Tecsun Review of the new Tecsun H501

ka3jjz

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My old buddy Dan R has put up a review on the new Tecsun H-501 on SWLing.com, viz.


Mike
 

VK3RX

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I've been thinking about one of these vs. a PL-990, and have been keeping an eye on that site.

Reviews re SSB with the PL-990 seem to be good, so perhaps the same can be expected with the H-501.

I will wait for more H-501 units to get out there, see what price they are and check further reviews :)
 

Patch42

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I did a quick check and prices vary WIDELY. The cheapest I found was at Banggood, almost $200 less than the high price I found.
 

VK3RX

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Couple on ebay Australia which I think are drop shippers from China for $A599 & $A699, so about $US430 - $US500.

A lot for a portable.
 

Direwolf131

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This is an older thread but I will post to it because I have firsthand experience with the H501x Tecsun receiver, which I would caution folks about buying at this time. The reason for the caution is the series of issues I encountered with my unit, some of which are outright deal killing in impact to the radio.

In SSB the radio I received exhibits zero stability, specifically you can zero beat the radio all you wish too, but once tuned to another frequency, or band, your radios zero beat is gone to, you cannot zero beat the 501x across frequencies, at least on my sample! I zero beat mine repeatedly on wwv and chu, only to immediately lose zero toggling back and forth from LSB to USB, they cannot be zeroed! This translated into the MW bands too, where zero beating the radio in ssb, then trying to listen in to strong MW stations in ssb results in need to re-zero the radio, again and again! While the H501x is superb at SSB demodulating, don't expect it to maintain zero from frequency to frequency, I would love to hear from others about this, again this is based upon my sample.

Do keep in mind my PL880, which is half the price of the H501x, and half its size, it was zero beat once, that beaing the day when I bought it, and it has stubbornly maintained that zero across all SSB and MW ever since! After zero beating the H501x extensively, its customary to turn it back on after powering it down, to discover your as much as 100 to as much as 180 hz away from zero, in other words, totally garbled and out of tune, like you would be with a radio like the old Yacht Boy 400's, or the original 909's from Sangean, both of which cannot be zero beat, simply tuned and fine tuned upon each new frequency, and never can achieve, or could hope to achieve the stability required for ECSS!

Synch, you'll hear from the shills that synch just doesn't sound right on the H501x, well thats true, because the SSB is never zeroed whilst using the synch! On my sample, the synch works great, tenaciously holding down the signal, the problem is not the synch, its the SSB which is not zeroed and never will be due to whatever firmware issue it is preventing it! This issue is a deal killer on it own!

Battery consumption, on my sample is appalling, having fully charged up the two included tecsun 18650 cells, one was totally drained after just a several hour evening try out period, and the radio will power itself down swiftly upon alerting you of the low battery! This is completely unacceptable performance, again using the superb PL880 as our benchmark, that radio runs on its single 18650 cell for weeks, even months if it sees little use, but three to five days with heavy usage being common.

This is based upon both units being run absent the backlights, however there was a further nasty surprise in store, upon seeing the battery fully depleted, I inserted a new fully charged Olight 3200 mah 18650 cell at the end of that evening session. Upon firing the radio back up the next day I was greeted by a low battery warning, then the swift powering down of the radio!

Removing the Olight 18650 from the tecsun radio, again which turned itself off due to lack of power, I was worried the radio was literally engaged in epic bleed down, however upon inserting that Olight 19650 into charger it was revealed to be fully charged! If this proves a common occurrence its gonna be a real problem on a radio that only can be powered via an 18650 cell, the included tecsun battery may be crappy, but the Olights are not, and if the radio refuses to accept them then we have us a definite deal killer!

Frequency and firmware glitches occur, the radio will suddenly drop out of frequency on its own, which is pretty damn peculiar on a digital tuning radio, touching some buttons such as the button to turn off the synch/ssb mode introduce strange things to take place on the sets display, the kind of things that remind of firmware issues!

The bass and treble are virtually meaningless, they work(barely)on FM, I seem to notice no other effect while in the other bands!

