Tecsun PL880 Reception Problems

[Greenbay]

Hi,

I have a Tecsun PL880 that I cannot get good reception on for AM stations.

I know absolutely nothing about the radio and I only purchased the radio due to good reviews about SW and AM reception.

I live in a small house but in my backyard about 100 feet away is a one of those 75 feet tall Power Transmission lines. I don't know if the power line is causing reception problems.

I can only get one AM station even though there are numerous stations in the area that I can get on my Sony radio. One day I would like to use the SW but I have not at this time.

Any suggestions/recommendations about the poor reception and what I can do to make this better?

Thank you very much,

Mary

 

[Boombox]

I don't have a PL-880, but from reading up on the radio it seems it has two features that may affect AM reception: there is apparently an antenna sensitivity switch on the side of the radio (DX-local, which should be turned to 'DX'), and there also is a 'mute' setting feature (I have no idea how to change that if it's set to high muting -- but here's a link that may help:

http://swling.com/blog/2013/12/hidden-feature-adjusting-the-tecsun-pl-880-muting-threshold

It's possible one of those may be affecting your radio's ability to pull in AM band stations.

RE: Powerlines: they can cause a lot of interference, which usually sounds like a buzzing noise. However, the presence of powerlines doesn't necessarily guarantee a buzz on your AM radio, unless they're high tension lines (the massive ones supported by tall steel towers). I have powerlines out in front of my house (the regular telephone pole kind) and they never interfere with the AM band at my house. Sometimes a bit of electrical buzz will occur on the SW band, though -- possibly from a pole a bit farther away.

And if you had powerline noise, you would undoubtely hear it on your Sony.

 

[robertwbob]

Have you got it set at 9 or 10 hertz? That can be your problem.my 880 does fine in a metal sided and roofed house.
Its in the manual how to change settings for 9 or 10.9 is for european am I belive