Tecsun PL-360 Digital PLL Portable AM/FM Shortwave Radio with DSP, Black (UK Version)

I've only recently purchased the Tecsun DSP PL-360 receiver but it seems to give good performance across all wave bands. Handheld, sturdy, with several very useful easy to use functions - memory, alarm, auto-scan etc.. The display includes time, temperature and so forth. It has FM, MW, SW. The telescopic antenna gives good reception for FM but the included additional clip-on (to the integral telescopic antenna) wire antenna is needed for SW, at least in my location. As is the included 'T' plug-in AM antenna. Also included is a set of small earpiece headphones. The only weird thing is the text on the packaging is in what appears to be either Japanese or Chinese, not sure which but the handbook is in English.

Nice little radio and great size that fits your pocket for those days away. 5* Great SW coverage too

Only had this for a couple of days, but I have a few other SW radios, I got this one because of all the good reviews and brand reputation. Oh, and it's only 50 quid. The radio is well made and appears sturdy enough for frequent use at home and when out and about. I also normally take a SW radio on holiday with me as it's fun to see what stations can be received when in foreign locations. The controls seem at first glance to be oddly named, but it is very important to read the supplied instructions and become familiar with what the radio can do, bit by bit. Tecsun has packed a lot of performance into a neat and compact unit. Supplied with the radio are an antenna extension - a length of wire with a spring clip at one end to suspend it and a clip to fit on the radio's whip aerial - a plug-in MW/LW ferrite antenna, which can be rotated for optimum signal strength and a pair of earphones. Please be aware that the SW wire antenna extension and MW/LW antenna do not magically transform the radio's performance: they enhance what is there already and distant and near radio signals can vary considerably. Not tried the earphones, which are of unknown origin and quality: I always use my favourite ones anyway. Cons? Yes, one; a very neat carry pouch is supplied to hold the radio, but nothing for the other accessories, which I find odd. A cheap compact camera bag should do the trick there. Overall, it's a good radio and diligent reading and re-reading of the instructions will pay dividends and enable the user to extract the best from it, although in fairness, this is true of most SW-capable radios. If you are serious about listening in to world radio, this is a very good unit to go with. May 2020 update: I am using this radio every day now, it’s performance is so impressive. It seems to be improved with using Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. Very easy to use (remember, read the instructions!), long distance reception with it thus far includes receiving Australia and and DPRK Pyongyang with good intelligibility. Any further around the Earth and I would be on the way back, if you see what I mean. Nearer stations such as USA, Asia and Europe are a doddle. Of course, this is all subject to atmospheric conditions, as with any radio receiver. Anyway, I am very pleased.

Excellent multiband radio , purchased to take on travels. Lots of great functionality ( check vendors specs for full ) . Good battery life , lots of features. To be honest it took me a while to get to grips with some of the functions byt reasonable instructions included plus there plenty of advice avialble online line. Still a great purchase though so good value for the money.

Great little portable radio, feels a little cheap plastic, but this unit is surprisingly good and I live in a very rural area where communications are poor at best, but this little radio picks up SW radio and that is without the extension wire attached to the Antenna,it has a belt clip which is removable,it can be charged up as long as you fit rechargeable AA batteries and has a usb port for that purpose, even shows the Temperature on the LCD panel, has an alarm and scan feature, I quite like this little unit which has a lot of features, is light, fits into your rucksack or pocket,what more do you want for the money...buy it, its good......

Excellent radio and great service from this small family company

Buy this radio ! Almost continuous frequency coverage from 150kHz to 21.95MHz ! Proper PLL tuning (not just a digital approximation.). Sensitive, accurate yet discriminates perfectly between adjacent frequency stations. Faster station acquisition & immediate nemory storage when scanning than every one of those established brand name SW receivers costing four to five times as much. Digital tuning knob also lets me access each stored frequency. For those listeners wanting the Cold War secret agent experience, this receiver looks every part the modern MI6 covert device ! I've picked up all scheduled Number Station broadcasts from the Ukraine, Germany, North America and the Middle East. Two drawbacks : no USB or LSB ; the long-wire SW antenna doesn't offer any appreciable gain (but if you buy a commercial aerial of the same length - Sangean are good - the improvement in SW reception is amazing. Buy this radio !

Great little device that can pick up Radio China very easily. Radio China broadcasts programmes in English so makes interesting listening. Quality of the sound is good on the different bands. The antenna that plugs into the top of the radio is a bit quirky but it seems to make a difference to reception when it is not fitted. The cable antenna even when installed in a bedroom improves reception. Great device that's well made. It's a good starting radio if you are interested in Shortwave radio listening as it gives added information on signal strength.

