Tecsun PL-990X VS Sangean ATS-909X2

[jazzboypro]

Hello all,

I'm trying to decide between the 2 radios. Both seems like high end radios. I really like the fact that the Tecsun has USB charging and that is practical if i need to run it from a Jackery power station or something similar. From what i was able to ear on youtube the Tecsun seemed to sound better. Some people seem to have complaints about the Sangean no being able to be calibrated (zero beat) but not sure how important that is. The Sangean a a really nice display compared to the Tecsun and it has air band.

Do any of you have any experience with these radios ? what would you buy if you had to buy one of the two ?

Many Thanks
73 de VA2FCS

 

[dxace1]

Hello all,

I'm trying to decide between the 2 radios. Both seems like high end radios. I really like the fact that the Tecsun has USB charging and that is practical if i need to run it from a Jackery power station or something similar. From what i was able to ear on youtube the Tecsun seemed to sound better. Some people seem to have complaints about the Sangean no being able to be calibrated (zero beat) but not sure how important that is. The Sangean a a really nice display compared to the Tecsun and it has air band.

Do any of you have any experience with these radios ? what would you buy if you had to buy one of the two ?

Many Thanks
73 de VA2FCS

The Tecsun 990 is the way to go. Sangean in the end just never resolved the problem of low sensitivity when using only the whip antenna. Also, the 909x2 has AGC issues in SSB, involving sharp volume reduction when using SSB. Some people dismiss this issue but it's real. See:

 

[jazzboypro]

Thanks for the video. This is definitely a huge problem for the Sangean

 

[Boombox]

I don't find the whip antenna issue a deal breaker. Use an alligator clip and add some wire to the whip antenna. Or get a plug in, 15-20 ft wire antenna. One apparently comes with the radio. It's not like you're going to be walking around town with your radio to your ear, SWLing and/or HF DXing. I understand the convenience of just having a whip antenna to SWL with. My G2 and PL-398 do that quite well. But for more serious SWLing, sometimes an extra bit of wire comes in handy. Even 15 to 20 feet (5-8 meters) of wire antenna can make a difference.

The 909X2 will probably handle an external, longer wire antenna better than the Tecsun, as 909s are designed to be able to handle stronger signals. I'm not sure how well Tecsuns do with 50-100 ft. outdoor wire antennas, but I used to run my 909 with a 100 footer (30 meter) I had no issues.

I use my 909 for HF ham band monitoring, and some SWLing, and some MW DXing. Mostly with a 25 ft (6 meter) indoor wire, which I clip to the whip. The 909X2 comes with a supplied wire antenna that would do much the same thing.

For FM and MW, the whip works well (FM) or is not even used (MW) and if the 909X2 is anything like the 909 (which I have) it's a very good MW DXer.

As for AGC issues, the 909 had those, on some signals it would pump, something I noticed mostly in AM mode, not so much on SSB, and you turn down the RF gain slightly and the AGC stops pumping. It doesn't kill the sensitivity. The 909X2 has an RF Gain control, on the left side, at the bottom. You turn it down slightly, the AGC quits pumping. That's how it works on the 909. It's probably similar on the 909X2.

I've read good things about the Tecsun, though.

 

[dxace1]

In the beginning some of us were willing to forgive the X2 for its faults. But there really is no wxcuse for the kind of issues identified since the radio came out. And no point whatsoever to the auto bandwidth feature.

 

[dxace1]

I don't find the whip antenna issue a deal breaker. Use an alligator clip and add some wire to the whip antenna. Or get a plug in, 15-20 ft wire antenna. One apparently comes with the radio. It's not like you're going to be walking around town with your radio to your ear, SWLing and/or HF DXing. I understand the convenience of just having a whip antenna to SWL with. My G2 and PL-398 do that quite well. But for more serious SWLing, sometimes an extra bit of wire comes in handy. Even 15 to 20 feet (5-8 meters) of wire antenna can make a difference.

The 909X2 will probably handle an external, longer wire antenna better than the Tecsun, as 909s are designed to be able to handle stronger signals. I'm not sure how well Tecsuns do with 50-100 ft. outdoor wire antennas, but I used to run my 909 with a 100 footer (30 meter) I had no issues.

I use my 909 for HF ham band monitoring, and some SWLing, and some MW DXing. Mostly with a 25 ft (6 meter) indoor wire, which I clip to the whip. The 909X2 comes with a supplied wire antenna that would do much the same thing.

For FM and MW, the whip works well (FM) or is not even used (MW) and if the 909X2 is anything like the 909 (which I have) it's a very good MW DXer.

