Tecsun PL-505 User manual

TECSUN TECSUN
TECSUN ELECTRONIC IND. LTD.
OPERATION MANUAL
PL-505
FM stereo / SW / MW / LW DSP RECEIVER
TECSUN ELECTRONIC IND. LTD.
.,
PL-505
FM STEREO /SW /MW /LW DSP RECEIVER
2011.9 VER.1
www.tecsunradio.com
[email protected]

SPECIFICATIONS
PL-505 Functional Block Diagram
PL-505 is using DSP si4734 Microchips (from Silicon Labs in
USA) to digitalize the analog AM/FM broadcasting signal base
on the modern software technology and radio principles. It can
highly improve on radio's sensitivity, selectivity, S/N ratio and
anti-interference.
PL-505 PL-505 25
SPECIFICATIONS
1. Frequency range
FM 87~108 MHz
Russia 64~108MHz
Japan 76~108 MHz
Eu, USA 87.5~108 MHz
MW 522~1620 (USA 520~1710) kHz
LW 153~513 kHz
SW 2300~21950 kHz
2. Sensitivity
FM (S/N=30dB) Less than 3μV
MW (S/N=26dB) Less than 1mV/m
LW (S/N=26dB) Less than 10mV/m
SW (S/N=26dB) Less than 20μV
3. Selectivity
FM ＞60 dB (±150kHz)
MW ＞60 dB (BW=3kHz, ±9kHz)
LW ＞60 dB (BW=3kHz, ±9kHz)
SW ＞60 dB (BW=3kHz, ±5kHz)
4. FM Stereo crosstalk Less than 25 dB
5. Memory 550
6. Output (Distortion 10%) ≥200 mW
7. Power UM3 or AA X 2
USB 5V DC
8. Speaker φ50mm, 500mW/16 Ohm
9. Earphone Jack φ3.5mm, 32 Ohm, Stereo type
10. Dimensions Approx. 123(W) X 79(H) X 20(D) mm
11. Weight 175g (excluded batteries)
AMPLIFIER
CONTROLLER
CONTROL
INTERFACE
SW LPF
FM ANT
MW/LW
ANT
PL-505 Functional Block Diagram
www.tecsunradio.com [email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PL-505 1
Control Locations……………………………………………….
LCD display …………………………………………………….
How to turn ON/OFF the radio……………………….............
Intelligent volume control……………………….....................
Tune into stations…………………....…………………………
● ETM (Easy Tuning Mode)
● Manual tuning
● Auto browse stations
Working with station memories…………………....................
● ATS (Auto Tuning Storage)
● Storing statons manually
● Semi-auto storing station
Listening to stored stations………………………..............…
● Manual memory tuning
● Auto browse memory
Delete memory………………………………………...........…
● Delete a single memory manually
● Semi-auto delete memory
● Delete all memories manually
Sleep function……………………………………............……
Clock Setting…………………………………….................…
Working with alarm ………...…...….....................................
● Setting the alarm time
● How to set alarm by radio
● How to turn off when alarming
How to change the display mode........................................
Key-lock function………………...........................................
FM ST (FM Stereo) ……………………….....................……
AM BW (AM Bandwidth) ………...………………..…………
System setting…………………………………………………
Intelligent charging function………………………….………
How to improve FM / SW reception....................................
Important matters for using batteries………………............
Trouble shooting………………………………………………
Specifications ……………………………………………....…
2
4
5
5
6
9
11
12
14
14
15
16
17
17
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
www.tecsunradio.com [email protected]

CONTROL LOCATIONS
PL-505
2
POWER
FM
FM ST
TIME
ALARM MEMORY
VF VM ETM
SCAN
PL-505
FM STEREO /SW /MW /LW DSP RECEIVER
ATS
SW
ATS
DISPLAY
DELETE
BW
LIGHT SET 9/10k
SET
1
2
3
4
5
9
14
DC-IN 5V FM/SW ANT.
VOLUME TUNING
19
20
10111213
678
15
16
17
18
Note:
Yo u can ro tat e the
telescopic antenna in all
direction (360 degree) by
pulling up the bottom of
antenna.
www.tecsunradio.com [email protected]

19
18
17
16
15
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
14
13
PL-505 3
Power
Display / Lock
FM band & ATS
MW/LW band Selection & ATS
SW band selection & ATS
ETM (Easy Tuning Mode) / 9k or 10k AM tuning
step selection
VF (Frequency scan) / Backlight set
VM (Memory scan)
Time
Memory
Delete
FM ST / AM BW (AM bandwidth)
Alarm
FM & SW telescopic antenna
FM & SW antenna jack
Earphone jack
USB 5V DC jack
Battery compartment
Multifunctional tuning knob
Volume knob
20

