TECSUN PL398MP DSP Digital AM/FM/LW Shortwave Radio with Dual Speakers & MP3 Player, Black

I originally ordered this because I love my Grundig G2, and I really like mini-boomboxes. I am a MW and SW enthusiast, so there's that. The Tecsun PL-398 is a terrific radio for SW and MW listeners and DXers. It also works very well on FM, but I don't listen to a ton of FM, my experience with this radio is mainly on MW and SW.The PL-398MP has good sensitivity, even off the whip is pulls in SW stations well. It outperforms my G2, which is terrific off the whip. Just this a.m. I used the Tecsun to hear a SW station out of Madagascar, broadcasting in Russian to Eastern Europe, and it was readable -- just off the whip. I also heard Saudi R. Int'l broadcasting to Turkey in Turkish. Just off the whip. It's an example that this radio is quite capable.The PL-398 has several bandwidths, 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1 khz. The sensitivity seems to go up a hair with each reduction in bandwicth, the tradeoff being the audio treble drops a bit. I've found it useful to switch the bandwidth to 4 khz and tune a SW band (or MW) and then reduce to fit. The 6 khz is a bit trebly on my headphones, but sounds a lot better on the stereo speakers. It's nice to have that flexibility.The only 'drawback' is the tuning. The PL-398 doesn't seem to tune in channels, i.e. on the MW band it doesn't tune in 10 or 9 khz increments. And on SW it doesn't tune in 5 or 10 khz increments. You just have the tuning knob which goes 'fast' or 'slow', and it's like the old Realistic DX-440, it just goes where it wants to go, although it sticks to 1-6 khz increments when you tune, which is enough to get up the band. The tuner goes in 1 khz increments if you tune slowly, 4-7 or so khz when you tune quickly, and a little more if you really speed up the tuning knob.It take a bit of getting used to, but it's not a deal breaker for me. On SW I switch the radio to 6 or 4 khz and tune fast, that way I won't miss a station because the wider bandwidth selection will pick more up. I usually tune through MW or a SW band channel by channel, anyway, so I don't miss anything. I can always direct-enter a higher frequency if I want to jump to the higher part of the 31 Meter Band, for example. So the tuning knob "fast or slow" thing doesn't bother me. I've gotten used to it.It supposedly has 9 khz / 10 khz on MW, but being that this radio doesn't appear to tune in 9 or 10 khz increments on MW (it tunes in 1 khz increments when you turn the tuning knob slowly, and 4-7 or so kHz increments when you speed it up), the only difference that switching from 9 to 10 makes is the built-in thermometer goes from degrees C to F and vice versa. If there is indeed a capability to tune in 9, 10, or 5 khz increments I haven't found it yet. The manual seems to be for an earlier version of the radio, because it describes buttons that don't exist on mine. They obviously changed the labelling of the buttons after printing the manual. Not a deal breaker for me, as most of the manual is fairly easy to follow, but others may notice the same thing when reading the manual.As for the tuning, there may be some way to tune in channels, i.e. 9/10 khz on MW, and 5/10 khz on SW, and I just haven't figured out the buttons to push to get it to tune that way.The PL-398MP has several automatic tuning features I just don't use -- where you press a button and the radio scans and stores stations into memory. I never have used these features on any radio. You can direc-enter a frequency, just pressing the numbered buttons on the front of the radio, and if the station is broadcasting, it's instantly there. The up and down arrows in the upper right part of the front panel are handy from moving from one SW broadcast band to the next one up or down (i.e., going from 49 Meters to 31 Meters to 25 Meters, etc.).The memory feature is easy to use, when entering stations into memory -- press the "M" button, hold it a bit, and the frequency will be entered in the next empty memory spot. You access the memories by switching from "VF" to "VM" -- which means you're going from tuning through the frequencies to 'tuning' through the memories you've stored. "VM" uses the tuner knob to go through the memories; "VF uses the tuner knob to tune the band by frequency.I'm a MW DXer and the PL-398 is good for MW DXing. Being that it tunes in 1 khz increments, it's easy to go from channel to channel on MW. The sound is good on my headphones, and the bandwidth switching works well. The radio works well with an external loop -- you have to listen for the loudness in the programming to peak the external antenna. The internal loopstick is very directional, and nulls stations really well. I haven't done a ton of MW DXing with it yet, but it appears to be very capable of this.The radio also has Longwave (very cool!) but I haven't tried that yet. You have to have the radio OFF to switch it from MW to LW. Not that big a deal.The radio seems to do well on 3 AA's, and it has a capability of charging 3 rechargeable AA's, too, which is pretty cool.It seems to be built really well. The signal meter is new, at least to me. The DBu / DB thing. It appears that the DB side of the meter -- to the right -- measures the signal of the broadcast audio over the noise level. the DBu on the left seems to measure all of it. When there is an empty SW channel with nothing but static, it will read 5-10 DBu or so, while the right hand side of the signal meter reads zero. So the left side looks at everything, the right side sees the carrier and audio. Or at least that's how it seems. Pretty handy feature, which I guess has been on Tecsuns for ages, but I'm still getting used to using it.Overall, I think this mini-boombox is a great radio for any SWL, or MW DXer, and if it's like other Tecsuns on FM, FM enthusiasts probably would like it, too.Last but not least, the PL-398 will play MP3's off of an SD card. I haven't tried this yet, but it makes it closer to the old boomboxes of the 80s and 90s where you listened to the radio or you popped in a cassette. Very cool to include as a feature.I hope this helps some radio fans out there in deciding about the PL-398.

