| RFX |
Rating:     |
2003-12-25 | |
| Good for the money |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have owned and worked this receiver for 3 months, and I cannot give this receiver a 5 because the quality is only good, not great. The receive on it is very good but Sangean should improve their manufacturing quality and quality control. The tuning knob on mine would just come off easily whenever I touched it so I had to put a peice of tape on the tuning shaft to make a tight fit. All switches were hard to switch so I had to reseat the buttons for smooth operation. The antenna connects to the PC board by a prong on the antenna, and that contact was not very clean. I resoldered the contact point to give the antenna much better contact. I did the same for the battery connections. I also notice the display is only good at low angles. The use of a BFO took some time to perfect but all in all it's a good receiver for under $200. |
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| KC8TBY |
Rating:     |
2003-12-10 | |
| Good radio EXCEPT for the whip antenna! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned this radio for (about) seven years now.
Actually I've been very pleased with the radio's overall performance up to this point.
I DO NOT USE any external anteena, however, and I usually rely on the supplied whip antenna to pull in all of the signals I receive.
Here's my only problem with this radio...the whip amtenna gets VERY slack after time and it is almost impossible to constantly tighten the tiny screw without eventually stripping it's threads!
It is a real beast trying to remove this whip antenna in order to replace the tiny screw...IF you can find a replacement screw. If anyone has a solution to this problem...let me know!
I have pulled in some impressive DX with this rig, however.
Egypt, Nova Scotia, Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, etc.
EXCEPT for the whip antenna problems...it is a worthwhile radio!! |
|
| I61545PE |
Rating:      |
2003-09-23 | |
| UN RICEVITORE DA AMARE |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Questo ricevitore portatile offre prestazioni eccellenti ad un prezzo imbattibile.
Acquistato dopo aver avuto per 3 anni il piccolo gioiello 909 con RDS,ho a mano a mano potuto apprezzare qualita' davvero notevoli.
Sintonia in coninua da 150 a 30.000 khz senza fette,ed in All Mode,filtro largo e stretto,Stereo in FM (solo in cuffie),un adeguato numero di memorie.
La presenza di un registratore e' comunque stato fondamentale,per l'acquisto: la possibilita' di registrare tutte le emissioni,in all mode ed in tutte le gamme è davvero una carta vincente,specie se poi si vuole salvare queste registazioni sul PC convertendole in MP3,per l'archivio-radio,evitando di metter su una ingombrante nastroteca: si salva poi tutto su CD-ROM,dove con pochi centesimi di euro ci entrano ore ed ore di registrazioni di qualita' ben superiore anche ai nastri metal.
In Onde Lunghe e Medie,la ferrite intrena funziona bene,specie all'aperto,altrimenti con un filo di circa 15-20 metri (collegato a massa,e non al centrale dell'ingresso-antenna seterna),le prestazioni migliorano drammaticamente.
In Onde Corte,poi qualche notte fa' ho avuto la sorpresa di ricevere qui nel Centro Italia,una boliviana (Cruz del Sur,sui 60 metri),con un segnale ed una musicalita'eccezionale,ovviamente in AM stretta (non ha senso provare a fare l'ECSS con questo tipo di ricevitori...).
In generale,per l'ascolto in fonìa di stazioni BC's,Ham's e utility,questo ricevitore va' davvero bene.
Il filtro stretto AM funziona in modo soddisfacente.
L'RF gain e' invece utilissimo in presenza di antenne esterne: regolandolo in modo saggio si possono eliminare le ovvie saturazioni tipiche dei ricevitori di fascia bassa.
La manopolina del BFO vecchio stile per l'ascolto di emissioni in SSB funziona in modo preciso,pur se all'inizio bisogna fare un po' di pratica,per riuscire a determinare le emissioni LSB ed USB.
Gli elogi potrebbero continuare a lungo ma mi fermo qui,consigliando caldamente questo piccolo gioiello che ho pagato poco piu' di 200 euro...
