Good video! I had the chance of playing with the Tecsun PL-680. Although it sounds great, has a nice solid feel and is just a small package, it performed nowhere near the ICF-77. To begin with, on the internet all kinds of flaws are mentioned and guess what? My test unit had all of them. Tells us something about consistency of the product. It has the 1kHz misallignment on some parts of the dial. Tecsun claims this is well within their tolerance policy. Not in mine! It has the pumping effect when the signal drops below a certain level, utmost irritating. And it has an only mediocre working sync. detector. Now for the money this radio sets you back it might be a good radio. But this radio lets you want another radio because you focus on its shortcomings. Compare it with the endless tweaking in an attempt to find the right cartridge for your turntable or what migt be the best loudspeaker in your system. It is just not up to what it wants to be. The signal processing of the Sony is much, much better. Yes, the Tecsun might receive the same signal with the same signal strength. But it all comes down to how it sounds and how well the circuitry was designed. The Sony might be old and chances are you get one with failures due to ageing. But there are enouh around that survived quite well. A good one will outperform modern day receivers with ease. They all come from a time the emphasis was layed on the needs of a much larger clientele. Today, the Tecsun brand is about the only brand, along with Sangean, that manufacture radio’s that do the same as their older counterparts. Only thing is, performance can ‘t come close. That’s my conclusion after playing with the Tecsun PL-680. Greetings from Hekelingen, Holland. Bye! Willem.

I enjoy your videos, thanks for taking the time to put them together. Here in England I'm finding it hard going to locate anything other than the Tecsun portable shortwave receivers - that are worth owning. I see many portables, such as the Sony here, reviewed and compared to the Tecsun offerings but, other than the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, it's hard to find anything else in the same class. Keep up the good work, I'll continue to enjoy it despite the frustrations!

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

Have you tried Amazon UK?

@Mick_Holland

7 жыл бұрын

Yes sir, just the Sony and the two Tecsuns (660 & 680) in the £100 - £200 price band. It seems these things are becoming rarer by the day and are an endangered species in need of protection.

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

Another option, which is a last resort, is Ebay. Buyer beware.

@Mick_Holland

7 жыл бұрын

Yes indeed. I wouldn't buy used on Ebay without having handled the goods first. There's what looks like a decent Sony SW7600GR available 'lightly used' for approx. $75, but it's about 400 miles away, so I'll pass on that. I'll keep hunting - there's no big rush and something is sure to turn up. Thanks for your advice/encouragement.

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

You are very welcome.

Thank you Very much! Very good comparing!

Good comparison Tom! THX 4 sharing.

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

You are welcome.

Newbie here enjoying my new 680.SW SSB has a steep learning curve.Thanks!

@hamrad88

2 жыл бұрын

Welcome. We are here to help you.

Hi Tom. A quick question: have you tried the SW77 on weak signals with the external AC adaptor? I just can't get it working. It gets very noisy, especially on weak SSB stations. Unusable. (works fine on local FM) Thanks.

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

Sorry I have not done that test. Will put it my list of up coming shows.

Tom,thanks for your great videos,i love this Sony,what a masterpice of the ingeneering,but,just the dry electrolitics are the problem,same on icf sw 55,i had them boths-same problem,thumbs up.

@hamrad88

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the information. Have a great day.

i like the Sony so much,but the Tecsun is slightly better

Please tell me, did you change the capacitors for better reception on SW or are there original capacitors from the manufacturer. Bought a Sony SW30 two years ago and there seems to be some extra noise when listening. The newer Grundig and Tecsun have a weaker noise. It is recommended to change the capacitors. Receiver from the mid 90s.

@hamrad88

Жыл бұрын

First, I bought this used and I do not know if anything was done to it. Second, right not due to solar conditions there is a lot of noise on shortwave and since this radio is very sensitive it could pickup more noise than the other radios. Hopes that helps.

The female voice is WWVH (H for Hawaii) male voice is Boulder Colorado with transmitter in Fort Collins. Visited both sites and saw the cesium clocks at the University of Colorado. WWV is Ft Collins. Geoff Quickfall BSc, MSc, PhD candidate with 28,000hrs; DC10, B737, B757, B767, B777, B787, DHC2, DHC3, B18

Not hard to tell where Sangean got there design cues from, same with Degen and the Sony ICW7600A

Was the attenuator in local, Normal or DX on the Tecsun ?

@hamrad88

4 жыл бұрын

Sorry too long ago to remember but I usually leave it in DX.

@DXPedro

3 жыл бұрын

hey mate, were you at? do some more videos with the 680 you reccomended me! ;) stay safe!

hallo tom from belguim can jou tel me please wiche one is sensetiver the sony or the tecsun

@hamrad88

6 ай бұрын

Tecsun as it is newer technology.

Doing tests with equal situation is one thing. But why not try with different e. g. with different antennas the best of each receiver and then compare?

Toms radio room your two shortwave receivers are cool

hallo i am from belguim can jou tell me olease wich worldreceiver is the best degen de 1103 or tecsun pl 660 or the radiwow r108

@hamrad88

3 жыл бұрын

Those are all good radios. You need to look at the features of each to determine which features are important to you. For me, I like the 660 the best but they are all good.

@storyhunter5759

2 жыл бұрын

tecsun pl660

@rachidtah8743

Жыл бұрын

@@hamrad88 ok thank jou

@rachidtah8743

6 ай бұрын

@@hamrad88 thanj jou

77 is a nice radio, I wonder if 20 years down the line the same could be said for the 680. Keep up the good work loving your channel.

@hamrad88

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

To be fair the SW55 and SW77 were premium portables

Hi Tom, some of those stations on 11 MHz are US military Em Comm stations on SSB, I`m thinking. Looks like the Sony and the Tecsun are both winners!

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks.

@rachidtah8743

4 жыл бұрын

@@hamrad88 hallo tom i am rachid from belguim i am acolector from world receivers can i ask jou please wat is the best world reciver i got a degen de 1103 a radiwow and a sony 7600 gr

@hamrad88

4 жыл бұрын

@@rachidtah8743 That is a hard question to answer as they are many. I like this 680 and the Grundig 750.

Tecsun is great

The best radio among so many Sony so many Grunding so many National so many Tecsun and others out there the best I find to use day at night, well lit uses little batteries and to change tracks very simple the stations change every 10 hz Am Sw at 5 at 5Hz when you are at 41mt for example and when you enter the radio amateur range, it warns you of audio and messages. Super sensitive sound good. This Sony sw77 for example you have to keep spinning the Knobs straight on the tracks ours is 1 in 1hz in SW the same thing changing tracks so ours is just like the Sony ICF-2010 tires the finger of turning so much to change tracks so it is horrible . The acceptable is still Sony SW55 in my opinion.

@hamrad88

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your inputs and have a great day.

17895 station that's Arabic broadcast in Saudi Arabia

@samerqamar5786

2 жыл бұрын

That is an impressive radio and antenna

tecsun cheaper than sony

@hamrad88

7 жыл бұрын

Much cheaper.