Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception, plus External Plug-in Antenna
by Sony
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception, plus External Plug-in Antenna
Customer Review: Excellent radio, especially if you also get the accessory antenna
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had mine for a couple of years now, so I have had ample time to play with it and sort through it's idiosyncrasies. So this review is a bit late in the offing.
I don't know how Sony managed to stuff so many features into such a small package. Well, I do know because the thing must weigh 10 pounds (not really). Seriously though, I have diving weights that are lighter than this radio, it is a real brick. If it becomes necessary to do so, you can wield the thing as a bludgeon, like the old Nikon cameras from the 60's and 70's. So be careful not to drop it on your foot unless you are wearing steel-toes.
The synchronous selectable sideband feature is GREAT. It actually works and locks on to "iffy" signals very solidly, something radios costing 10x+ as much as the Sony still cannot get right. And the single sideband also works fairly well, even if the trimmer pot is a bit touchy, at least on my radio. And 100 presets are nice, although I can never remember what they are since you cannot put any kind of alphanumeric information along with the preset frequency.
OK, things to complain about. MW frequencies stop at 1620 kHz (oops). And it is not possible to do a full-spectrum scan without switching bands. And even then you miss the stuff between the bands unless you know the "trick" to make it scan between bands. Compared to my other radios it EATS batteries at a pretty good rate. And there is no really good AC power supply available for the thing which is guaranteed not to hum. There should be some sort of indication on the display that the antenna attenuator is "On", that has caused me grief on occasion. And the controls on the sides are damned crowded, but that is only because there are so many features crammed into such a small package. And to get REALLY good SW reception you need to get one of the accessory AN-LP1 active antennas, which are no longer available in the US (oops again). I got mine from a fellow in Japan off of EBay for a very reasonable price (<$100 new in box) with unbelievably fast shipment via EMS, the Japanese post office. The antenna actually shipped faster than the radio, and the radio came from one state away, not halfway around the world.
But in spite of these minor shortcomings, which are really just annoying idiosyncrasies and not actual faults in the equipment, I give it a good solid 5 stars. You will not find a radio that does as much as well as this one for less than 2-3 times the price.
Customer Review: reliable full-featured radio: a modern classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This radio has been a trusty old friend for the past several years. I bought it several years ago when I wanted to start trying out shortwave radio, especially when camping and hiking in remote areas.
Since then, I've purchased numerous new toys like iPods, a satellite radio, and a couple table-top radios. But I always find myself coming back to using the old, reliable 7600gr.
The great thing about this radio is its versatility. In a day and age when electronic gadgets skimp on seemingly unimportant details, this radio has it all.
The line out is perfect for connecting it to a speaker system, filling my office with great sounding music.
The attenuator is great for using the radio in interference-riddled environments like offices. It also helps tremendously in focusing on weak stations that may be overpowered by stronger signals.
The headphone output on this radio is phenomenal. I never really appreciated it until I tried using headphones on cheaper radios. Very full sound, clear with music or talk radio. Try using good full-sized headphones like the Grado sr80's. With top quality FM stations, you can hear deep bass, clear mids, and crisp highs.
The Standby memory function makes this radio a great travel alarm clock.
Shortwave reception has been great for me. I've been able to find lots of interesting stations from around the world.
Presets are easy to use once you get the hang of it.
Batteries last a ridiculously long time.
Rugged and reliable. I've camped, hiked, cycled, and ran with this radio, and traveled to Mexico and numerous other places with it. It's been through harsh Canada winters, humid tropical weather, and the occasional rain shower. It still works great. In the same time, two iPods have broken, my first satellite radio broke. But the 7600gr keeps on ticking.
This radio is versatile. Use it as a desktop radio, a travel alarm clock, and remote-location shortwave radio. The only thing it doesn't do well is serve as a pocket radio: It's just too big fit in a pocket. Carry it in a shoulder bag or backpack, and you've got great sounding portable radio.
If you can get your hands on one of these, get it. It's a classic radio that Sony probably won't ever replicate.
Customer Review: As far as I can tell, it's the perfect starter radio
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm very new to the world of shortwave (2 days now). I came across a thread on a messageboard describing the "Conet Project" which is basically a CD collection of various "numbers stations" that have been collected through listening to shortwave radio. These audio loggings intrigued me greatly, and I decided that I wanted to enter the world of shortwave.
