---
product_id: 1165642
title: "PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM Longwave Shortwave Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception"
brand: "tecsun"
price: "€ 393.00"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
category: "Tecsun"
url: https://www.desertcart.com.cy/products/1165642-pl880-portable-digital-pll-dual-conversion-am-fm-longwave-shortwave
store_origin: CY
region: Cyprus
---

# Dual conversion PLL for ultra-sensitive reception Rechargeable battery with intelligent charging 5 selectable bandwidth filters for crystal-clear tuning PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM Longwave Shortwave Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception

**Brand:** tecsun
**Price:** € 393.00
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📻 Own the airwaves: Hear what others can’t, wherever you go!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM Longwave Shortwave Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception by tecsun
- **How much does it cost?** € 393.00 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.cy](https://www.desertcart.com.cy/products/1165642-pl880-portable-digital-pll-dual-conversion-am-fm-longwave-shortwave)

## Best For

- tecsun enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted tecsun brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Smart Portability:** Compact, lightweight design with rechargeable battery and USB charging—perfect for on-the-go pros.
- • **World Band Mastery:** Seamlessly tune AM, FM, Longwave, Shortwave & SSB with unmatched sensitivity and selectivity.
- • **Memory & Scan Savvy:** Store 3050 stations across 25 pages and auto-scan bands to never miss the hottest global broadcasts.
- • **Precision Tuning Power:** Ultra-fine 10 Hz steps and 4-5 bandwidth filters let you lock onto elusive signals effortlessly.
- • **Rich, Distortion-Free Audio:** Dynamic audio amplifier with full-range speaker delivers room-filling, crystal-clear sound.

## Overview

The Tecsun PL880 is a premium portable digital PLL dual conversion radio offering comprehensive coverage across AM, FM, Longwave, Shortwave, and Single Side Band (SSB). Featuring ultra-sensitive reception, selectable bandwidth filters, and a dynamic audio amplifier, it delivers exceptional sound quality and precise tuning down to 10 Hz. With 3050 station memory slots, intelligent rechargeable battery charging via USB, and a compact design, it’s engineered for professionals who demand superior global radio performance on the move.

## Description

The PL880 is a world band receiver with a comprehensive frequency coverage including AM/FM, long wave, shortwave, and single side band (SSB). Replacing the Tecsun PL660 as top of the line model, it features an ultra dynamic audio amplifier with full range speaker for full rich & distortion-free sound, the PL880 offers not only excellent sensitivity and selectivity for picking up radio stations, but also exceptional, distortion-free and ear-delicious sound quality. It includes many useful feature such as LCD backlight, 3050 stations storage over 25 memory pages. Firmware Version: 8820

