First Radio
 

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

Laura

That's a good, you'll enjoy it. Yes the built in antenna will work well.
I used one in Egypt for years on the little antenna.

Burr

Laura M wrote:
Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

Laura

In article ,
(Laura M) wrote:

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

It is a good radio.

There is an internal ferrite bar as an AM antenna. It is directional
with signal nulls off the end of the radio.

The whip is used for short wave and FM. It is generally best to point it
up.

You can add 20 foot of wire for short wave reception and clip it to the
whip for short wave reception improvement or purchase an external Sony
loop antenna.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Hi Laura:
Yes, this is a very good choice for a first shortwave Radio.
Get a good pair of headphones; it'll help clarify the sound.

Also, get a copy of " Passport To Worlband radio" and / or " Monitoring Times"

to see whats on when.
Passport can be found at most Barnes & Nobles, " MT" at Huge newsstands ( or
online)
Most Shortwave comes in at night. With a 20 foot" Rand om Wire" antenna ,
you'll be able to pick up just about anything..
I routinly pick up Radio Australia & Radio New Zealand ( Propagation being good
)
off the whip of my SWR.. Here on the U.S East Coast.

Be aware that the SHortwave signal is bounced off the ionosphere; so imagine
sunlight bouncing off the ocean.
Sometimes it's mirror smooth, other times filled with Big Rolling, Swells,
other times stormy & choppy.
- SO the signal may be crystal clear, or subject to occasional fading, or
occasionally really not there for a while..

Still, it's nice to hear voices, music and opinions from Far away.
Theres something intriguing about it I haven't found anywhere else..

Dan




In article ,
(Laura M) writes:


Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

Laura

Laura, welcome to world (literally) of Shortwave Radio. Many things to
listen to, other countries, planes over the ocean, ships on the ocean, Ham
radio operators, and the list goes on. By all means, find and/or subscribe
to Monitoring Times. They have a section that is like a TV Guide to the
International Broadcast Bands (plus lots of other info). Quite helpful. Ask
questions here or in Yahoo groups. You'll find most of us willing to help.

Dan, I *loved* your explanation of the ionosphere. I've never seen it
explained quite that way before, but you made it so eloquent and simple.
I'll have to remember it.

Eric KA6USJ

Dan, I'm gonna plagerize your propogation description!(;{) It's truely
succinct! ... Laura, welcome to this wonderful yet sometimes wacky world of
shortwave! Enjoy!!! WA6020SWL

Why Thank You Eric !

In Ionospheric terms, It's been an Odd Winter; with The Music Shows on WBCQ on
weekends being blanked out; New York, and even Pittsburgh being in the " Skip
Zone"

but VOA from Botswana on the same frequency ( 7.415) coming in quite clearly.

A Very High Tide in the Ionosphere, slowly creeping up from the sandy Shoreline
and Flooding redwood sun decks well above normal high water .
One can free dive down to look at electronically Submerged Mercedes in the car
Port, I suppose.

Rush Hour Traffic / Weather reports from Aukland
(Mostly fair, Gales in the Southern Isle) and Hearing about the Latest in
Fiji enlighten my day.

Once, in the spring, Radio New Zealand was as clear as a local A.M Station;
- calm Flat seas, I suppose.

Dan



In article , "Eric Ferguson"
writes:

Subject: First Radio
From: "Eric Ferguson"
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 16:00:02 GMT

Laura, welcome to world (literally) of Shortwave Radio. Many things to
listen to, other countries, planes over the ocean, ships on the ocean, Ham
radio operators, and the list goes on. By all means, find and/or subscribe
to Monitoring Times. They have a section that is like a TV Guide to the
International Broadcast Bands (plus lots of other info). Quite helpful. Ask
questions here or in Yahoo groups. You'll find most of us willing to help.

Dan, I *loved* your explanation of the ionosphere. I've never seen it
explained quite that way before, but you made it so eloquent and simple.
I'll have to remember it.

Eric KA6USJ

"Laura M" wrote...
Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio.
[snip]

See your other identical thread.
Subject: Sony 7600GR
Sent: 2/04/2004 9:26 pm

Thanks for responding to my post. JUst wondering...I'm hoping for
clear am reception. Is this a problem? I've read that am reception
can be a problem on a shortwave radio.


Telamon wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Laura M) wrote:

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

It is a good radio.

There is an internal ferrite bar as an AM antenna. It is directional
with signal nulls off the end of the radio.

The whip is used for short wave and FM. It is generally best to point it
up.

You can add 20 foot of wire for short wave reception and clip it to the
whip for short wave reception improvement or purchase an external Sony
loop antenna.

Broadcast AM reception is the weakest feature on the SW7600GR. You're not
going to get the AM reception of a CCRadio+ with it, but it will be
light-years ahead of your typical clock radio.

However, if you want great AM reception "on the cheap," you should look into
a GE SuperRadio III (no shortwave -- but has been a standard for years), or
the Tecsun BCL-2000/Grundig S350 (analog tuning, digital readout in SW and
AM -- check the Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grundig-S350/ ).

