Herculodge

Repost: Ed's Review of the Sony ICF-7600GR Portable Radio

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR has enjoyed the cachet as the portable to beat. It's pricey. And it has steep competition from the likes of the less expensive Kaito 1103. So just how good is it? Former Sony engineer and regular contributor Ed weighs in with a review:

Described as the "last great Sony communications radio," this is a heck of a lot of radio for about $140 new. It's the veritable "Swiss Army Knife" of radios, giving you a ton of bells and whistles in a very portable package. Shortwave Listeners (SWLers) will especially appreciate its features, such as Synchronous Detection (no other radio at this price point has it), Single Sideband reception with Upper/Lower sideband selection, and a fine-tuning dial to tune in SSB stations precisely, so voices wont sound like Donald Duck.

First off, if your number one priority in a radio is hi-fi audio, you might as well stop reading. No radio I know of this small, in this form factor, regardless of price, can give you great sounding audio. (Through its built-in speaker, that is.) When I first turned it on, I thought it sounded really tinny, but thankfully Sony gives you a "Music/News" switch... always leave it set to "NEWS"...the highs are cut and the sound is much easier on the ears. But with earphones, you will get very good quality audio, especially on FM stereo. There is even a LINE OUT so you can feed a better-sounding set of PC or powered speakers.

Second, if you have a penchant for big, military-style radios, that's fine, but this little gem is the one you want to take with you. It is the perfect travel radio. It can be used as a clock radio, with 2 timer memories. It even comes with a "leather" travel pouch and a spool-antenna for Shortwave/AM boosting. You supply the earphones, none are supplied. Neither is a an AC Adapter. You may never need an adapter; it uses 4 AA batteries, and is said to have very good battery life.

Sony has had over 25 years to refine this radio, so it has everything...on AM, there is a variable Gain Control to deal with local station overloading. And you may need it--this thing is an AM-DX machine! (especially at night). It may be the most sensitive portable AM radio I've used. Gets San Francisco station 810 easily at night. On FM it is very good, not as sensitive as it is on AM... it gets Jeff's weird stations on 88.9 and 89.3 without too much trouble. At most you need to re-orient the telescoping FM antenna to get these low powered stations. It sits nicely on a desk when propped up with its rear, er, "propper-upper."

It is not a perfect radio... it is not intuitive to operate (the manual is thick), there is far too much button-pushing required initially (but once you get your 100 presets setup, it gets easier.) There is no tuning dial, alas. But the station scanning actually works well! (Rare to find in a low-priced radio.) And it scans up and down (even the $500 Eton E-1 didn't scan downwards), stops for a couple of secs on stations it finds, and keeps scanning. This is almost like the much costlier Sony SW-77 in a much smaller package. It also reminds me of a mini-Eton E-1.

It has a pushbutton light in the LCD display, but  it does not stay on, even when you use an AC adapter. And it's useless in daylight. But that's probably done to increase battery life.

All in all, it does almost everything well in a portable form factor at a reasonable price. The only other competition are the cheaper and unreliable Kaitos, and a Sangean or two...I had (and sold) the $250 Sangean 909; it is not as good as this $140 Sony. I would never recommend a Kaito for its poor quality control and abysmal customer service. Sony still stands for quality, and they will backup their products. Believe it or not, this radio is MADE IN JAPAN. Not China!

I'd recommend you get one of these soon if you're in the market for a small portable AM/FM/SW, because the supply of 7600's is drying up. Even if you don't like it, it has great resale value on ebay and Amazon.com. You'll get at least 90% of your investment back. It is the last radio standing in a  long line of great Sony radios.

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR has enjoyed the cachet as the portable to beat. It's pricey. And it has steep competition from the likes of the less expensive Kaito 1103. So just how good is it? Former Sony engineer and regular contributor Ed weighs in with a review:

Described as the "last great Sony communications radio," this is a heck of a lot of radio for about $140 new. It's the veritable "Swiss Army Knife" of radios, giving you a ton of bells and whistles in a very portable package. Shortwave Listeners (SWLers) will especially appreciate its features, such as Synchronous Detection (no other radio at this price point has it), Single Sideband reception with Upper/Lower sideband selection, and a fine-tuning dial to tune in SSB stations precisely, so voices wont sound like Donald Duck.

