Tecsun PL 880 Newbie questions

[bidkev]

A newbie so bear with me.

I had a "world radio" eons ago as a kid which was about the size of a boom box.............just an "everyday" portable (if you could manage to carry it) back then that allowed me to pick up some weird and wonderful stations including aircraft, police etc.simply by pressing a button and turning a dial but the modern stes and settings are all new to me.

I'm an old fart of 69 who decided to relive his childhood ;-) so after much research, I opted for the PL 880. I've spent hours................no days with it but I can only receive 2 am stations and can pick up nothing on SW other than buzz/hiss. I've tried the whip and I also have a random wire of around 100ft that helped pick up 2 faint intelligible stations beneath the noise. I've tried all bandwidths and get nothing in SW or longwave.........not even any noise in longwave just silence. I've tried Local, Normal and DX but nothing!

It's been raining hard here for 3 days and set to continue for another 5 so I've had no chance to get up in the mountains (where I camp and intend to use it) or even just out to an open space. All my testing has been done oputdoors under the pergola away from as much interference as possible though.

After that long winded explanation my question is this: My house backs onto a railway line and the overhead wires are only about 70 metres away. Could this be my problem, am I missing something, or have I got a defective set? It has the latest software. What would be my best settings to test the SW band?

Excuse me if my question is just too general for specific answers but I really want to love this radio after having such wonderful results with FM. I'm in Australia and I know that there is an Aussie section to this forum but I thought my question is not really region specific so I posted here. FM is brilliant reception BTW and I am very happy with the speaker repro

 

[pb_lonny]

At night time you should be able to hear heaps of AM stations.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

You really need to try another location before condemning the set. The nearby overhead wires or even locally generated noise within your house (computers, fluorescent lamps, dimmers, appliances, etc., etc.) could be radiating enough interference to wipe out especially AM and SW signals. Longwave signals here in the states are typically low-powered beacons (NDBs) and are tough to receive on a portable without a really good antenna. Your longwave situation in Australia is probably similar.
btw... the glory days of international shortwave broadcasting are long gone... it's not like you remember from way back when... the dial is no longer crammed with mega-powered SW stations... even your Radio Australia is no longer on the air So, don't expect to hear lots of activity on the SW broadcast bands.

Anyway, when you are able, try getting away from possible interference and see what happens in a more favorable location.

 

[Boombox]

Ditto what WA8ZTZ said. Try another location before junking / returning the radio. Medium wave is still extant in Oz and at night you should be able to hear plenty of stations on a Tecsun. The chip inside them is pretty sensitive to radio signals.

If you are hearing loud buzz and crackle instead of radio stations, the problem may be the AC wires behind your house. If the buzz or hiss isn't very loud, it's possible there's something awry with the radio.

Changing location will let you know for sure.

I have a Grundig that probably has a similar chip inside to the one in your radio, and it will pull in China on the whip antenna -- and it will pull in nearly everything on SW that my other radios get with a 25 ft antenna.

On a good night I hear Asia all over the 49 meter band (5900-6200 kHz). There in Oz you should be able to hear China at least. They have plenty of CNR1 jammers and broadcast stations that reach here in the NW US around 1200-1400 UTC (early morning our time). They are high powered stations.

So, try another location. Then punt if necessary.

Good luck.

 

[devicelab]

Did you try WWV? 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0 Mhz? There's also the Canadian CHU at 3333khz, 7850, and 14670khz? All AM mode...

 

[jaymot]

I take it the nearby railway is electric and that's what the overhead wires are for? They may well be the cause of the interference.

That 100 foot random wire, how high is it? How far from the railroad tracks, buildings, and so on? What's it's directional orientation, east-west, north-south, or ? How are you connecting that antenna to your radio? It may be possible that 100 feet of wire up in the air is overloading the radio's front-end enough to mute the stations, particularly if you're just crocodile-clipping the end of the antenna's lead-in wire to the radio's whip.

It's possible that where you live happens to be a radio dead spot. Try taking the set to a friend's house and see what it will do there using its whip. Or just drive somewhere else in your car, raining or not, hold the 880 up to your window and try it on MW AM broadcast band, or open the window just enough to stick its whip antenna outside and try SW.

Unless you live way out in the boondocks you should probably be able to pick up more that two MW stations, assuming that there are still a lot of AM MW broadcast stations in Oz. Especially at night, you should be able to hear several. And as others have said you should at least be able to get SW stations from China (I'm in the Philippines and that's practically all I hear!)

