In article .com,
Andrew wrote:
I am looking to buy an SW100 second hand and have heard about the cable
problem.

I understand that the newer version of the radio is less likely to
suffer from this problem and that it can be identified from the hinge.

Can anybody tell me what to look for about the hinge to identify the
improved version.

The changes are internal. A ridge along the path of the cable has been
removed so that it does not crimp it as the cable is flexed. AFAIK you
can't tell which is which by looking at the outside.

Hello Andrew, Mike et al

You can tell whether the radio has a revised cover by looking at the
outside of the unit. Open the clamshell so that you can see the
display. Below the display there is a hinge section which is ca. 60mm
long. The revised display cover has a slot about 15mm long. The slot
is about 10mm from the right hand edge of the hinge section. If there
is no apparent slot, then it is the older style case and the cables are
prone to failure.

Sony sells a replacement kit which includes a new half of the display
cover, and cable cover, and two new cables. NB that to to this job you
need a good Philips '000' screwdriver or equivalent. The screw heads
in the hinges are tiny.

For more information, see:
http://www.tesp.com/SW100FAQ.htm#repair-kit

HTH and 73

John KC0GGH
crabtreejr at aol dot com

In article .com,
wrote:
Hello Andrew, Mike et al

You can tell whether the radio has a revised cover by looking at the
outside of the unit. Open the clamshell so that you can see the
display. Below the display there is a hinge section which is ca. 60mm
long. The revised display cover has a slot about 15mm long. The slot
is about 10mm from the right hand edge of the hinge section. If there
is no apparent slot, then it is the older style case and the cables are
prone to failure.

Never knew that ... thanks for educating us.

Thanks John, good to get an informed answer instead of all the above
"you don't wanna do that"!

Best Regards

Andrew

Hi. Sorry for quite a necro but I just had to register and THANK YOU for this piece of information

I was so frustrated last week when my newly acquired Sony ICF SW 100 developed just this ribbon cable fault. The only options I had were to get a vastly overpriced original Sony replacement kit OR to try my best to "win" another faulty receiver just to weed it out for its ribbon cable.

This piece of information helped to to bid and win on the right one

(Serial number: early 100 000 ).

The other now ribbon cable-faulty one was only in the 70 000 s.

So glad that this post has confirmed I have gotten the right thing
The new one´s only fault was a broken antenna tip.