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Reviews For: Sangean ATS909\Radio Shack DX 398

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Sangean ATS909\Radio Shack DX 398
Reviews: 72MSRP: 250 399 cdn DX 398
Description:
Travel Portable Communications Receiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.sangean.com/rmulti1.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00724.1
KY9P Rating: 2003-01-01
Great Radio! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up one of the last ones in the greater Milwaukee area Radio Shacks....what a deal for $99.99! Great sensitivity, I pickup European stations on the attached whip. I can't wait to see what an external antenna will do! I also have the DX 440 (Sangean 803?)which is a great radio, but not in the same league as the Dx 398. The Dx 398 is very easy to program, nice and small for easy transport (I camp alot)and just doesn't have any bad features so far. If you can still find one, grab it!!! KY9P
WX8B Rating: 2003-01-01
Extremely poor support from RS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought the DX-398 a few years ago and it never performed to my expectations. It has poor sensitivity with the telescoping antenna, but works reasonably with an external antenna, though it does overload easily.

A year ago my DX-398 died and I sent it to RS for repair. They sent it back and said that the logic board was bad and part was unavailable. I tried repairing it again in Dec. and it came back again "IC unavailable." Perhaps I could rate this radio better if it was repairably and perhaps the Sangean support is acceptable.

When it worked, the DX-398 had a very hot FM receiver, was small enough to take when travelling, and sounded good on SSB. I also have a Sony 2010 and it is incomparably better.
K3IVB Rating: 2002-12-31
Nice Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought it because it was on sale about a year ago. I was surprised it picked up beacons the way it does in the LW band with the built in antenna. The radio is easy to operate with lots of presets built in and plenty of memory left to program yourself. When compared to my Sony ICF-SW7600GR I find it overloads easier than the Sony when using an outside antenna, and not dead on frequency like the Sony. Other than those shortfalls it serves itself well for what it was designed for, easy to use in a nice reasonable small box with a ton of memories. On sale, I think it’s a VERY good deal for all band causal listeners.
W9JCM Rating: 2002-12-31
perfect answer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I really cant understand why these people post 0 ratings. I believe they just dont like radio shack. I purchased this radio over a year ago and it performs great. I have used its own antenna, the radio shack roll out and a 121 foot bazooka. All working as they should. It small. ALOT smaller than the sony. Which I owned years ago too. Look at the price 100 bucks compared to what something like 300 for the freaking sony. There is no way I find it nec. to spend that much money on a portable radio. Its not meant to be a Icom 756Pro. I give it a 5. And would recommend it to anyone.
W2HP Rating: 2002-12-31
Not worth my time Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hello. I currently own the Chairman of the Board! Sony 2010. Both Kiwa filters. Nothing better in a Portable radio. But way to big to be portable. I love it anyway. Dollar for dollar the Panasonic RF-B65 has them all beat! Out of production since 95, they command the same price on Ebay as when new! Its baby brother the 45 is equally good but 5Khz tuning. No upper or lower SSB selection, and no selectivity choice. But a Kiwa filter like the 2010 active filter works. I,m no neophite at SW listening. Started in 1950 and shortly later 1953 I became a ham. I now have a great SW receiver along with a great Transciever the KW-850S by Kenwood. I also have a Icom 706mkIIg and a Yaesu FT1000mp field. The RS 398 has a lot of goodies, but compared to the Sony, it was rather dead. The internal antenna didnt hear much. A outside antenna produced way to much signal levels for the radio to handle. Crossmod and intermod is the rule here. An active antenna with a gain control reduced the problem. It also raised the Q as it now had a sharp front end. Out of band signals were supressed. It was quite good and manageable then. But a protable is just that, portable. I grab my Panasonic RF-B65 when I travel. Sensitive and easy to operate and dead reliable. Thanks for reading this. Pete W2HP
N9QGU Rating: 2002-12-31
Not worth $100 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked one of these up at the beginning of the month. Radio Shack is closing them out for $100. I thought that a $249 receiver at that price must be a good deal. At the same time I bought a DX-399 for my wife as a stocking stuffer. They were being closed out for $39.00.

I compared the two and found that the $39.00 receiver was much better. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of the DX-398 but it picks up the signals. Stations I could barely hear on the DX-398 came in load and clear on the DX-399. I returned the DX-398 this morning. It certainly was not worth $100.00 If you want a solid AM/FM sw receiver find a DX-399. If you want bells, whistles, and SSB receive, buy a Grundig Yacht Boy for $149
KD7RDZ Rating: 2002-12-26
overload Time Owned: more than 12 months.
great sound, very stable for decoding, but it is built probably without any passband filter so it is prone to overloading. Images and noise are the norm when the unit is connected to an external antenna.

The impedance of the external antenna input is quite a mistery. Is it a 50 ohms or a 500 ohms input?
KB9YNJ Rating: 2002-12-22
Full featured,reliable,bargain price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned a lot of radios over the years. Found the DX-398 on sale for $150.00.there have never been any regrets.I love the 3 timers that will turn it on in 3 different bands and frequencies at three different times! Hook it to a cassette recorder so you don't miss your favorite broadcasts.Sound quality is good for the size of the speaker but I run mine through a set of amplified computer speakers.Makes for a great listening station on any band and is stereo on FM.Have taken this radio everywhere and it has been wet,been dropped,and keeps on performing as new!The built in antenna is good,but you can easily run a wire out the window (in my case to a 50' aluminum gutter) for really great DX performance.Use a mono to stereo adapter and a 1/8 inch plug into the antenna jack, and it will work for AM DXing as well.I did the tuning knob detent mod and the mute mod as well as the obnoxious beep mod to make it even better,but still is a great unit out of the box. Buy one and enjoy!
DFISH Rating: 2002-11-30
DX 398 vs. Grundig 800 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the Radio Shack DX-398 for over 2 years now and recently had a chance to compare side by side with my brother's Grundig Satellit 800. While by no means equivalent to the big Grundig, I was nonethless impressed with the 909/398 -- audio quality and sensitivity were close and ease of use (assuming you get accustomed to the "Page" system on the 909/398) was arguably much better. If you're thinking about the 909 check out C Crane Co, mute eliminator mod for the tuning knob.
KG4RXW Rating: 2002-11-22
Great with Torus-Tuner Loop Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recommend this radio! I like the size, sound, ergonomics and performance. I wasn't completely satisfied with its (whip antenna) sensitivity so I hooked it up to a Torus-Tuner Loop (www.torustuner.com)and that fixed that. I give the combo an enthusiastic 5/5 for table top and portable performance.