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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
SLAYER6 Rating: 2001-09-19
more than you pay for Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
just picked this up for $149.
great deal on an excellent portable. very good sensitivity. add a wire antenna (attaches to 1/8 plug on side) and does great. internal am a little weak but external antenna solves this. also...very logical controls, nice included case, good display. can't imagine wanting much more in a cheap radio. buy this
WU1T Rating: 2001-09-17
Get one while they last. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Radio Shack is currently (Sept 2001) selling the DX-398 on sale for $149, down from $249. This is an excellent price, so I picked one up. The radio comes with a carrying case and a manual, but not AC adaptor or reel-up antenna, like the Sangean version does. However, even with the whip the radio performs well, and an AC adaptor can be had for $8 at the time of purchase.

I am quite surprised at the sensitivity of this receiver, even with the whip antenna. It pulls in all major SW broadcasters and I even used it to comfortably listen to so AM ham activity on 75 meters. The radio is also fairly selective, and the speaker offers decent sound quality. I like the fact that this receiver has true LSB/USB tuning as well as a tuning knob. Controls and buttons are intuitive and easy to manipulate.

The radio is very compact and will easily fit in a bookbag which makes it ideal for hiking, camping, etc. Only gripes are that the radio feels a little flimsy and is the buttons and knobs feel as though they wouldn't last for very many years. Still..

Bottom line is that at $149, this receiver is a steal and if you do any amount of shortwave listening, or just want an emergency receiver to listen in on the HF ham bands, pick one up before they're gone.
KC0FNS Rating: 2001-06-08
Easy to use, good sound Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had a Sangean ats909 for a few years now. I really have enjoyed it. I wish it had a BIG speaker. When I put the sound through some decent quality Computer accessory speakers, wow!

I swl'ed a lot and then got a ham license. I have tried the radio on a large ham antenna, and it seems to handle it suprisingly well.

Obligatory remark: As all SWL's will say, I wish it had Synchronous detection... But really, using SSB to listen to an AM SW station is fine. This thing does not drift! The SSB broadcast stations sound good too.

I can listen to CW and SSB just fine on ham bands.

Cons: I broke the little stand in the back after a few months. It can go through AA batteries pretty quick. The tuning knob is a little small. Could use an RS232 port and some programming software to load your favorite stations in to all those memory banks!

This is a great radio for the price.
SW4DX Rating: 2001-06-06
Good Reciever, Poor Audio. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been the owner of an ATS909 for 2 yrs, I
also own an ATS808,505,202,818cs.
I will never understand why Sangean equiped this radio with so many gimmiks, like the RDS System,
surely it would have made more sence to have
fitted Sync Side Band, It would have been a Golden Opportunity to teach Sony how to do away
with the grotty little switches that they fitted on the side of the ICF SW7600g (Which I also own
and consider to be a First Class reciever).
I believe that as a Reciever the ATS909 is very good,the 2 bandwidths work OK, SSB performance is
the best that I have come across, but the recieved audio is very poor. This is my second
ATS 909 the first one I took back and exchanged
it for the ATS 818cs which I consider to have quite poor audio also.
By now you are wondering if I have a problem with my hearing?, no I dont, If the recieved Audio on
the ATS 909 was as good as it is on the ATS 505 &
ATS808 I would be shouting from the rooftops,but alas I cant, so in summary all I can say about the ATS 909 is that it is a great little rig but money could have been spent on better audio instead of useless gimmiks that most people would never use.

