Dear Sir,

I am an SWL with fifty years experience. I have owned several portable
shortwave portables over the years and the best one is the Sony ICF-
SW7600GR. I now own five (5) of them; the other shortwave portables I
own which are currently in use are two (2) Sony ICF-SW35s (which I
keep in the glove compartments of our cars for use "whenever").

The quality of construction of the '7600 is the best of any shortwave
portable I have seen and this is borne out by the fact that my oldest
'7600GR was purchased in 2001 and still functions as new, as do my
other, newer, ones. (So do my older Sony ICF-SW7600Gs - purchased in
1998 and 2000 but which are now put away, as the 'GR is superior.)

The disadvantages of this model are well-known: no tuning knob (but,
frankly, I have little patience with most tuning knobs on portable SW
radios with their raised "pips" as opposed to speed dimples), mediocre
sound quality with music (perfectly fine sound quality with voice,
however), and no AC power supply in the package.

With the exception of the tuning knob "problem," the others can be
easily resolved. You can buy external amplified computer speakers for
about $20.00 which will render music sound quality just fine (or you
can buy a $10.00 audio cable and run the sound from the radio's line
output to your audio system; the sound through headphones is
excellent) and you can buy an external AC power supply at any Radio
Shack (their model 273-025 along with the free Adapt-a-Plug model
"B").

With regard to that power supply I should like to comment on a
question posted he

"If the power to the "wall wart" goes out do the batteries
automatically take over in the Sony?"

Yes they do. The reverse is not the case, however. If the AC power is
restored, you must manually turn on the radio again.

You should pay no more than $150.00 for a new Sony ICF-SW7600GR.
Overall, I feel it is the very best compact shortwave portable radio
available new.

Best,

Joe

On Mar 26, 10:00 pm, Igor wrote:
I plan on buying a portable shortwave receiver, and am only
considering models that I can purchase new. So far, the ones that have
caught my attention are the Kaito KA2100, Sony ICF-SW7600, Sangean ATS
909, Sangean ATS 505, and the Grundig G5.

I'd like to hear from people who own one or more of these sets.
Obviously, I'm not looking for a feature/spec comparison, as I can do
that on my own. What I want are opinions on build quality, ease of
use, real-life effectiveness, etc.

TIA".