First off, if your number one priority in a radio is hi-fi audio, you might as well stop reading. No radio I know of this small, in this form factor, regardless of price, can give you great sounding audio. (Through its built-in speaker, that is.) When I first turned it on, I thought it sounded really tinny, but thankfully Sony gives you a "Music/News" switch... always leave it set to "NEWS"...the highs are cut and the sound is much easier on the ears. But with earphones, you will get very good quality audio, especially on FM stereo. There is even a LINE OUT so you can feed a better-sounding set of PC or powered speakers.

Second, if you have a penchant for big, military-style radios, that's fine, but this little gem is the one you want to take with you. It is the perfect travel radio. It can be used as a clock radio, with 2 timer memories. It even comes with a "leather" travel pouch and a spool-antenna for Shortwave/AM boosting. You supply the earphones, none are supplied. Neither is a an AC Adapter. You may never need an adapter; it uses 4 AA batteries, and is said to have very good battery life.

Sony has had over 25 years to refine this radio, so it has everything...on AM, there is a variable Gain Control to deal with local station overloading. And you may need it--this thing is an AM-DX machine! (especially at night). It may be the most sensitive portable AM radio I've used. Gets San Francisco station 810 easily at night. On FM it is very good, not as sensitive as it is on AM... it gets Jeff's weird stations on 88.9 and 89.3 without too much trouble. At most you need to re-orient the telescoping FM antenna to get these low powered stations. It sits nicely on a desk when propped up with its rear, er, "propper-upper."

It is not a perfect radio... it is not intuitive to operate (the manual is thick), there is far too much button-pushing required initially (but once you get your 100 presets setup, it gets easier.) There is no tuning dial, alas. But the station scanning actually works well! (Rare to find in a low-priced radio.) And it scans up and down (even the $500 Eton E-1 didn't scan downwards), stops for a couple of secs on stations it finds, and keeps scanning. This is almost like the much costlier Sony SW-77 in a much smaller package. It also reminds me of a mini-Eton E-1.

It has a pushbutton light in the LCD display, but  it does not stay on, even when you use an AC adapter. And it's useless in daylight. But that's probably done to increase battery life.

All in all, it does almost everything well in a portable form factor at a reasonable price. The only other competition are the cheaper and unreliable Kaitos, and a Sangean or two...I had (and sold) the $250 Sangean 909; it is not as good as this $140 Sony. I would never recommend a Kaito for its poor quality control and abysmal customer service. Sony still stands for quality, and they will backup their products. Believe it or not, this radio is MADE IN JAPAN. Not China!

I'd recommend you get one of these soon if you're in the market for a small portable AM/FM/SW, because the supply of 7600's is drying up. Even if you don't like it, it has great resale value on ebay and Amazon.com. You'll get at least 90% of your investment back. It is the last radio standing in a  long line of great Sony radios.

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR has enjoyed the cachet as the portable to beat. It's pricey. And it has steep competition from the likes of the less expensive Kaito 1103. So just how good is it? Former Sony engineer and regular contributor Ed weighs in with a review:

Described as the "last great Sony communications radio," this is a heck of a lot of radio for about $140 new. It's the veritable "Swiss Army Knife" of radios, giving you a ton of bells and whistles in a very portable package. Shortwave Listeners (SWLers) will especially appreciate its features, such as Synchronous Detection (no other radio at this price point has it), Single Sideband reception with Upper/Lower sideband selection, and a fine-tuning dial to tune in SSB stations precisely, so voices wont sound like Donald Duck.

First off, if your number one priority in a radio is hi-fi audio, you might as well stop reading. No radio I know of this small, in this form factor, regardless of price, can give you great sounding audio. (Through its built-in speaker, that is.) When I first turned it on, I thought it sounded really tinny, but thankfully Sony gives you a "Music/News" switch... always leave it set to "NEWS"...the highs are cut and the sound is much easier on the ears. But with earphones, you will get very good quality audio, especially on FM stereo. There is even a LINE OUT so you can feed a better-sounding set of PC or powered speakers.

Second, if you have a penchant for big, military-style radios, that's fine, but this little gem is the one you want to take with you. It is the perfect travel radio. It can be used as a clock radio, with 2 timer memories. It even comes with a "leather" travel pouch and a spool-antenna for Shortwave/AM boosting. You supply the earphones, none are supplied. Neither is a an AC Adapter. You may never need an adapter; it uses 4 AA batteries, and is said to have very good battery life.

