Sangean ATS-909X2: Scanning through the bands and looking for screen interference, mostly unedited
Channel: Андреја Костић
Date: 17/01/2021

The ATS-909X2 is the newly-released short-wave radio from Sangean, and is the third generation in the ATS-909 line. 


The radio's release is scheduled for Q1 2021, after being delayed from December 2020. Despite that, a few units, including my own, were shipped near the end of December 2020, and now, in January 2021, we're getting the first impressions for the radio. 


Some users reported that the radio's frequency calibration is few kilohertz off, while others have reported interference when hand is placed on the screen.


In this video, I scanned mostly through the shortwave bands, staying a few seconds on each station, and I tried to "provoke" the screen interference by placing my hand on the screen. 


To summarize the experience: When using the telescopic antenna, and with my hand away from the screen, the interference on my radio in general isn't very noticeable, but there are few frequencies where it can be heard.  When I do place my hand on top of the screen, interference can be heard almost across the entire SW band, but its strength is frequency-dependent. For me personally, this  isn't a big issue, since I tend to hold my hand on the right side of the radio, on the tuning wheel, and this doesn't "amplify" the interference. 


With the external reel antenna, interference can be heard in some cases, but it's much weaker compared to the telescopic antenna, and with the ferrite bar antenna, the interference is completely gone. 


The "issue" that I do have on my unit, is that SSB volume seems to be a lot lower than AM volume. On AM, there's always plenty of audio gain, but on SSB, I quite often have the feeling that a bit more gain is needed to properly hear the audio.


My own ATS-909X2 is the "black" (actually gray), with manufacturing date of 2020/10, and version number 070, and the recording was made using fully charged NiMH cells.


00:00 - Intro bla bla
00:31 - Scanning through shortwave bands with telescopic antenna
10:20 - Scanning through shortwave bands with the reel antenna
20:22 - Scanning through longwave band with the internal ferrite bar antenna
22:44 - Scanning through mediumwave band with the internal ferrite bar antenna