Rating: 
Summary: The Little Radio That Could -- and Does!
Review: I am a serious radio-geek, and the Sangean ATS-909 is a great little radio, the best general-coverage/multiband radio I have ever owned. Period.
Weighing less than two pounds and smaller than a hardback book, this radio goes anywhere you do...camping, hiking, roadtrips, it's right there with you. With telescoping FM/Shortwave and internal AM ferrite-bar antennas (and a jack for an external AM/Shortwave antenna), you can pull in signals from your immediate region, and from all over the world.
The user has the choice of tuning in stations directly with the keypad on the front of the radio, or by using the continuous-tuning knob on the side. The radio also has built-in station pre-set memories, a 24-hour clock and a sleep-timer.
Despite a its small size, the built-in speaker yields good sound, and a stereo audio jack is offered for external headphones or amplified speakers.
FM performance is particularly hot. Living on the third-floor, I am able to pick up FM stations all over the quad-state (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin & Michigan) region, some more than 200 miles away -- and that's just with the built-in telescoping whip antenna! Selectivity is great, enabling the user to pick out weak stations from between the metro powerhouses.
AM Performance is good too, as I am able to hear AM stations from all over the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, most just with the built-in ferrite-bar antenna. Despite my living just a mile from the local 5,000watt "Radio Disney" outlet, the ATS-909's dual-conversion design and adjustable-gain prevent receiver-overload and reject almost all false-images and harmonics which tend to plague most portable radios. Longwave-band performance is decent but really needs an external antenna.
On the Shortwave/Ham Radio bands, you can hear decently with the telescoping whip antenna, but you really need an outside wire antenna to get what most radio-geeks would call good reception. Still, I was able to hear the HP1RCP 10-watt beacon (28.177Mhz) in Cerro Jefe, Panama (and many other low-powered beacons from around the world) with just an indoor "Slinky" antenna. Not bad for a little radio that fits in your hand!
If this radio has a downside, I would have to say it is the way it sucks down a set of batteries. The ATS-909 is powered by 4 AA batteries (or an external AC adaptor), and the continous-use life-expectancy for a set of Alkalines is somewhere around 10 hours. (Intermittent use yields longer battery life) I use the AC adapter at home, and bring spare-batteries in the field.
Long story short, the Sangean ATS-909 cannot compete head-to-head with bigger communications-grade (Yaesu, Kenwood, JRC) desktop receivers, but for its size, sensitivity, portability and overall performance, you just can't beat it with a stick or a spoon. A brilliantly-designed little radio, and I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Superb all-in-one performer
Review: An excellent, feature rich radio that is great for multiple purposes. Here is why you will not go wrong with this fine set:A -- You can listen to shortwave stations. Even with the advent of the web, there is nothing to beat shortwave for imemdiacy of information. Additionally, if any major event occurs, most web sites lock up solid due to the load. Not so with shortwave. Additionally, you are not at the mercy of inane tv anchors. I have found this set to be quite sensitive for its price range, especially with the included wind-up antenna. The set is very user-friendly with a number of pre-selected stations already set up. B -- GreatFM and AM reception for the times you just want to listen to a local radio station or want to fall asleep to music C -- Well designed from an easy to use standpoint. The knobs are really great for tuning and volume. The radio is well built and appears to have a greater "quality feel" than the Grundig YB-400 PE. Treat yourself to the joy of radio listening with this set. You will find it much more interesting and informative when compared to watching n'th reruns of Seinfeld or Friends or listening to Katie Couric or Dan Rather. To make the best use of this set, also purchase "Passport to World Band Radio" and use it to determine which broadcasts you want to hear. (An electronics store) is selling the exact same set under (their) label at the closeout price of $$$. They appear to be phasing out all Sangean sets in favor of Grundig. Given the quality of this set, its a decision they are going to regret.
Rating:
Summary: Loaded with every feature!
Review: Do you want to spend this much money on a radio? It all depends on what features you want. This has RDS - the digital display that receives data from FM radio signals and puts it on the lcd display. Half of the FM stations in my area send out these signals (and all will eventually). Two stations even send out song titles and group names when a song is playing so that both are displayed in a running marquee on the radio screen. This is a fantastic option! And it was the first radio under 300$ to have this.
