|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Speak Out
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
|
You can
write your own review of the Sangean ATS-505.
|
ALLEARS
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Feb 9, 2003 11:34
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Radio Shack DX-402
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I was able to get the last one in my area for $45. Is it a great radio? Not really but it is well worth the price I got it for. A good external antenna might help. It is no DX-440. Mine is 12 years old and still outperformes all portables I have tried. I also have a DX-398 on the way for $99. I am curious to see how that one performes. If you are looking for a good radio at a bargan price call your local radio shack and have them round one up for ya. Tell them you want a DX-402 and a DX-398 like I did. LOL
|
|
ALLEARS
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Feb 9, 2003 11:20
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Deal for the money
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I was able to get the last one in my area for $45. Is it a great radio? Not really but it is well worth the price I got it for. A good external antenna might help. It is no DX-440. Mine is 12 years old and still outperformes all portables I have tried. I also have a DX-398 on the way for $99. I am curious to see how that one performes. If you are looking for a good radio at a bargan price call your local radio shack and have them round one up for ya. Tell them you want a DX-399 and a DX-398 like I did. LOL
|
|
LNXAUTHOR
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jan 2, 2003 08:37
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
At US$49 - a good deal
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
- OK, i'm new to SWL'ng, but i did my research and listened to a number of portable shortwave radios...
- my concerns were: portability, cost, performance and features...
- after researching, listening, handling, and cross-checking features, i purchased an RS DX-402 (aka, Sangean ATS-505)...
- yes, the radio doesn't have a 'solid' feel, but hey, we're talking about an inexpensive portable!
- yes, there is a slight delay when entering direct frequencies, etc., but i'm retired and i'm not in a hurry...
- but considering you can find these at many RS right now (Dec 02/Jan 03) for $49, this radio is a good deal and performs quite well (i also use a random external antenna once in a while to good effect)
- would i have spent US$150 for this radio? nope... do i consider US$49 a good deal? a resounding yes!
|
|
MADERAKEN
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Dec 29, 2002 12:03
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Very good for the $$$
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
This is my fourth Sangean/Radio Shack radio, and the Sangean 505/DX-402 doesn't disappoint. I wanted a sturdy travel radio and this fits the bill nicely.
AM sensitivity is equal to my ultra-small Sangean DT-300VW and almost as good my DX-398 and big brother CC+ radio, which is really outstanding.
FM...uhhh, that's a little different story. The DX-398's reception is outstanding in this category and the DX-402's is a definite notch below this, but probably equal to the CC+ radio. FM lock-in is stable and the musical reproduction is excellent.
Where the DX-402 seems to shine is in the shortwave band. If you own the DX-398 you've probably noticed that the radio performs much better with an external antenna and the 6V power adapter. The DX-402 is easily its equal with the external antenna and doesn't need the power adapter for that little extra kick. The whip antenna is very sensitive and has performed most adequately for this west coast listener. Definitely, however, invest in some sort of external antenna to snag the weaker stations.
If you can find a DX-402 at a Radio Shack outlet, pick it up. They're selling for $49.95...quite a bargain for what you're getting. All it takes is a little persistence. The Radio Shack manager even offered "to call around" if I wanted any other Sangean/Radio Shack product.
|
|
LIST
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Nov 21, 2002 15:40
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Cheap + Good Performance = Real Value
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I bought this radio several weeks ago. Technically it's not an ATS-505. But, it's the Radio Shack twin - the DX-402. I like it. Decent reception and surprisingly good audio. The best part: I paid only $69.95. Now there's a value. Apparently, Radio Shack will carry only Grundig SW radios in the future, and they're clearing out all their Sangean-made products. That's what they told me anyway. So, for now, the DX-402 is on sale at a pretty attractive price. I agree with previous comments about the tuning knob. Forget it. Useless. But, otherwise this is a nice lookin', good soundin' unit. And, at around $70, it's a good deal.
|
|
W1CLD
|
Rating: 3/5
|
Feb 15, 2002 12:39
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
OK for the price
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I bought this radio not expecting miracles. I found the audio quality pleasing and the sensitivity adaquate. Mechanically it needed a little help (tuning knob feels real cheap), but functioned OK. I no longer have this radio for one reason, the first weekend I set it on the kitchen table to listen happened to be a ham contest weekend and I heard SSB no matter where I tuned. I could be on 5 MHZ, 10 MHZ, 15.6 MHZ and there was SSB all over it, apparently due to the
selection of IF in its design (?). Of course my first thought was a local operator, but I detected call signs from Texas (just a "few" hundred miles from my home) and other places not quite local. Nothing in the house was reradiating and I have never experienced this with any other receiver. So after returning this to Sangean (and a several week wait)and still hearing SSB everywhere, I traded up to a 7600G (which exhibits none of the above). I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this.