The Tecsun H501x is potentially a great radio, like the 909X I really want to like it, but just like the 909X it(my sample anyway)comes with significant shortcomings, several of which such as the inherent instability of its ssb function, are do not buy red flags, the little PL880 is absolutely stellar in ssb, I use it extensively for ecss, its stability proven now over two years of ownership, it absolutely crushes the H501x based upon my first week experimenting with the latter.......
 
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ka3jjz

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There have been a few reviews on this radio, and none of the issues you seem to have were mentioned. You might have gotten a bad unit- that's not unheard of, particularly with a reasonably new radio...you can return it, I suspect, for a new one. Did you buy it from Anon-co, or somewhere else?

Mike
 
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ka3jjz

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If your LW coverage is 100-519 Khz that doesn't change with the tuning step adjustment, you *might* have a H501, not the H501X- see this website


These folks have garnered a pretty stellar reputation for working with their customers. If you bought it from here and meet all the requirements, I have no doubt that a new one can be had.

Mike
 

Direwolf131

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If your LW coverage is 100-519 Khz that doesn't change with the tuning step adjustment, you *might* have a H501, not the H501X- see this website


These folks have garnered a pretty stellar reputation for working with their customers. If you bought it from here and meet all the requirements, I have no doubt that a new one can be had.

Mike
No, my unit is the Anon-co sold H501x, its marked all over the box and the radio is also so marked! I am still running it at this time and it is not working anywhere near what was expected, or hoped for. The radio I received cannot be zero beat, for a radio that can tune SSB in 10 hz increments that is woeful performance.

Do they accept returns??? I sure hope so, the radio I have is not nearly worthy of its price tag, my PL880 is just crushing it, that was purchased two years back and zero beat the night I took it from box, its spot on to this day, and the zero beating runs fully across frequencies and upon the MW band. This unit can be zero beat only upon tuning each frequency individually, as soon as you move off frequency its all lost and must be re-tuned on each successive SSB frequency...

Left off overnight, then tuning back to a previously zeroed frequency results in a massive degradation of zero, in fact just turning it off and back on, then re-tuning a frequency instantly results in a shifting of three to four hz in either direction, overnight it will be 150-170 hz or more. Hopefully its just a bad one, but the reality is the synch ain't the issue, its the radios inability to zero beat!
 

Direwolf131

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Oh one other thing, this radio is a battery eating machine, the supplied tecsun 18650's are 2600 mah, and it runs through one of them in approximately and hour and forty minutes give or take. I left the radio on, tuned to CHU for just under two hours this afternoon, and at about 25% volume and it drained that sucker right on down, that is a significant issue!
 

N9JCQ

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Oh one other thing, this radio is a battery eating machine, the supplied tecsun 18650's are 2600 mah, and it runs through one of them in approximately and hour and forty minutes give or take. I left the radio on, tuned to CHU for just under two hours this afternoon, and at about 25% volume and it drained that sucker right on down, that is a significant issue!
You might want to check out Gilles' review of his 501X. He did a series of them on the 501X. His is not performing in the manner yours is. I think everyone is correct in that you got a bum unit. I trust his reviews and he does a weekly Youtube SWL event. Anon will hopefully make it right for you.
 

ka3jjz

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Jay Allen - a very well known reviewer - also did a review on the H501X. He's usually quite thorough with his reviews, so if there were any issues like you mention, he'd likely find and report them


Mike
 

Direwolf131

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You might want to check out Gilles' review of his 501X. He did a series of them on the 501X. His is not performing in the manner yours is. I think everyone is correct in that you got a bum unit. I trust his reviews and he does a weekly Youtube SWL event. Anon will hopefully make it right for you.
I did see his review, and jayallens to, which is what motivated me to buy the radio! I would urge you to look at them again, both mentioned some of these issues, or in the case of Gilles video, the H501x can clearly be observed with a "flashing battery icon" indicating drain, he also stated that the unit would require a battery per day, which is really significant drain from a 2600 mah 18650 cell, this radio is not large in any fashion, its effectively a 990x with an extra pair of speakers. My PL880 runs for weeks on a single 18650 cell, really just superb performance, if heavily used I get about a full week out of one cell! I think my sample 501x is a fair representation of what to expect on any other 501x run on a 18650 cell, and running down such a cell from a few hours use is right on par with using same cell to power a very powerful LED torch, which is considerable to say the least!

