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Tecsun PL-880 Antenna Upgrade

I

Icangelp

I love the features available on the PL-880, and was wondering any on here have added an external ferrite antenna, or would have ideas on how to do this on the 880.

I am planning on popping the hood for a look see, but have no idea what to expect inside.

Is it even worth attempting an antenna mod?

Thanks for any help.
 
Also, would it possible to modify the external SW antenna or Line Out connections to accommodate an external antenna like my Quantum Loop?
 
I would just use an external air core loop and couple it to the radio inductively. From the reviews, the radio is a decent performer on MW. An Eton or Terk loop (or homemade loop) should boost signals enough, and you wouldn't have to risk frying a trace or a component on the radio.

I have a PRD5, probably one of the best MW radios out there gain wise, and my inductively coupled external loops boost signals well on it. I'm just guessing but it's probably a db or two.

You might be a tech, I don't know, but I'm sure that the connections on Tecsun PCBs are surface mount. Very easy to ruin if you don't use an iron made for surface mount, and easy to ruin if your iron hits a component.

And it's not the components, the solder traces on surface mount boards are very fine and thin, and easy to ruin. I know -- I wrecked one of the channels on the headphone jack on my PRD5 trying to bypass the stupid kick-down resistors they have there (I ended up just wiring a mono headphone jack in parallel with the right speaker -- works wonderfully).

Good luck, whatever you do. I've read that those are excellent radios.
 
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The ultralightdx Yahoo group is a gold mine of information on small portable radios, especially the newer DSP units.
They have some size limitations, which the 880 might exceed, but you'll still probably get some help.
 
The Yahoo ultralight group would be a place to go for some info on modding an 880, as alot of those guys have Tecsun radios, and there also is a Tecsun 880 group on Yahoo too.

I've been a member of the Yahoo ultralight group, and I know there is at least one mod there where a guy put a jack into the top of his Tecsun something-or-other and plugged in a larger loopstick. So it's probably doable.They have a lot of info and experience there, so it would be worth checking out for someone wanting to mod their radio.
 
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