As for AGC issues, the 909 had those, on some signals it would pump, something I noticed mostly in AM mode, not so much on SSB, and you turn down the RF gain slightly and the AGC stops pumping. It doesn't kill the sensitivity. The 909X2 has an RF Gain control, on the left side, at the bottom. You turn it down slightly, the AGC quits pumping. That's how it works on the 909. It's probably similar on the 909X2.

I've read good things about the Tecsun, though.

 

[dxace1]

In the beginning some of us were willing to forgive the X2 for its faults. But there really is no wxcuse for the kind of issues identified since the radio came out. And no point whatsoever to the auto bandwidth feature.

 

[Boombox]

In the beginning some of us were willing to forgive the X2 for its faults. But there really is no wxcuse for the kind of issues identified since the radio came out. And no point whatsoever to the auto bandwidth feature.

What autobandwidth issue. This would be the first I've heard of that. What does it do, and when does it do it? And if there is an autobandwidth feature, can it be turned off?

My HDR-16 has it on MW. I'm not too fond of it. But I haven't heard of it being on the 909X2.

 

[cistercian]

Hello all,

I'm trying to decide between the 2 radios. Both seems like high end radios. I really like the fact that the Tecsun has USB charging and that is practical if i need to run it from a Jackery power station or something similar. From what i was able to ear on youtube the Tecsun seemed to sound better. Some people seem to have complaints about the Sangean no being able to be calibrated (zero beat) but not sure how important that is. The Sangean a a really nice display compared to the Tecsun and it has air band.

Do any of you have any experience with these radios ? what would you buy if you had to buy one of the two ?

Many Thanks
73 de VA2FCS

It depends on how you intend to use it and what your primary listening targets are. Both have strengths and flaws.
I own both.
Sangean: superior display and signal strength meter with multi section bar graph that is ideal for use as a peaking indicator when using
a box loop on LW and Medium wave. Excellent AGC on strong SSB signals. Lots of selectivity choices especially on MW.
Ok sensitivity on whip, desktop like performance on outdoor antenna with good dynamic range. Continuously adj attenuation is a giant plus here.
Superior FM and very good airband too. Just excellent. Nice audio too.

Cons. Unit to unit variation can cause either lower or upper sideband to be quieter than the other one. Mine is quiet on LSB. Since I like utility monitoring it works fine for my use. This problem is really huge on the whip but is much less of a problem on the outdoor antenna. Sangean still biased this radio for porta-top use. Buy from a source you can get an exchange so If the sideband issue is horrible you can spin the wheel again. Cannot be adjusted in software for zero beat...and mine is off 20hz.

Tecsun: excellent sensitivity on the built in whip. Decent audio. Frequency on mine is perfect. I don't have to zero it, even though I could in software. Great on FM. Very nice for weak SSB on the whip. Smaller than the Sangean. Great for SW and FM if you never use an external antenna thats more than a short piece of wire.


Cons Overloads easily on an external antenna. On strong SSB signals on the whip it distorts. This makes ecssb pretty much worthless on SWBC. Display is small and there is no signal bar indication for signal strength, only a text readout. Makes signal peaking with a loop hard.
Poor on MW and LW compared to the sangean, especially if an external loop is used. It overloads too easily on box loops.
Flimsy whip antenna unlike the Sangean which has a stout whip.


I hope this helps.

 

[jazzboypro]

Thanks for the info, i guess the best is to have both. I think the advantage of the Tescun is the possibility to power it thru USB this may come handy in an "emergency" situation and you want to use a power station like a Jackery to power the radio

 

[Boombox]

It depends on how you intend to use it and what your primary listening targets are. Both have strengths and flaws.
I own both.
Sangean: superior display and signal strength meter with multi section bar graph that is ideal for use as a peaking indicator when using
a box loop on LW and Medium wave. Excellent AGC on strong SSB signals. Lots of selectivity choices especially on MW.
Ok sensitivity on whip, desktop like performance on outdoor antenna with good dynamic range. Continuously adj attenuation is a giant plus here.
Superior FM and very good airband too. Just excellent. Nice audio too.

Cons. Unit to unit variation can cause either lower or upper sideband to be quieter than the other one. Mine is quiet on LSB. Since I like utility monitoring it works fine for my use. This problem is really huge on the whip but is much less of a problem on the outdoor antenna. Sangean still biased this radio for porta-top use. Buy from a source you can get an exchange so If the sideband issue is horrible you can spin the wheel again. Cannot be adjusted in software for zero beat...and mine is off 20hz.

Tecsun: excellent sensitivity on the built in whip. Decent audio. Frequency on mine is perfect. I don't have to zero it, even though I could in software. Great on FM. Very nice for weak SSB on the whip. Smaller than the Sangean. Great for SW and FM if you never use an external antenna thats more than a short piece of wire.