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|
| KD5QEF |
Rating:     |
2003-06-29 | |
| decent portable |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I purchased the ATS-818 from AES and used it to listen to Deutsche Welle's North American broadcast which I receive here in the Southwest. I thought I'd fried the receiver when I could no longer hear Deutsche Welle on 15410. So, the receiver is fine and seems sturdy. However, today I'm hearing DW on 13780 though I thought they stopped their NA SW broadcast. Thank God for small favors, may DW keep transmitting! Positives: radio tunes easily with two tuning modes (fine and fast), and you can enter a frequency into the keypad digitally. Operation is straightforward and controls are well-conceived. Receiver is good, particularly if you use an external antenna. As another reviewer observed, the external antenna jack is nearly useless. However, if you put simple clip-leads on either end of a 6-12 foot 12-ga stranded/insulated copper wire and clip one end to the whip on the ATS-818 and either extend the other end or clip it to a long wire out your window, you'll have much better reception. Currently I have a clip-lead on the whip running out my window up to a random long-wire that is 8 feet above the ground running along the eave/soffit of the house...about 40 feet long. Negatives: ext. ant jack is not worth using, try clipping a wire on the whip. BFO allows CW reception but it's pretty tinny and the passband is very wide, but the ATS-818 is not designed for CW and since it's general coverage, any CW reception is appreciated. I have used the 818 to listen to ARRL CW code practice and despite what I think of the audio I can copy the CW, thanks Sangean. Audio seems ok but not great to me, but I haven't much to compare it to. As with all SWL'ers I want a better rig. For the money, I think the ATS818 is a good value. It receives local AM and FM very well, I give the 818 a 4.5 |
|
| WR2W |
Rating:    |
2003-06-05 | |
| Good receive with a Weird ext. ant. set-up |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I checked out the receiver on this model, and would say it is a good performer. The issues I have with this radio are the display, and the external antenna jack. The display can Only be seen at Eye Level or looking Up at the display. Not very good for table-top use Unless you use the pop-out stand to tilt the radio. You will Not see the display very well looking down at the display at any angle. The manual does Not tell you anything about the mentioned "EXTERNAL ANTENNA ADAPTER", and there is No mention of any options. Using a given signal for an S1 level using just the telescoping antenna I tried a 20 ft. length of wire connected to a mono phone plug into the ext. ant. jack, and found the signal went up to S4. As I was slowly pulling the plug out I noticed a tremondous increase in signal strength to S7. Called Sangean to see if there was a Special antenna adapter available, and was told that plugging in an external wire antenna into the external antenna jack disconnects Both the telescoping, And the built in Ferrite bar antenna. By pulling out the plug slowly makes connection that uses All three antennas at the same time. Was told " Its no secret but the BEST way to use an external antenna is to CLIP the length of wire to the telescoping antenna, and bypass the use of the external antenna jack". Seems weird to me. Was also told they used to supply a roll-up antenna with this radio but no longer do....Now I know why. Thank you Sangean. |
|
| WILDTECH |
Rating:     |
2003-04-21 | |
| Sleeper of a radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I recieved mine (the Radio Shack version) as a present back in 1997, and have enjoyed it thoroughly. I used to live in southern California, where world band signals are notoriously weak, and was never disappointed at the wide range of world programming I could receive easily. I have never owned another radio, but after having tinkered with Grundig and Sony radios, I think that Sangean certainly excels when it comes to ergonomics. Many of the ergonomic complaints seen in Passport for other radios are absent in this radio.
If you do not want to spend a great deal of money on a portable, but still want quality construction, very good performance, and superior ease of use, it is hard to go wrong with this radio. I think it is a little unfortunate that Passport only rates this radio at 2 1/2 stars when it is a much better radio than they make it seem. |
|
| BERT |
Rating:      |
2003-04-07 | |
| Great RX For The Price! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've borrowed my dad's DX-390 here and there over the past few years to monitor the ham bands and am finally grabbing an ATS-818 for myself. I caught it on sale for $139.99 and couldn't be happier. Sure, other SW sets have more bells and whistles, but this one allows me to listen to CW and SSB on 40m during my lunch hour FB!
73 de Bert
WA2SI |
|
| SWL00 |
Rating:      |
2003-01-29 | |
| Good Overall Performer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've owned the Sangean ATS 818ACS the cassette version of the Sangean ATS 818 for over 3 years now and have been impressed with every part of the range it covers. I've listened to the major SW broadcasters easily using only the telescopic antenna. I then added a sangean portable wind-up antenna (ANT-60) which improved performance dramatically on the entire SW spectrum. The best results I have been able to achieve using this radio is by using a radio shack active shortwave antenna together with a 25m outdoor copper wire. I have been able to tune European target zone shortwave broadcasts from European transmitters at my location in Australia. I have also achieved excellent reception of amateurs between 14-15MHz SSB from pacific islands, India, Japan from my location in Australia. The LW/AM/FM bands are excellent also, but this is a shortwave receiver and this is where it excels. |
|
| 1AJM |
Rating:     |
2002-10-16 | |
| Excellent portable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned my Sangean ATS-818 for over 5 years now, but until recently, have only listened to it in my urban location at home here in Seattle, Washington. After trying casual, ungrounded, random wire arraingements I recently purchased the Torus-tuner loop antenna and the pre-amp by Edek Electronics. Although I enjoyed picking up distant signals, there was always the accompanied noise that we all experience in urban areas. Wanting to see how this package performs in a quiet setting I drove eastward to a site in central Washington State the other day.
