- AM/FM Shortwave receiver with DSP (Digital Signal Processing) & ETM (Easy Tuning Method)
- 30" telescopic antenna extender greatly enhance FM & Shortwave reception
- Tecsun's patented ETM tuning offers easy & comprehensive access to all local stations
- Alarm clock + sleep timer + 550 memories
- Compact size with outstanding sound quality
Here's the pros: 1) long antenna; 2) excellent reception for reasonably available FM stations (50 miles); 3) over 100 stations can be placed in memory; 4) reliable, smooth tuning dial; 5) comes with long (+15 ft) plug in wire antenna for SW and FM.
Here's some negatives: 1) not balanced well --plant with something to support it so the sound is maximized; 2) speaker capacity is good but not great, given its size; 3) no power supply (5V) is provided --it runs on two AA batteries; 4) control is a bit complicated for a radio but it should be fun learning and is not too complicated to be appreciated as a radio; 5) because it is rather delicate you'll want to treat it like a camera and buy a case for it; I bought a "Lowepro" case 1 that measures about 6.5-in. and 3.5-in. in diameter --case 1 resembles a drum.
By the way, for a power supply I bought a "Digipower" wall charger, for video cameras, etc.. The power supply will need to have a mini-USB port to power the radio and recharge the batteries.
Another nice feature is the "easy tuning mode" (ETM). [to quote the manual] "ETM is the unique tuning method designed by Tecsun. It skillfully combines the reception circuitry and control procedure to pre-select the suspected radio station and temporarily auto stores them in the ETM memory (not the regular memory)."
In other words, ETM finds local stations that are strong enough to pull in.
Like I said, don't lose the manual.
If this review was helpful, please add your vote.
PS:
Oddly the ETM was reset by a spark. I was walking along the carpet and the ETM was reset.
Buy Tecsun PL-606 Digital PLL Portable AM/FM Shortwave Radio with DSP, Black Now
I have owned this radio for a few months.--"Positive":
____________________
1. VERY good FM, nothing more to say.
In fact the PL-606 beats even my "KAITO/ DEGEN 1103" (the 'gold standard' among radio aficionados).
2. Really good AM, important for us 'news and talk radio' junkies.
The selectable bandwidth (from 6 down to 1kHz) unique. REALLY valuable at night.
3. For the international traveler (UK, France, Eastern Block countries), the PL-606 LW capability
is unique. The long ferrite rod (which makes its AM good) should also boost its LW performance.
4. Love the ETM tuning (which leaves stations that you have stored for local use "untouched").
REALLY useful feature to have TWO sets of stored frequencies, one "permanent" for home,
i.e. no re-setting required when you return from travel. The other for when you arrive at a
new location. All of this one-touch button "automatic". Done in two or three minutes.
It really picks up and stores ALL useful stations.
5. 1000 mAh NiMH rechargeable from a USB port device using an internal charger:
NICE feature! Charging takes a full night. The battery consumption is very low. (Note, my PL-606
came with two 1000 mAh AAs. I assume this is, so that a USB port/ outlet can fully charge
the two AAs in less than 10 hours.)
6. NICE also that there are only TWO AA batteries required. (Some external chargers will take only
TWO AAs, in series.)
--"Negative"
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1. On my PL-606 the station selector has developed a tendency to skip, repeat and jump back on the stored
frequencies. Not clear why. Is this possibly a 'beginning failure mode'?
2. The VOLUME control is in digital steps. On FM it is never right: "6" not loud enough. "7" TOO loud. Wish they had a "6.5" ..
3. TUNING -I miss a DIRECT frequency input.
-AM in the US: the frequency steps are NOT "10kHz" i.e. it does NOT jump from one North America station to the next. That would have been a desirable feature. Instead you must fiddle with the station selector until you come to an occupied frequency.
4. Speaker -tinny. But who would complain given the PL-606's size!
5. LW -The manual does NOT explain how to switch LW on; press AM and FM simultaneously.
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I'm not a power user of this device. I bought it in order to have a portable radio to receive FM college radio stations around Boston from the urban sprawl. My device operated much as noted by the other positive reviewers and I am happy with it's sound, sensitivity and discriminating power. I only give four stars because I lack much experience to compare by, so, perhaps there are better radios out there. If you are like me, in a rich radio area looking to pick out lower-powered stations, then perhaps this, or one like it, will serve you as well as it has me.Edit (~3 months in): As another reviewer noted also, my tuner dial has begun to display curious-sporadic "skip-reverse-jump" characteristics making for the occasional "random walk" to a desired station.
