Two days ago, I was thrilled to come home and see my new Sony ICF-SW7600GR had arrived! I didn't get a chance to play around with it until last night.
I must say that I am very impressed with the quality of this radio in not only build quality but more importantly performance of how it picks up shortwave broadcasts from afar. My first impressions of the radio are below, but keep in mind that I won't really have anything else to say until Summer arrives and I can venture outside with a longwire antenna (I so love those nights). I cannot wait until my son is old enough and he can sit with me in front of a shortwave radio receiver like the way I did with my Dad when I was younger. Once again, here are my first impressions as detailed below, let's start off with the "pros:"
Pros:
- Incredible overall build quality. This set is still made in Japan.
- Superior sensitivity for a shortwave radio receiver, especially given it's small size.
- Continuous tuning from 150 kHz through 29,999 kHz (Update: thanks to Rob for inquiring as to what the range of this radio is, I totally forgot to mention it, doh!)
- Image rejection is also pretty good for a radio receiver of this size. The ICF-2010 does a fantastic job, but that's like comparing apples to oranges.
- SSB reception is absolutely superior! I love how I can select either USB, or LSB with the flick of the side switch. The "fine tuning" knob has exceptional control and feel, especially given the small size of this receiver.
- Speaker quality is also very good given the small size of this radio.
- 100 memories. Wow!
- Comes standard with external reel-type longwire antenna.
- Comes standard with soft, felt lined, storage case.
- After all these years, Sony still packs in their "Wave Handbook" shortwave broadcast schedule guide with the receiver (see con).
- Backlit, easy to read LCD display (see con).
- Exceptional keypad has awesome tactile feel to it. This keypad is definitely not one of those cheap "rubbery" keypads in other shortwave radio receivers of the same class/size; a major plus!
- More than a handful of tuning features such as up/down slew buttons, auto-scan (see con), and memory scan/paging functions.
- Built in flip stand, handy for tilting the receiver at a more pleasurable viewing/operating angle (see con).
- Synchronous Detection circuit. Unheard of in a shortwave radio receiver in this price/class! Words cannot even describe how wonderful this feature is. If you listening to a noisy/fading signal, just turn on Synchronous Detection and that noisy/fading signal will be cleaned up, and will be much, much easier to listen to. The Synchronous Detection feature made it's debut in the ICF-2010.
- Antenna attenuator, with it's very own on/off switch. This feature allows the adjustment of the radio receiver's sensitivity. Another awesome feature, especially given the small size of this radio!
- Line Out jack. Useful for cassette recording of broadcasts.
- Sleep/Standby timers (Two standby modes!) Awesome features for those who use them.
- Lock/hold switch. Useful to prevent accidental key presses/power from going on/off.
- Hinged battery cover to prevent loss. Awesome feature (see con)!
Cons:
- LCD does not display time separately from frequency. That drives me insane. Why couldn't Sony model this radio after the older ICF-2003? Note the clock LCD display above the main frequency display in the photograph of the ICF-2003:
- LCD backlight "times out" after 10 seconds, even if using external power. Also, the backlight is that annoying "green" color. Why couldn't Sony pick a more pleasing color such as bright blue? Using a blue backlight would make for an easier to read display when using the backlight, too.
- Initiating an "auto-scan" is somewhat tedious. Instead of a single button which you just "press," you're instead required to press and hold a button. I find that annoying.
- Batter cover appears to be easily broken if not handled carefully while opening to replace batteries. I may be wrong here, but it's my personal observation.
- Simple "news/music" tone switch. Yawn.
- Flip stand appears to be easily broken if not handled carefully. Again, I may be wrong here, but it's my personal observation.
- "Wave Handbook" populated with outdated broadcast schedules. Not a big deal, especially since I use Passport to Worldband Radio, along with the superior software application "Shortwave Log" to keep track of all I listen to.
I think that about sums up my initial thoughts of this awesome, best-bang-for-your-buck receiver! Even with the few cons this radio has, I still think it's an incredible find.
Once Summer arrives, I'll provide a more detailed analysis as to how this radio performs outdoors using a longwire antenna. I always found indoor shortwave radio reception to be a bit on the boring side. Nothing's more fun than venturing outside with one's radio in one hand, and a longwire antenna in the other hand, stringing that longwire antenna up through tree branches as high as I can reach, sitting down at the receiver, and watching the receiver come to life more than ever thought possible.