Alphanumeric labeling allows you to put an 8 item name to any station you store in memory - you can put the call letters, type of music, DJ name, etc. It is done easily via the rotary knob that allows you to scan through the alphabet.
The lcd display is quite large for a portable.
Over 300 memory presets are possible. While there are presets for plenty of pages for countries, some of these presets are no longer used so you may have to reprogram them with new frequencies. All you do is rewrite over the old ones as noted in the manual.
World time exists for most any major city and you can actually write in you own city's name on the screen digitally - a great little feature that is just plain neat.
SSb is sensitive enough for me to pick up at least one armed forces network radio frequency.
The green backlight is more than adequate.
It comes with a carry case, adaptor, 60 foot windup sw antennae.
There are so many other features on this radio that you could spend days exploring all it can do and personalizing it to your own tastes.
I also have a Grundig Yacht boy 400 PE so let me do a comparison:
The Sangean is a bit bigger and I wish the Sangean had a carry strap or handle. Having either would be a worthy improvement.
Display: Grundig loses and Sangean wins.
Sensitivity to sw frequencies: about equal. A tie.
Presets: Sangean's 306 wins hands down to Grundig's 40.
FM/AM sensitivity: A tie.
Power drainage: The Sangean uses AA batteries and you may need to change them more often than the Grundig's C batteries. Do what I do: buy a recharger and a couple of NIMH rechargeable batteries and you will always have batteries and will also save several hundred dollars in the long run.
Timers: Sangean has three separate timers.
SSB: Sangean leaves Grundig in the dust on this one.
If you love radio and want every feature available, Go with Sangean. If you just want an excellent receiver and can do without the features, go with the cheaper Grundig. You will pay more for the Sangean but will get your money's worth. All of those extras cost $. I think they are worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Your guide to the world.
Review: Great features, great reception and for under $300, a great value. This is the only shortwave radio I've ever used, but it's always picked up very well for me, and the features are top notch. Anybody interested in getting a start in the world of DX-ing needs to buy this radio. Be sure to order the Passport to World Radio guide, when you order this, to see what is on tonight.
Rating:
Summary: Good quality , lots of functionality , great sound
Review: Hello folks its Vince the radioman , I have been a radio buff for many many years with a vast collection . I love to do compares . The Sangean 909 is a very very good radio . The tuner is of top quality and the overall performance is consistant with the Sony 7600 . This radios best quality is its construction and the sound quality . It has the best built in speaker I have ever heard in a " portable " radio . It is very durable but a bit heavy in weight . It is loaded with extras like a line out , ext antenna jack and a really nice SSB set up . The AM and SW sections are very good . In its class the only better radio is the Sony 7600 because of its outstanding tuner , however , the tuner in the 909 is very good. All in all the 909 is probably the best all around radio in its class due to the sound quality and the diverse functionality ( extensive memory and a wonderful visual display window ) . Its a little expensive and as I stated before a bit heavy but a great radio .
Rating: 
Summary: Poor SW sensitivity with supplied whip antenna.
Review: I am kind of collector of short-wave portable radios. When I read about the 909, it seemed to me like the definitive portable (I don't like the 'other definitive, Sony 2100). So, I bought it from Amazon (good price and reliable store) and as soon as it was delivered to me I benchmarked it against the first radio I got on hand: a modest fifteen years old Phillips COMPASS. Well, to my surprise, the Phillips showed twice as sensitive as the Sangean. Even with the sangean's whip full extended, and the Phillips' one totally folded, the Phillips clearly outperformed the 909. When switched to an external antenna, the Sangean improved 100%, but the point is, what a portable means? why such a good radio performs so poor with such a long whip antenna? If you need the receiver to carry it around while travelling, then check the Sony 7600g or grundig YB400PE (both with superior performance as portable). Otherwise, with an ext. antenna, the radio is an excellent all-kind-of-features receiver. The FM capture is superb, as well as the SSB legibility. The sound is quite good, even if not as good as the grundig's.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: I bought this radio primarily for the manually turning knob, which I like pretty much. I miss this feature when using a Grundig radio. I have used Sony, Grundig radios before. This is a good radio but the sound quality is not better than my Grundig 300PE in AM & FM, especially with stereo stations. It does pick up some weak stations that I did not get before though. The default stored frequencies are of great convienience. My suggestion is that the final decision is to make by yourself. If you look for specific and more features, buy ATS-909, some people like more sophiscated radios; if sound quality and easy operation is important to you, buy a Grundig radio. As another reviewer suggested, there is no perfect radio that combine all the quality in one. Maybe have two radios with you at all times.
