Well, picked up yet another radio. The Tecsun S-8800. Purchased from anon-co in Hong Kong which is pretty much the only place to get one of these. Anon-co is AWESOME and I received this radio in like 3 or 4 days. They provide super fast Fed-Ex shipping and if everything isn’t to your liking they will fix it quick (or so I’ve been told, I’ve never had a problem).
Okay, first impressions time. The “first” short wave radio I owned after years of being away from the hobby was a Radio Shack purchased Grundig Eton S350. With the exception of the badge and maybe the color this radio looks EXACTLY like the S350. In fact I was a little hesitant to buy the S-8800 because of concerns that it might be the EXACT same radio as the S350. It isn’t. They are just capitalizing on a tried and true form factor. There are other radios that look just like this as well. That is where the similarity ends.
The next thing I really keyed in on was the controls. The metal dials that are machined practically scream “This radio is NOT made of the cheapest stuff out there”.
That’s a nice touch and one that isn’t present on the old S350 or S350DL But fancy knobs does not a radio make.
Back to the form factor. This radio is BIGGER than most Short Wave Radios on the market today and pretty much totally falls into the “Field Radio” category and not so much the “portable” category, although it is still quiet portable.
I’m kind of a stickler for details and one thing I DON’T like about this radio is the LCD backlight. The LCD is fine and is reminiscent of the S350 I had. But the backlight bleeds bad from the right side of the radio. That big bright spot on the right side is distracting to me and probably shouldn’t be on a $270 radio. That being said it doesn’t affect the LCD quality any. It just could be better is all.
I almost always grab a new radio and see how intuitive it is WITHOUT looking at the manual. The only thing that really threw me for a loop was how to hop between short wave meter bands. When I flipped over to SW band for the first time it was on 10000 or so and I wanted to be around 3200. I wasn’t spinning that dial that much. Where the heck is the way to flip through the meter bands quickly? Found it after much swearing and gnashing of teeth. Push in on the Fine Tuning knob……oooooookkkkaaayyyy.
Again, this is not a problem of any kind, just a head scratcher and once you’ve got it, you’ve got it. All good. Moving on.
It has a dedicated Line Out. This is GREAT. I love the Line Out feature on Short Wave Radios for easy recording. It also has the Internal to External Antenna Switch and DX to local. All good.
Another great feature is the remote control. I LOVE IT. Sit the radio on the cabinet and lay on the bed and it couldn’t be easier or better. This is worth the price of admission alone. You will fall in love with the remote control.
Performance. Good strong SW performance rivaling that of my other radios (Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Tecsun PL-660, Tecsun S2000). Not listing all my radios, those are just the “better” ones.
I am not the radio shootout guy. You’ll have to go elsewhere for that. I can say the Short Wave performance was as good and maybe better than those other radios but that’s all you’ll get me to commit to. I buy radios to LISTEN, not to compare.
So then I pop a long wire antenna on Medium Wave (AM) and I’m blown away. This thing is pulling in MW as good or better on a long wire antenna laying on the ground than my C Crane 2E, which is supposed to be HeavyWeight MW Champion Of The World (almost) and my 2E is on a dipole. I’m totally blown away. The MW performance is great (at my house, with my antennas, under my conditions. YMMV). Pic showing antenna connections below.
This radio is a keeper. Even with the bigger form factor, this thing could easily become my daily, go-to radio. I like it that much and I own well over a dozen radios now. Sure I like them all but cream rises to the top and my initial impressions are that this is a pretty great radio FOR HOW I LIKE TO LISTEN. If you are a super technical guru and if your purpose in having a radio is to demonstrate that electrons move 1% faster in one radio compared to another then I can’t help you there. All I can say is this radio sounds decent, is pretty selective, sensitive, looks good, has a great remote and a crappy LCD backlight.
But for the moment, this is now my favorite radio.