Sony has had over 25 years to refine this radio, so it has everything...on AM, there is a variable Gain Control to deal with local station overloading. And you may need it--this thing is an AM-DX machine! (especially at night). It may be the most sensitive portable AM radio I've used. Gets San Francisco station 810 easily at night. On FM it is very good, not as sensitive as it is on AM... it gets Jeff's weird stations on 88.9 and 89.3 without too much trouble. At most you need to re-orient the telescoping FM antenna to get these low powered stations. It sits nicely on a desk when propped up with its rear, er, "propper-upper."

It is not a perfect radio... it is not intuitive to operate (the manual is thick), there is far too much button-pushing required initially (but once you get your 100 presets setup, it gets easier.) There is no tuning dial, alas. But the station scanning actually works well! (Rare to find in a low-priced radio.) And it scans up and down (even the $500 Eton E-1 didn't scan downwards), stops for a couple of secs on stations it finds, and keeps scanning. This is almost like the much costlier Sony SW-77 in a much smaller package. It also reminds me of a mini-Eton E-1.

It has a pushbutton light in the LCD display, but  it does not stay on, even when you use an AC adapter. And it's useless in daylight. But that's probably done to increase battery life.

All in all, it does almost everything well in a portable form factor at a reasonable price. The only other competition are the cheaper and unreliable Kaitos, and a Sangean or two...I had (and sold) the $250 Sangean 909; it is not as good as this $140 Sony. I would never recommend a Kaito for its poor quality control and abysmal customer service. Sony still stands for quality, and they will backup their products. Believe it or not, this radio is MADE IN JAPAN. Not China!

I'd recommend you get one of these soon if you're in the market for a small portable AM/FM/SW, because the supply of 7600's is drying up. Even if you don't like it, it has great resale value on ebay and Amazon.com. You'll get at least 90% of your investment back. It is the last radio standing in a  long line of great Sony radios.

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR has enjoyed the cachet as the portable to beat. It's pricey. And it has steep competition from the likes of the less expensive Kaito 1103. So just how good is it? Former Sony engineer and regular contributor Ed weighs in with a review:

Described as the "last great Sony communications radio," this is a heck of a lot of radio for about $140 new. It's the veritable "Swiss Army Knife" of radios, giving you a ton of bells and whistles in a very portable package. Shortwave Listeners (SWLers) will especially appreciate its features, such as Synchronous Detection (no other radio at this price point has it), Single Sideband reception with Upper/Lower sideband selection, and a fine-tuning dial to tune in SSB stations precisely, so voices wont sound like Donald Duck.

First off, if your number one priority in a radio is hi-fi audio, you might as well stop reading. No radio I know of this small, in this form factor, regardless of price, can give you great sounding audio. (Through its built-in speaker, that is.) When I first turned it on, I thought it sounded really tinny, but thankfully Sony gives you a "Music/News" switch... always leave it set to "NEWS"...the highs are cut and the sound is much easier on the ears. But with earphones, you will get very good quality audio, especially on FM stereo. There is even a LINE OUT so you can feed a better-sounding set of PC or powered speakers.

Second, if you have a penchant for big, military-style radios, that's fine, but this little gem is the one you want to take with you. It is the perfect travel radio. It can be used as a clock radio, with 2 timer memories. It even comes with a "leather" travel pouch and a spool-antenna for Shortwave/AM boosting. You supply the earphones, none are supplied. Neither is a an AC Adapter. You may never need an adapter; it uses 4 AA batteries, and is said to have very good battery life.

Sony has had over 25 years to refine this radio, so it has everything...on AM, there is a variable Gain Control to deal with local station overloading. And you may need it--this thing is an AM-DX machine! (especially at night). It may be the most sensitive portable AM radio I've used. Gets San Francisco station 810 easily at night. On FM it is very good, not as sensitive as it is on AM... it gets Jeff's weird stations on 88.9 and 89.3 without too much trouble. At most you need to re-orient the telescoping FM antenna to get these low powered stations. It sits nicely on a desk when propped up with its rear, er, "propper-upper."

It is not a perfect radio... it is not intuitive to operate (the manual is thick), there is far too much button-pushing required initially (but once you get your 100 presets setup, it gets easier.) There is no tuning dial, alas. But the station scanning actually works well! (Rare to find in a low-priced radio.) And it scans up and down (even the $500 Eton E-1 didn't scan downwards), stops for a couple of secs on stations it finds, and keeps scanning. This is almost like the much costlier Sony SW-77 in a much smaller package. It also reminds me of a mini-Eton E-1.

