the fancy gear in my home radio shack and using some big external antennas. Most notably, I pitted it against the Yaesu FTDX3000 transceiver, which has probably the best receiver in my shack. The results blew me away! This Tecsun radio can really hear stuff! It's very sensitive for weak signal DXing.



In Part 2 of this report, I'll be posting a YouTube video of a "shoot-out" between the big Yaesu and the tiny Tecsun. I think you'll be surprised! Coming soon.......

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

 Subscribe!! Follow @robvk3bvw