I have one for the last 6 months and it is my best radio and I use it a lot and pick a lot of stations with the whip, Radio Saudi, Voice of Vietnam, China Radio International, Radio Romania International, Radio Vatican, Radio Marti, Radio Havana Cuba and many more! It is my best radio and I have 69 radios!📻📢😀
I’m on your S-8800 page and love seeing all the radios you have! 73’s!
Hello. I noticed you also put a review for the S-2000. How would both compare ? Given the choice : which one of the two would you recommend to buy ? There is 15 € difference between them, so that is no issue.
If I could back up the clock and buy only one it would be the S-8800. Not because anything is wrong with the S-2000 just the S-8800 is a field radio and much more portable AND it has that remote. Thanks for the comment
I have yet to read a review about which 18650 batteries to use. Some 18650 batteries are “protected” or “unprotected”. Some have higher current ( MAh output). Do you use “button” or “flat” top? Make sure the batteries will fit inside the battery compartment before purchase. The Tecsun batteries that come with the radio will not last as long as others. Some manufacturers will sell inferior and/or fake 18650 batteries. Your radio is only as good as the batteries you place in it! To protect all my radios i only use an external battery charger. I am a member of various portable swl radio forums & not one discusses the above. Email the manufacturer in china & ask questions. Do your battery homework before making a purchase.
I love my Tecsun S-8800. I used to own 2 Sony ICF-2010 shortwave radios the other one was stolen. My brother smashed my second one, time for a new radio. Almost bought the Tecsun PL-880 but it had no field strength meter. I use my Tecsun S-8800 as an emergency radio along with 2 Radio Shack Extreme Range AM/FM/Weather Radio Catalog Number 12-150, and a Tecsun AN-200 AM radio antenna. I built a custom-made AM radio antenna with 1000 feet of magnet wire and a 6-inch OD by 3-foot PVC plastic pipe in a neat non-overlapping coil as loop antenna. My biggest concern about the Tecsun S-8800 that it did have synchronous detection like the Sony ICF-2010 but the Tecsun S-8800 has a (DSP) Digital Signal Processor that is superior to synchronous detection. My old Sony ICF-2010 radio with synchronous detection made radio stations sound much clearer and reduced interference. Although not in stereo AM radio broadcasts with strong radio stations the audio quality was as good FM radio. That was a surprise.
My second biggest concern is battery life. My Sony ICF-2010 shortwave radio had lousy battery life on 3 size D batteries was about 18 hours. Always had extra sets of size D alkaline batteries as backup for power outages after extreme storms. 30 hours on the Tecsun S-8800 shortwave radio with a 6-hour charge time from completely dead. Only one drawback at 780 kilohertz there is a loud ping you must use narrow band to receive the radio station at 780 kilohertz.
When I ordered my Tecsun S-8800 shortwave radio from Ebay October 2019 it was opposed to ship without 18650 lithium ion batteries, so I bought extra sets of 18650 lithium ion batteries. To my surprise it was shipped by air with 2 18650 lithium ion batteries violating (FAA) Federal Aviation Administration regulations. The 2 18650 lithium ion batteries were shipped by accident.
Ever since I was a little boy, I love shortwave radio even with the Internet I still have strong nostalgic feelings about shortwave radio. Tecsun S-8800 shortwave radio is a great radio for shortwave radio listening (SWL).
Enjoyed reading all comments. Specially the Phillip Gordon home made AM antenna made with magnet wire! Could you perhaps contact me about the details on this antenna?
My e.mail is
Thanks and best wishes.
Jerry
The pic showing your medium wave antenna connection is actually a shortwave/FM connection.
My on board dial broke after 60 minutes. So I was left with the remote only. Plus mine came in Chinese ????. Anyhow, liked it enough to not want to send it back as it’s a store in china, so I worked around the issue
Hello.
What are your experiences on medium wave? I heard it’s not that sensitive on medium wave. And that’s exactly what I want to use this radio for.
Regards. Cees.