Cons Overloads easily on an external antenna. On strong SSB signals on the whip it distorts. This makes ecssb pretty much worthless on SWBC. Display is small and there is no signal bar indication for signal strength, only a text readout. Makes signal peaking with a loop hard.
Poor on MW and LW compared to the sangean, especially if an external loop is used. It overloads too easily on box loops.
Flimsy whip antenna unlike the Sangean which has a stout whip.


I hope this helps.

Great information for the OP to consider.

Question: when you say the 909X2 won't 'zero beat', do you mean the radio's SSB/CW setting literally won't zero beat on a carrier, or does it zero beat, but the frequency readout is off 20 Hz? It sounds like the former.

 

[jazzboypro]

Lots of great info. My situation is as follow. I have a Grundig/Eton Satellit and a Jackery Explorer 500. The Satellit is powered by a AC charger or batteries. In the case i need to use the radio and assuming the batteries ran out i have to plug the AC adapter into the Jackery to power the radio. In doing this i trigger the inverter of the jackery and i think this is a waste of power and the wrong way to power a 6 volts 500 ma radio. This is where the Tecsun became interesting because it can be USB powered so i can use it with the Jackery without triggering the inverter.

Then when i come to think of it, i have a R30 than can be USB powered. Of course the audio is not great but sufficient.

Basically it boils down to what i want VS what i need loll. I already have an 8600 that i can remotely accessed with an iPad and is connected to a battery system that kicks in automatically if the grid goes down.

 

[cistercian]

It can be zero beat easily. It is off 20hz and I don't care that much! It tunes in 10hz steps so 2 steps and perfect!

 

[Boombox]

It can be zero beat easily. It is off 20hz and I don't care that much! It tunes in 10hz steps so 2 steps and perfect!

Understood. Thanks for the reply. As I said, I've got the DX-398/ATS909, I got it in 1998. Only had two problems, easy fixes. One, the negative battery terminal needed more solder/resoldering after almost 17 years of use. The other issue was skipping frequencies while using the tuning knob, something rectified by tuner cleaner down the side of the shaft 3-4 times or so. That was in 2012? Hasn't skipped frequencies since.

Another issue was my fault: oxidation / corrosion on the positive battery terminal / plate (where the batteries touch the positive terminal). Tuner Cleaner, some scrubbing with a QTip, and some DeOxit solved that. It's a workhorse. So that's not bad for a 25 year old radio.

So, I may get a 909X2 within the next year or two. Right now I don't need another radio (who really does, when you have a bunch?). But it would be cool to have Sangean's latest. I mean, who knows how much longer they'll be making radios like this one?

 

[cistercian]

The Sangean is a nice radio and the display is gorgeous. FM is hot as a firecracker with RDS which is cool.
The only worry for me long term is the tuning encoder. I wish it was optical...but it's mechanical.
I seldom use it. My most used portable is my Sangean PR D4W followed by my PR-D15.
For SW I use an Airspy HF Discovery most of the time. That SDR is just EPIC.

 

[Boombox]

The Sangean is a nice radio and the display is gorgeous. FM is hot as a firecracker with RDS which is cool.
The only worry for me long term is the tuning encoder. I wish it was optical...but it's mechanical.
I seldom use it. My most used portable is my Sangean PR D4W followed by my PR-D15.
For SW I use an Airspy HF Discovery most of the time. That SDR is just EPIC.

Understood about the mechanical encoder but if my DX-398 is any indication, you may have at least 25+ more years out of it. Maybe a bit of DeOxit now and then when needed could help lengthen the life. I've never had a radio with an optical encoder.

RE: the PR-D4W and PR-D15, how do they compare? I know the different features, but never have had a PR-D15 to test.

 

[cistercian]

The 15 is a bit more sensitive with it's bigger antenna. It is also more prone to overloading if you live close to a big station.
The audio is not so hot. The D4W blows it away audio-wise. They are so close in performance as far as sensitivity goes
it's amazing. One noticeable advantage on the 15 is that it has a sharper null in directivity. For DXing at night it has been able
to separate stations on the same channel better than the D4W...so much so on one channel I easily got 3 stations on the 15
but the D4W only 1 out of the mess. This is just using the radios stand alone. It's a shame the audio is not better on the 15.
Because it's a great DX rig but not so hot for extended program listening. The D4W rocks for that! I am glad I have both.