Review: Best sounding portable radio - best bang for the buck - I bought mine in 2014. This radio is the first of a renowned Tecsun radio family: started with the pl880, followed by the s8800, pl990, h501x and finally the s-2200x. They all are premium products, and priced accordingly. Besides the pl880i also have a s8800 and a h501x. I can attest the pl880 is the best sounding of these. Based on the specs and other reviews I believe the s-2200x is even better, but you will pay $300 more for a beautiful but bulky tabletop radio. This is the radio you want if you want a radio small enough to take in your carry on luggage, decent AM, very good SW performance and amazing sounding FM reception. About the SW reception: unlink the majority of modern DSP based receivers, this radio does not soft muting when cruising the dial, so you will be able to find faint stations much easier. About SSB capabilities: it is usable but not great. If you are an avid SSB listener then you will be better served by any of the other members of the family; both my s8800 and h501x are perfect. The local oscillator is somewhat unstable and the pitch will be wobbly (perfect sounding person will would like Donald Duck in seconds). There are some undocumented settings and features. Some are useful, some not. In particular: the product detector for AM. It is available, it is awful. But you did not pay for it anyway… Other than that, the radio is solid. After 11 years I replaced the rechargeable lithium battery a couple of times, the antenna became a little wobbly and recently the main tuning knob failed. As there are several ways to tune it the radio is still operational. I have had several radios (Gundig, Tecsun, XhData, Hammarlund among others). If I had to have only one, this is the one I would take.
Review: Love this radio!! - I received my Tecsun PL-880 just a week ago, and I have to say that from my perspective, it's the *almost* perfect portable shortwave radio! I came close to purchasing a Grundig SAT 750, but when that order was delayed, I opted for this radio instead. I'm certainly glad I did! I can't imagine how the Grundig could be much better, and this radio provides a more portable option. PRO's: * Amazing sensitivity on the SW bands. No matter the time of the day, the auto-scanning function seems to always pick up 40-50 (or more!) shortwave stations. And these are stations that are easily copied. (The only antennae I'm using is the $10 Sangean 'reel'. And it just runs up a corner of my room to the ceiling.) In the limited time I've operated the radio I've already copied Radio China (came "booming" in on the 22 meter band), Radio Australia, and several far eastern stations. (I'm located in the southern United States.) BTW, if you own an iPad, you can always check the frequency with the "SWBC Sked" app to ascertain the station you're currently listening to. * Very good SSB reception on the Ham Bands ... all the way through 10 Meters! I've seen some YouTube videos of this radio providing a "muffled" SSB experience, but I've had no such issues (Firmware 8820). The only thing I can think of that could cause that is having the selectable Bandwidth set to 1.2 kHz or lower. I keep it at 3 kHz for SSB. (BW Options for SSB are 4, 3, 2.3, 1.2, and 0.5 kHz. That alone is astonishing for a portable SW radio!) When switching to SSB mode, the regular tuning knob automatically switches to "slow" tuning mode (1 kHz steps) while the "Fine" tuning knob switches to "Ultra-fine". You can literally tune in 1/100 kHz steps! Needless to say, this makes it super easy to get good quality speech from SSB signals. The only problem I've seen with SSB is a bit of "splatter" for very strong signals. In those instances, I would like to have a RF gain control. The three-position antennae-attenuator switch will do the job here, but is not as convenient. In any event, that's a very minor quibble. This is still the best SSB I've ever experienced from a portable. * Very good scanning options. You can scan just one International shortwave band, or *all* the bands. Use "Page 0" for scanning, and just the most recent scan results are stored. You can then easily step through all the stations it found by simply turning the tuning knob. Only the International SW bands are scanned; it automatically skips over all the Ham Bands. Since shortwave conditions change hourly, this makes it real easy to find the current "hot" bands. * Great sound! The speaker sounds great and can easily fill a small room without straining. It almost makes me wish a Bluetooth option were available so I could run Pandora through it via my iPhone. (Maybe the next generation, perhaps?) * AM/FM --- The "AM" band is adequate. If I were serious about AM I would opt for an external antennae optimized for AM. FM is *great*! * As mentioned earlier, this radio has incredible bandwidth options for a portable. In AM/SW mode you have 9, 5, 3.5 and 2.3 kHz options available. A strong music AM station with the 9 kHz BW option engaged sounds absolutely amazing. For most AM listening I keep it on "5". I use "3" as the default for most SW listening. The SSB bandwidth options were mentioned above. It's just *great* having all these options! * Rechargeable battery with "intelligent" charging. You don't have to tell it how long to charge like some portables require. Charging is through a mini-USB port. The cable for charging was supplied, but not the charger itself. I just use my iPhone's charger, which works great. CONS: * As mentioned above, the only real feature I miss is a variable RF gain control. I think it could really help out with the SSB "splatter" mentioned above on strong signals. Again, the three-position "Ant Gain" control can help out here; it's just not as convenient to use. As far as CONS go, that's pretty much it as far as I'm concerned! Summation: I *Love* this Radio!!!

## Features

- Best reception, full range coverage including AM/FM, Longwave & Shortwave with Single Side Band
- PLL synthesized digital dual conversion receiver with unparallelled sensitivity & selectivity
- 4 & 5 selectable bandwidth filters on AM and SSB respectively plus single Side Band receiver with 10 Hz tuning step
- Alarm clock plus sleep timer from 0-120 minutes
- 1 Year USA warranty.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B00GJ51NVA |
| Batteries | 1 AA batteries required. |
| Best Sellers Rank | #13,583 in Electronics ( See Top 100 in Electronics ) #22 in Portable Shortwave Radios |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,479) |
| Date First Available | February 23, 2011 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Item Weight | 1.15 pounds |
| Item model number | PL880 |
| Manufacturer | Tecsun |
| Product Dimensions | 7.56 x 1.3 x 4.45 inches |

