Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception, plus External Plug-in Antenna by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception, plus External Plug-in Antenna
Digital camera Review: Fantastic SW Radio
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very sensitive and versatile, dual conversion, shortwave radio. The FM portion is stereo when used with earphones and sounds very good. The FM band starts below 88 MHz. This portion of the band can be used for emergency broadcasting and can receive the audio portion of some TV stations.
There is, also a longwave band, a standard broadcast band and 14 shortwave bands all of which can be scanned so that looking for a station is fast and easy. The 100 memory locations can also be scanned once the presets have been set. The compact wire antenna that comes with the radio is very helpful at bringing in distant stations. Single sideband stations can also be received.
There is also a clock that can show Universal Coordinated Time (or the time in any other part of the world) and local time. There is also an alarm feature with two preset memories.
The radio comes with a shortwave radio guide and a soft case for the radio.
Do not buy an AC power supply to be used with shortwave. They are very noisy and the program material is drowned out. I have tried various filters and regulators without any improvement in the noise. The AC power supply can be used with the FM portion, however. Using rechargeable batteries (4 type AA) is the best way to go for shortwave listening. Alkaline batteries last between 34 and 47 hours depending on which band is being used.
Digital camera Review: GREAT BUT HAS SOME FLAWS
Summary: 4 Stars
This Sony portable has excellent sensitivity and selectivity. With about a 7 foot long wire at ground level, sitting on a patio, it picks up a lot of hams. The other basic specs are probably just as good. Well built, with good controls layout and feel. It's nice listenig to AM in the SSB mode, probably better then the sync detector. BUT----IT HAS FLAWS. 100 memories are provided, but you can only scan 10 at a time!! (it has ten banks), and after it scans the 10 channels, IT STOPS SCANNING! (I may be wrong, but when I hit scan it cycles once only.) They designed it so you can enter the frequencies of ten world broadcast stations, each in its own memory bank, and then scan it to see what channel is stronger. But then you can only enter 10 stations, right? If you listen to utility, you can do the same, as well as maybe hams on different bands. Being able to scan ALL 100 channels is best! However, moving the frequencies around, like from VFO to memory, scanning up and down from each memory, or entering a memory, or VFO setting, into the two very clever holding channels, is very good. Another flaw is that the SSB pitch control is on the side of the radio, like most radios. (I have an old Sangean that has the pitch control on the front.) Also, you can't plug in an external antenna in the jack because it supplies a DC current. It was designed for some Sony products. You are forced to clip the supplied roll up wire to the radio's whip. The audio quality on SSB is outstanding, almost as good as the old high fidelity McKay Dymek receivers. But the audio warbles-a little unstable. I hear that the older model 7600G was more stable. Of course you should get this set, especially if you like single sideband like me. A budget model would be the Kaito 1102, a little smaller, with decent sideband. The Eton 1 is the best, but it's very large and expensive.Digital camera Review: Good as allways
Summary: 5 Stars
I buyed this product to replace a ~25 years old Sony ICF7600D. A good product does not need too much changes, as this 7600 series did.Digital camera Review: Good but not perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a nice little radio, but a bit overpriced. I only use it for AM broadcast band DXing, so have not checked it out much on FM or SW. FM sounds very good though. On the AM broadcast band it is quite sensitive, but not super selective. Powerful local stations will slop over 10-20 khz. I find images of KSTP 1500 (only 3 miles from me) quite a few places on the band (including SW), and it totally wipes out 590 khz. It does not seem to have very good nulls when rotating the radio, but that may be due to the small ferrite antenna. The radio is larger and heavier than I would like, but that is just a personal preferrence. The sync lock feature works like a charm and is able to dig many weak stations out of the mud and make them audible. This is the best feature of this receiver in my opinion. I do not use the speaker, but sound quality is good when using headphones. Despite what some reviewers have said, I find this radio extremely easy to use. It is not complicated at all! Battery life is respectable. I have not timed it, but I suspect they last 20-30 hours. Even though it has some warts, I love this little radio and am happy with my purchase. Of course it has the Sony quality.Digital camera Review: Good for a portable SW radio.
Summary: 4 Stars
I had the previous Sony model for over 20 years. It was very reliable but I did have to glue in the heavy ferrite internal antenna and solder its connections a couple of times after various falls. After it fell one too many times I replaced it with the GR.
The greatest improvement is in battery life. It seems to last at least three times as long with a set of rechargeable MHs than the earlier model. Other improvements include a neat way to organize the presets and separate power and lock switches (maybe the extra power drain was from the early model's propensity to spontaneously power on at odd times). In general, its more than I expect in a smallish portable receiver.