I have been buying, and listening to, shortwave radios for years. This little beauty is certainly one of the best -- and best values -- I ever bought.What sold me, aside from the price, was the ETM feature, which makes the radio perfect for travelling. This feature scans the new area and stores all stations with a proper signal without disturbing your home stations already stored. It accomplishes this in a matter of moments and is very accurate indeed.I cannot as yet speak of the shortwave reception as I live in NYCity and any reception is impossible. The AM and FM are beautiful, and tuning is smooth and easy no matter which way (and there are several) you choose to do it. Quite unusually intuitive controls.The size is great, the stereo sound is quite good, and the radio seems very sturdy. It is obviously well-made and of high quality. As I said, this is simply one of the best values in high-quality radios on the market.

Tecsun D3 $20Tecsun Q3 $36Tecsun PL398MP $62I have purchased all three of these in the past 45 days and they are all fine radios.Not sorry I bought any of them but the PL398MP was a bit of a let down because the tone is just ok. It just has very little bass if any.The first one I bought was the Tecsun Q3 $36. This radio just yells I'm cool. Really nice. Has so many features for a tiny true pocket radio. You can read about the features here but i'll list what it has that the other two do not. You can record the radio in Mp3 format that is stored on your micro sd card. I'm pretty sure its at 128 mbps. It sounds really good played back. Just as good as the original. You can also record your voice or guitar or anything with it's built in microphone. It sounds good enough for voice recording or capture some sounds but not high quality. It also has a nifty delete button so you can delete a Mp3 song off the card that your tired of. Really handy. Also has a repeat function. You can pick a starting point and ending point on any Mp3 file and it well just play that part over and over. Useful for learning a guitar solo, vocal track among other things. Can you tell I'm a musician? It and the PL398MP have a line in. The D3 does not. Of the three radios it is in the middle as far as sound quality. You can hear the bass. Has nice tone for its size. Gets really loud and doesn't distort. It's by far the smallest, lightest and easily fits in your shirt pocket without pulling down on your shirt from the weight. Haven't played it continually for a long time but I'm guessing three hours or so battery life. I bought the (yellow) one which is really orange. You can see for yourself in the photos. The radio is well made. Nice looking and COOL!The second one I bought was the Tecsun D3 $20. Best twenty smackers I have spent in a long time. What this radio has is TONE! You listen to it, think $20. Really? Very good for the size and cost. Actually sounds like quality. (If that's possible) Vibrates in your hand from the bass. Gets loud and doesn't distort. It's no Boss radio but for $20. Two thumbs up! It's quite a bit bigger than the Q3. Pushing what I would consider a pocket radio. Kind of cheap looking compared to the other two. Straight AM/FM radio and Mp3 player. No bells or whistles but you should have one of these even if you don't need it. I just ordered my second one. Nice little Gem!The third one I bought was the Tecsun PL398MP $62. Least favorite as far as tone quality goes even though it has two speakers and plays in stereo. I know it's not in the same category as the other two but thought I should at least mention my experience with it. It's tone sounds like what you would expect from two tiny speakers. Not bad at all, just not as good as the other two, especially the D3. It also distorts if you turn it up as loud as the other two. Has to be way louder than anyone would listen to though before it distorts so that really isn't an issue. Battery seems to last forever even though it continually shows the time and temperature even with the radio turned off. I've had it about ten days and