## Product Details

- **Brand:** TECSUN
- **Color:** Black & Gray
- **Connectivity Technology:** USB
- **Included Components:** Battery, [POSSIBLE] Earphone
- **Power Source:** Battery Powered
- **Product Dimensions:** 7.5"L x 1.25"W x 4.5"H
- **Radio Bands Supported:** 5-Band
- **Special Feature:** Portable
- **Style:** Compact
- **Tuner Technology:** AM/FM

## Images

![PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM Longwave Shortwave Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ODlewBolS.jpg)

## Questions & Answers

**Q: Does this radio have the updated firmware? Is there a way to tell by the serial number? The update is not listed in the description.**
A: The seller will have to tell you the version number and yes there is an easy way to read it.  1.) With the radio turned off, simply press and hold the "AM BW" button and the full display panel will turn on.2.) Then press and hold the "AM BW" again and your 880′s firmware version will display (a four digit number).You need version 8820 or higher which fixes a few of the problems but not all.

**Q: Can a generic, lithium-ion 3.6/4.2 volt 18650 with a 2600 - 3400 mAh rating be used in this radio? Would it fit and not overload the circuitry?**
A: The only companies that make 18650 batteries are LG, Panasonic, Sony, and Samsung.  The ones with other names are just rewrapped with another brand name on them.  It's best to buy batteries labeled directly from one of those 4 manufacturers so you know what you are getting because the it's common to see other brands exaggerate the mah rating.

**Q: Has anyone purchased from Elextronnix and can confirm the firmware is the most recent 8820? thank you**
A: Firmware 8820 does not guarantee that it is free from the fine-tuning bug. Some 8820 firmware will still tune backwards within a kilohertz during SSB fine tuning. A small but annoying bug. Check with Electronnix before buying.

**Q: I live in an apartment and have little access to attach an external antenna to anything outside.  Can an external antenna work inside an apartment?**
A: Re sun also sell the AM booster loop, the AN-200 tunable medium wave loop antenna. I have found this no-battery solution to give a great signal boost for all bands except FM. I rest the Tecsun radio inside the loop and it works!

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best sounding portable radio - best bang for the buck
*by U***R on January 28, 2026*

I bought mine in 2014. This radio is the first of a renowned Tecsun radio family: started with the pl880, followed by the s8800, pl990, h501x and finally the s-2200x. They all are premium products, and priced accordingly. Besides the pl880i also have a s8800 and a h501x. I can attest the pl880 is the best sounding of these. Based on the specs and other reviews I believe the s-2200x is even better, but you will pay $300 more for a beautiful but bulky tabletop radio. This is the radio you want if you want a radio small enough to take in your carry on luggage, decent AM, very good SW performance and amazing sounding FM reception. About the SW reception: unlink the majority of modern DSP based receivers, this radio does not soft muting when cruising the dial, so you will be able to find faint stations much easier. About SSB capabilities: it is usable but not great. If you are an avid SSB listener then you will be better served by any of the other members of the family; both my s8800 and h501x are perfect. The local oscillator is somewhat unstable and the pitch will be wobbly (perfect sounding person will would like Donald Duck in seconds). There are some undocumented settings and features. Some are useful, some not. In particular: the product detector for AM. It is available, it is awful. But you did not pay for it anyway… Other than that, the radio is solid. After 11 years I replaced the rechargeable lithium battery a couple of times, the antenna became a little wobbly and recently the main tuning knob failed. As there are several ways to tune it the radio is still operational. I have had several radios (Gundig, Tecsun, XhData, Hammarlund among others). If I had to have only one, this is the one I would take.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Love this radio!!
*by V***R on February 1, 2015*

