Grumpus,

I have been a little shy to post this, basically because it's tough to
prove, I'm SURE people's "mileage may vary," and people tend to get
emotional about their choices in radios.

A guy recently posted in the DX398/ATS-909 group at Yahoo that he was at a
ham get-together, and his supposedly unmodified ATS-909 outperformed a Sony
7600GR "off the whip." He said everyone there was very impressed with it.

I ordered both a 909 and a 7600 a few weeks ago, and my ATS-909 was very
close in whip performance to the 7600GR, but I wouldn't say "better." Not
needing two portables -- I chose to send the 7600 back. The 909 came from
C. Crane, and is their deluxe model with the anti-chuffing mod already
installed. I do not know (but I doubt if) they did any other modifications.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has gotten one of these radios in
the past two months, and what their experience is. Though I hope Sangean
saw fit to boost performance of American-market radios, frankly, it wouldn't
surprise me if Sony toned their whip performance down, as I've seen posts
that it actually does have problems with overloading in Europe.

-- Stinger


"grumpus" wrote in message
om...
(Mark) wrote in message
. com...
Hey Gang,

I am in need of some help in picking out a new shortwave radio. I no
nothing about them, but I am looking for something for $150 or less.
The SOLE PURPOSE that I need this radio for is to pull in as clearly
as possible any and all radio stations from the UK. Specifically the
BBC stations. I live in Minneapolis, MN if that makes any
difference. I am not at all concerned with am, fm or stations from
any other part of the world, ONLY the UK. My wife wants to get me one
for Christmas, so quick replies would be appreciated. Thanks in
advance for any help you can provide. Please e-mail all responses to
me at

Mark

Mark, I strongly suggest the Sony 7600GR for your purposes. Of all
the radios for $150 or less, I think this model would give you the
best shot of hauling in the BBC. It is more sensitive off the whip
than either the Sangean 909 or the Grundig Yachtboy 400PE. Plus, its
synchronous detector really can help in making an otherwise
unintelligible signal intelligible. As another respondent stated, the
Beeb comes in adequately quite often on 5975 kHz at night. I have
also had reasonable success listening to the Beeb on 12095 kHZ in the
afternoon here in Western NY.

Regards,

Grumpus