played it allot. Batteries still show full charge so? Pretty good I'd say. Uses AA batteries and has a built in usb charger if your using rechargeable batteries. Has SW radio which seems to work fine but not my thing. Got Cuba Radio the other night so I guess it's doing it's job. You can view several detailed, lengthy reviews on YouTube about this radio. I can tell you it is well liked by SW radio users. Love the thermometer and it's very accurate. Has an alarm clock with a snooze button. Line in. Really long antenna and well pick up a station or three more than the other two. Nice looking and well made but it looks like something you don't want to drop on a hard surface. The Q3 looks like you could use it as a hockey puck and it would still work. All the Mp3 controls are on the back of the radio. There's room on the front? Go figure. There is also a flashing red light on the back when the Mp3 player is on. Kind of a waste of battery life. Theres no flashing red light when the radio is on. Just don't see the need for the red light. This radio also has a clock. Having two speakers and able to play in stereo is nice but after about three feet it doesn't make much difference because the speakers are so close together. Has a nice little carrying case that comes with it. Has a zipper pocket in the bottom for the included ear buds and line in or out cable. Radio pocket is a tight fit and at least every other time I accidentally turn the radio on when inserting into it's case. I'll get the hang of it.One thing all three radios share is you can use them outside turned up pretty darn loud but your neighbors won't here them. The sound just doesn't carry a great distance like a good boom box or job sight radio does.ALL THREE radios have one horrible flaw. You can't see what Mp3 file your playing. You can put your Mp3s in folders but it won't do you any good. Alphabetical order? Nope - Number them? Nope. The Mp3 player just plays them and you see a number 1 through ? How ever many total songs you have on it. Another reviewer said they play according to the time stamp when you put them on your memory card. If that is true then the first song you put on would play first, tenth song you put on your memory card would play tenth and so on. Either way a real pain if today you want to listen to some good old rock and tonight maybe something a bit more relaxing.TECSUN - you need to get this right in your next model. THEN you would really have the best little radios. Also improve your speakers in the PL398MP. If you did those two things the PL398MP would be the ultimate small radio.Hope this helps in your decision making!

Me gusto. Tiene buena recepcion y sobre todo, es bastante sensible. asi que funciona perfecto para escuchar emisoras AM lejanas

Very well build. No problem to tune in local Radio stations. MP3 player works great.Happy with radio and mp3 player.

Don't buy this!!!

This radio offers good sound (proper reception in your area is required). It works very well with ni-mh rechargable batteries and it also charges them. What it doesn't do is come with any rechargeable batteries or at least a cable and mains adapter for recharging those batteries. This is because using ni-mh cells is offered as a secondary option for powering the radio. That means you will have to have your own separate batteries, Mini USB to USB cable, and USB mains adapter if you wish to use it this way. For me it wasn't the most intuitive operation for a radio but taking the time to read the user manual sorted everything out in such a way that setting and enjoying all the features now seems straight forward. Do not expect iPod like controls for the mp3 playback. You can only play files in the original order (the order they've been written on the sd card). Also the radio doesn't show any file info so if you want to find out the title or anything else about the track you'll probably have to Shazam it. It gets five stars from me because it does everything it says it should nothing else and it does it well.

finally able to hear 4bc