TECSUN PL-380 FM Stereo Portable Radio MW. SW. LW. DSP with ETM PLL World Band Radio Antenna LCD Display Receiver Black.

This radio is a very much smaller version of my Sangean. Indeed it is very similar to my Grundig Yacht Boy. It's small and easy to travel with. Is has a zipped pouch to carry the radio and all the bits and pieces, earphones, long wire for SW reception, and USB cable for charging. So, with a USB charger you can with the appropriate plug, charge it in the car, or charge it at home from a wall socket, or charge it from a computer. With rechargeable batteries, it just all too easy. The audio quality from such a small radio is better than most, and if you are a Radio 5 listener, you will be glad that it has the ability to drag in the AM signal in the evenings, when other much bigger radios will have so much noise on them, that you can't hear the station you want. The ETM tuning is really good. It scans and keeps any decent stations in memory. So, if you scan the SW bands, it will locate and store the stations that are acceptable to listen to. This also works very well on AM, but in a heavy use area for FM such as London, you will end up with every station in memory. However, it's an easy matter to just turn the knob until you have the one you want to listen to. There is a more conventional and permanent memory system available as well, but in my case I just use the ETM, as it gives you the best stations, in the area where you are located. If you're an SSB/BFO type of listener, then pass this one by. However, they do have the bigger model that does have the side bands etc. This model is for the person who arrives somewhere and wants to quickly listen to the strongest signals in that area. Good for travellers, and certainly simply to use. It's not flimsy, and I would put the build quality as similar to the Sony's, and Sangean's ie durable and long lasting. As I said before, the audio quality is good, and surprisingly good on AM for such a small radio. With the supplied headphones the FM stereo is of the highest quality. I would recommend this radio to those that want something decent for travel, and also as a better than most type of home radio.

This radio is fantastic, and considerably better than I was expecting. Tecsun should employ a native English speaker to revise the manual and to write publicity giving this radio full credit. Like many others, I have been a long term user of small well made Sony radios on my solitary trips camping up in the mountains of Europe and America. The SW100 finally gave up because of the design flaw in the hinge which now cannot be repaired. I expected the Tecsun to be a bit dodgy and sloppily made and it's the opposite! What a bargain. It may not actually have single side band or Sony's long excellent synchronous detection, but it brings in stations as if it has. Maybe it's this wonderful DSP chip? I have so far tested it out on what it will be doing in Europe- the World Service frequencies and it's doing really well- this is a good test as these frequencies are not broadcast 'to Europe' any more. I'm hoping it will work with the ultimate test: R4 LW down in the Pyrenees, but that's a tall order and even the best radios can only do that at odd times in the middle of the night. The Easy Tuning Mode uses memories which are distinct from the 500 or so user controlled memories- you just set ETM going in your chosen band FM, MW, LW and SW (it does all SW bands in one ETM instruction, but you can stop it when you like) and you then have a collection of received stations which you move through using the excellent notched tuning wheel (I mean that you get a palpable click as you move to the next station). If you like one, you can store it in one of your hundreds of memories (chosen either with the same wheel, or direct from the keyboard like 2-3-7) without losing your place in the ETM memories. This means that it is simple to re-scan the entire band whenever you want and all the ETM memories will be replaced, but your own stored memories will be retained. This is excellent design! (I'm having to keep using excellent- it applies to everything except the manual which considerably undersells the radio). You have several settings to enable or disable audible 'beeps' (I always disable mine, but they must be useful for the visually impaired), intelligent screen lighting (very useful, comes on when you move the wheels), internal charging of the 3 AA NiMH batteries (or you can use disposables- it seems to be very economical on power). In the box you get some perfectly acceptable stereo earphones, a long wire antenna which you clip onto the telescopic aerial (not quite as posh as the Sony one many of you will know which winds up into the round black case, but still good- I won't know how good until I try it out in the hills, with the other end fixed to my walking poles), a very handy zip bag for the radio, and another little bag for the antenna and earphones. All you former Sony users- this is what you need!. Of course, I don't know how durable it is but externally and with the 'feel' of the controls, it seems comparable with Sony- it looks like the original Sony 7600 which is 30 years old and which I still use at home, but smaller. Only a little larger than the SW100.

Great antenna and ear buds

Bastante sensible para captar señales débiles en las bandas de AM ( onda media y onda corta ) . me agrada que incluye un termómetro.

Great little radio - met expectations.

感度も悪くなく、電池の持ちも良いラジオです。あえて言えば、内蔵スピーカーでFMを聴いた場合、AMと変わらない音質になります。そこだけは不満と言えば不満ですが、仕事しながら適当に聞くのであれば、実用に耐えないわけではないので★を５つとしました。音にこだわる人は別の機種をおすすめします。

I purchased the Tecsun PL-380 for use at my tiny cabin, primarily for the shortwave reception of world wide news, and it works great for my application. It receives AM (MW), FM, SW, and LW broadcasts. Like all shortwave radios, reception is best at night, and depends on atmospheric conditions, so be aware of this. I use it to receive shortwave broadcasts from all over the world. I noticed that some reviews mention signal overload when using a longwire antenna clipped to the telescopic antenna on the radio. I have not had this issue, and routinely use a longwire antenna of 18 ga. insulated, stranded wire with an alligator clip on the end, and simply clip this to the telescoping antenna. You don't need anything fancy, I just ran the wire randomly around the rafters of my cabin. You will rarely hear Ham operators on this little radio, as it lacks sideband capability, where most Hams choose to operate, however there are a few Hams out there that are not running sideband, as I have listened to them as well. AM (MW) reception is great at night with reception of stations many states away, and FM reception is great day or night. I have not heard anything on LW, and I suspect that there is not much to hear there anyway. SW reception, as I mentioned is great at night. I really like the ETM (Easy Tuning Mode), especially for shortwave. With ETM selected, the PL-380 will scan through the shortwave band (or any other band selected for that matter), storing found signals in ETM memory. When scanning is completed, using the tuning dial jumps from one found station to the next. Favorite stations can be stored in permanent memory, which is another great feature. This little radio operates from three AA batteries, and I opted to install lithium batteries, which have been working great for me. My tiny cabin uses 12 volt solar for power, and this little radio allows me to recharge my batteries with a usb charger plugged into a 12 volt lighter receptacle at my cabin. Just be sure to set up the radio to use rechargeable batteries. I will say that the manual is a little "wonky", and you will need to refer to it repeatedly, the first few times you use this radio. The Tecsun PL-380 is an excellent little shortwave radio that seems to get some bad press from reviewers, and in my opinion, the bad press is unfounded. Every hobby experiences one form or another of snobbery, but, truth be told, you really don't need to drop a bundle to enjoy shortwave listening.