Tecsun PL680 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM/LW/SW and Air Band Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception

I purchased the PL-680 in 2020, and it hasn't disappointed me. In the world of shortwave and single sideband (SSB) radios, I think this radio one of the best portable radios you can buy for shortwave band reception - at any price.Features: The PL-680 is essentially an improved Tecsun PL-660, with larger controls, improved sensitivity and a slightly better AGC. It has PLL tuning, digital display, synchronous detection, 3-way antenna gain switch, and it covers the AM/FM/SW/AIR and LW bands.Power: Four AA batteries. There is also a separate dedicated voltage specification for either alkaline or NiMh rechargeables. With NiMh rechargeable batteries installed, the supplied A/C wall wart functions as charger, and once charged, you can run the radio solely on clean DC battery power for many hours. Current production radios also use firmware that allows SW frequency calibration. The integrated slow/fast tuning control knob is easy to use and a definite plus.Shortwave: Outstanding. This model isn't as well-known or as frequently reviewed as other Tecsun models, but in fact it's one of the most sensitive in terms of shortwave reception (much, much better, for example, than the Tecsun PL-880, and it's slightly more sensitive than the PL-660). The PL-680 also has great selectivity on SW. Unlike many radios of this type, it has an excellent synch detector on both AM shortwave and SSB, with a strong lock. The PL-680 also uses PLL tuning, so there's no chuffing or muting when changing frequencies. There is a 3-position antenna gain (attenuation) switch to minimize overloading from strong signals, and you'll need to learn how to use this effectively to maximize the radio's SW capabilities (especially when using long external antennas). I've gotten clear reception of Radio New Zealand (6,770 miles) and Voice of Turkey (6,997 miles) using only the attached telescopic antenna. Also captured readable reception of China Radio International (7,257 miles) and All India Radio (9,300 miles) using a backyard horizontally-oriented wire loop antenna.SSB: Excellent. Very good BFO control. You can use both upper and lower single sideband (SSB) for sync detection. AGC is fast and stable.Medium wave: Mediocre. AM reception has been criticized as atrocious by some reviewers, but I think it's a little better than that. While it's no AM DX-ing superstar, the small internal loopstick antenna in the PL-680 will bring in most regional AM stations. Selectivity is excellent. I picked up WYLL 1160AM Illinois at night from its transmitter at 1,413 miles, which is impressive, considering that WYLL is directional and that KSL 1160AM (50kW) in Salt Lake City is directly in line with my reception path. Still, this isn't your best choice if you want to receive distant or low-powered AM radio stations.AIR band: Good. This band pulls in all local aircraft and tower frequencies in my area using the whip antenna.FM: Very good. One station received from a 180-mile distant city. FM reception is clean and stereo is obtained using the 3.5mm headphone jack.Longwave: No opinion. There is almost nothing to listen to where I live except for a single airport beacon.Audio Quality: Just OK. Similar audio to other shortwave portables of its relative size and price, mostly due to the shallow speaker (there isn't much room for a speaker inside the box). AM audio voice quality is fine, but music quality isn't good. At home, I use an inexpensive BT speaker attached to the PL-680's earphone jack with a 3.5mm cable.Quality Control. There are complaints about quality control with every single portable radio sold these days, and Tecsun is no exception. All I can say about the PL-680 is that I must have gotten a good one. I don't doubt other owners who received a radio with poor soldering, buggy first-version firmware, or other issues. I've owned the PL-680 for several years now and have had absolutely zero problems with it, so I know it can perform well if it's properly assembled and not abused.Bottom line: If listening to shortwave or SSB transmissions is your thing, and you need a portable, this is the one to get.

This is my first shortwave radio and I am very happy with it! I live in central Montana and have been able to pick up stations inside my house from very far away using just the built-in antenna. Some I have come across are some stateside religions stations, Radio Rebelde, Voice of China, and even one out of New Zealand one night. It totally blew my mind that I was listening to commuter traffic reports in New Zealand from 7,600 miles away with nothing more than a handheld radio and just the right atmospheric conditions. I was also able to pick up the "Superbowl" CB/ham radio station at one point.I also purchased a whip antenna and an amplified one that looks like a kite and have found that it is a bit trickier trying to get a good signal from inside my house with those. It's almost as if the radio is way too sensitive and it picks up too much local interference to work well with those. I will play around with them some more when I have the time but for now just the radio itself has been amazing!A couple notes:You will have to initially calibrate the radio to get it to align with the frequencies correctly. This can be done by doing the following:Frequency Calibration:1. Turn the radio on select the band you want.2. Tune to a known radio station frequency, such as 89.5 FM, 1490 AM, 10000 SW.3. On FM: Press & hold the [SYNC] button until the screen starts flashing rapidly;OR On AM/MW and SW: Press and hold the [AIR] button until the screen starts flashing rapidly;4. Rotate the tuning knob until the signal becomes clearer, then quickly press the [1] key to confirm thecalibration.5 The screen will return to the "correct" frequency and you are finished.You may have to repeat this multiple times until you feel that you have a good lock on the frequency, and you will have to do it for each frequency band.One other note, the included batteries are NI-MH rechargeable batteries. It wasn't clear to me at first if they were or not. Make sure the display says NI-MH Battery on the top left corner, and change it in the settings if it doesn't. If you use standard Alkaline batteries in it, make sure you turn it off. The radio has incredible standby and usage time on the included batteries if you only listen for a couple hours a day. I have had the radio off and on over the last couple weeks without being plugged in and it still shows at least half charge. Make sure you charge them fully at least overnight on their first use so they will last longer.Finally, I almost never use the DX setting on the antenna gain switch, even when picking up far away stations on shortwave. The Normal setting works great and gives me the clearest reception.

I have two major gripes about this radio that almost made me send it back, but I ended up electing to keep it.First off, the air band receiver simply doesn't work. I don't really know what's wrong with it, but I've never received a single signal with it, even when my Baofeng AR-5RM (which includes air band support as an afterthought and should, by all rights, be worse) can hear activity on the same channel just fine. Air band seemed to be an afterthought on this radio as well, so much so that they didn't even bother to check if it worked (and several extra functions, like scanning or changing the tuning knob behavior, are inexplicably locked out when in air band mode). Do not buy this radio expecting the air band mode to work.Second, the FM tuning is off by about 50 kHz, requiring me to compensate by tuning a little above the actual frequency. This is mainly annoying because the keypad input rounds off to the nearest 100 kHz, which results in it missing the channel by a little until I turn the knob to fix it.With that out of the way, I do like the shortwave capability just fine. It seems reasonably sensitive, and I've had little trouble tuning in to amateur transmissions everywhere I go. Importantly, this radio doesn't have the dreaded "soft muting" or "mute tuning" behavior that some newer radios do, so you can actually hear what you're passing by when you turn the dial. There is a bit of a "fluttering" noise due to the steppy digital tuning, but it's not usually enough to get in the way of hearing actual signals on the way by.