Will wrote:
Are there ANY portable radios currently being made in Japan?
I thought that the only SW radios still actually made there are the
JRC models at many kilodollars each, and perhaps the actual
manufacturing of those has been shifted offshore, too.

Dear Will,

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR is made in Japan and to a very high construction
standard too, not even to mention its excellent performance for a small
portable shortwave receiver. It's an excellent value, too, especially
when on sale for under $130.

Re a coming Chinese-made radio: Could this have been the
Degen 1106, the design of which actually was sold and eventually
came on the market as the Eton E5?

Or are we talking about a tabletop set equivalent to a Watkins-Johnson
or high-end JRC or the big Ten-Tec?

The original thread was about a proposed Degen Model 1108. The writer
asked for people to comment on features desired for such a radio. I
believe the designers are considering a radio along the lines of the
Grundig Satellit 800 or Eton E1, but of much higher performance
quality, along the lines of a tabletop.

There is a Yahoo! group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/de1108/
about this radio which you may want to join.

Actually, I would think that the Chinese military might have a local
contractor making something like that for them, and there isn't any
real reason that such a radio couldn't be offered on the world market.
Any Chinese company certainly now has the incentive to try to expand
their market for any product that's not classified. I wonder if
anything
like that shows up at the Asian trade fairs for military goods,
aircraft,
etc.?

Will

At least one Chinese-made radio is very good and well-made, at least in
my opinion and experience, and that is the dual-conversion Sony
ICF-SW35, the only Sony-brand shortwave receiver manufactured in China.
It's a bit short on features (most notably the lack of a keypad), but
offers very good performance, especially at its price of under $90, and
its construction quality and ruggedness is second to none. I own two
and both are kept in the glove compartments of my cars - winter and
summer - with the batteries removed. When I re-install the batteries,
the memories are still there and all I have to reset is the clock. The
radios are now over four years old and they always work perfectly.

Best,

Joe