Poor Sangean ATS 803A clone
 

In late 1980's Sangean (various radio and HAM outlets) , Realistic(Tandy) , Matsui (Currys/Dixons) marketed the ATS 803A , DX-440, MR 4099 and write-ups I recall were quite good for this portable/desk top 'World Band' receiver; It only had 9 memories but it had clock , timer, bfo , shoulder strap (bit heavy) and was popular despite some reported 'chuffing' . I have just bought a Matsui version but its poor performance on LW and MW and even worse on SW firstly made me think it had been 'operated on' by a tree surgeon , roofer or member of parliament . But I cant see anything wrong inside - no trimmers screwed to the bottom, no duff soldering . if I use external aerial socket and switch no change even with a good aerial (no input for earth), rf gain does nothing, its only any good for BBC R4, R5 but no good for even RTE Radio 1, VHF/FM is weak even with rod full up. I'm powering it from internal batteries. Anyone have experience of a nearly dead (it seems) Sangean ATS 803A clone?
Rog.:'(

Re: Poor Sangean ATS 803A clone
 

The only thing I can suggest is that it sounds like an IF fault if the problem exists on all bands. I have a Sangean version and it has never given me any trouble apart from the encoder went a bit intermittent and would jump channels etc but that's the only time I have had mine open. Just an afterthought, is it worth doing a power reset by removing the AA cells which supply the clock, just in case they have anything to do with a micro inside?
Alan.

Re: Poor Sangean ATS 803A clone
 

Hi,
I've had the (Curry's) Matsui SW5000 version for many years without any problems, except that now it won't select FM unless I remove all the batteries, when it defaults to FM. If I select any of the AM bands, and then back to FM, it won't, unless I take the batteries out again.
AM wise, there's no problem with reception.
Cheers, Pete.:beer:

Re: Poor Sangean ATS 803A clone
 

I have got the slightly later Sangean incarnation badged as the Roberts R817, Gain wise on LWand MW is nothing to shout about plus it always sounds slightly distorted. Sensitivity is ok on most of the HF bands but is pretty deaf on the 11m or 26Mhz band. Its fairly sensitive on FM but there is always some background interference from the micro or LCD display even on stronger signals. These results are using its built in aerials and are rather poor when compared to the same type of receiver, of similiar vintage, from the Philips or Grundig stables.

Re: Poor Sangean ATS 803A clone
 

I have a Matsui MR4099 which used to lose its memory. It seems to work reasonably well when run on external 9V (no batteries) but sometimes goes for a run up the band.

It is accurate to within 1kHz up to 30MHz - very useful as a frequency reference.

Re: Poor Sangean ATS 803A clone
 

I find that if you put the keylock on, this cuts the background hash on FM.