Introduction
This site is for owners of the Sangean ATS-803A World Band Receiver and its clones. To my knowledge, these include the radios listed on the index page. I also offer the information here to any owner of a similar portable, PLL-tuned analogue receiver who wishes to experiment with it
How It All Started
By accident, I found that the PLL circuitry in the Matsui MR-4099 can be ‘fooled’ into operating outside its normal range. The DC input socket on my receiver is a little loose; one day I saw ‘000KHz’ appear on the display. I decided to experiment with various input voltages below the rated 9V. This site gives the procedure and the results.
Experimental By Nature
The procedure detailed on the 'How To Do It' page is experimental in nature. It causes the receiver to operate outside of its normal frequency range. Therefore, erratic behaviour of the PLL tuning circuitry is likely. Despite this, it it possible to explore frequencies below 150KHz on the Sangean ATS-803A and its clones, without modifying the circuitry or buying/building a converter.
I hope that what you discover will encourage you to explore VLF further. See the Links page for further information.