I received my Tecsun PL-880 just a week ago, and I have to say that from my perspective, it's the *almost* perfect portable shortwave radio! I came close to purchasing a Grundig SAT 750, but when that order was delayed, I opted for this radio instead. I'm certainly glad I did! I can't imagine how the Grundig could be much better, and this radio provides a more portable option. PRO's: * Amazing sensitivity on the SW bands. No matter the time of the day, the auto-scanning function seems to always pick up 40-50 (or more!) shortwave stations. And these are stations that are easily copied. (The only antennae I'm using is the $10 Sangean 'reel'. And it just runs up a corner of my room to the ceiling.) In the limited time I've operated the radio I've already copied Radio China (came "booming" in on the 22 meter band), Radio Australia, and several far eastern stations. (I'm located in the southern United States.) BTW, if you own an iPad, you can always check the frequency with the "SWBC Sked" app to ascertain the station you're currently listening to. * Very good SSB reception on the Ham Bands ... all the way through 10 Meters! I've seen some YouTube videos of this radio providing a "muffled" SSB experience, but I've had no such issues (Firmware 8820). The only thing I can think of that could cause that is having the selectable Bandwidth set to 1.2 kHz or lower. I keep it at 3 kHz for SSB. (BW Options for SSB are 4, 3, 2.3, 1.2, and 0.5 kHz. That alone is astonishing for a portable SW radio!) When switching to SSB mode, the regular tuning knob automatically switches to "slow" tuning mode (1 kHz steps) while the "Fine" tuning knob switches to "Ultra-fine". You can literally tune in 1/100 kHz steps! Needless to say, this makes it super easy to get good quality speech from SSB signals. The only problem I've seen with SSB is a bit of "splatter" for very strong signals. In those instances, I would like to have a RF gain control. The three-position antennae-attenuator switch will do the job here, but is not as convenient. In any event, that's a very minor quibble. This is still the best SSB I've ever experienced from a portable. * Very good scanning options. You can scan just one International shortwave band, or *all* the bands. Use "Page 0" for scanning, and just the most recent scan results are stored. You can then easily step through all the stations it found by simply turning the tuning knob. Only the International SW bands are scanned; it automatically skips over all the Ham Bands. Since shortwave conditions change hourly, this makes it real easy to find the current "hot" bands. * Great sound! The speaker sounds great and can easily fill a small room without straining. It almost makes me wish a Bluetooth option were available so I could run Pandora through it via my iPhone. (Maybe the next generation, perhaps?) * AM/FM --- The "AM" band is adequate. If I were serious about AM I would opt for an external antennae optimized for AM. FM is *great*! * As mentioned earlier, this radio has incredible bandwidth options for a portable. In AM/SW mode you have 9, 5, 3.5 and 2.3 kHz options available. A strong music AM station with the 9 kHz BW option engaged sounds absolutely amazing. For most AM listening I keep it on "5". I use "3" as the default for most SW listening. The SSB bandwidth options were mentioned above. It's just *great* having all these options! * Rechargeable battery with "intelligent" charging. You don't have to tell it how long to charge like some portables require. Charging is through a mini-USB port. The cable for charging was supplied, but not the charger itself. I just use my iPhone's charger, which works great. CONS: * As mentioned above, the only real feature I miss is a variable RF gain control. I think it could really help out with the SSB "splatter" mentioned above on strong signals. Again, the three-position "Ant Gain" control can help out here; it's just not as convenient to use. As far as CONS go, that's pretty much it as far as I'm concerned! Summation: I *Love* this Radio!!!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very nice for travel
*by B***O on August 1, 2023*

I was debating over getting this model or the Tecsun PL-680. There are many reviews and pros/cons for each model. I eventually chose the PL-880 and I've no regrets. This model has many features, and a number of them are "hidden". Doing a search you can find how to access these new features, some useful (battery run time), others not so much. The included case is nice and will keep the radio from damage while traveling. It's not leather, but sturdy and holds up well to packing into my carry-on backpack. The provided 18650 battery holds a charge for a long time! I like that it's rechargeable, and I'm sure it will last a long time too. The radio has wonderful room filling sound from the speaker. On a recent trip to Tennessee I was a little disappointed by the reception, but that may have been due to my location in the hotel building. I just had to adjust the antenna, and sometimes use the provided external antenna, and got good enough reception on local FM. The shortwave works well, but that's hit or miss due to the airwave band conditions. There's also not as many shortwave broadcasters as there were 20 years ago. But there are still many foreign broadcast to be heard and enjoyed. I really like the SSB capability to listen to ham radio operators. When you hear voices like Donal Duck, you just turn on the SSB, and then tune until the voices are understood. Very easy. I'm think about getting an extra external antenna, there's many on the market. This is a great radio.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Tecsun PL880 Portable Digital PLL Dual Conversion AM/FM Longwave Shortwave Radio with SSB (Single Side Band) Reception
- Tecsun AN-48X Indoor Active Loop AM/LW/SW Radio Antenna
- Sangean ANT-60 Short Wave Antenna

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*Product available on Desertcart Cyprus*
*Store origin: CY*
*Last updated: 2026-03-19*