 

[ka3jjz]

You should never, ever, connect the antenna directly to the whip. One inadvertent static charge will very likely blow the amp at the base of the whip, among other things. Going in through the antenna jack is the best way. I seem to recall - I can't access the Universal website right now due to work constraints- that the type of jack is a bit weird. I don't remember if it's a standard 1/4 inch plug...

There are a couple of other things. If that radio has a 'DX/Local' switch, try playing with it. It's meant as a hard attenuator (cuts the level of the signal) and if it's in the Local position, you will hear very little.

The other item here is understanding that the entire HF band is not open 24 hours. Stay above 10 Mhz during the day, below that at night. As the OP is in Oz (heh), his seasons are the reverse of ours, so he's heading into spring, where the higher frequencies should start to improve during the daylight hours. Unfortunately mother nature has been very unkind, and old Sol's activity has been sporadic at best. Keeping an eye on sites like Spaceweather.com is a real good idea to catch when things get stirred up. In general. when the solar flux is as low as it is right now (70 as I type this), higher band propagation tends to not be particularly good.

And yes, as posted by others earlier, do get your antenna away from those power lines, as far away as possible. If you are running a directional wire antenna (like a dipole), make sure it points away, never at, the lines. A good active loop can be a real winner here, as they are less sensitive to noise sources such as this. Mike

 

[mbott]

I would probably check around to see if there are any local SWL clubs near you. Here, I have a local NASWA group (North American Shortwave Association) that I hooked up with, even though I've been a listener since 1967. They meet monthly and it's a good place to exchange info.

Someone in such a group may also be able to help you with your situation.

--
Mike

 

[jaymot]

I would probably check around to see if there are any local SWL clubs near you. Here, I have a local NASWA group (North American Shortwave Association) that I hooked up with, even though I've been a listener since 1967. They meet monthly and it's a good place to exchange info.

Someone in such a group may also be able to help you with your situation.

--
Mike

Also ham radio clubs or groups. Even as a mere SWL I've found that hams are usually very helpful to anyone with a radio-related hobby.

One time I was out walking around in NW Seattle and i spotted a tower with a Yagi on it in someone's back yard and I was curious what band or bands it was for (I'm an ex-commercial radio guy and I like to play "guess the band" when I see an antenna), so I went up and knocked on the door. The ham invited me in and showed me his shack, gave me some coffee, and we sat around and talked about radios for 15-20 minutes, and here I was just a stranger off the street.

I noticed something: If the OP's connecting the long wire antenna to the radio using its antenna jack, which looks like the one on my PL-310ET so it would take a two-conductor monaural-style 3.5mm plug, he shouldn't also extend the whip: leave it put away. I noticed that with my PL-310ET yesterday: having a longwire connected via the external antenna jack and extending the whip lowered the signal strength of stations even when I connected a reel-type antenna to the whip. Putting the whip away and using only the longwire brought the strength back up again.

Maybe the OP should try putting up some wire that's only around 7 to 10 meters long, as high and as clear of obstructions as he can get it (and far away from any power mains) and see if it works any better than his 100 foot one. It's possible that his 100 foot longwire is overloading his radio to the extent that stations are muted to where they can't be heard. I'm not sure if that's possible with modern radios but I seem to recall such a thing in the past, where the signal was so strong all you heard was the carrier and no modulation. Or if he has the switch set to DX with his longwire connected, try setting it to Local.

He could try that Bob Grove vertical antenna: take 7.5 meters of twin-lead wire such as speaker wire or electrical cord, cut 1.5 meters off of one end of one of the two conductors, strip the insulation from the ends of both conductors at the other end of the wire and twist them together along with the center conductor of some coax and solder it all together then tape it well with electrical tape. Tie a piece of light rope to the end of the single conductor, the end of the twin-lead wire where you've removed the 1.5 meters, tie a rock or other weight to the rope and throw it up into a tree as high as you can, or use a slingshot/catapult to get it up there. Bob says no earth is needed and the coax can simply be laid on the ground, or buried to prevent tripping hazards and damage by animals. You'd solder just the center conductor of the other end of the co-ax to the tip connector of your 3.5mm plug and ignore the braided shielding.

Another thing to try is a good earth if he's using a horizontal antenna. Either a counterpoise made by just laying a long length of wire on the ground outside (it can be buried so people don't trip over it) or a wire connected to metal cold water pipes, or to a regular earth rod driven deeply into the soil. An electrical supply store or hardware store should have earthing kits for electrical or telephone service that will do for radio. Solder the antenna's wire to the tip connector of the plug and the earth wire to ring. (I say "earth" instead of "ground" as the OP's Australian.)

