Received this radio today from a seller on e-Bay. I believe it was purchased from the outfit who modifies these radios, but was never used after purchase. All of the accesories and the radio itself looked to be in their original bags and the radio was the only bag previously opened. It included the gift box, reel antenna, power supply (not at all quiet on the AM broadcast band, but surprisingly fine on all others), ear buds, and the manual and paperwork with warrantee card.
Years ago I had the RadioShack DX-398 which I thought was a good portable SW/multi-band receiver. A little deaf on the whip, but I had heard worse in the past and I used it mostly outside where it wasn't as noticable.
The Super 909 is quite a bit better in the SW and LW bands on the whip than I remember, and FM is outstanding. FM is so good in fact, I've never heard anything better from a portable radio with a single speaker.
Longwave NDB's and LOM's from up to 40 NM away are banging in at half scale and a very discernable Morse identifier can be heard. The local airport NDB was loud and clear at 9 NM.
I listened to several broadcasts in the 13 and 15 meter bands earlier this morning with minimal noise, but stations were still weak. My favorite listening is in the 31 meter band so I'll see how that does tonight on the whip, inside longwire, and my outside 31 meter longwire.
I played around with the filters a bit and they seem just fine to me. Some have said they are a little too tight. Others say too wide. I don't have the original radio any longer to compare and my memory isn't that good.
The case is a little smaller than I remember, but age and time will do that to you. The only thing I don't like about this set is the silver colored case. I liked the RS DX-398 gray case much better. The blue backlighting is excellent. It's bright and provides great contrast and is easy on the eyes.
The RF gain actually works effectively now, much better than stock. The tuner pot has also had the detents removed and the squelch or noise blanking during tuning has been eliminated. It behaves now like an analog tuner and I like this much better than the original design.
There's plenty of memory space in this set for me, but I understand the new 909X has even more. It was a toss up between these two sets, but the 909X was quite a bit more money and I think I'm getting every bit as good of a radio with the Super 909. This is the set Sangean should have built a decade ago but didn't. Too bad too, becasue they'd still be selling it instead of redesigning the 909X and charging a bundle more.
Planned obsolescents I guess.
Anyway, I like it, it does what I want it to do and it's small enough to take anywhere, but has enough bells and whistles to keep me happy with the tech stuff.
Years ago I had the RadioShack DX-398 which I thought was a good portable SW/multi-band receiver. A little deaf on the whip, but I had heard worse in the past and I used it mostly outside where it wasn't as noticable.
The Super 909 is quite a bit better in the SW and LW bands on the whip than I remember, and FM is outstanding. FM is so good in fact, I've never heard anything better from a portable radio with a single speaker.
Longwave NDB's and LOM's from up to 40 NM away are banging in at half scale and a very discernable Morse identifier can be heard. The local airport NDB was loud and clear at 9 NM.
I listened to several broadcasts in the 13 and 15 meter bands earlier this morning with minimal noise, but stations were still weak. My favorite listening is in the 31 meter band so I'll see how that does tonight on the whip, inside longwire, and my outside 31 meter longwire.
I played around with the filters a bit and they seem just fine to me. Some have said they are a little too tight. Others say too wide. I don't have the original radio any longer to compare and my memory isn't that good.
The case is a little smaller than I remember, but age and time will do that to you. The only thing I don't like about this set is the silver colored case. I liked the RS DX-398 gray case much better. The blue backlighting is excellent. It's bright and provides great contrast and is easy on the eyes.
The RF gain actually works effectively now, much better than stock. The tuner pot has also had the detents removed and the squelch or noise blanking during tuning has been eliminated. It behaves now like an analog tuner and I like this much better than the original design.
There's plenty of memory space in this set for me, but I understand the new 909X has even more. It was a toss up between these two sets, but the 909X was quite a bit more money and I think I'm getting every bit as good of a radio with the Super 909. This is the set Sangean should have built a decade ago but didn't. Too bad too, becasue they'd still be selling it instead of redesigning the 909X and charging a bundle more.
Planned obsolescents I guess.
Anyway, I like it, it does what I want it to do and it's small enough to take anywhere, but has enough bells and whistles to keep me happy with the tech stuff.
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