So what to do? I have no friends who know what shortwave is, much less what radio to buy. I took a trip to my local Radio Shack and was not impressed with their selection. I did a lot of research online and pretty well figured out that this radio is universally hailed as a great portable and an excellent starter radio. I ordered the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, used super saver shipping, and got it on Monday after Thanksgiving (Thanks Amazon!). I've been using this bad boy ever since and let me tell you, I have been completely overwhelmed at what I could pick up with this thing. I've received HAM radio communcations, BBC with excellent clarity, FM stations that I normally cannot pick up here, AM stations from my hometown that are weak, and quite a few of these treasured "numbers stations" that got me so interested in the first place.
I'll be honest, I haven't tested another radio, so I have little to compare to. But this radio exceeded my expectations for 128 dollars and change. It's very well constructed, and comes with a nifty carrying case and a spool type antenna. Receptiion with the included antenna is nothing short of awesome.
The only downside I can find is the fact that no AC adapter was included. Why Sony would not include something like this is beyond me, but I'm not going to complain a lot. I've read that AC adapters can cause unwanted interference, especially the one that this radio uses.
I don't know how I can wrap this up other than saying that I'm new to shortwave, I find it very interesting, and this radio pleases me greatly. Unless you want to spend a lot more money, this will be your best bet.
Customer Review: SONY ICF-SW7600GR
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the radio just before leaving the USA to explore Honduras for several months. My observations regarding the radio's performance are from this journey.
SENSITIVITY:
Rural reception; very quiet man-made RF overload environments will challenge the external antenna possibilities, especially, when atmospheric noise contributions are very low.
Urban reception; very high RF overload environments (Tegucigalpa and even some locations here in La Esperanza, Honduras) reception of weak signals is
impossible. The attenuation control for the antenna input level is very useful if using the scanning mode; especially when local AM, FM, and TV stations plus other RF sources are producing RF overloading. Good sensitivity is demonstrated by the harmonics that are received form nearby TV receiver horizontal sweep oscillators (15,750 Hz).
SELECTIVITY: By compromising signal strength, ie. tuning, and beat frequency oscillator factors when using single side band modes to reduce adjacent frequency interference for AM signal reception; selectivity is adequate and improved.
ERGONOMICS: Multiple use functions for some buttons increases the learning curve, especially in the dark. Separation of the number selection buttons from the other multi-function buttons would be an improvement.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The receiver dead battery indication is accurate. My test for this was to remove the batteries from the radio after the dead battery indication appeared and inserting them in a bicycle incandescent lamp to check for any remaining power. In complete darkness no light could be detected. In a LED lamp the batteries would produce light. When I experimented with batteries from the bike lamp which was indicating weak batteries, and inserted them into the radio, I was able to listen on the
residual energy for a fair length of time.
OVERALL: A good mix of performance characteristics for the price.
Customer Review: Best Value In a Portable Shortwave
Summary: 5 Stars
As a former amateur radio operator for many years, and lifelong SWL, I have high expectations for radios. This radio satisfies them far better than any SW portable I've ever seen at this price.
Sensitivity is excellent. I just took the Sony out camping. Even here on the West Coast, where we do not get the strength of SW signals as many other places, the SW spectrum was full of stations coming in loud and clear. I plugged a 20 foot external antenna into the external antenna jack and wow, even more.
Selectivity is excellent, for this price: while you do get some interference (a little) from very strong adjacent stations 10khz away on MW and 5khz away on SW, it is less than on almost all other portables. Only a good tabletop with an optional filter will do better, and that is 7-10x the price...
Reception options work well. The SSB detector is stable enough for excellent reception and can also be used for ECSS (exalted carrier selectable sideband) on SW. The synchronous detector does work, with selectable sideband--synchronous detection can be subtle (so some may not notice) but a functional, useful and impressive addition to a radio at this price.
The only complaint: lack of a tuning knob. In the best of all possible worlds, I wish it had one, but the tuning options work so well you don't really need it. Scan works wonderfully well, and if you've got noise or strong adjacent channel interference you can turn on the adjustable attenuator and compensate so the scan will give you only good stations. The 1khz continuous tuning (with output) allows you to scan the spectrum up or down almost as well as with that tuning knob.
Some reviews complain about the audio, but I've owned 7-8 SW portables and really, it is not bad at all. Louder and better tone quality than most.
Well built with obvious quality. Overall, best value in any SW portable anywhere. Buy.