It has a pushbutton light in the LCD display, but  it does not stay on, even when you use an AC adapter. And it's useless in daylight. But that's probably done to increase battery life.

All in all, it does almost everything well in a portable form factor at a reasonable price. The only other competition are the cheaper and unreliable Kaitos, and a Sangean or two...I had (and sold) the $250 Sangean 909; it is not as good as this $140 Sony. I would never recommend a Kaito for its poor quality control and abysmal customer service. Sony still stands for quality, and they will backup their products. Believe it or not, this radio is MADE IN JAPAN. Not China!

I'd recommend you get one of these soon if you're in the market for a small portable AM/FM/SW, because the supply of 7600's is drying up. Even if you don't like it, it has great resale value on ebay and Amazon.com. You'll get at least 90% of your investment back. It is the last radio standing in a  long line of great Sony radios.

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR has enjoyed the cachet as the portable to beat. It's pricey. And it has steep competition from the likes of the less expensive Kaito 1103. So just how good is it? Former Sony engineer and regular contributor Ed weighs in with a review:

Described as the "last great Sony communications radio," this is a heck of a lot of radio for about $140 new. It's the veritable "Swiss Army Knife" of radios, giving you a ton of bells and whistles in a very portable package. Shortwave Listeners (SWLers) will especially appreciate its features, such as Synchronous Detection (no other radio at this price point has it), Single Sideband reception with Upper/Lower sideband selection, and a fine-tuning dial to tune in SSB stations precisely, so voices wont sound like Donald Duck.

First off, if your number one priority in a radio is hi-fi audio, you might as well stop reading. No radio I know of this small, in this form factor, regardless of price, can give you great sounding audio. (Through its built-in speaker, that is.) When I first turned it on, I thought it sounded really tinny, but thankfully Sony gives you a "Music/News" switch... always leave it set to "NEWS"...the highs are cut and the sound is much easier on the ears. But with earphones, you will get very good quality audio, especially on FM stereo. There is even a LINE OUT so you can feed a better-sounding set of PC or powered speakers.

Second, if you have a penchant for big, military-style radios, that's fine, but this little gem is the one you want to take with you. It is the perfect travel radio. It can be used as a clock radio, with 2 timer memories. It even comes with a "leather" travel pouch and a spool-antenna for Shortwave/AM boosting. You supply the earphones, none are supplied. Neither is a an AC Adapter. You may never need an adapter; it uses 4 AA batteries, and is said to have very good battery life.

Sony has had over 25 years to refine this radio, so it has everything...on AM, there is a variable Gain Control to deal with local station overloading. And you may need it--this thing is an AM-DX machine! (especially at night). It may be the most sensitive portable AM radio I've used. Gets San Francisco station 810 easily at night. On FM it is very good, not as sensitive as it is on AM... it gets Jeff's weird stations on 88.9 and 89.3 without too much trouble. At most you need to re-orient the telescoping FM antenna to get these low powered stations. It sits nicely on a desk when propped up with its rear, er, "propper-upper."

It is not a perfect radio... it is not intuitive to operate (the manual is thick), there is far too much button-pushing required initially (but once you get your 100 presets setup, it gets easier.) There is no tuning dial, alas. But the station scanning actually works well! (Rare to find in a low-priced radio.) And it scans up and down (even the $500 Eton E-1 didn't scan downwards), stops for a couple of secs on stations it finds, and keeps scanning. This is almost like the much costlier Sony SW-77 in a much smaller package. It also reminds me of a mini-Eton E-1.

It has a pushbutton light in the LCD display, but  it does not stay on, even when you use an AC adapter. And it's useless in daylight. But that's probably done to increase battery life.

All in all, it does almost everything well in a portable form factor at a reasonable price. The only other competition are the cheaper and unreliable Kaitos, and a Sangean or two...I had (and sold) the $250 Sangean 909; it is not as good as this $140 Sony. I would never recommend a Kaito for its poor quality control and abysmal customer service. Sony still stands for quality, and they will backup their products. Believe it or not, this radio is MADE IN JAPAN. Not China!

I'd recommend you get one of these soon if you're in the market for a small portable AM/FM/SW, because the supply of 7600's is drying up. Even if you don't like it, it has great resale value on ebay and Amazon.com. You'll get at least 90% of your investment back. It is the last radio standing in a  long line of great Sony radios.

