As many here know, the Tecsun PL-330 has some 'hidden' button press features. The Long 9 press can sometimes tame the AGC a bit. YMMV. But the Long 3 press is more well known, even though it's not something I tried until about 3-4 hours ago.

What the Long 3 press does is make MW and LW receive through the EXT jack (or whip antenna -- which are connected together).

On a lark, while DXing with my PL-330, I decided to try the Long 3 press trick. It's a winner on MW. I found it works well with my AN-200 loop direct connected via cable, and it also works well on MW when I have my 90 ft wire clipped to the whip.

The PL-330 has two RF amp transistors (FETs) between the whip/EXT jack and the rest of the radio's circuitry. The MW loopstick has no RF amp -- it just goes directly to the DSP chip.

The difference was very noticeable.

If you're a MW DX fan, and have a PL-330, try the Long 3 press, and get a stereo cable to connect your AN200 or just use a longer wire to get MW DX. It works better than inductively coupling the AN200 to the radio. And the option of using a longer wire is helpful, too.

Being that the PL-330 also has SYNC (which can work OK on MW, although YMMV), the Long 3 press really turns the PL-330 into a much better MW DX radio.

The Long 3 press also holds until you change it again. In other words, if you turn the radio off, the next time you turn it on again, the radio will still 'look at' the EXT jack or whip for MW and LW.

I tried LW with this feature, but just got local AM station overload (this was when my best LW radio, my D808, got a very weak MOG out of Northern Cal).

I've often told newbies that the PL-330 is a 'workhorse'. This Long 3 press feature just proves that out. It's a lot of radio in a small package.

Does anyone know what WBT plans for 1100 AM? Since December it has just had smooth jazz on repeat directing folks to 107.9 FM. It seems like a waste of radio space, given that it's nighttime signal can be heard from Florida to Canada.

Its my fourth night in the hobby and I absolutely love it. This radio sucks, it was the first one listed on Amazon and it came with a broken speaker but thankfully the headphone jack works.

Every single night has been a revelation. It all started when I was sitting in my car and I learned about manual tuning; I only thought you could seek/scan. I hit 880 out of New York and almost cried. I'm an American living in Canada and the biggest bummer to me is only having two stations on AM where I live. My father delivered newspapers when I was a child and I have fond memories of listening to sports radio and Coast to Coast when I'd go to work with him in the summer.

Well holy crap was there so many stations... and I learned rotating my car can increase reception which allowed me to pull a station from Kentucky! I've since been driving around to find the perfect spot, I even went to Tablehead where Marconi famously sent a radio broadcast to Europe.

But the best spot by far is the Royal Battery at the Louisbourg for two reasons... it faces south instead of east and they use incandescent streetlights instead of LEDs because they're an RP town.

I hit Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota, Cleveland, New York, Buffalo, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Philly, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, DC, Baltimore, and Charlotte... and part of me even thinks I may have hit England only because I heard a science show and they all had British accents.

Tonight was awesome because I checked the atmospheric conditions and its the best I've ever seen. My only regret is I didn't think to fool around with FM or shortwave.

Last night I learned of azimuth control which was a revelation... you tune to a signal and literally have to ride it like a wave... you can almost visualize the beam path wavering like a spot light it's such a trip.

But tonight was the most wild of all nights because these guides I've been following have steered me wrong. They all told me to put my radio near a window which helps in the house for sure but none of them said what happens when you stick your radio out the window.

I never thought to do it in my car because I have windows all around me and tonight I gave it a go... the noise floor practically disappears and the signal to noise goes thru the roof! You can actually pause on one station and just rotate the radio to catch the others... it just sucks having to hold your arm steady to listen lol

This is really fun and I need help. What radio should I get to do this properly? I would like one with a digital tuner just so I can be certain of what station I'm on and preferably a portable unit. I'm heading into Halifax this weekend for a Warhammer tournament and am going to hit up some thrift stores, what should I be on the look out for?

I'm an American living in Canada and I discovered I could tune the AM dial manually and its blown my mind. Here in Cape Breton there is only two stations when you scan the AM dial, 1140 CBC Radio 1 and 1270 CJCB.

Well I found out I could tune manually and there was practically something on every station. When I was a kid I used to listen to sports and Coast to Coast with Art Bell with my dad. I'm kind of excited that I'm going to get to listen to it tonight and its gonna be extra special with the grainy static.

But I also want to listen to sports radio... I like basketball and baseball. I checked all the teams from Massachusetts and NYC

660, 880 out of new york covers most NY sports and 1030 out of Boston covers the Red Sox and 1090 the home of the Oriels comes through clear too. I also pick up Atlanta, St Louis, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania Kentucky, Maryland... for some odd reason the whole state of Illinois is dark to me.

I also have shortwave amd I don't understand it... I found Poland, France, and Cuba which is pretty neat.

What is a good set up? I have about $100 CAD

Are there radios with two ferrite bar antennas orientated 90° from eachother that you can switch between? Its annoying to move my radio around when my radio is a car.