LCD DISPLAY
Battery consumption indicator /
Charging indicator
1
2Sleep timer indicator
3Alarm on/off indicator
6Signal indicators
dBu: signal strength unit
dB : Signal to Noise Ratio
(S/N) unit
7
8SW meter band indicator
9ETM indicator
5Temperature (Temp.)
Tuning speed:
" " Slow Tuning
" " Fast Tuning
10
11 kHz: frequency unit for MW,
LW & SW
MHz: frequency unit for FM
Alarm time indicator
15
Digital number display (4 Digits)
With radio off: world time, alarm
time, temperature
With radio on: word time, signal
strength / SNR, alarm time,
temperature, local time, memory
address, meter band.
12
14 Digital number display
With radio off: local time
With radio on: frequency display,
band display
FM stereo status indicator
16
17
Preset memory address
13
Rechargeable batteries indicator
PL-505
12 3 5 6
7
8
9
10
11
15
17
14 13 12
Temp.
SLEEP
4
16
4Key-lock indicator
Band indicator

PL-505 5
HOW TO TURN ON/OFF THE RADIO
1. Open the battery compartment
located on the back of the radio,
install 2 x AA alkaline batteries
observing the battery polarity
diagram on the back of the radio.
Close the battery door.
2. Press the [POWER] button to
turn on/off the radio.
Installing batteries
Press
Note:
If the radio is unable to be turned on, please check if the
batteries were installed correctly, battery capacity is
sufficient, and the lock function had been turned on. If the
radio is locked with " " displays on screen, press &
hold the [ ] button to unlock.
INTELLIGENT VOLUME CONTROL
Speaker volume: Volume control range is 0 to 30.
Earphone volume: Volume control range is 0 to 15.
This device is equipped with its own intelligent volume
control function. If the volume is below level 8, it will
maintain the current volume when you plug in the
earphone; however if the volume is above level 8, the
volume will drop to level 8 automatically. You can adjust the
earphone volume according to your own needs.
It is suggested to plug in the earphone first and wear it later
when you want to listen to the radio by earphone.
When the earphone is plugged out, the volume will
automatically set to level 15.

1. Press the [ETM] button followed
by [ETM] appearing in the display
to enter Easy Tuning Mode.
2. Press & hold the [ETM] button until
the frequency start running to
auto scan and store stations into
ETM memory, within the present
band.
3. When the frequency stop running,
turn around the [TUNING] knob to
select those stored stations.
TUNE INTO STATIONS
Press the [POWER] button to turn on your radio, then
select your desired band by pressing the [FM], [MW]、SW
[ ] or [ ] button. In case of receiving FM/ SW
broadcasting, fully extend the telescopic antenna for a
better reception. When receiving MW(LW) broadcasting,
please rotate the radio or change its location to achieve
optimum reception.
Now, you can turn into your favorite stations with any of the
below tuning methods:
1. ETM (EASY TUNING MODE)
ETM is the unique tuning method designed by Tecsun. It
skillfully combines the reception circuitry & control
procedure to pre-select the suspected radio station and
temporarily auto stores them into the ETM memory (not the
regular 550 memories). This highly enhances the efficiency
when tuning into radio stations.
Please follow below steps to tune into your preferred
frequencies employing ETM:
flashing
Preset station
number ETM
Notes: While operating ETM to search for stations, a few
stations might be missed if there is interference in the
surrounding. In this case, you can simply key-in the
frequency, then press the [ETM] button to manually store it
into ETM memory.
PL-505
6

PL-505 7
Tips:
FM station: When you are in a different city or country, you
should perform the ETM function again in stead of using
ATS function, because this will not delete any of the
stations already stored within the memory.
MW station: It is recommendable to perform the ETM
function during night time, because there are usually many
stations starting broadcasting at night.
SW station: It is recommendable to perform the ETM
function in the morning, afternoon as well as night time,
because the transmitting signal of SW is very unstable and
usually there are more stations that start broadcasting in
the late afternoon.
2. MANUAL TUNING
Frequency searching: Press the [VF] button to switch into
frequency mode, and then rotate the [TUNING] knob to
select your desired station.
Memory searching: Press the [VM] button to switch into
memory mode, and then rotate the [TUNING] knob to
select those stored stations.
FAST/SLOW tuning is shown in the chart below for each band.
0.01 MHz
1kHz
1 kHz
1 kHz
0.1 MHz
9 /10kHz
9 kHz
5 kHz
FM
MW
LW
SW
step
band
turning step
Slow tuning mode Fast tuning mode
turning step