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I've had the Tecsun 606 for two weeks. What I like is that it is a small design, uses two AA cells instead of 4, and has competent electronics and performance. It wasn't until I read a review where a user said he liked the "ETM" feature that I decided to read the manual for the first time, and I agree. The Tecsun ETM feature is very good. You press down the ETM button once you are on SW, AM or FM, and the radio will scan the entire range and find stations with enough signal to be useable. On SW this means the radio starts at about 2.3 MHz and goes to the end of the 21. MHz band. Once it finishes, taking on SW about 2 minutes, you then use the tuning dial to select the stations that ETM found. My experience is that ETM finds stations that you would stop on if you were band scanning, and that it does not skip over useable signals. The manual of course suggests you use the ETM scan several times a day on SW to compensate for reception conditions, and this is what all of us SW listeners do anyway.The sound of the radio is not hi fi, but its performance is excellent. On AM it does a very good job, but sure with a longer AM bar antenna it could do better. On FM it is fine and SW is very good to excellent. No SSB.
There is no keypad tuning on the radio, so if you don't want to use ETM, you need to band select and then use the tuning knob on the side to get the frequency you want. The bandwidths of 1 3 and 6 khz are fine.
I've found I'm using ETM all the time now since I have gained confidence that ETM will indeed find listenable signals. You have to try it to convince yourself that ETM is credible and not some kind of cheesy scanning scheme. I think ETM is well done.
If I had an issue, it is this: the whip antenna will become lose and will need to be tightened using a very small phillips screwdriver. At least on my radio this happens. Time will tell if this radio's tuning and volume dials will survive hundreds of uses per day, but overall, I think this is a great small two battery radio and for new shortwave listeners especially, as well as us old crusty ones, ETM is a nice gift!
Fidelity will not blow you away, but the performance is great, with low power consumption and a competent design using the latest DSP technology from a US company. It's a buy in my view and a great emergency radio in a pinch.
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I am a DX'er. A DX'er is one who listens to and logs, distant radio stations. I have heard over 800 US and Canadian AM stations plus dozens more from Central and South America. A recent fad has been to DX the AM broadcast band with small, pocket radios. This one fits the size bill for these "Ultralight Radios."DSP: The Tecsun PL-606 has one glowing feature that sets it apart from other small radios. It features Digital Signal Processing (DSP). DSP allows the listener to hear a station on a frequency adjacent to a stronger one. In fact, the DSP is further refined by allowing users to select the bandwidth. You can step through the bandwidths, from 6 KHz, down to 4 KHz, 3,2 and 1. Obviously the best fidelity is at the 6 KHz setting while the 1 KHz setting sounds fairly awful. BUT if you are trying to listen to a baseball game on 710 KHz with a powerful station on 700 KHz, the 1 KHz or 2 KHz settings just may allow you to hear the game.
TUNING: This is where the 606 is just plain odd. Most similar sized pocket radios have keypads. This one does not. There are three ways to tune the radio. One is to scan and pit the strongest stations and then you can tune only them. Nice is if you only want to listen to a few locals. The second way is just scrolling through the band. Unfortunately, each click of the control, only moves it 1 KHz at a time. Thirdly, you can put frequencies into memory and scroll through them. The downside iws that there is only 100 memories for AM (of 550 total) and not every frequency 530-1710 KHz could be put in. It gets full at just over 1520 KHz.
OTHERNESS: Most similar radios have where you could press a button and the LCD backlight stays on until you turn it off. No option on the PL-606. The light stays on for a few seconds per key press or dial movement. The power switch isn't really an on-off switch, it is a sleep timer switch. After 30 minutes, it goes off. Most similar radios start this "feature" at 60 or 90 minutes. The radio can use rechargeable batteries and it can be charged via USB. The display has TONS of options including temperature and signal strength readings.
PERFORMANCE: A very sensitive radio om AM, FM and SW, it really is a non-starter on Longwave, unless you can couple it with an external antenna (the antenna jack is only for FM and SW). On AM the radio is SEVERLY plagued with internal (microprocessor based) noise, on certain frequencies. That is a hard pill to swallow.
OVERALL: You get ALOT of radio for $50! There is a steep learning curve but it is alot of fun to try all of the options and settings that are often found in radios costing 5 times more.
PRO's:
DSP
Compact
Selective but still very sensitive receiver
Lots of features for $50
CON's:
Odd tuning
Internal noise on many frequencies
Inept on Longwave (as equipped)
No Light control
Short maximum sleep timer option
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