Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first portable to jump in and get my feet wet. On top
of world band I'd like to try to search out some pirate/clandestine
stations. I am thinking of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. I realize this isn't
high-end, but I don't know enough yet to spend more. I'd like a Drake R8B,
but it ain't in the cards yet...

I guess I'm wondering how effective this radio will be for listening to
pirates. I live in NYC on the top floor of a five story building and would
be able to rig some sort of antenna on the roof. Or maybe get the Sony
AN-LP1...

Would this be a good starter radio? Any suggestions for an antenna? Any
other recommendations for the uninitiated?

Thanks!

Jon

Jon wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first portable to jump in and get my feet wet. On top
of world band I'd like to try to search out some pirate/clandestine
stations. I am thinking of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. I realize this isn't
high-end, but I don't know enough yet to spend more. I'd like a Drake R8B,
but it ain't in the cards yet...

I guess I'm wondering how effective this radio will be for listening to
pirates. I live in NYC on the top floor of a five story building and would
be able to rig some sort of antenna on the roof. Or maybe get the Sony
AN-LP1...

Would this be a good starter radio? Any suggestions for an antenna? Any
other recommendations for the uninitiated?

Thanks!

Jon

The 7600GR is one of the better portables, particularly the sensitivity.
It should receive some of the pirates if you have a decent outside
antenna. Try a basic inverted-L antenna on the roof for a start. It
doesn't have to be really long. 30-40/ft would be fine for the
horizontal section and another 20-30/ft for the downlead to your radio.
Living in NYC, you may find the biggest problem is electrical noise but
that's another topic.


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HI Jon:

a 7600 and an external antenna would be fine for NYC...
use a co-ax lead in if possible...cuts down somewhat on electrical noise..

- lightning is a consideration so unhook it when not in use
whth that setup, You should be able to pick up all sorts of stuff

Dan



In article , Jon
writes:



I'm looking to buy my first portable to jump in and get my feet wet. On top
of world band I'd like to try to search out some pirate/clandestine
stations. I am thinking of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. I realize this isn't
high-end, but I don't know enough yet to spend more. I'd like a Drake R8B,
but it ain't in the cards yet...

I guess I'm wondering how effective this radio will be for listening to
pirates. I live in NYC on the top floor of a five story building and would
be able to rig some sort of antenna on the roof. Or maybe get the Sony
AN-LP1...

Would this be a good starter radio? Any suggestions for an antenna? Any
other recommendations for the uninitiated?

Thanks!

Jon

Jon schrieb:

Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first portable to jump in and get my feet wet. On top
of world band I'd like to try to search out some pirate/clandestine
stations. I am thinking of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. I realize this isn't
high-end, but I don't know enough yet to spend more.

It's doubtlessly a very good choice for an entry level receiver. The
predecessor was my first SWL rig, and in fact it still gets some use
today (with 4 2200 mAh NiMH cells; 8 of those and a reasonably fast NiMH
charger are a worthwile investment). Outside Europe, it's certainly not
a bad idea to use the clip-on wire antenna AN-71 that it ships with, are
even a real antenna. Another add-on that is virtually a must for an SWL
is a pair of good headphones, preferably with not too high an impedance.
Open or half-open ones are preferred.

I'd like a Drake R8B, but it ain't in the cards yet...

Oh, those "big" rigs are not always as much better as you might think. I
did an A/B comparison between an 7600G and an AOR AR7030+ on the same
antenna construction (basically, an AN-71) recently (that was on 4965
kHz on the 60 meters band), and while the AOR undoubtably won when
maxing out its features, the same station wasn't inaudible on the Sony.
It came in a bit weaker and quite a bit more muddled and I had to use
SSB in LSB because of interference (the AOR was able to use its Synch
with the 2 kHz filter and PBS turned down ~1 kHz), but I wouldn't call
that worlds of difference. Of course the difference would be a whole lot
more noticeable if the Sony ran into one of its weak points or the AOR
got a decent antenna. All in all, the listener is quite a big part of
the equation, and people have caught some good DX even with receivers
that weren't top class at all. (A number of years back, I was very
excited to hear Papua New Guinea on my 7600G; the audio quality was
barely good enough to ID the station and apparently reception of the
station had also been exceptionally good elswhere, but hey.)

I guess I'm wondering how effective this radio will be for listening to
pirates. I live in NYC on the top floor of a five story building and would
be able to rig some sort of antenna on the roof.

I'd experiment with hanging part of the AN-71 out of the window first;
with an antenna on top of the roof you'd have to think about lightning
protection. In addition to that, a "real antenna" (dipole or whatnot)
would pretty much require a balun and some coax cable as well as some
knowledge in soldering (you'd have to attach a 3.5 mm mono headphone
plug at the end of the cable to fit the receiver's EXT ANT input). In
Central Europe an antenna tuner or preselector is pretty much required
to avoid overloading the receiver on a big antenna.

Or maybe get the Sony AN-LP1...

If you can find one, that is - it seems to be in very short supply. From
what I've heard it works very well with good S/N and directionality.

Would this be a good starter radio?

Most certainly, yes. One can learn basically everything needed to get
started in the hobby with it (OK, some literature is also recommended) -
propagation changes, how to use a synch detector, how to use SSB, etc.

Any suggestions for an antenna? Any
other recommendations for the uninitiated?

Don't bother with the Sony power supply, a cheap unregulated universal
one will do. Overall reception is a bit better with batteries, the 7600G
at least tended to produce hum on strong stations which can really drive
you nuts.

Stephan
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Jon,

The Sony ICF-SW7600GR is a good 'portable' radio to start with and
learn on for a long period of time. (With some 'other' lesser
portable SW radios you would soon grow beyond their limits.) For the
price of the Sangean ATS-909 you could get both the Sony ICF-SW7600GR
and the AN-LP1 SW Active Antenna.
GoTo= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/7600GR/
GoTo= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/7600group/

The other highly rated 'portable' SW radio that is available in the
'used' market (its out of production) is the Sony ICF-2010.
GoTo= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icf2010/

If you are not fixed on the idea of a 'portable' SW radio. Then you
may wish to consider any of several 'used' table top SW radios: Yaesu,
Icom, Drake, JRC, ETC. (That fit into your budget.)

If you are on the Top Floor of this Five Story Building in NYC. You
should consider an 'external' OutSide Antenna like the SkyWire 'type'
Horizontal Loop Antenna on the Roof. For the available space the
SkyWire Loop Antenna will create a 'larger signal aperture' and
'longer antenna' than a simple random wire; and provide more
consistant signal levels and lower noise levels. Use the whole
perimeter of the Roof to route a Single Wire Loop around it and feed
this via a Matching Transformer into a Coax Cable to your radio.
GoTo= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SkyWires/


iane ~ RHF
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..
= = = Jon
= = = wrote in message ...
Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first portable to jump in and get my feet wet. On top
of world band I'd like to try to search out some pirate/clandestine
stations. I am thinking of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR. I realize this isn't
high-end, but I don't know enough yet to spend more. I'd like a Drake R8B,
but it ain't in the cards yet...

I guess I'm wondering how effective this radio will be for listening to
pirates. I live in NYC on the top floor of a five story building and would
be able to rig some sort of antenna on the roof. Or maybe get the Sony
AN-LP1...

Would this be a good starter radio? Any suggestions for an antenna? Any
other recommendations for the uninitiated?

Thanks!

Jon


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