I think the PL310 will be a great FM radio. I haven't really had a chance
to chase any Es or tropo with it yet, but I base my optimism on the
selectivity of the 310.

I also have a Sony XDR-F1HD which continues to amaze me on FM (and it's no
slouch on AM either). With the Sony, I have no problem splitting off
WPOC-93.1 in Baltimore from local mega pest WRDX-92.9 in Dover DE. The Sony
can easily pull in WPOC despite the severe HD hash from WRDX. Also, the
Sony also has no trouble resolving WDAC-94.5 in Lancaster PA from even my
bigger local pest WDSD-94.7 in Dover and its HD slop.

My PL-310 also does a very good job with WPOC and WDAC.

Last season, I used my PL-300WT for a lot of Es DXing and I recommend it. I
think the PL-310 will be at least as good, if not better than the 300WT. At
least the 310 has a keypad!

John Cereghin
Smyrna DE

On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 4:53 PM, grace123moscow <jewashburn@...>wrote:

A Tecsun FM Dxing Shootout

Three Tecsun receivers were tested for suitability for FM Dxing:

PL-310 (#35720100102037) (02/2010)
PL-380 (#36920100101623) (01/2010)
PL-300WT as a Grundig G8 (G80906025696)

An Eton E1 receiver was used for additional comparison.

Each was coupled directly to an exterior omni-directional FM antenna, a
FanFare FM2G.

A Sony HDR-F1HD digital FM tuner was used as a reference receiver.

The testing was done 11am to 1pm on a Friday.

A record was kept of the number of unique FM stations that could be clearly
identified by each receiver. The sensitivity and selectivity was more
important than just audio quality.

The Results:

Sony HDR-F1HD Tuner: 73 stations
Eton E1: 68 stations
PL-310: 67 stations
PL-380: 54 stations
G8 as PL-300WT: 43 stations

The score of the 310 over the 380 was a surprise!

What ULR are you using for FM Dxing? Recommendations?

John Washburn
Newport, Vermont
Jewashburn (at) Comcast.net

--
John Cereghin WDX3IAO KB3LYP
Smyrna DE
My radio page www.pilgrimway.org/dx
The Ultralight Scoreboard www.pilgrimway.org/ulradio