Thinking about a new SW portable...

[theleman]

I got the Sangean ATS 909x in Black, and it is perfect. No problems. It works really well pulls weakest SSB ham signals with outdoor antenna made of 20m wire in the garden. Audio quality is superb. FM receives even without any antenna at all and we are in the low area of the town where FM reception is difficult with any other FM radio. The 909x impressed me.

 

[Jimru]

I got the Sangean ATS 909x in Black, and it is perfect. No problems. It works really well pulls weakest SSB ham signals with outdoor antenna made of 20m wire in the garden. Audio quality is superb. FM receives even without any antenna at all and we are in the low area of the town where FM reception is difficult with any other FM radio. The 909x impressed me.

I'm still pleased with my Rat Shack DX-398, a relabeled Sangean ATS-909! I've had it for over ten years, now.

 

[SCPD]

I got the Sangean ATS 909x in Black, and it is perfect. No problems. It works really well pulls weakest SSB ham signals with outdoor antenna made of 20m wire in the garden. Audio quality is superb. FM receives even without any antenna at all and we are in the low area of the town where FM reception is difficult with any other FM radio. The 909x impressed me.

I thought the same thing until my 909x CPU locked up and rendered my unit useless. Apparently Sangean had flashed the wrong firmware into several units and those units were never checked by QA.

Fortunately, Amazon let me return my unit since it was a few days after the usual return limit. Sangean was quoting a 4-6 week wait.

BTW, here's the service manual for the ATS-909X: http://www.radiomanual.info/schemi/RX/Sangean_ATS-909X_serv.pdf

I wasn't able to really use the 909X for very long before its issues. I bought the PL-880 recently (in the past year) and it's a very nice portable.

 

[theleman]

THat must have been frustrating experience. Mine is going strong and being used daily listening to some amateur radio bands or BCL stations.

Today I heard DX on 7mhz band via 909x. It was very weak but perfectly audible. I am in Europe and the station was transmitting from Puerto Rico. The call sign is NP4A.

Several European ham station were calling him and making contacts. Here is the quick video clip which I uploaded into Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gJheaEzNkI

I thought the same thing until my 909x CPU locked up and rendered my unit useless. Apparently Sangean had flashed the wrong firmware into several units and those units were never checked by QA.

Fortunately, Amazon let me return my unit since it was a few days after the usual return limit. Sangean was quoting a 4-6 week wait.

BTW, here's the service manual for the ATS-909X: http://www.radiomanual.info/schemi/RX/Sangean_ATS-909X_serv.pdf

I wasn't able to really use the 909X for very long before its issues. I bought the PL-880 recently (in the past year) and it's a very nice portable.

 

[theleman]

Another video of Sangean 909x in UK receiving the NP4A contacting G stations on 7Mhz. This is a rare DX on 7Mhz during this poor band condition in HF band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrETH1hFylk

 

[SCPD]

Another video of Sangean 909x in UK receiving the NP4A contacting G stations on 7Mhz. This is a rare DX on 7Mhz during this poor band condition in HF band.

You do realize that you're probably 1khz off frequency? People don't really sound like that in the USA.

 

[Unkei]

New SW Portable

Hi ,
I have both the S450DLX and the Satellit 750. After a few years of use..I think both of them are superior rigs. You do need an external antenna for either of them to get the best reception. But that's true for any SW rig. I don't think I would consider either of them a true portable. Too large..too heavy.
I am, after much research..Going to purchase the County Comm GP-5/SSB. Now that's a true portable!
Cheers,
KD8WKI
Unkei