Now, I've been doing this for forty-five years, there are issues with this radio that folks are definitely gonna be encountering, I'm not bashing the radio or anyone who reviewed it, just alerting folks to expect teething issues.... BTW, in the 31m band, starting at WWV(10 Mhz)there is a strange artifact only audible in SSB, either side band which manifests itself on WWV, and as you tune down in the 31m band from WWV, this is a machine like zippering noise, not a fast zippering mind you but rather a steady strange artifact in my sample. At first I suspected WWV, or my own personal environment, but the artifact is not present in any other radio, PL880, 909X, R75, only on the 501x. I suspect it is the synch/ssb circuitry exhibiting an internal flaw, which could be a one off event, evidence that the unit is damaged in some fashion....
 

Direwolf131

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I would very much like to hear from folks who purchase the 501x Tecsun about the following, SSB stability after performing the zero beat procedure, which is simple, tune in a strong signal on sw, such as WWV, or CHU, then toggle on SSB, fine tune the band, either LSB or USB, and then depress the corresponding SSB button down until backlight winks twice, radio should be zero beat!

Now, on my PL-880 I zero beat the radio two years ago on WWV in USB, and that zero runs across all SW, SSB, and MW channels/frequencies to this day, just had to zero the radio the one time. The 501x radio I have is behaving exactly like a BFO radio, and I would really really like to hear from any of the guys who tested this if that is how it worked for them! I do not assume that they know this, they may not have even attempted to zero beat the device, but any of you who land yourself this radio, please perform that procedure and post it here,

I zero beat my radio again this afternoon, and then turned it off, powered it back up a few hours later, and the SSB was off by 200 hz!
 

VK3RX

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When did you buy it, and does it have a serial number and/or date of manufacture somewhere?

This pix from Radiojayallen shows what appears to be a serial number, 00072 of September 2020.

20210417_155428-large.jpg
 

Direwolf131

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When did you buy it, and does it have a serial number and/or date of manufacture somewhere?

This pix from Radiojayallen shows what appears to be a serial number, 00072 of September 2020.

View attachment 105748
My sample was purchased from anon-co last Wed, took delivery on Monday, and bears a small sticker on back marked 04/2021 which I assume to be the date of manufacture! Further, I reached out to hamradio88 on youtube and can confirm he did NOT zero beat the radio as he tested it, but he is checking it now, which will prove instructive. Just so folks understand, I only listen in SSB, all of my radios except the 909X which cannot be zero beat across frequencies and bands.

I do not, nor have I ever have used or relied upon synch, I listen to all SW and MW in ECSS which on a stable receiver renders synch a moot point, more or less! You can zero the Tecsun PL-880, S8800, PL-660, 990X, and even the H501x, however the sticking point, at least on my sample, is that the smaller radios such as the PL-880 are proving dramatically more stable once zeroed, the H501x wandering off signal almost instantly, certainly after changing frequencies, or after powering the radio up or down, it behaves exactly like a BFO, which its not!
 
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Direwolf131

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For anyone interested I contacted Gilles and his radio zero beats(calibrates SSB) and maintains its zero across bands and frequencies at least for several weeks(likely it will for longer then that). This would indicate that I got either a sick factory unit, or one that was damaged in some fashion in shipping! If you purchase the H501x and you like to MW or Utility DX, I would love to hear how your radio responds to having been calibrated to proper zero, just in case its a sporadic issue, other then that the radio seems pretty nice, though you might want to consider this last piece of advice, if you toggle off DSP, you must do so on each band, the action does not cross bands, and doing that seems to have reduced drain on batteries.....
 

Direwolf131

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I have a bit of information to pass along regarding this radio, what I am seeing and hearing is a wildly inconsistent device across the full spectrum, sometimes it can be zeroed, sometimes it cannot, features toggled on, or off will seemingly lag behind either action, and I have seen battery drain that is totally unacceptable in a radio of this class, seriously, draining down a fully charged 2600 mah 18650 in a matter of hours on a radio designed to be run exclusively on them, is a very big problem!

