Treat with kid gloves as they’re no longer manufactured! I don’t think there’s a newer model with equivalent performance.
There’s one for sale on the German eBay:
I’m lucky that I have two units that I purchased relatively cheaply.
Curses!
Mine is falling apart.
The number “3” on the keypad doesn’t work properly, and the telescopic aerial wobbles a fair bit. But I plug a pair of rabbit ears into it to get around that, and that gives better reception too.
Yeah, I also have a pair of bunny ears, as the ant on Tecsun #1 is broken. I also have a PL-380, but its performance is definitely inferior to the 390.
Inferior?
On FM, or just AM?
I know on AM that the 380 has a smaller ferrite rod, and I thought the ONLY other difference to the 390 was the single speaker on 380 vs dual set up on 390.
I noted on Tecsun Australia’s website that they have the PL-310ET.
Not sure what the performance is like compared to the 390.
I did buy the 880 from them, but I also found FM inferior to the 390.
So yes, more expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better in some respects.
I had been considering the 310ET as a replacement for the 390, having local back up would also give a bit of peace of mind compared to buying off eBay.
Some enhancement to the north in Brisbane tonight. First time I have decoded the RDS on 89.1 Hot FM Kingaroy. ID was 891HOTFM with song title and artist. No alternate frequency though (which would work quite well as it is a relay from 100.7 most of the day).
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I’m impressed that a small market like Kingaroy gets a comprehensive RDS service. Also means at least that 89.1 isn’t being fed “off air” from 100.7.
Compare that to Newcastle, where NONE of our 3 commercial FMers are yet to have song titlle/artist on their RDS, and 1 of them still has no RDS at all! (yes, I am looking at YOU, NEW FM !! 
).
As for AF, I recall reading somewhere years ago that 89.1 was supposed to be getting a repeater on 95.1 at Gayndah… Sounds like that never happened? That would have also added to a case for the use of AF.
That’s because Kingaroy is a different licence to Toowoomba and there should have different ads and local content.
I believe this has been fed by an STL link from Toowoomba since 2013, although the licence still exists for the STL from the Kingaroy studios also.
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Turns out 2CR China Radio have got a narrowcast licence for 91.6 starting from 2 September 2016.
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The Tecsun 380 has a much smaller whip compared to the 390: AFAIK, only the 390 has the extended whip. With bunny-ears, the 380 would do OK since the DSP is the same, though I haven’t bothered to try it. My bunny-ears, though, are inferior to the 390’s whip!
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I don’t find much difference in terms of reception between the bunny ears and the extended whip. I use a $13 Crest brand ears that are available from Big W (without attaching the loop of course). Link below.
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/crest-indoor-antenna/p/WCC100000000206877/
But the advantage with the bunny ears is that I find I can rotate them to find a null or sweet spot (which often is in a spot that is not conducive to holding or placing the unit itself for very long) and then just sit down beside the ears with the Teccy to do some band scanning… It’s particularly useful for listening to some Sydney community stations that are a bit too diificult to listen too for long otherwise,
Was picking up some far and wide stations last night on my transistor radio
4KQ Brisbane
3AW Melbourne
2XL Cooma
ABC Victoria (Not sure exactly where it was from)
Which frequently? I think 594 Western Victoria (3WV Horsham) is the most likely
774 can be heard in Perth sometimes.
Yeah I think that was it.
The radio is a Sony ICF-P26
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2GB and 7BU coming in tonight in Melbourne.
7BU may even be receivable in the day time in Melbourne, particularly if you are Bayside.
Well in Inner Melbourne, it’s rarely receivable and if it is its not the best.
7BU isn’t a terribly irregular catch at night here in Sydney, from my observations of the AM band.
7BU and 7AD were good for 24-hour reception back down in Geelong, even 7LA and 7EX could often be heard. In fact, if I recall right when I was living in south-eastern Melbourne I could get better reception on 558 than I could on 531 from nearby Warragul. Back in the day they used to share playlists so if you found a good song it was better to listen to the Tasmanian station than the Victorian one 
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During my first sojourn down the Great Ocean Road in 1999, 7BU was the station of choice between Lorne and Apollo Bay- no 3CS/Mixx FM translators back then. On my trip earlier this year, with a much better car radio, I found that the Melbourne majors came in without difficulty. Sea FM from Burnie (101.7) regularly fades up via aircraft scatter at Apollo Bay, even in the absence of tropo.
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