PL-5058
3. AUTO BROWSE STATIONS
1.Turn on the radio and press the
[VF] button to switch into
frequency mode.
2.Press & hold the [VF] button
with [ ] advancing to scan
from one station to another,
staying on each station for
about 5 seconds.
3.To stop the auto browse
function, simply press the [VF]
button.
Note: While browsing stations automatically, you can
press the [MEMORY] button at anytime to store the station
into the memory, and the radio will keep on auto browsing
the next available station.
Auto browse stations
advancing
Frequency
changing

PL-505 9
WORKING WITH STATION MEMORIES
There are in total 550 preset memories within the unit. 100
preset memories for each FM, MW, and LW band, and 250
for SW. You can use either of below methods to tune and
store those stations into memories:
1.
FM ATS:
1. Fully extend the telescopic
antenna and press the [FM]
button to select FM band.
2. Press & hold the [FM] button
until “PRESET ” flashing and
the frequency advancing;
now the unit starts scanning
and storing all available
stations into the memories.
When the frequency stops
advancing, it means the ATS
operation has been done
completely; you can rotate the
[TUNING] knob to search
around for those scanned and
stored stations.
MW/LW ATS:
Press the [MW] button to select MW/LW band, then follow
step 2 of FM ATS.
SW ATS:
Fully extend the telescopic antenna and press the
ATS (Auto Tuning Storage)
SW[ ]
or [ ] button to select SW band. There are two modes for
SW ATS tuning:
Mode A: Press & hold the [ ] button to ATS the stations
within present meter band.
Mode B: Press & hold the [ ] button to ATS the stations
within all meter bands.
flashing
Auto Tuning storage (ATS)
status
Station
Storage #

PL-50510
Notes:
1. During ATS process in FM, MW / LW or SW (mode B),
pre-stored radio stations will be replaced automatically
by the new searched stations.
2. With ATS in SW (mode A), those existing memories will
not be replaced; all the newly found radio stations would
be stored in the blank memory address.
3. If there is too many interference in you surrounding or
many mirror/blank station are being stored during ATS,
you should contract the telescopic antenna (FM & SW)
or rotate the radio for better location (MW & LW).
2. STORING STATONS MANUALLY
1. Select band and tune to your desired station.
2. Press the [MEMORY] button with “PRESET ” flashing
3. Press the [MEMORY] button again to store the station
into memory.
You can also wait for 3 seconds to auto store the station
into memory.
3. SEMI-AUTO STORING STATION
While operating the While auto browsing the station, you
can simply press the [MEMORY] button to store the station
into memory to avoid storing unwanted stations and
interfering signals.
1. Press the [VF] button to switch into frequency mode.
2. Press & hold the [VF] button with “ “ advancing to
auto browse from one station to another.
3. While tuning to your favor station, press the [M] button
with “PRESET ” flashing to direct store the station into the
next available memory. The unit will keep on browsing
until you deactivate it by pressing on the [VF] button
again.

PL-505 11
LISTENING TO STORED STATIONS
1. MANUAL MEMORY TUNING
Press the [VM] button to enter the
frequency mode, rotate the
[TUNING] knob to tune into the
stored stations one by one.
Memory address
address state
2. AUTO BROWSE MEMORY
1. Press the [VM] button to enter
the frequency mode with
“Memory Page” shows in the
upper right corner of the
display.
2. Press & hold the [VM] button
until “PRESET” flashing to auto
scan from one memory to
another, staying on each
station for about 5 seconds.
To stop auto search memory,
simply press the [VM] button.
flashing
Auto browse preset station
You can use either of below methods for listening to those
stored stations:

PL-50512
DELETE MEMORY
Rotate the [TUNING] knob to
select the memory that you want to
delete, press & hold the [DELETE]
button until “ ” flashing; then
immediately press the [DELETE]
button to remove the unwanted
memory address.
Press and hold the [VM] button until
“ PRESET “ flashing to auto browse
those stored stations, press the
[DELETE] button at anytime to
direct delete the unwanted station;
the radio will keep on auto browsing
the next available station until you
press any other button to stop this
function.
Delete memory
Delete a single station
flashing
Press the [VM] button followed by “Memory address”
flashing on the upper right corner of the display to enter the
[Memory] mode. You can follow either of the below
methods to delete those unwanted stations:
1. DELETE A SINGLE MEMORY MANUALLY
2. SEMI-AUTO DELETE MEMORY
Press & hold the [DELETE] button
for 3 seconds and notices “ ”
appears on the upper right corner
of the display, then press the
[DELETE] button to delete all
memory within the selected band.
flashing
Delete all memories
3. DELETE ALL MEMORIES MANUALLY

PL-505 13
Note:
1. If " " is flashing for more than 3 seconds without
confirmation, it will exit the delete function automatically.
2. If the [DELETE] button has not been pressed within 3
seconds to confirm, it will exit the delete function
automatically.