Well, what shall I say? I have my HAM radio license and I am used to highly expensive professional radio transceivers and receivers. I am also a little bit of a radio addict and a lover of radio receivers of all kinds. I came across this PL-360 that is also available under other trades names and in the USA under Government Equipment available and for sure of different sales prices. I ordered this item at Amazon and was disappointed about the performance when I received it. It was my fault as always, radio amateurs think that they know it all. Wrong! Without reading the instruction manual you will be stranded in no time. This is not the old fashioned, as usual, tuning knob device as this is more the latest Easy Tuning Mode facility as used by very expensive Icom IC705 SDR (Software Defined Radio) computer radios. Tuning was easy if you follow the manual. - The sound is out of this world compared to the dimensions of the radio as well the price. If you use the supplied two different antennae you will find an open world of Short Wave Radio. It is beyond belief what you have in your hands. I used a professional antenna system and I was surprised what I got. It was not less than my highly expensive broadcasting Short Wave receivers. I missed the SSB facility, but then that is not of interest for the normal mortal. This radio is one of the few essentials for any kind of emergency that occurs frequently in Australia, fires, water, storms, and other unpleasantnesses that mother Nature has to offer frequently. This radio is small and can go everywhere and will inform you what is on and what is not. At least you are informed of what is happening around you. In these uncertain times, it is good to be and keep informed. One never knows what is next happening. The mobile phone maybe not working, out of power, or prevented to connect to the service provider. MW and SW are always working somehow and you are informed. My advise: This radio is not a luxury, nor a toy but a necessity and the price is just perfect.

Justo lo que esperaba ,buena recepcion de estaciones ,buena portabilidad para viajes o actividades al aire libre

Seams to have a mind of its own, turns on by its self, for some reason, most stations l get are gospel from the states,need to read the manual a few times to understand it.

Bu radyoyu kısa dalga yayınları merakı üzerine ve fm yayınlarını dinlemek için aldım..çocukken bir çok radyo cihazım olmuştu..geçmişimdeki gibi tekrar radyo cihazı istedim ve bu sefer daha kapsamlı bir cihaz aradım..tecsun'un bir çok versiyonunun incelemesini izledim ve bana gelecek cihazı önceden tanıdım..tam olarak beklediğim gibi geldi..boyutu cebe sığar nitelikte,malzeme kalitesi gayet iyi,içinden çıkan usb kablo,kulaklık,am anten ve uzatma anteni oldukça iyi..bulunduğum konumda özellikle gece vakitleri yabancı yayın sinyalleri artıyor..rus,arap ve türki cumhuriyetlerin radyolarını dinleyebiliyorum..cihazı çalıştırmak için şarjlı piller aldım ve şarjı fulledikten sonra günlerce kullanabiliyorsunuz..hoparlörü bir telefona göre daha iyi..cihazda kolay ayarlama modu hafıza,saat,derece ve alarm olması mükemmel..iç anteni yaklaşık 1 metre ve oldukça hassasiyetli..paketleme ve kargo süresi gayet iyi..bol fonksiyonlu ve kısa dalga radyo isteyenlere öneririm..

I ordered this radio so I could have a good emergency radio. The characteristics I was looking for were: Compact, lightweight, coverage of FM/AM/Shortwave, and easy to use. I'll touch first on what you want a radio to do, which is be a radio. My favorite feature of this radio, especially on shortwave is the ETM button. The ETM feature allows you to scan the whole band (or multiple bands on SW) for stations that are coming through. This is especially useful for shortwave since the content you can receive varies greatly based on time of day, and solar conditions. So before I sit down to start listening I just perform an ETM scan of the shortwave band (give it about 2 minutes to complete the scan, you can watch what freq it's on with the display), and then I can just dial through the handful of stations I am receiving instead of tuning around endlessly looking for something. this feature isn't as needed for FM and AM since the stations you listen to in your area are pretty much always there. Great for travel, though. It seems sensitive enough. I like the fact that it actually displays the signal strength and signal to noise ratio on the screen so you can adjust the position of the radio, or your antenna as needed to really lock in to the signal. Also, having a digital display is a huge advantage in SW so you know exactly where you are in the band instead of guessing more or less. The included external AM antenna works great, but generally I can pick the signal up by just rotating the radio around a bit until it sounds clear. But since AM reception is highly directional having the external antenna on in the headphone style jack is nice so you can just twist that around instead of your whole radio. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that hitting the display button rotated through several options including the temperature, which as near as I can tell is accurate. As other reviewers have stated, it's about the size of a TV remote which makes it very easy to stow away in a small compartment in any of my backpacks, or a magazine pouch on a vest. It's not heavy, but it's not so light that it feels flimsy. I haven't tried throwing it against any walls, but it doesn't feel like it's going to come apart in my hands. On the note of its physical build, there's one thing about it that I really like that I hadn't thought of before ordering it. The expandable whip antenna is housed inside the radio. So if you have the antenna pushed all the way in to the unit, it's not going to catch on things and get torqued off while stowed away with other gear. One downside to this is that it doesn't rotate but I haven't really found the need to gripe about that in practical application. I've had the radio for a little over a week now, and I'm still on the same 3 AA rechargeable batteries that I put it in when it arrived, and the battery gauge is still showing full. I use it for a couple of hours daily. The only two cons I can come up with are: It uses 3 batteries, which makes it odd for using batteries that you recharge in pairs or fours since you don't want to mix weak batteries with full batteries, and you can't directly enter a frequency. This is only slightly painful on shortwave, but you can use the band up and down buttons to get you within thumbwheel scrolling distance. I also wish it had SSB receive capability, but for its size and price I couldn't expect it. All in all, this is a great radio that does everything I want it to do! You'll get to hear plenty of distant shortwave stations with the included clip on antenna, or you can do yourself a favor and get an alligator clip and a spool of magnet wire to run outside (but not too much, or you'll overload it.) Have fun!