That's a good solution. It also keeps you from having to stress the
weak battery hatch as much....a part waiting to break. For mine, I
bought a 4-D cell holder and I use that via the DC input jack when I go
battery power. The 909 / 398 is a nice radio in many ways, but for
the battery drain and the "deaf whip." I have always considered this
to be a lousy portable for those reasons but a nice mini-desktop with
external antenna and AC power.