Rating:
Summary: Grrr! Not here yet!
Review: I can not express my anger of not having it in the house on time. The only way I can do that, at least try, is to ask you AMAZON.COM to take the time and find a way to get this problem solved before Christmas. Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: overloading problems
Review: I have been owning this radio since 1997 and I have been using a lot in my free time. This radio looks at first really nice. It can tune from 0.15 till 29.999 Mhz in all modes (AM,LSB,USB and CW) but FM. It also tunes between 87 to 108 Mhz in FM stereo. Sounds excellent, there is plenty of volume with the internal speaker. I has also a 10Kohm low level output to connect it to an external stereo amplifier or to the PC sound card for decoding. I feel that the audio section is really well designed. When connected to the computer you can see that the radio is also very very stable (thus it is good for digital modes). So why do I rate it with only two stars?
There are two reasons:
1) the user manual is really very poor in the technical description; It does not even state the "impedance" of the external antenna input. Most amateur antenna are 50 ohms. Active antenna also offer a 50 ohm output. Well, if you buy one of them and connect it to the receiver you can be disappointed. The reason is that the input of the antenna is NOT 50 ohms but around 500 ohms ...So if you have already bought a 50 ohm antenna and want to deliver the signal correctly to the input of your receiver you need a matching tranformer from the coax of your 50 ohm antenna to the 500 ohm input of your receiver ...P>If you don't have a 50 ohm antenna you may consider to build a 500 ohm antenna. Nothing more simple. Just use a long random wire such as 20 or 40 meters. There is however another antenna that perfectly matches your SANGEAN ATS 909 that is also a very low noise antenna: the "T2FD without balun". Why without balun? Because the antenna is already a high impedance antenna (about 500 ohm) and the balun is designed to match the 500 ohm of the antenna to the 50 ohm of table top radios, not to your radio. How to build a T2FD?? You need a resistor of about 560 ohm and 40 meters of wire and three plastic pipes of about 50 cm lenght. It's very easy. How do I connect the T2FD antenna to the radio?? You can build your 500 ohm "ladder line" or you can buy it. 2) The frontend of the receiver is very poor. It does not have passband filters that are present in table top receivers such as Lowe 225 and the Drake R8. It means that your receiver when is properly connected to an external 500 ohm antenna it will not be able to cope the signals and the noise level will rise incredibly. Simply because the antenna, such as the T2FD (without balun!!), will deliver too much signal for your receiver. How can I solve the overloading problem?? You cannot use the few preselectors in the market because they are all designed for 50 ohms and your receiver has a 500 ohm input. You need to make 500 ohm passband filters by yourself. How do I design the 500 ohm passband filters? A good simple program is the SVCFILT. With a simple low cost switch (not coaxial) you can may wish to make a 500 ohm 4 Mhz low pass filter and a good 500 Ohm 12 Mhz high pass filter and leave without filters the 40 meter band. In this way you may already avoid the strong signals at about 7 Mhz and you receiver may not overloaded and may be used for extreme dx. A final note. If you want to use a coax, you can do it, but you need a balun 500:50 at the antenna and another transformer 500:50 at your receiver (like an MLB used to connect your 50 Ohm coax to the 500 tip and and ring of your antenna connector)!! Hope this information may help! 73s de KD7RDZ
Rating:
Summary: Sangean ATS 909
Review: I have purchased this in the UK and find the radio to be very disappointing. It is reasonably sensitive on am and fm both shortwave and elsewhere. I could notice distortion on fades on the speaker. I also found that the quality for recording was far too bassy even with the tone adjustment to music and the band selection to wide. The quality from line output does not match the sound on the speaker. The switches on the side for tone, stereo to mono are only very thin plastic. The battery cover is small and flimsy as is the stand. Spend your money on a Sony 7600G or 100E. I realise now why people who buy the Roberts equivalent say it is a Sanean in wolf's clothing. I wish I had heeded advice on the web before buying.
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