First Impressions: Sangean ATS-909

I wanted to compare a well-regarded analog-tuned radio against modern DSP radios and the Sangean ATS-909 fits that bill.

The ATS-909 was introduced in 1996 and in its day was considered the gold standard for portable shortwave radios. It had a long run, discontinued some time around the summer of 2011 when it was replaced by the digital signal processing (DSP) based ATS-909X.

It’s feature rich, adding FM RDS, preset memories and SSB detection to basic operation. At 8.5″ wide and 5″ high, it is one of my biggest radios. It has a huge 44″ (104 cm) telescopic antenna. Frequency coverage is the full 153 to 30000 kHz, plus FM. It has a time zone setting so that the time display can be switched between local time and GMT (as they used to call it). There’s also a daylight savings time switch, something I hadn’t encountered before.

For someone like me who never got around to memorizing the meter bands, this radio conveniently provides a table on the front panel with the bands and their frequencies.

The radio is a phased lock loop double conversion heterodyne receiver.

🤖Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) tuning offers a significant advantage in radio receivers by delivering precise, stable, and noise-resistant frequency control. Unlike analog tuning methods that rely on variable capacitors or inductors, PLL systems use a digital feedback loop to lock the receiver’s oscillator to a reference frequency. This results in exceptional frequency accuracy, minimal drift over time, and improved selectivity, especially in crowded band conditions. PLL tuning also enables features like direct frequency entry, digital presets, and automatic scanning, making the user experience more intuitive and reliable.

Dual Conversion means that there are two IF conversion and amplification stages, resulting in increased selectivity.

I bought a Sangean ATS-505 once (returned it because it was defective) and as I held it, the size of the radio struck me — it was big. The ATS-909 is a millimeter wider. With the exception of the SM-616 that’s more of a media player than a radio, this is my biggest unit. And yes it looks big, really big. I’m glad mine came with the one accessory I really needed, a storage pouch, because I don’t have a case that big.

This is a used radio, so there is no traditional unboxing: just the radio and its pouch.

Trying it Out

That starts with 4 AA batteries. It has an external 6V power connector, center negative, but it doesn’t charge its batteries (this was 1996). I have a number of 6V power supplies, but none of them has the 5.5 mm barrel (2.1 mm inner) connector it takes.

[The next 20 minutes were spent finding the battery door that I misplaced. Resuming the blog post.]

Tuning is interesting. It’s not necessary to select a band before tuning a frequency on that band. Just press FREQ, key the frequency and hit ENTER. The radio figures out which band. For FM, it’s necessary to enter the decimal point to resolve the ambiguity. There are band buttons that also switch bands.

The advertising label on the front features:

One might think single sideband support would be worth a mention, but you won’t find a hint of this feature visible on the radio. It’s hidden under a button labeled “AM MODE.” When pressed, LSB and USB cycle on the display.

Reception

Here are the results of my standard MW and FM band scam.

Daytime performance was very good. It now holds the record for the most MW stations at 25, a number subject to some margin of error. FM was also very good at 73 stations — the problem here was that sometimes FM stations would bleed onto adjacent channels making it seem that something might be there that isn’t.

On shortwave I could get CFRX Toronto with the whip antenna on 6070 kHz. CFRX is a 1 kW station 400 miles from me, supposedly with the antenna pointed in the opposite direction.

The next morning I got Radio New Zealand with just the telescopic antenna.

Audio Performance

Many folks have complained about problems with the ATS-909 speaker, that it failed early or sounded scratchy — not mine. The audio on this unit is superb and may give my Tecsun PL-990 stiff competition. I suspect that my unit was mid-production, perhaps made in 2004, and they may have worked out their speaker issues. My research indicates this unit has an anomalous serial number, not fitting the established pattern. It starts “409,” leading me to think September of 2004; earlier models have first-digit year indicators but my number doesn’t fit the pattern for the later part. Some early models have a black tuning knob, so my silver one indicates it’s not an early one.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes:

• Direct Frequency Entry
• Both World and Local time zones
• Fantastic audio
• RDS
• Quick meter band selection
• AM RF Gain control
• SSB support
• External antenna and Line Out jacks
• Informative, well-written manual
• Clock visible when radio is off or on
• Key Lock

Dislikes:

• No Mute button
• I can’t figure out how to set the clock for multiple time zones
• Unattached battery door
• Dim display light
• Have to prefix frequencies for direct entry
• Detents on the tuning knob, and it mutes/chuffs
• 5.5 mm AC adapter barrel diameter (large)
• Doesn’t charge batteries
• AM bandwidth not specified
• Scans work only within the current meter band on SW (this is like the ATS-405)
• Strong FM stations bleed over to adjacent channels.

Oddities

There are two small holes on the bottom of the unit in addition to the reset button access, and they are labeled “DATA.” I’ve been unable to find that they do anything.

Additional Details

I picked up a few details searching the web that I want to include. The first is the intermediate frequencies for AM/SSB. They are 55845 kHz and 450 kHz. This comes from the service manual I found. I also found the bandwidths for AM/SSB were 6.5 and 4 kHz. That from the Radio Museum. It also appears that the number of ATS memories changed at some point during production, with an original value of 261 according to shortwaveradio.ch. The ATS-909 apparently was sold as the Siemens RK777 in Europe, and of course as the Radio Shack Realistic DX-398.

Somehow I accidentally set an alarm timer, and I couldn’t figure out how to cancel it. I found in the manual how to set one, but not how to cancel. I tried taking the batteries out for hours and pressing the reset switch. I asked Perplexity AI, and it responded:

🤖To disable (cancel) an alarm on the Sangean ATS-909 (not the 909X), follow these steps:

1. Press one of the three TIMER buttons (usually labeled 1, 2, or 3) to select the alarm you want to cancel. The timer indicator will flash.
2. While the indicator is flashing, press the CANCEL (C) button. This will erase or disable the selected alarm timer.

🤖This method allows you to cancel the individual alarm timer without affecting other settings. Repeat these steps for any timer (alarm) you wish to disable.

The procedure works. Perplexity then referred me to a page in the manual which never mentions the CANCEL button.

Conclusions

It’s big, really big. The LCD display is more difficult to read than most modern radios. With exceptions, it’s fairly intuitive to use. I figured out the direct entry tuning on the third guess. The clock and time zone will require looking at the manual. It sounded really nice playing classical music on FM.

I’ve start collecting data for my big PLL superheterodyne radio comparison blog post, featuring the Tecsun PL-990 against the Sangean ATS-909, Tecsun PL-660, Grundig G4000A and Kaito KA1101.