 

[Boombox]

The 15 is a bit more sensitive with it's bigger antenna. It is also more prone to overloading if you live close to a big station.
The audio is not so hot. The D4W blows it away audio-wise. They are so close in performance as far as sensitivity goes
it's amazing. One noticeable advantage on the 15 is that it has a sharper null in directivity. For DXing at night it has been able
to separate stations on the same channel better than the D4W...so much so on one channel I easily got 3 stations on the 15
but the D4W only 1 out of the mess. This is just using the radios stand alone. It's a shame the audio is not better on the 15.
Because it's a great DX rig but not so hot for extended program listening. The D4W rocks for that! I am glad I have both.

Thanks for that illustrative comparison. A PR-D15 may be my next radio purchase.

RE: ATS-909X2 / and other ATS909 radio Encoders. I recall finding info on the encoder used in a DX-394 (Radio Shack's own AM-SW-SSB rig from the late 1990's). The DX-394 feels somewhat similar to the DX-398/ATS909's encoder when turning, although the DX-398's seems to have a more positive feel.

Anyway, I tried to find info on the DX-394's encoder after it was tuning in one direction only. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about tuner encoders. I wanted to try using some spray to see if that would correct the issue with my DX-394, but a guy on the old DX-394 Yahoo eGroup said the DX-394's encoder was optical, so don't use spray. Well, he was wrong. It was a rotary, mechanical encoder, and along with finding the part number, the info on the part mentioned that it had been tested during development, and would last for some tens of thousands of rotations (I forget the exact number -- maybe 14K?). That was under testing, of course, and the real world can always vary.

I'm guessing that the encoder on my DX-398/ATS-909 has already surpassed 10K for sure. Even if I only turned my tuner 10 complete rotations over 150 DX sessions a year, I've probably put well over 10K-20K cycles on my encoder, and it still works perfectly (after I sprayed DeOxit down the sides of the shaft about 8-10 years ago -- as I said, around 2009-2011 it started to jump frequencies a bit. The DeOxit cleared the issue completely).

Obviously, not all encoder parts are the same, but I use the up/down buttons a lot on my DX-398, and then further tune using the encoder. Partly because that's just my way of doing things, but also partly because I want to extend the life of the encoder. I guess I'm naturally paranoid that way.

 

[MUTNAV]

Thanks for that illustrative comparison. A PR-D15 may be my next radio purchase.

RE: ATS-909X2 / and other ATS909 radio Encoders. I recall finding info on the encoder used in a DX-394 (Radio Shack's own AM-SW-SSB rig from the late 1990's). The DX-394 feels somewhat similar to the DX-398/ATS909's encoder when turning, although the DX-398's seems to have a more positive feel.

Anyway, I tried to find info on the DX-394's encoder after it was tuning in one direction only. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about tuner encoders. I wanted to try using some spray to see if that would correct the issue with my DX-394, but a guy on the old DX-394 Yahoo eGroup said the DX-394's encoder was optical, so don't use spray. Well, he was wrong. It was a rotary, mechanical encoder, and along with finding the part number, the info on the part mentioned that it had been tested during development, and would last for some tens of thousands of rotations (I forget the exact number -- maybe 14K?). That was under testing, of course, and the real world can always vary.

I'm guessing that the encoder on my DX-398/ATS-909 has already surpassed 10K for sure. Even if I only turned my tuner 10 complete rotations over 150 DX sessions a year, I've probably put well over 10K-20K cycles on my encoder, and it still works perfectly (after I sprayed DeOxit down the sides of the shaft about 8-10 years ago -- as I said, around 2009-2011 it started to jump frequencies a bit. The DeOxit cleared the issue completely).

Obviously, not all encoder parts are the same, but I use the up/down buttons a lot on my DX-398, and then further tune using the encoder. Partly because that's just my way of doing things, but also partly because I want to extend the life of the encoder. I guess I'm naturally paranoid that way.

Honestly, unless you really enjoy tuning the way you are, you could probably just use the encoder and get better or longer life out of your radio... If it's optical, it'll probably outlast the buttons.

In either case, whenever it fails in a couple of years, it'll be a good excuse for a new radio.


Just my $.02. (where the heck did the cents key go on these keyboards !!)

Thanks
Joel

 

[Boombox]

Honestly, unless you really enjoy tuning the way you are, you could probably just use the encoder and get better or longer life out of your radio... If it's optical, it'll probably outlast the buttons.

In either case, whenever it fails in a couple of years, it'll be a good excuse for a new radio.


Just my $.02. (where the heck did the cents key go on these keyboards !!)

Thanks
Joel

As I mentioned above, the 909's encoder is not optical. I'm not sure about the 909X2 but I would guess those encoders are mechanical also.

And my 909's encoder has lasted 25 years so far. Buttons work fine, too.