Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good.
Review: The Sangean ATS 909 is a pretty good deal for the money. this is my first radio and I am very pleased with it. The only problem is that it is not very sensitvie by itself. With an ouside antenna it is much better. All in all, it is a lot of bang for the buck.
Rating:
Summary: Two great features on the Sangean ATS-909
Review: The Sangean ATS-909 has two features you won't find anywhere else:1. RDS. This great feature automatically displays the call letters of many FM stations. Not every FM station uses RDS, but nearly half of the stations in Greater Los Angeles do transmit RDS on their subcarrier. If they don't, you can manually enter your own display of the call letters. 2. 306 memory presets - with virtually every popular shortwave station already pre-programmed with name of country. Wow! What an easy way to get started in shortwave. The Sangean ATS-909 is not the be-all and end-all compact shortwave radio. Grundig YB-400 has good sound and is easy to use, but I do not find them to be as durable as Sony products. The Sony ICF-SW7600G or ICF-SW7600GR is well made with synchronous sideband to partially overcome fading. It does help , but it doesn't solve the problem completely. Every shortwave radio has its strengths and weaknesses; that's why I have bought so many. But I am thrilled with the LCD display of station call letters and the many shortwave presets that you will not find anywhere but in the ATS-909.
Rating: 
Summary: Owners Manual Only
Review: The star only pertains to the Owners Manual which is the worst I've ever seen. Makes you want to start an ATS-909 support group. I emailed Sangean with questions - will update this review to let you know how they respond. More to follow on the radio itself once I figure out how to use it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Radio, but there's better for less...
Review: This is a decent radio. It sounds good and has a plethora of
tuning features. But, it is expensive and offers only mediocre
performance for the money.
For a bunch less cash you can have a more sensitive, more
portable radio, the Sony SW7600GR. While it doesn't sound
as nice as the Sangean, it will pull in many more signals,
has better SSB performance, plus has Synchronous Detection
which locks in signals and reduces noise and interference.
Amazon's price on the Sony is almost $100 US less than the
Sangean. The Sony is the absolute best value in this class
of receiver.
Rating:
Summary: Solid radio with many features, few annoyances
Review: This is the finest Sangean shortwave radio on the market, and it is a worthy "competitor" to most of the finest portable shortwaves in the industry. I own many shortwave radios, including venerable entries by Sony and Grundig. And while this doesn't quite match the best of either company, Sangean's radio is respectable in many ways. The radio's shortwave reception is more than adequate. A good external antenna always helps, but it also does fine with just the telescopic aerial. The Sangean's sensitivity could be favorably compared with the Sony ICF-2010, although the Sony is still champion. It also should be noted that the Sangean radios of the last 15 years or so share the same lineage with the older Sony ICF-2001, so the Sangean's performance is understandable. The ATS-909 has very good FM reception with good adjacent signal rejection, and the Radio Data System (which automatically reads out some station IDs and other info on the LCD) performs well. The Sangean features 306 programmable memory positions. There are 29 "pages" of 9 frequencies (261 total) allocated for shortwave. As an example, a page could be used for up to 9 frequencies of a chosen broadcaster, and the page can be assigned an 8-digit alphanumeric ID by the listener. I'm not a big fan of the "page" format, because I'd like to assign IDs to each frequency, not a whole block of nine. But, when you have hundreds of memory positions of keep track of, the page format does have its advantages. I don't like having to select the FREQ button every time I want to directly tune into a frequency. I just want to punch the numbers and enter it. Having another step to remember makes tuning a pain at times. Overall, I believe the Sangean ATS-909 is an excellent radio and a good value for shortwave listeners with a little experience. It could be slightly improved, but it's certainly worth a listen.
Rating:
Summary: Solid radio with many features, few annoyances
Review: This is the finest Sangean shortwave radio on the market, and it is a worthy "competitor" to most of the finest portable shortwaves in the industry. I own many shortwave radios, including venerable entries by Sony and Grundig. And while this doesn't quite match the best of either company, Sangean's radio is respectable in many ways. The radio's shortwave reception is more than adequate. A good external antenna always helps, but it also does fine with just the telescopic aerial. The Sangean's sensitivity could be favorably compared with the Sony ICF-2010, although the Sony is still champion. It also should be noted that the Sangean radios of the last 15 years or so share the same lineage with the older Sony ICF-2001, so the Sangean's performance is understandable. The ATS-909 has very good FM reception with good adjacent signal rejection, and the Radio Data System (which automatically reads out some station IDs and other info on the LCD) performs well. The Sangean features 306 programmable memory positions. There are 29 "pages" of 9 frequencies (261 total) allocated for shortwave. As an example, a page could be used for up to 9 frequencies of a chosen broadcaster, and the page can be assigned an 8-digit alphanumeric ID by the listener. I'm not a big fan of the "page" format, because I'd like to assign IDs to each frequency, not a whole block of nine. But, when you have hundreds of memory positions of keep track of, the page format does have its advantages. I don't like having to select the FREQ button every time I want to directly tune into a frequency. I just want to punch the numbers and enter it. Having another step to remember makes tuning a pain at times. Overall, I believe the Sangean ATS-909 is an excellent radio and a good value for shortwave listeners with a little experience. It could be slightly improved, but it's certainly worth a listen.
Rating:
Summary: A $40 Kmart radio is better quality.
Review: This may have been a fine radio at one time but the one I received yesterday was the most over priced piece of junk I've ever purchased. I've purchased radios of higher quality [elsewhere for less.] To start with, the case is made of very thin plastic, not very sturdy or durable at all. The bottom of the radio is beveled where the two sides come together and it rocked back and forth standing straight up. Not good for a thin profile radio. There was a rattling sound, like a BB inside the radio. It turned out to be a piece of solder, about the size of a BB, that fell out when I removed the batteries. The RF gain knob was loose and wobbly. Just a poorly assembled radio made with very poor quality parts. The sensitivity didn't even compare to my Grundig YB-550PE that I only paid $...for. The only good thing I can say about the radio is the speaker sounded good for the size of the radio. Not worth the average...price tag. Not even worth $... It doesn't seem like it will last a year before breaking. I'm sending mine back. Dave
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Shortwave Portable
Review: This radio has got the greatest reception, when used with the
wire antenna that came with it. FM is a spatacular, LW/MW also
excellent. USB/LSB included for HAM to Pirate Radio monitoring.
Rating:
Summary: The best shortwave portable on the market!!!!
Review: This radio is truly awsome! It has a myriad of useful features such as RF Gain control, 3 different tones, a tuning knob, ATS, and an extensive memory system. Contrary to a lot of negative reviews of this radio, the telescopic antenna sensitivity is just fine and the supplied wire antenna makes reception simply great. I was able to pull in stations from Bulgaria to N.Korea in the first day I owned this radio. On the Grundig YB 400PE I previously owned, I had trouble pulling in even major statons! Get the ATS 909 Deluxe from [website]
Rating:
Summary: An NPR listner far away in the mountains reports:
Review: We are replacing the very fine Yacht Boy 400 with this radio. This one even exceeds the Yacht Boy's ability to pull in distant FM stations. I am quite pleased with it.
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