Was a busy day yesterday what with computers coming back from hospital, DM4 recorders turning up and the arrival of the Tecsun PL660 radio which I honestly didn't expect here until Thursday but not complaining nevertheless.
I'll give more details on the radio in the future, here are some initial impressions to wet your appetite. The PL660 is somewhat smaller than the PL880 and doesn't have the nice sounding speaker of the PL880 but it does have excellent short wave reception capabilities which are - in my view - the main selling point of this radio. The Sync Detection works very well indeed, possibly the best SDS I've heard from a radio of this size, as good as the Synchronous Detection System found on the Sony 2010, 2001D or ICF-SW77. The AM broadcast band is nothing special, radio exhibits quite a bit of noise here. FM is dead hot! SSB reception is disappointing, Tecsun use a clarifier adjustment which fees rough to adjust and even worse, the clarifier control has a detent point in the middle of its travel, similar to what you'd find with a balance control for an amplifier, absolutely crazy. The PL660 is the first radio I've used with an "Air Band" though as yet I've found nothing up there, will take the radio outside as its a nice sunny day and do further experimentation. Haven't played with the memory system yet. Like the layout of the buttons and the various shapes in the buttons, round, square, rectangular, big and small, makes for instant recognition for important functions. The buttons are slightly indented into the front of the unit, almost flush one could say and that means that they're not likely to be knocked. Unlike the PL880, the PL660 runs on 4 AA size batteries which can either be rechargeable or alkaline types, the radio automatically detects the type being used. ********** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
