I bought the Radio Shack Version of the Sangean 909 when RS closed them out. It's a good radio. I've been able to pick up Maritime Mobile nets on SSB and WWV using the built in whip antenna. Haven't noticed a whole lot better reception with a random wire antenna. Radio is almost as good on recieve as my ICOM 718 Ham Radio. If you can wait, I'd wait for the new model, it should be even better.