Customer Reviews

Sangean ATS-404 AM/FM Digital Shortwave World Band Receiver

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being an electronic product designer myself, I usually end up wishing I could offer some design change orders to the manufacturers of the gizmos I buy. However, after a month of use, I haven't come up with much that I want to change here. I did find it rather awkward to set some of the time keeping functions such as zeroing the clock to get it sync'ed with WWV, but managed to get it done. The little bells and whistles such as station memory, auto scan, dual time zones, sleep and alarm functions are the sort of thing we nerdy types appreciate. However, if you don't like programming your VCR, this radio is probably not for you. The manual is written in a far eastern interpretation of British english, and consequently, for Americans, adds something to the challenge of understanding how to work all the features. Also, the radio's designers had an odd understanding of common english parlance in referencing shortwave bands to wavelengths in meters, and carried that quirky english through the radio display design, as well as the manual. However, only HAMs and avid Shortwave listeners will likely notice that.

Reception: FM sensitivity is excellent, seemingly the equal of my home stereo receiver, with excellent stereo and fidelity when listening through the included "earbuds." Those earbuds are the better quality type, too. Medium wave (AM) broadcast reception is OK. Shortwave is good. I listen routinely to BBC, Deutche Welle, Radio Switzerland and Austria, Taiwan and others, all with only the built in telescoping antenna. SW Band coverage is complete, so you can chase the BBC World Service up and down their various operating frequencies as propagation conditions vary through the day.

The only significant technical weakness of the radio, and the primary reason I didn't give it 5 stars, is battery life. I use Rayovac rechargeable alkalines and get about 20 hours per charge, which is OK, but not great. If one were buying non-rechargeable AA alkalines, the battery drain would add up to about $.25 per hour, which is a bit much, I think. A simpler radio, perhaps analog rather than digital, could be expected to go quite a bit longer on a set of batteries. I think Sangean should consider including an AC adapter with the radio, given the battery life. There's a jack to plug one in, but Sangean leaves it to the customer to find an adapter elsewhere.

Overall, after a month of daily use, I'm happy with the purchase. The radio met my expectations.

This radio is very similar to a panasonic I purchased 7 years ago, though that one was $100 and had limited sw bands. For its price, this is an excellent deal.

None of the information I could find prior to purchase explained the sw band range, which is 2.3 to 26.10 MHz, from 11M to 120M. I'm giving this radio a "4" on the basis that some die hard SW enthusiasts would probably prefer something similar to the more expensive models available from Sangean, Grundig, and others. For my purposes though, this radio is more than suitable. Radio Netherlands, Deutche Welle, BBC, Radio China, Russia, etc.. are all easily heard.

Size overall is about 4" high, 6 or 7" wide and 1.5 deep. Light and easily portable for travel.

Other details - has an alarm function, 9 am presets, 18 fm presets, and 18 fm presets. Also comes with "ear bud" head-phones and a nice case. A filter switch cuts out high end noise in the am and sw bands. Has a back illuminated light that can be turned on or off 7 seconds at a time. Has a stereo and mono switch for headphone use. An adaptor may be used instead of 4 AA batteries.

Sound projected from a small 3" speaker, but the clarity is very good without distortion. Very good reception.

In all this is a good way to own a quality SW radio.

The Sangean ATS-404 is a budget minded travel portable designed for the business or vacationer on the go who wants to take a small receiver along for the trip.

The radio is touted as an AM/FM stereo portable primarily, although the unit also is considered an entry level shortwave portable.

The AM sensitivity and selectivity on this receiver is only fair, and if you are close to a transmitter, the receiver can be overloaded and spurious (secondary) signals will appear as you scan the band.

FM is adequate, but the receiver is also prone to overloading in areas near FM transmitters, with stations appearing in places they do not belong.

The shortwave performance on this receiver indicates that band was an afterthought, much like some boom boxes used to include one long shortwave band for novelty value.

Even reception of strong signals available to North American shortwave listeners such as Voice of America, Radio Canada International, BBC World Service, Radio Havana Cuba and Deutsche Welle were not all they could be. The reception of good quality signals on shortwave requires a decent antenna, and the antenna on this receiver won't cut it. Attempting to hook up an external antenna overloads the receiver.

If you are looking for a travel portable with AM & FM reception, this is an adequate choice, but if you want a receiver that can competantly handle shortwave, choose a higher end Sangean model or a unit priced at $99 or above with digital readout. You'll be far happier.