|
|
TOMCAT
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Feb 7, 2002 07:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
A good starter HF/SSB receiver
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
I shall only discuss the performance on this radio base from my location in an island in the central Philippines :
This radio really performs very well. I set up a longwire antenna outside my residence and it rarely suffers from front end overloading, except at night when the signals come in strong. All I do is remove the external antenna connection and use the built-in whip. My main listening hobby is on HF/SSB utility and aeronautical frequency. But when I brought this radio (along with my Yaesu VR-500 handheld receiver) in the crowded capital city of Manila, both radio became deaf on HF/SSB (but not on SW BC). It only shows that location can play a factor on the performance of any radio receiver. My QTH in the Phils is on an area that is near the sea/coast line and the island has few radio transmitter (only a couple of AM & FM BC station plus a few cell phone repeaters). So this makes for a "quiet" place to listen. And don't worry about that knocking noise when you shake the radio, it's only the batteries cause the compartment is a bit big for the AA size battery. I use a multi volt 350mA AC/DC adapter set at 3v (actuall output is 4.8v) and still get pretty good audio on HF. Plug the headphones out of this radio to a powered computer multimedia speakers and I really get a loud sound out of this radio!
It's a good starter radio for HF/SSB and SW listening. AM and FM are really superb especially if you plug the headphones out to a stereo components AUX in. I wish Sangean would eventually fix the wobbly tuning knob (and it's tendency to reverse tune when using it) and the those hard to press keypads.
D. Cruz, Bohol Island, Philippines
|
|
WACARS
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Oct 12, 2001 14:59
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
good little radio
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
I give this radio 5 points simply because of its all-round performance at such a good price, its nowhere as near as good as say a Drake or Icom, but then again you aint gonna get one of those for 100 bucks. I find the radio good all-round, you have to get used to it, and it does OK on ssb, it overloads a bit on ssb if you have a external antenna attached, but set the switch to local an its not bad. Well done sangean for this little radio that is priced so as to allow newcomers into the hobby with a decent new radio rather than spending a few hunder bucks.
|
|
MILO
|
Rating: 3/5
|
Aug 15, 2001 06:18
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Not great, but what else is there at the price?
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I really wanted a 7600GR, but Sony NZ in their infinite wisdom are not importing them.
I tried the 505 in the shop, and thought it OK, but was extremely unimpressed with the flimsy wonky tuning knob. However I had no choice. If I wanted to listen to SW on my budget, it was this radio or nothing.
It works well with a random wire antenna, not so good off the whip. I've received Radio Sweden, Radio Mongolia, Radio Croatia, clearly and readably from here in NZ.
Scanning is very slow using buttons, slightly fasting using tuning knob. The tuning knob is so crap, I think it would be better off without it, two extra buttons for 1kHz tuning steps would be better. It really lets the radio down, otherwise it would seem fairly well constructed. The knob skips and jumps and sometimes goes backwards when it should be going forward. I thought mine was faulty, so I exchanged it. The new radio is much the same. The new battery cover doesn't fit, and there was a bit of PCB rattling around inside the radio which didn't inspire confidence. I can't be bothered going back again. Made in China.
Only 14 SW memories.
All of the buttons are extremely slow to respond.
Jacks for headphone and antenna are rough and difficult to insert a plug into. They will fail in future when they part company from the PCB, but I'll solder them back on.
Sound is OK considering small tinny speaker.
FM & AM reception very good.
Battery life is not as good as the Radio Netherlands review would have had me think. I got about 20 hours on Alkalines.
Purely as a radio, I think it performs adequately. As a work of engineering, it's pretty miserable. It seems ready to fail, and the quality control is poor. When one buys a piece of electronics, one wants to feel good about having made the purchase. That feeling is muted with this radio. If it hasn't failed after a year, I'll warm to it a bit more.
If it cost a third of what I paid, I would be very happy with it. At the asking price I think its construction is horrible.
So I dunno, closely examine the one you are taking home before you take it home. The radio is not so wonderful, but what else is there?
|
|
SW4DX
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jun 6, 2001 02:44
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great Value For Money.
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
I have owned an ATS 505 for about six months,I
consider it to be a first class Reciever for the Money.
As this rsdio is made in a place other than Taiwan
I believe there could be Quality control problems,
If this is the case I got myself a little Gem.
The audio is great,SSB performance is good.
This radio is quite able to pull the weak Shortwave stations out of the hash and almost
compares to my Sony ICF SW7600g.
The only gripe I have is that the Digital Input
Buttons require to much distance to push down,
once I got used to that problem I found the ATS 505 a fun radio to use with a performance to match, I use a 142ft Helical Diapole Antenna on
this radio with no overload problems.
Congratulations to Sangean, Pitty the 909 does`nt sound as good.
Dave Humphreys SW DXer
Brisbane Australia.
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