Comments

[Shorty]

Connect a sensitive Hi-Fi set of headphones and you're in business. This is a sturdy overachiever of a radio. If you were to connect an FM transmitter to this baby, you can listen on your home stereo or any better-sounding FM receiver. Heck, re-broadcast Radio Havana on a free FM station and freak your neighbors out!

[Angelo]

I picked a gently used one up on E-Bay for around $100.00---a guy used it for a few months sailing on his cabin cruiser around the West Indies. I love it. I usually listen through earphones, so the reportedy subpar speaker doesn't impact me at all. It's a station hound. I'm still learning the SSB function---seems to be hit or miss with that. I haven't found a better "modern" radio for the price of $140.00 new.

[kr]

well, had one arrive today that i "won" on ebay for $95 & $10 shipping. looks to be maybe 1.5 years old. looks nice, don't know how to program it yet. i got tired of a high whine in my hallicrafters when listening to conspiracy theory shortwave at night, that and i had a hard time picking the station up. so i jumped from 1950 to what, 2005 or so? we'll see how it does. feels well made. pretty soon we are going to have an AM showdown at this house with the sony vs the crane SW versus the national panasonic waterproof versus the zenith 755 from 1950 something. place your bets.

[Mike W]

There is nothing wrong with your Hallicrafter, KR.

That heterodyne squeal is coming from a Rothschild-controlled transmitter in Luxembourg installed to keep Americans from discovering the truth.

[Gary]

My CCR-SW is far more sensitive on mediumwave AM than my 7600GR.

My SR III and Sony 2010 are noticeably more sensitive than the CCR-SW (the difference is a lot smaller than between the CCR-SW and 7600GR).

The Sangean PR-D5 that I tried was slightly more sensitive than my SR III.

[Gary]

C. Crane implies that the CCR-SW and PR-D5 are about as sensitive as the older CCR on AM. Since the PR-D5 that I tried is quite a bit more sensitive than my CCR-SW, it appears that this may not be the case. Is my experience typical?

[herculodge]

Mike W and I both got a lot better AM on our PR-D5s than our CCR-SWs.

[kr]

well, how would you guys set up a scientific test for radio head to head combat?

i was assuming i would go outside on the deck, have fresh batteries in all units and maybe try to find 3-5 stations on am, fm, and sw. also i may put the same pair of headphones on each to take away speaker characteristics. i would use the old QSL SINPO deal (signal, interference, noise, propagation, and overall) and rate each station. then i would compare sound quality for each speaker.

then i would type up my results and send them to herculodge where he would list that between manly watch sightings and vegetarian food recipes.

anyhow, who has the standard objective radio testing methodology worked out? thanks

[Mike W]

Gary, Jeff, yes, the original CCR and the PR-D5 seem to be pretty much identical as MW receivers. Not coincidentally, both are Sangeans. The CCR-SW is more in the Redsun 2100/Grundig S350DL class, lesser MW performers.

KR, I have seen radiophile websites with lots of numbers, dynamic range, noise floors, radios hooked up to oscilloscopes, etc., but I am nowhere near that technical level myself.

Putting two radios side-by-side and tuning around in the evening, perhaps with a notepad to keep score with, should be sufficient to determine which receiver is better in practice, however. For close calls, I have found that headphones can help.

[herculodge]

Mike, does the S350DL have a 150mm or 200mm ferrite? Its AM, as you say, is less impressive than the the PR-D5 and CCR. Readers thus far have given me different ferrite numbers on the S350DL.

[Mike W]

I was pretty sure it was 150mm, Jeff, but can't find any proof of that on the web now.

[Mike W]

This review :

http://www.radiointel.com/preview-bcl2000p.htm

Includes a picture of an early model with the back cover off. The ferrite antenna is exactly 60% the length of the radio's total width. Since the total width is 272mm, that puts the antenna at less than 200mm. I do not think they changed the antenna for the others in the series.

[Mike W]

Sorry, make that 0.7 the length, which puts the antenna at 190mm. I must have still been sleepy.

[herculodge]

Mike, thanks. That's still smaller than the PR-D5s and I've never enjoyed the AM sound from the S350.

[kr]

yeah the honey moon with the sony is a little over. i still cant pick up 5070 out of nashville very well at night in the back bedroom of a brick house. going to buy a 1/8 mini-plug to 2 screws adapter and connect the dipole to it, but i dont think it will ever be super clear. i do like the look and feel of the sony, of course its not a speaker to rock out with, more like just listen to talk.