It may help to use a coaxial cable between the antenna and the radio as its lead-in wire, and solder its center conductor to tip and its braided shield, which should also be earthed (except for the vertical antenna I described), to ring. Both this and/or a good earth will cut down on the noise, at least.

On the other hand, if his 880 is still under warranty maybe he should go ahead and try exchanging it for another one in case he does have a bad set, and do this before his warranty expires. If another PL-880 has the same problems then at least he knows it's not the radio and can carry on playing with antenna set-ups to try to solve the issue.

 

[bidkev]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond in such depth. It's really appreciated.

We're still in the depths of a heavy rain/cloud weather system here and have been for over a week now so I guess that isn't helping at all. Even Foxtel TV has been affected off and on.

My random wire is only at a height of 12 feet as that is as high as I can reach atm. It runs north to south and thanks for the suggestion that I fold the whip when using the wire which I haven't been doing.

Once this weather system clears I shall explore the Tecsun further and let you know how I am getting on.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and help

 

[jaymot]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond in such depth. It's really appreciated.

We're still in the depths of a heavy rain/cloud weather system here and have been for over a week now so I guess that isn't helping at all. Even Foxtel TV has been affected off and on.

My random wire is only at a height of 12 feet as that is as high as I can reach atm. It runs north to south and thanks for the suggestion that I fold the whip when using the wire which I haven't been doing.

Once this weather system clears I shall explore the Tecsun further and let you know how I am getting on.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and help

Local weather (rain) should have no effect on SW or MW reception, except for noise bursts generated by lightening (and you shouldn't be using your radio with an external antenna connected to it during a local thunderstorm unless you want to fry the set, or yourself!) Stormy weather only affects line-of-sight communications such as satellite TV/Internet links, and even that depends on the frequency band used. In general, the higher the frequency the easier it is for the signal to be blocked by obstructions. High enough frequencies from space may be blocked, or partially blocked, by heavy cloud cover, but not lower freqs like shortwave (HF.)

If your antenna runs north-south it will receive stations that are east and west of you the best. That would mean roughly the southern half of Africa and South America., which is fine if that's what you want to listen to, and if there are any broadcasters there beaming signals in an east-west direction at the time you usually listen. If you'd like to also hear Asia, Europe and North America with strong signals you should try to mount your antenna in an L-pattern so that half or at least part of it is oriented east-west as well. That would be best for all-around, omnidirectional reception.

If noise is an issue with your long wire you'll need to provide a good ground: either a long metal (preferably copper) ground (earthing) rod pounded its entire length into the soil as close to the radio as you can get it, or a long length of wire laid along the ground or buried, or a short length of wire connected to a cold-water pipe (assuming that your fresh-water pipes are metal and that they're buried, not just laying on the surface as they are in the Philippines.)

Another possible though unlikely issue may be an impedance mismatch. The end of a long or random wire antenna, where the wire leading to your radio connects to the antenna, has an impedance of around 500 ohms. If you're using a 50 or 75 ohm coax as a lead-in wire or if you're connecting the antenna to a 50 or 75 ohm external antenna connector on the radio, you could be losing 10 to 15% of the signals' strength between the antenna and your radio. That shouldn't really make much difference, but I suppose that it's just possible that it does at your location if the signals are weak enough in the first place: lowering them that much further may possibly be enough to make them inaudible (but I doubt it.) It's more of an issue for hams as they'll be transmitting at typically 100 watts and want to make sure that the maximum possible power from their transmitters is actually being radiated by their antennas, rather than either being lost in the form of heat or causing other problems. Since you're just receiving signals with a strength measured in milliwatts (or microwatts?), it shouldn't really matter.

Regarding the height, 12 feet isn't very high but if that's as high as you can get it, then it will have to do, won't it? I've used a length of wire tacked to the wooden gutters along one side of a single-story house that was around the same 12 foot height, and I was able to hear "the usual suspects" such as Radio Moscow, Deutche Welle, Radio Netherlands and the BBC, among other stations, with no problems on my old Trans-Oceanic. A few years later I was using a 12 foot or so strip of aluminum foil thumbtacked to the top of the exterior wall in my apartment's living room. Basically you do the best you can do for an antenna, use your imagination, and if all else fails you lower your expectations.