Review on 🎧 Tecsun Radio PL 380 Stereo Receiver: Experience Crystal Clear Sound by Sherri Lee

I bought a Tecsun PL-380 for use in my tiny cabin, mainly for receiving shortwave news from around the world, and it suits my application perfectly. It receives AM (MW), FM, SW and LW broadcasts. As with all shortwave radio, reception is best at night and is subject to atmospheric conditions, so keep that in mind. I use it to receive shortwave broadcasts from all over the world. I've noticed that some reviews mention signal overload when using a long wire antenna attached to a telescopic antenna in a radio. I haven't had this problem and I usually use a long wire 18ga antenna. insulated wire with an alligator clip at the end and simply attach it to the telescopic antenna. You don't need anything fancy, I just randomly routed the wire around the rafters of my cabin. You will rarely hear ham radio operators on this small radio as it lacks the sideband that most ham radio operators work on, but there are a few amateurs that don't have sideband, as I've heard. AM (MW) reception is excellent at night when stations are broadcast in many states and FM reception is excellent day and night. Haven't heard anything on LW and I suspect there isn't much to hear anyway. As I said, SW reception is excellent at night. I like ETM (Easy Tuning Mode), especially for shortwave. When ETM is selected, the PL-380 will scan the HF band (or your chosen band) and store the found signals in the ETM's memory. When the search is complete, the tuning dial will move from one station found to the next. Favorite stations can be saved permanently, which is another great feature. This little radio runs on three AA batteries and I chose to install lithium batteries which have worked great for me. My tiny cabin uses a 12 volt solar panel for power, and this little radio allows me to charge my batteries with a USB charger plugged into the 12 volt cigarette lighter socket in my cabin. Remember to set your radio to use rechargeable batteries. I will say that the manual is a bit "shaky" and you will have to refer to it repeatedly the first few times you use this radio. by reviewers, and in my opinion the bad press is unfounded. Every hobby involves some form of snobbery, but the truth is, you really don't need to drop a bunch to enjoy listening on shortwave.