Dave Humphreys DXer
Brisbane Australia
KE4RCE Rating: 2001-04-05
radio shack dx-398 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i just purchased the dx-398 today.i've been checking it out all day.this is a very good radio.I paid the regular price $249.00 but it is worth it,if u catch on sale buy it.all features work well.This radio is a must have.I'm using a longwire antenna outside.i suggest everyone to get a preselector/tuner for this radio or any other.have fun.
WA1SSY Rating: 2000-09-19
Reply to KA9GNG Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned a Sangean ATS 909 for a year or so. I enjoy using this portable for listening to shortwave broadcasts, and monitoring utility communications. I also like its capacity to tune single sideband. Frankly, I don't expect the performance of a full-sized reciever form a portable. I find that I get decent results form the use of the coiled antenna supplied with the unit. For those interested in in a technical review of the unit (like KA9GNG), I consulted a QST review before I purchased my own unit. It appeared a few years back and compares the ATS 909 to a similar model made by Grundig. I think that it is a good reciever for the casual listener, or vacationer. I took a cheaper Radio Shack model (DX-375 which appears on sale at times during the summer months) on a vacation tour through Spain and Portugal last year and had a ball listening to local and shortwave broadcasts. While a cheaper radio may be less sensitive, you won't lose your investment, through loss, theft, or confiscation at customs. 73's Joe, WA1SSY
KA9GNG Rating: 2000-09-19
DX-398 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just bought the DX-398 from a local radio shack store ...I have been watching this radio both as the ATS-909 and the DX-398...and the reviews...have been great....Well I do not know if I got a lemon ...or what but I am an old SONY ICF-2010 owner and this radio does not even come close....the sensitivity with the whip antenna is zip...for example, side by side, the 5Mhz WWV was full scale on the Sony...and nonexistant on the DX-398....either I got a lemon...or these other reviewers have had nothing to compare to???? also when I hook my sony up to my 160 meter dipole...it works great!...when I hooked the DX-398 up I got overloads,birdies,bleed-thru...just lots of garbage!!! To me the DX-398 has lots of nice features, memory,RDS, etc...but NO GUTS!...to be fair I am taking this radio back ..and asking for another one of the same brand...but if that one performs the same..I am writing it off as overrated! ....PS usually the performance I am talking about with the DX-398 is a result of the receivers front-end design not having the "dynamic range" I am not an engineer...but I would like to see this radio rated by someone who does know something. The other interesting note....NOWHERE absolutely nowhere are the sensitivity and dynamic range specs listed for this radio....my personal opinion is they are not bragging because there is nothing to brag about...if after I get the second radio things look different I will update this review....thanks.
K3SUI Rating: 2000-08-07
Great Receiver !!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First let me say that I am not a Radio Shack fan. Anything they have, I have been able to find somewhere else better and cheaper ... except for this fine receiver. I bought this to take along on business trips. I also bought the little wind up antenna. I am constantly amazed at the sensitivity and stability of this fine radio. A friend of mine bought one of the super Sony radios, but this radio is not outdistanced by it. I really don't think you can find a better receiver for the money. I totally agree with all of the previous writeups. Stable, sensitive, feature packed and easy on the batteries.
A8014 Rating: 2000-08-03
This is an excellent general purpose receiver. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After lots of research I bought the Sangean from a local store in January and I'm quite certain I made the right decision. I had a cheap shortwave receiver already but it didn't cover the whole band, have SSB or a rotary tuning knob, all of which I found quite frustrating, so these were high on my list of requirements. I eventually narrowed my choice down to the Sangean and the Sony 100. It was the rotary control and the big display on the Sangean which won out. I've set one of the memory pages to the ham bands so that by pushing a button I am instantly at the bottom end of whichever band I want. I keep the receiver by my bedside and find the sleep facility very useful (i.e. it turns itself off after a preset time). It also acts as an alarm in the morning. When listening to the ham bands, I tend to tune the receiver in large steps until I find a signal, and then switch to the smaller steps. My only niggle with the receiver is that it takes two button pushes to achieve this plus an annoying 'beep'. Overall I'm really happy with my purchase, it's reliable, well designed and quite sensitive.
N0MVA Rating: 2000-06-24
Good Portable Rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the DX-398 (Sangean 909) rig for over a year. Once you learn what all the buttons and controls do, it's easy to navigate for SWL. I like the fact that it receives SSB and CW, plus regular AM shortwave stations. It has a 1/8 phone jack for an external antenna...highly recommended for serious SWLing. The telescopic antenna is fine for stronger stations.

If portability is important, I highly recommend this rig or the Sony 7600...both around $200. If you want good fidelity/audio, then choose a table top rig. The portables have a pretty small sound by comparison. I'm intrigued by the new Grundig Satelit Millenium as a table top. But that's another matter.

You can't beat the RS/Sangean radio for great performance in a small package.