A big thank you to everyone that responded to my questions. It is much
appreciated and was very helpful !

Nicolas Boretos wrote:
radiolove wrote:
Ok I have question for anyone that can help. I'm looking for a
Sony
2010 and I'd like to know why there is such an importance placed on
the
serial numbers for this unit. Is there a better range of numbers
to
look for? Some people say a lower number is better then a higher
one.
What about a number like 366000 something like that. Could someone
shed some light on this and explain why it's so important. What do
you
recommend?


Hi,

AFAIU, the serial number thing was/is mostly a concern as to whether
the
unit has diode protection when using an external ariel. The front
end
of this unit is quite sensitive and has been known to blow the first
fet, Q303, from static discharges. The (very)early units did not have

these diodes installed from the factory, while later ones did....

The fet is getting a bit tough to source easily...but they are still
around... and there are other fets that can be used.

Additionally, it is said that later models use more smt than the
earlier
ones. I cannot confirm/refute this....

I also do not know whether there is a direct connection between sn
and
the model type. Some 2001d's either came w/o air band, 26Mhz max, and
a
gap in the bands somewhere...But this is easy to determine...

As someone else said, there's a yahoo group on this radio...

hope this helps...

regards,
nikos