TECSUN PL-606 - Feedback

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pb_lonny

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Jul 2, 2012
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Tasmania
Hi all,

Does anybody have a TECSUN PL-606 and if so what do you think of it? Have you found any problems or issues with it?
 

KR4BD

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Joined
Jul 6, 2001
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562
Location
Lexington, KY
I have had a PL-606 for about two years. For about $50, it is hot performer for AM and FM DX and reception. Generally, it is a great performer, but does have some quirks, which I will discuss later. Just after I bought mine, I took it to Europe for a trans-Atlantic cruise from Lisbon to Ft. Lauderdale. In the Eastern and Central Atlantic, it easily picked up dozens of U.S. stations at night. One (of several) lower powered station(s) I heard out there was WGAN, a 5kw station from Maine. On the Island of Bermuda, I was able to receive WOR, WFAN, WCBS and other East Coast stations at NOON (daylight) time. Last October, I was in Hawaii with it and was able to hear, quite clearly, several west coast stations (All the 50 kw blowtorches and several others with powers as low as 5 kw), at night, of course.

I use nothing other than its internal AM loop antenna. The radio was a bit complicated when figuring the tuning set up, but once I played with it for a while, I figured it out. The volume control is a WEAK link on the PL-606. It is very erratic (low to high) as you go through the detent settings. Maybe I got a bad volume control on mine. It also tunes FM, which I find to be VERY SENSITIVE and SELECTIVE. Tuning in distant, weak adjacent FM stations immediately next to STRONG locals, can be done with the PL-606. AM selectivity is also excellent.

I found the SW bands to be rather useless with the on board whip antenna, but you can easily attach a wire antenna, (provided) for better SW reception. I have not used mine for LW reception. I should have tried that the last time I was in Europe. It is a very small radio, but offers BIG overall results. It operates on two AA batteries. I use re-chargeables with good results and also bought the charging adaptor. I got mine from Amazon.

I bought this radio for DXing while traveling. Am I a happy customer? ABSOLUTELY!

Hope this helps.
 

pinballwiz86

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Jan 15, 2013
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Missouri
From Tecsun I personally like the 380 because it fits in my pocket and has great reception. I also like the 660 to listen to amateur radio and utility stations when I don't feel like firing up the Icom 718.
 

N9PBD

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Aug 24, 2003
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535
Location
Southern Illinois (Metro St. Louis)
I've got the Tecsun PL-660, which is a great little radio that has a pretty decent receiver for MW and SW. I've got a lot of LW noise in my area, so I can't speak to its sensitivity there. FM reception on the 660 is decent as well.
 
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