Page #2 .............
continued.......
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SSB
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Next, I went to the 3.800 MHz area to tune in some
SSB. At first, it was a little unusual, because I could hear the
signals much sooner, and it required several more turns of the fine-tuner
to get them. That's right -- you will now use coarse tuning to get
close and fine tuning for perfection. The fine-tuning seems "finer"
than before. I don't know if this is because of the better IF Filters
or what. It could be that the sound is just so much cleaner that
it "feels" like the sweet spot is much
wider.
The sensitivity increase does bring in a many more
SSB signals, so you will find yourself using the newly-modified
"AM RF GAIN" to drop the noise floor of off-frequency
signals in overcrowded SSB areas, to isolate a single “net.”
This takes a little practice, but makes the radio a lot of fun to
use.
I use SSB a lot more to zero-beat signals than I do
to hear hams. The new filters and the better "NARR AM"
setting make for less need to zero-beat than, so I set it to "WIDE"
and pulled a few stations in as a test. It worked flawlessly as
a tuning aid.
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Longwave
----------------------
I still don't hear anything I'm really interested in on Longwave.
There are some curious "beeps and boops" (presumably navigational
aids), but I'm just not enough of a radio geek to get excited about
them. However, you do hear more of them -- A lot more.
---------------------
Medium-wave
---------------------
I've already mentioned how the modified antenna gain helps you find
(or null) signals for medium-wave (Domestic broadcast AM radio).
There's more -- the sensitivity improvements really pull in more
signals. I found myself wishing my CCRadio Plus had the same antenna
gain control as my Super ATS-909, because you can decrease the "floor
level" of all signals and effectively blank weaker stations
heard in the background of stronger ones -- very handy. It makes
the Super 909 the more listenable of the two in some ways. The 909
is still not as directional as the CCRadio Plus, and it does not
“null” signals as well by turning the radio, due to
a shorter internal ferrite rod antenna.
I moved my Justice AM Antenna to the Super ATS-909 just for grins
-- and it makes for a real DX combination. You can bring in a really
marginal frequency using the CCAMA, then attenuate it on the 909
to pull one station out of the jumble, if that's your thing.
I just like being able to listen to my favorite nighttime 50 KW's
with much less fading than before.
----------------------
FM
----------------------
I wish I could say that I've hooked up an external antenna to the
new RCA plug for FM/SW, but I haven't. It is much the same as before,
except with a much better sound from the speaker, especially on
"MUSIC." Headphones are much the same as before, only
with improved tone.
The “RDS” function (which displays information
such as station names, slogans, artists, and songs on RDS-enabled
FM radio stations) is not modified and functions as before.
-----------------------
Sound
-----------------------
Basically -- night and day. First, the new speaker is crisp and
clear, but more importantly it sounds FULL. I have found that I
can keep the "TONE" switch on "MUSIC" and still
understand spoken words from even marginal signals. The other settings
are very good as well, and I have found them to be very useful when
propagation conditions deteriorate. Still, I have really enjoyed
actually hearing a little "bottom" on shortwave lately.
To give you an idea of the sound quality, many stronger Shortwave
stations will remind you of "FM-ish" clarity.
-----------------------
Quality
-----------------------
My radio came back in great condition. Frankly, I think they polished
it -- the display was really clean, etc. -- nary a sign that it
had been on someone's "bench."
Also, my radio was a bit unusual, because I bought
it from another company with the tuning detent mod already done
(their "Deluxe ATS-909). I was really surprised to see that
RadioLabs even tweaked that. I guess it wasn't up to their standards,
because the tuning knob now turns easily with one finger on the
face of the knob -- something it did not do before, and a very welcome
improvement.
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Price
------------------------
You can go two ways -- get a new Super ATS-909 for $299.95 or send
them your own to modify for $109.95. As I mentioned in my review,
I sent them a previously modified "Deluxe ATS-909" for modifications,
so they adjusted the price for the tuning detent/anti-chuffing mod
for that radio (around $30 as I recall) since it was already done.
Now that it’s back, I actually think I should have paid them
more, because of the obvious work they did on that tuning knob.
------------------------
Summary
------------------------
This is one radio that will never be on Ebay. It's a keeper.
Guy Davis
Picayune, MS
------------------------
Disclaimer
------------------------
I am not affiliated in any way with Sangean or RadioLabs and I was
not compensated in any way for this review. In fact, I paid good
money for these modifications -- and I'm very glad that I did.
Guy
(Published with permission from guy)
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