Dear Basil,

Frankly, in my opinion, Sony is one of the most STUPID companies in the
world with respect to its marketing. Here in the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, for
example, they have the best, or certainly one of the best, small
portable shortwave radios on the market. It is now over five years into
its production and is still well-ahead of anything else that has been
introduced (again, this is my opinion) and therefore it needs no
re-designing or updating. Thus, its development costs by now are fully
amortized and the radio only needs to be manufactured. WHY would Sony
NOT advertise this radio? WHY would they NOT make it available
officially in all countries?

Amazon sells this radio - and I gather that they sell quite a lot of
them. I do not know if they will ship to Korea. You may have to buy
from a Japanese dealer who will ship to Korea, if any such exists.

The AN-LP1 antenna is still being made, I believe, but is only
available from Japanese dealers. If this is the case, WHY?

WHY, WHY, WHY ... ??? With regard to Sony, I ask lots of WHYs (and
this applies to other products they sell, not just shortwave radios).

NONE of Sony's marketing policies make any sense to me - are they
trying to DISCOURAGE sales of their products? If so, then they are
doing a GREAT job!!!

If you look on Universal Radio's site, they state that Sony forbids
them to accept online orders or even to post the prices of the Sony SW
radios they sell. Yet Amazon, and most other online dealers, may freely
post prices for Sony equipment!

How silly!

Just remember - whatever hurdles you must negotiate to obtain the
ICF-SW7600GR and the AN-LP1 - the effort will be well-worth it.

Again I wish you the very best of luck.

Joe

A friend called Sony in South Korea, and they
do not carry it in Korea. At least, that is what my Korean colleague
said after calling Sony in Seoul. I was surprised. This lady told him
they don't import the radios. I may have to rely on e-bay or amazon.
I did see a SW ICF 11, but I have the impression it is not nearly as
strong, and I am puzzled why Sony would say they don't sell it, when I
saw the 11 radio. I appreciate your feedback. The antenna sounds
like a good idea.
I will read upon it and maybe buy the radio off the net and have it
shipped here.

Basil