However, I noticed a trend, using the factory supplied Tecsun 18650's, when fully charged, the radio runs nicely, it zeros better, sounds better, and has greater balls on volume. Just the other day that factory set of battery's I had fully charged the night previous, then inserted into the radio, and then left unit powered off until yesterday evening, were already nearly drained of their charge, the radio had not been turned on at any time between charging them up(my own charger, never use these radios to charge battery's)and the 18650 cell had literally bled down over night! Before the low battery alarm sounded, I had yet again attempted to listen in to a powerful, easily tuned SSB ultility station, in this case both Gander and Trenton military, and both sounded awful and clearly were far removed from the near perfect zero of the day before.

Then light went off over thick skull, I went and dug out a fresh set of AW 2200 mah 18650's, really excellent battery's, and I then replaced factory supplied 2600 Tecsuns with them, low and behold the radio burst out in clear, loud, perfectly zeroed utility transmissions from Gander, Trenton, CHU, WWV, and a weather beacon out of Shannon! This radio will swiftly degrade in its performance if power starts tweaking downward, they do not need to be drained, just less than full and the radio begins its degradation, which of course only accelerates as the power continues to drain from battery!

Today, after listening much of last night, those AW 2200 mah's are still showing fully charged on the display of the H501x, which needless to say is radically superior performance over the factory supplied Tecsun's! It would be of great help if you good folks would keep thoughtful eye and ear to your individual units and then inform us if you are seeing same thing from your sample, specifically, is the radios ability to demodulate degrading substantially as the power drains from your battery's????
 

Patch42

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Not related to the H501x but I've seen similar performance issues from other devices. The worst I've seen was with a blood pressure tester that was battery powered. It was clearly designed for use with alkaline batteries only. I tried using NiMH batteries but even fresh out of the charger they couldn't operate the machine for even one full cycle. Even alkaline batteries would fail long before they were depleted. I could pull the "spent" batteries out of the blood pressure machine and they'd work fine in all my portable radios for months. That machine was so voltage sensitive it would give up as soon as the voltage dropped even a tiny bit from normal full alkaline cells.

I just recently ran into a similar situation with an amplified external MW antenna. It came with a 8-cell battery holder for use away from mains. I put fresh NiMH batteries in it and it worked fine. After several months of non-use I gave it another try and couldn't get the antenna to work right. The batteries had been just sitting there for months but they're low self-discharge batteries so I didn't think they'd run down. I finally changed them out and that was the problem. When I put those batteries in the charger, they came up as ~1.20V, just a bit under nominal. Apparently that was enough voltage drop, multiplied by eight, to go out of the acceptable range on the antenna. Not a huge deal as they did last through many hours of listening, just a bit disappointing the antenna is quite so sensitive to voltage.
 

Direwolf131

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Not related to the H501x but I've seen similar performance issues from other devices. The worst I've seen was with a blood pressure tester that was battery powered. It was clearly designed for use with alkaline batteries only. I tried using NiMH batteries but even fresh out of the charger they couldn't operate the machine for even one full cycle. Even alkaline batteries would fail long before they were depleted. I could pull the "spent" batteries out of the blood pressure machine and they'd work fine in all my portable radios for months. That machine was so voltage sensitive it would give up as soon as the voltage dropped even a tiny bit from normal full alkaline cells.

I just recently ran into a similar situation with an amplified external MW antenna. It came with a 8-cell battery holder for use away from mains. I put fresh NiMH batteries in it and it worked fine. After several months of non-use I gave it another try and couldn't get the antenna to work right. The batteries had been just sitting there for months but they're low self-discharge batteries so I didn't think they'd run down. I finally changed them out and that was the problem. When I put those batteries in the charger, they came up as ~1.20V, just a bit under nominal. Apparently that was enough voltage drop, multiplied by eight, to go out of the acceptable range on the antenna. Not a huge deal as they did last through many hours of listening, just a bit disappointing the antenna is quite so sensitive to voltage.
There is some precedent I believe with certain Tecsun radios demonstrating some extra sensitivity toward battery power drain, manifested by reduced function. I also believe the factory supplied battery's from Tecsun were not the best quality, though I also saw drain issues with a set of Olight's I had tried which were new, nonetheless this particular H501x really seems to like AW battery's!
 
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