Man, was I blown away by the performance! With everything sitting on a portable card table I was pulling in signals from everywhere. Since it was
incredibly quiet, compared to home, I used the preamp continuously. Except for the strongest signals, I put the preamp on the high setting and
regulated gain with the radio's gain knob. Sometimes I would disconnect the preamp and go barefoot, just to compare reception. Most of the time I could receive the station barefoot, but then the preamp would goose what was sometime a noise-free but weak signal into an sio444, or at least a 333! Some signals were still not the best, like Voice of Croatia and Voice of
Turkey, but I'm not sure they were even broadcasting to NA. Just before I crawled into the bag I began to pick up what I believe were stations in Africa starting their morning broadcasts. One was MEDI 1 out of Rabat,
Morocco. At home it's just barely a 2 signal. Last night it was a solid three, and when I brought everything into the tent (on the ground) the station went to a 4 signal. I was amazed.
I woke up at 4:30am for a try at the Central/SA stations on the 90 & 60 meter bands. Sitting in my tent, I couldn't do much on 90M, but lots of
strong hams on 80M. Then I was surprised to pick up quite a few signals from SA on the 60 meter band. They were all pretty weak, with the best a sio222. I think what tickled me the most was the way it performed after the sun came up. I moved up to the 25 meter band, and then continued to 21 meters. Eventually I went to 19 meters, and finally to 16 meters by about 2 1/2 hours after sunrise. At home 19 and 16 meters would not yield very much. Out on the mountain I was pulling in stuff from the Middle East, right past
all that sunshine! There were stations everywhere I scanned! Finally, by 10am things were fading and I was ready to pack it up, well satisfied.
The ATS-818 is a very sensitive receiver and when used with the Torus-tuner it easily pulls in regular SW broadcasters with clarity, and if conditions are good, perhaps a dx, although it's not really a dx rig, of course. If it sounds like I'm plugging the Torus-tuner, it's because it was made for this receiver, or any portable for that matter. The 818 only gets a "4" because the selectivity does not match the needs of the receiver's sensitivity. There are a couple of mods that I'm going to have done to improve selectivity and audio, which should make this radio very enjoyable to operate.
Since I haven't used any other portable I can't really make a comparison. I recently ordered a Sony SW7600GR to take when I fly to Europe. When that comes, I'll make a side by side comparison using the Torus-tuner loop to see how the 818 stands up against another portable. Maybe then I'll post my observations on this site.
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|
| LAGR |
Rating:     |
2002-08-13 | |
| This is indeed a good radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Being a journalist, I recently wrote an article about Dx'ing for which I had the chance to try, for a day and a night, a variety of different world band radios in my own residence. The radios, in brand new condition, were lent to me from local retailers. I live in an apartment at the present moment, with concrete walls that make reception difficult. However, on the balcony it is a different story.
I tried this radio in both conditions and got impressed with its sensitivity. Even inside my apartment and during the day, I can listen to major stations VERY clearly. I compared it with other radios, such as the Sony ICF-SW1000t or the Sony ICF7600G, and their sensitivity was no better. Using it in Madeira, where I live - a portuguese island in the Atlantic, between the Azores and the Canary Islands, 100 km west of the coast of Morocco - with a reel-in type antenna (Sony AN-71) I could hear stations almost as clearly as with the Sony ICF-SW07 with the Sony AN-LP1 active antenna.
This radio actually strikes me as being a very sensitive set. Inside my apartment, even with the telescopic built-in antenna completely retracted, I could hear clearly the BBC, as long as I was touching the antenna with my hand. WITHOUT touching it, I could still hear the BBC! Truly remarkable.
Just looking at it you can see that the quality of construction isn't as good as with Sony radios. However, it is good, nonetheless. The audio is a definite PLUS, strong, almost room-filling. You don't need to stick your ear against the speaker, like you almost need to do with some other radios - you can listen to it from across the room. I found the audio and the general performance of this radio to be quite pleasant, and also its portability, even though it is bigger and heavier that most portables. I discovered another advantage, too: with a pair of good headphones, the sound that this radio delivers is much better that, for instance, with Sony radios like the 7600G. This one is a very good radio, no doubt, and the synchronous selectable sideband works fine; but, even though the ATS 818 does not have the synchronous detector, it nonetheless proved to have enought selectivity for good general performance. It is certain that it is not probably as good as the Sony ICF2010, but it is much cheaper, and undoubtedly a GREAT value for the price. So much that, after writing the article in my newspaper, I even bought one for myself. I own other radios, such as the Sony ICF-SW7600 and the Sony ICF-SW1000t, and find them great: but the much better audio quality that caracterizes the ATS 818 makes it my favorite radio for sw listening at home. Also, it has nice tuning features and it is a pleasure to work with. And its AC adaptor, which I read in "Passport to World Band Radio" causes hum and buzz, caused no hum or buzz whatsoever in my receiver. To conclude: I'm very pleased with it and recommend it highly. |
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