Radio Shack DX 398 Review and observations

[Shortwave2200]

I sold the RF 2200 on ebay. I love the radio but to search for military comms and other things got to be frustrating. SSB was good on the unit but drift.

I was pulling my hair out finding another radio but I came across a Radio Shack DX 398, Sangean 909.

Funny thing I use eHam for reviews. all of the earlier reviews for this radio were great but as time went on the review got bad.

But anyways I snagged one on Ebay for 59.00+10,.02 expedited shipping.

Got it yesterday, mint condition. I'll miss the RF 2200 batteries lasted forever...

What I noticed is that the serial number on my unit is a exceptionally high number: 40864292 with a 7A7sticker stamped next to it.

Now before I shipped my RF 2200 I put both radio's head to head.

reception is almost the same on AM BC band, shortwave is better than the 2200 and SSB is obviously stale on the 398. to me there is no difference off of the whip.

FM is really hot on the 398.

I cannot see the trashing of the 398 in latter posts on eham, I'm guessing people are put off of the features, I like it.

I needed something smaller and again, I didn't want to go with tecsun or eton as I've had those and more over the years.

Believe it or not the 398 is VERY quiet, the noise floor is just or better than the 2200 but it does pull signals in very good off of the whip.

Sound is great, FM sounds great for a smaller speaker than the 2200 and on MW and SW.

The only thing I do not like is the plastic, it seems cheap just like the grundig YB 400.

The batteries I heard do not last that long, well by my observations I'm over the 13 hrs on the batteries and I still have 3/4 more to go and that is using the speaker not headphones.

but other than that it is a great unit that is under appreciated.

if anyone has a 398 let me know what you opinion is on YOUR unit, is it a high serial number? or is it a S909?

Thanks,

Jim

[zl2taw]

thanks for the compare

[E-Man]

I really enjoyed my DX-398. I used mine with a PAR EF-SWL antenna, as I do with its replacement the 909X. Both radio's really come alive with a external antenna, compared to the whip. I have not had a Sangean product yet, that I have been disapointed in.

[n2nov]

I have had mine for ove 10 years and it still performs. I had toyed with the idea of spending another $100 for the upgrade mods to make it like a super Sangean 909, but so far have not felt the need to pull the trigger. I also have my Kenwood TS-430 and Alinco DX-70TH ham rigs for listening to the SWBC and utility stations. I also still have my Sony 2002 from the mid-80's that works fine. Of course, there is still the Yupiteru 7100 on my desk that still works!

[ratboy]

I just got a 398, with a blown speaker. I found a part number for one at Digi-Key for about $6.00 that is vastly better than the original. It took far longer to get the case apart and the old speaker out (it's glued in on one side) than it did to put the new one in and put it back together. It's hard to beat the 398/ATS-909 for what you can get one for and if you're handy, replacing the speaker for less than $10 makes it a steal.

[Shortwave2200]

OK, Yes I am a radio geek so I sold the Radio Shack 398 and bought a Sangean 803A Shortwave radio.

I made money off the 398 and spent less on the 803A.

[MichaelE]

I had a 398 for several years but needed to sell it to finance another piece of equipment.

I bought a Super 909 a couple of years ago that I'm very impressed with.

[kf7yn]

I've had several variations of the DX-398/ATS-909. I sent my 398 to RadioLabs for the Super 909 mods. The mods are well worth the money, it fixed many 'nit-pick' things on the stock unit from elimination the tuning detent to better filters, better audio, better speaker, etc. but the one thing that really perked up is sensitivity, the difference is like night and day.

These radios are still popular among DXers because they can handle a good size external antenna without overloading.as E-Man noted in his post. I agree it's one of the better portables made, and I've had a bunch of portables in the last 35 years. Certainly not as good as my Eton E1 but nowhere near the price either.

[Shortwave2200]

Ok at it again. i sold the radio's (398 and dx 440..) bought an eton E5 for 54.00 (actually bought 2 from the same seller on fleabay) re-sold one on fleabay for 84.00...

The units were brand new without the box, you can tell.

Works great! Nice radio sensitive and the controls light up. keeper, especially for the price in the end cost me 20.00.

[WJYSTV62]

I love the DX398. Mine's seen better days, been well used, dropped a number of times. But it's still a fun radio to use. I changed the speaker and swapped out white LEDs for the green, slowed down the AGC so listening to SSB is comfortable, and tuned it up against 10MHz. Those simple things made its use more enjoyable. It's a long way from a very expensive table top radio. But I can carry this thing with me, chuck a wire up in a tree, clip on to the whip, and presto, I can easily hear loads of fun stuff on HF.

[Boombox]

I think the 398 was a good radio for the money. The page memories are useful, as well as the world clock (you can scroll through it and see what time it is in a target area, which can be helpful for guessing the grey line) -- and the overall performance is excellent. SW needs an external wire, as the radio isn't very sensitive off the whip. I've done well with short random wires, though.

It eats batteries like crazy, so I use a battery pack with 4 D cells, and DX with the radio using headphones. The battery pack lasts more than a month with moderate daily use.

On SSB my 398 outperforms every other digital portable radio I have. It's o.k. on MW, although I have a few other radios that DX that band better.

The only problem I had was with the battery connector -- the spot where the battery connected to the main PCB went intermittent and I had to resolder it. That was after several years of frequent use. The stand broke soon after I got it. Never really needed it that much, anyway.