RadioBanter - View Single Post

February 20th 04, 02:35 PM

wrote in message hlink.net...

I also bought a DX-402 and liked that radio quite a bit. I can't say
exactly why, but I actually like the ATS-505 better than the ATS-909, and I
deliberately chose not to buy a DX-398.
[snip]

Of all the models mentioned, I bought a DX-398 and a DX-399 in
November 2002. I refer to my DX-399 as the "Pocket Hercules," in honor
of the Turkish weightlifter of slight build who participates in the
Olympics. (The wrestler's name is Naim Suleymanoglu. Google has
134,000 hits for "pocket hercules".) It's such a tiny affair, but it
does so much. I think it would be the perfect radio to take on, say, a
bicycling or backpacking tour of Europe, especially because it was
sold with a power adapter that could operate at both 110 and 220
volts. You wouldn't need SSB for a venture like that; you'd just want
to hear some tunes wherever you happened to be.

I did look at the DX-396. I took it up to the front of the store and
tuned in Radio Exterior de España, a station that comes blasting off
the ionosphere at 15110 around 3 p.m. on the East Coast of the US.
With all the other RS radios I had just bought, though, I couldn't
justify buying one more. (Please don't throw me off the list for
saying that.) No matter; someone else bought it quickly enough.

I also looked at the DX-402. The tuning knob seemed sort of cheesy,
but that issue was nothing a little contact couldn't take care of. My
brother bought one of those.

They were great bargains all. I shake my head thinking of the mistake
RS made when it discontinued its line of SWRs.