Be warned. If you are anything like the rest of us in this newsgroup,
you're going to spend a LOT more on radios -- sooner than you think. This
is a really fun hobby.

-- Stinger

"Laura M" wrote in message
om...
Thanks for responding to my post. JUst wondering...I'm hoping for
clear am reception. Is this a problem? I've read that am reception
can be a problem on a shortwave radio.


Telamon wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Laura M) wrote:

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

It is a good radio.

There is an internal ferrite bar as an AM antenna. It is directional
with signal nulls off the end of the radio.

The whip is used for short wave and FM. It is generally best to point it
up.

You can add 20 foot of wire for short wave reception and clip it to the
whip for short wave reception improvement or purchase an external Sony
loop antenna.

In article ,
(Laura M) wrote:

Thanks for responding to my post. JUst wondering...I'm hoping for
clear am reception. Is this a problem? I've read that am reception
can be a problem on a shortwave radio.

Whether you get clear reception depends on several things like how good
propagation is at that moment or if the signal is beamed your way.
Propagation varies all the time sometimes a little other times a lot.
Different frequencies will propagate at different times of the day.
Usually lower frequencies (less than 10 MHz) are better at night and
higher frequencies are favored during the day. The entire path around
the earth has to be considered for the frequency carrying the circuit.
Usually this means the whole path from transmitting station to you
needs to be in light or dark.

It is not a problem but is more of a challenge than a 24-hour a day
local station.

Telamon wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Laura M) wrote:

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

It is a good radio.

There is an internal ferrite bar as an AM antenna. It is directional
with signal nulls off the end of the radio.

The whip is used for short wave and FM. It is generally best to point it
up.

You can add 20 foot of wire for short wave reception and clip it to the
whip for short wave reception improvement or purchase an external Sony
loop antenna.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Laura M wrote:

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

Laura

The effectiveness of the whip antenna will depend on the construction
materials in your house and the electrical noise level in the area. If
your home is regular wood frame construction with wood or vinyl siding
and a non-metal roof, the whip should perform reasonably well on
shortwave but don't expect it to catch the weaker stations.
You mentioned 'AM' so I'm not sure if you're actually referring to the
medium wave or 'MW' band which is approximately 530-1710-Khz in the US.
Shortwave is technically 'AM' too but higher in frequency than 'MW'. The
'7600-GR' has a seperate internal ferrite rod antenna for the 'MW' band.
The same reception conditions apply (above), except you have the benefit
of being able to rotate the radio for best reception on the 'MW' band.
As for a seperate antenna, the Sony AN-LP1 active loop antenna is made
specifically for the '7600-GR' and should work very well with it.
However it's getting hard to find. Maybe someone on this group knows
where you can find one.
Good luck.


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starman wrote:

Laura M wrote:

Hi all - I'm thinking of purchasing the Sony ICF-SW7600 as my first
shortwave radio. I've been reading some comments in the newsgroup
that lead me to believe this might be a good radio to start with, to
see if I enjoy SW.

I'm curious about the whip antenna. Will this be sufficient to
receive quality AM station reception at night? If not, is there an
antenna I can purchase that is small and is easily set up and put
away? The SW radio will be in our guest room and I need something
easily removed when company comes over.

Any info would be so helpful and appreciated!

Laura



Hi Laura:


As another poster pointed out, the whip antenna likely has nothing to
do with the AM (540 - 1700) reception. That is the function of the
internal ferrite bar antenna.

I have no personal experience with that radio. But I can tell you
that Sony builds a better AM receiver/antenna section into their radios
than a lot of other manufacturers.

Late in the evening - especially in the wintertime - you may be
astonished by the stations you can recieve (not that a better MW
receiver and antenna couldn't do better, of course). How to improve
your odds? If you are in a wood frame home - good! If you can listen
from the second, or even better third floor (if your home is built as
such) better yet! If you live out in the country - still better!
Few people have all these things going for them, but you get the idea.
Another thing you might want to consider is a device called
"Select-A-Tenna" (look it up with Google - lots of places sell it). It
is about $50.00. It is totally passive: No wires, no AC plug-in, no
batteries. You set it near your radio (at a right angle to the top of
your radio, using a ferrite bar) and "tune" it to the appoximate
frequency you are listening to. It is a minor - but notable - help at
night, but it is a godsend in the daytime. Daytime use of the
Select-A-Tenna can give amazing results.

Another very cheap (couple of bucks) investment is a plastic Lazy
Susan big enough to put your radio on. This allows you to rotate your
radio smoothly over fractions of an arc - to find the best sweet spot
for the station you are trying to pull in. With a ferrite bar, you will
not have to rotate the radio more than 90 degrees either way. With a
ferrite bar antenna, rotating the radio 180 degrees brings you abck to
where you started - get the picture?


I also strongly recommend a FREE program called "Radio Listeners Data
Base"
which is available at this URL. It's the first item listed:

http://www.fineware-swl.com/


This is primarily for SW, but also has the WHAM logs, a fairly
complete database for MW (AM) listening, too. A great help - just
remember it isn't always right, either.

Hope this was some help.

Best,

Tony


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