r/shortwave • u/SimpleCat1807 • 2d ago
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I just bought the pl330 and ive had success in picking up some interesting signals. I am in northern ca and have heard stuff from chula vista (southern ca), radio new zealand, and what sounds like chinese stations. I like the size of the radio and overall its been decent but there are a couple small things that I find myself nitpicking such as the tuning knob and not being able to coarse tune stations also that when you hold down the VF/VM button to scan, the volume knob doesnt work to name a couple. I also dont know how I feel about having to use an audio jack for external antenna, I kindof wish it was like bnc or something. Anyway, with taxes I paid 94 bucks for this radio. I am debating about whether or not I want to keep it or return it and pay alittle extra for something that also has air band and WX. Thoughts?
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u/currentsitguy 2d ago
My biggest complaint about the 330 is the lack of a kickstand. Supposedly the 520 fixes that. For WX and Air I got a HanRongDa HRD-747. It's a tiny little thing, smaller than a deck of cards, and I'd never recommend it to anyone as their primary radio, but it's great to drop in your pocket if you think bad weather may be coming or are nearby to an airport.
If you really want to go all out on Air, get a HackRF with Portapak. You can pick up ADS-B and it puts an X on a map along with all of the data the plane is trasmitting.
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u/Green_Oblivion111 2d ago edited 2d ago
RE: External antenna: you can merely clip a wire to the whip antenna for SW. That's what I do. It goes to the same circuit as the 3.5mm jack does.
Keep the radio. It's good for SSB and SW. If you use an external antenna or plug an AN200 MW loop to the EXT jack, the 330 will DX the MW really well (you can also use an AN200 external loop, sit it next to the radio, and DX MW really well that way).
The way to get the 330 to DX MW with an wire antenna, or direct injection of the AN200 to the EXT jack using a 3.5mm cable, is to long press the #3 button until it says CH-S.
Stop scanning the SW band and just tune the bands. You'll probably catch more signals that way. It's easy to course tune stations, you've got 5 kHz, 1 kHz, and 100 Hz steps (if you're in SSB mode). Use the step button. The reason it's 5 kHz steps on SW is because SW is channelized in 5 kHz steps.
Learn to use the radio before deciding to junk it. It's probably the best small portable for SSB out there.
Airband is OK if you're really into it, but I don't think it's a game changer. For NOAA you can get an XHDATA pocket radio D221 for around $25 and get NOAA as well as FM, AM, and some SW ability -- along with portability.
The D808 gets Airband, but no weatherband. It's a great radio, does some things better than the PL330, but the SSB isn't as readable as the 330's. I have both radios, and use the PL-330 for sideband and the ham bands, and use the D808 for LW, MWDX, and CW on the ham bands, and I use both for SW broadcast.
For Airband I just use the D808 to get current weather from the ATIS at the local airport. Airband comms really don't do a lot for me. It's nice that the Airband is there, but sometimes you're monitoring a frequency for a while before you hear the comms.
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u/gravygoat 2d ago
What do you mean about not being able to 'coarse tune'? What do you expect the volume knob to be doing while the radio is scanning? Just wanting to understand.
The 'audio jack' for external antenna is standard on most consumer shortwave radios.
Getting air and weather are cool things. Not many radios will give you all three AND also include single-sideband. There are a few - the C. Crane Skywave SSB 2, Raddy also has a couple.