SLEEP FUNCTION
PL-505
14
1. Press & hold the [POWER]
button until “ ” and “ ”
or 1~120” shows on the
display.
2. Rotate the [TUNING] knob
immediately to select sleep
timer from 1 ~ 120 minutes
or select permanently “ ”,
then wait untill the radio auto
turn on to confirm the setting.
SLEEP
Sleep time range
CLOCK SETTING
flashing
SLEEP
flashing
1. Press & hold the [TIME] button
until hour flashing, then rotate
the [TUNING] knob to adjust
the hour.
2. Then press the [TIME] button
with minutes flashing, then rotate
the [TUNING] knob to adjust the
minutes while minutes is flashing.
3. Press the [TIME] button again to
confirm the setting.
※ If the [TIME] button has not been pressed again within
3 seconds, the unit will automatically confirm the setting.

SLEEP
PL-505 15
WORKING WITH ALARM
1. SETTING THE ALARM TIME
2. HOW TO SET ALARM BY RADIO
You can preset the alarm station
following below steps:
1. Turn on the radio, then tune into
your favorite station for the alarm
by radio and adjust your desired
alarm volume level.
2. Press the [MEMORY] button
followed by “ PRESET ” flashing in
the display, then immediately
press the [ALARM] button and
notices “ ” appearing in the
display to confirm the preset
alarm station.
flashing
1. Press & hold the [ALARM] button with hours flashing on
the display, then rotate the [TUNING] knob to adjust the
hours.
2. Press the [ALARM] button with minutes flashing, then
rotate the [TUNING] knob to adjust the minutes while
minutes is flashing
3. Press the [ALARM] button again, then rotate the
[TUNING] knob to select from 1 ~ 90 minutes to set the
“Auto Alarm Off” Timer.
4. Press the [ALARM] button to confirm the setting.
5. To turn off the alarm, press the [ALARM] button
repeatedly with “ “ disappears.
※ If the [ALARM] button has not been pressed again within
3 seconds, the unit will automatically confirm the alarm
setting.

PL-50516
3. HOW TO TURN OFF WHEN ALARMING
Press the [POWER] button once to continue listen to the
radio; press twice to turn it off.
Note: If the preset alarm is activated when you are
listening to the radio, it will auto switch to the preset alarm
station. The unit will auto turn off after alarming.
With radio OFF:
Repeat pressing the [DISPLAY] button to view temperature
or alarm time display.
With radio ON:
Press the [DISPLAY] button to view local time, alarm time,
temperature or signal strength/ SNR showing on the upper
right corner of the display.
HOW TO CHANGE THE DISPLAY MODE
Temp.
Press

PL-505 17
Press & hold the [ ] button
until “ ” symbol appears on
the display to activate the key
lock function.
Press & hold it again until the
“ ” symbol disappears to
deactivate the locking function.
KEY-LOCK FUNCTION
FM ST (FM STEREO)
While listening to FM stereo stations, press the [FM ST]
button followed by “ ” appearing in the display to
activate the
“ STEREO ” listening. If the received FM broadcast signal is
too weak, it is recommendable to turn off the stereo
function by pressing the [FM ST] button again with “ ”
disappears.
Note: The stereo function will not be activated if the FM
station is not stereo broadcasting.
AM BW (BANDWIDTH)
Repeat pressing the [AM BW] button to select your desired
6, 3, 2, 1 kHz bandwidth.
Wide band: It has better audio fidelity when receiving
strong signals or local stations.
Narrow band: It is suitable to receive weak & long distant
stations as narrow band is able to limit the interference
from adjacent strong signal and reduce background noise.

PL-50518
SYSTEM SETTING
1. SETTING FM FREQUENCY RANGE:
In radio off mode, press & hold the [FM] button until 87.5-
108MHz, 64-108MHz, 76-108MHz, or 87-108MHz appears
in the display. Quickly keep pressing on the [FM] button to
select a suitable frequency range for your local FM.
2. TURN ON/OFF THE LW:
With radio off, press & hold the [MW/LW] button until “LW
ON” or “LW OFF” appears on the display to turn ON or
OFF the LW respectively.
3. HOW TO TURN ON/OFF THE INTELLIGENT
LIGHTING:
This radio has an intelligent lighting function with which the
back light will be on for 3 seconds when operating any
keys or knobs.
Press and hold the [LIGHT SET] button until the light
flashing and follow with “OFF/ON” shows on display.
4. SETTING MW (AM) TUNING STEP:
With radio off, press & hold [9/10 kHz] button until "9kHz"
or "10kHz" appears on the display to select your desired
AM tuning step
5. TEMPERATUE:
When the AM tuning step is 10 kHz, the temperature
display will auto switch to Fahrenheit (℉).
When the AM tuning step is 9 kHz, the temperature display
will auto switch to Centigrade (℃).