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Reviews For: Sangean ATS 818 / Realistic DX 390

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Sangean ATS 818 / Realistic DX 390
Reviews: 49MSRP: 175
Description:
Nicely priced Good Rx. for the dollars
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.sangean.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00493.9
KU4UV Rating: 2002-08-11
Nice Beginner Shortwave Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one of these radios about 4 years ago on clearance at Radio Shack for around $100. It has been a great radio for receiving shortwave and amateur stations. It has performed virtually flawlessly since then. The only time I have ever had a "problem" with the radio is one time I had a static discharge problem with the radio. We had a big thunderstorm here in Kentucky one night a few years ago and the radio would not turn on. I thought the radio might have been damaged, but I unplugged it for about 1 day and plugged it back in and it worked fine. I understand these radios are prone to static discharge sometimes and you have to unplug them to "reset" the radio. The BFO tuning is somewhat touchy for tuning in SSB and CW signals, so it takes some getting used to. All-in-all, this is a great little radio made by Sangean. I am plannning on one day buying the C.C. Radio that Sangean makes for listening to A.M. stations late at night. Art Bell will sound awesome on the radio!
KC0FPY Rating: 2002-05-28
Wonderful Rig! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my DX-390 for $100 in 1999, as Radio Shack was selling them off. By the next morning, I'd listened to stations from Germany, Taiwan, Australia and Ecuador, all with only the built-in antenna. I've listened to AM stations from most of the US and western Canada, all from Colorado. I'm very pleased with it.
SW4DX Rating: 2001-12-05
Great old workhorse Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Sangean ATS818acs. What a great old workhorse,
I have had a couple of these fine rigs over the past 3yrs,The last one I sold to buy the 909,good
move but after owning an 818 I just had to get another one,I got this one from Dick Smith in Australia for $230,brand new in a box,round about
$110US.
I cant realy fault this radio,its a dream to use,
great audio,the narrow filter works well,nice big
readout,heck I love the damn thing.
I use it on a longwire and ATU and this thing runs
rings around some other more sophisticated radios
I own. my mark for this baby is 6 out of 5.
N4SRT Rating: 2001-09-30
Solid performance for AM, SSB Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned the Realistic version (DX 390) for a good many years, and found it to be a solid performer. It may not have the selectivity my ham HF rig has on SSB, but I really didn't expect it to. I can monitor activity on my favorite 75-meter and 40-meter frequency from wherever I'm at in the house, and that makes the radio very handy.

The audio from the speaker is good, though most SWL'ers will probably use headphones for the weaker signals. I've recommended this radio to other ham friends, and they've been pleased with their purchases, too.

The 5 rating is for its solid performance in all areas I've used it -- SWL DX, ham band reception, and even CW.

The long whip antenna is a little unwieldy (particularly if you listen to it at night and the whip falls across your head (or your wife's head) in the middle of the night.

Good value for the money.
163AT233 Rating: 2001-01-26
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the ATS-818 and find it to be an excellent radio for the money. Personally I find it superior to the Sony SW-7600G and also the Grundig 400. The audio is perfect, sensitivity is very good/Signal rejection is also very good. the selectable band-width is also very good in this area. This radio is a piece of cake to operate on SSB, much easier than the Sony or Grundig. I would certainly reccomend this radio to anyone and would certainly buy another if anything ever happened to mine.This radio under the Sangean badge is actually the Roberts R827, that rather says it all.
W8KQE Rating: 2000-11-11
Best bang per buck receiver on market Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have always been a stickler for quality, and this radio delivers! It has an excellent receiver section for a $180 communications receiver, and the audio is rich and full. Sangean also has a very similar model with a built in cassette recorder, whose audio quality is not as good as the ATS-818. Features are plentiful as well, and this radio receives SSB and CW well too. A great performer for the money.
163AT198 Rating: 2000-09-20
Very Good Receiver Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had this radio for a while now and have found it to be an excellent piece of kit.
It is very sensitive and works excellent on the telescopic whip. I have owned a few radios in the past, but this is a winner.
I give it 5/5, It's as good as any grundig, etc
N2KPE Rating: 2000-09-08
great value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this rcvr for about 4 years and am very happy with it. The selectivity is not too great, but it shines in other areas. Sensitivty is good to very good, depending on the freq. Seems to be very good for AM dx. Also seems quite stable for ssb. A very good value for the price. Three friends, two of whom are hams, have also purchased this radio and all are pleased with it.
VE7BGP Rating: 2000-06-11
The Best Under 200 Dollar Rx. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Sangean Ats 818 is a great low priced veteren shortwave receiver. It has been on the marketplace 9 years and is still in production under the Sangean name. Radio Shack still has the builtin cassette version the DX392 in Canada. For the money they are a great full sized portable receiver. I like there audio quality very much, Nice large 4 inch speaker. better then the more costly Sony twice the audio output at 700 mw. Fm and Am broadcast and world band reception is great. This model has the bfo and two bandwidth switch that makes it a great receiver for code practice or listening to W1AW code bulletins. SSB reception is good but not great like on the newer DX 398. I gave the receiver 5 stars because for It's price range less than 200 dollars, it works absolutely great I have had mine 7 years and have had no trouble with it.It has good quality construction nicely made. Battery life and current drain is great about 100 ma. at a reasonable volume setting, I modified the tuning taking out the muting when scanning and manually tuning this mod is easy to do and well worth doing. I also modified my DX398. I have also played around with a few Ats 803A Sangean receivers a few friends I know have and think the 818 is better. If you want a good low cost receiver to check out the bands or to listen to while camping in a motorhome give one of these a try I like mine a lot.