I was looking for a radio to bring to work with me. The am and fm stations I enjoy are adjacent to much stronger stations, and I was constantly having trouble picking up a clear signal on a conventional dial tuner radio, whether it was plug in or battery. When I got the Sangean ATS 404 digital radio, I was pleasantly surprised to hear how well it received the weaker-signal stations that I enjoy. Since I don't use the short-wave function, I can't review that aspect of the radio. The sound quality is quite good for the size of radio, the functions are easy to use after reading a poorly-written instruction manual. The main drawback with this radio is that it consumes batteries (4 AA's) rather quickly, after about 16-20 hours' worth of playing time. I've hooked it up to an adapter, but then it's not as portable. In summary, a nice radio that has provided me with easy access to previously difficult to receive am-fm stations.

The Sangean ATS 404 is a good shortwave radio, especially considering its price. I like to listen to radio when I travel abroad, and over many years have discovered that the radio I use for that purpose works well as a bed-side radio for night-time listening as well: when all the talk shows are full of conservative blather, I can switch to shortwave bands and listen to the BBC or broadcasts from Germany, France, Russia, Australia, all in English. With multiple pre-sets, this Sangean radio makes that a snap, though it was easier to use the smaller number of presets on my previous radio, a Phillips model similar to this. The Sangean looks good, although it is, as other reviews have noted, perhaps a little too complex for easy use of all the devices. It has a light so one can tune in the dark; a dual time function so one can in travelling keep both home time and local time; a very simple tone control (Music-normal-news), which is more than one expects on a radio of this price with so many other features. It has (always useful) alarm and sleep functions for falling asleep and waking up to radio. As another reviewer noted, it comes with good quality bud earphones; as almost every reviewer noted, rightly, it uses batteries like SUVs use gasoline: inefficiently, at greater than expected expense. I use an AC adapter whenever I am not travelling.

So what's not to like, given that no other radio in this price range carries such a diversity of shortwave bands? Well, primarily, I don't find reception wonderful on either AM or SW bands. I'd like to use a simple shortwave antenna (known as a long wire, it costs almost nothing -- it is just a long strand of wire) and greatly improves reception. The problem? There is no antenna jack nor connection screw. So using long wires or other antennas, including cheap but useful FM dipoles, are not possible. And the Sangean ATS 404's NOT providing a connection for antenna and ground seems, to me, a great flaw.

Still, it is a fine radio, with lots of potential for avid radio listeners, especially at this price.

I started out looking for a portable AM/FM battery powered speaker radio with digital tuning and presets. Try finding such a thing! Maybe Sangean will make one in the future. Seems the only way to get digital tuning on a portable speaker radio is to get one with shortwave capability. With that in mind, I ordered the 404.

Digital tuning is what I really like for listening to AM/FM. I can change stations easily and quickly. This radio works fine for what I use it for - - casual listening to local stations. I do not listen to shortwave, so I cannot comment on shortwave reception. However, I do use the shortwave capability for setting my watch, since the time broadcast appears on 5, 10 and 15 Mhz. There are 45 digital tuning presets; 9 for AM, 18 on FM and 18 on SW. The battery life is a little disconcerting. The manual states the following:

"Approx 16-20 hours of listening when used for 4 hours a day at normal volume using alkaline batteries. We would recommend for economy that ATS-404 be used via the AC adapter wherever possible with battery operation for occasional or stand-by use only"

FM stereo sounded very good via headphones.

This radio is the best of its type for the money. The Sangean 505 gives you SSB and a nice fine-tuning knob, but it is considerably more expensive, and also quite a big larger. If all you want is a good, small, AM/FM, basic shortwave radio with a speaker and memory, you can't beat this.

I find its reception to be quite good, on all 3 bands.

As far as battery use, it works very smoothly with rechargables. It has a 3-segment battery indicator that displays when you first turn it on. When only 1 segment is lit, it means you are getting toward the end (maybe about 1 hour left). At that point, you can charge a second set of batteries and install them when it finally dies.

You can also just disregard the battery indicator and wait for it to die, and then charge the second set. As soon as the battery power gets too low, the radio shuts off, but still retains the time and memory station settings. It can run in this low-power mode for hours. In my case, I had 4 nicads in it that died, and it took me 6 hours to charge 4 NiMHs that I use as the 2nd set. The radio's time and memory settings were still intact when I finally installed the NiMHs (you have 3 minutes to make the actual switch). Very nice!

This is the lowest price I've seen for this radio anywhere! Its great for a 'first' short wave radio!

What other reviewers have said is true:
- It's a battery hog
- Often confusing controls
- Disappointing AM reception

But for someone who needs a portable AM/FM unit
with an external speaker, this is probably among
the best that you can buy at this price.

I just got this, and am very pleased. I bought it for the AM/FM reception mainly. I live in an area where reception is poor. As soon as I plugged in the ear plugs, I could hear stations normally not on around here with my walkman. Great buy, ...