aristotle schrieb:

I am new to short wave radio and would like to know what is the
difference in buying a Sony 2010 radio for around $500 as compared to
an AOR AR-7030+ for $1600. Money is not the object, listening ability
is. I am hooked on listening to talk radio and thoroughly enjoy
learning about world events.

First off, these are very different rigs in many regards. The Sony is a
portable in the sense of having antennas of its own and being battery
operated if necessary, even though it's a bit large by today's
standards. (Look at the tiny ICF-SW07 for comparison, or a "7600" class
receiver.) It also can be considered rather user friendly with many
separate controls. It's not really suited for *big* antennas, the static
discharges may kill a front-end FET particularly in older models. Its
synch detector is pretty good but a bit clumsy to operate by today's
standards; 100 Hz steps are not ideal for SSB reception. The AOR is more
than 10 years newer (remember the '2010 was introduced in 1985!) and,
while being small enough to be lugged around, is the kind of rig that
needs a decent outdoor antenna (and can take one even in areas with high
signal levels) - or rather at least two, one for shortwave and a MW loop
- and is therefore more suited for a fixed position in the shack. The
operation with few buttons on the receiver itself and many uniform ones
on the remote control (really not ideal for night-time listening, they
all feel the same) may not suit everyone. When purchasing the AOR, I'd
recommend the PLUS version which comes with a very good 4 kHz filter and
an optical encoder. In the US, a Drake R8B might be a better deal
currently, it's also closer to a traditional "one button, one function"
concept. The strengths of the AOR are its flexibility in terms of IF
filter upgrades (with the optional filter board and a sufficient amount
of ca$h you can install a filter park for virtually any situation), its
excellent strong signal handling and the excellent synchronous detector
which is very low in distortion (along with an AF stage of similarly
high quality). It's just too bad I found out this kind of rig doesn't
fit my usage pattern *after* purchasing one. (You can't put it next to
your pillow and drag it anywhere, operation in the dark - or by blind
people, for that matter - is rather limited, also I missed tuning in 5
kHz steps for broadcast stations.)

If you're new to all this, I would not recommend getting something as
specialized as a tabletop as first receiver, instead a relatively
well-performing and user-friendly portable (possible coupled with some
kind of external speaker if sound is not too exciting on the built-in
one, good phones are virtually a must in any case) should be a better
choice. It's important to learn about the pitfalls of shortwave
reception to appreciate the virtues of better receivers. The 2010 should
be a pretty good starter's rig if money is no object (it's just that
they've been out of production for a while, but getting it sold again at
a good price should not be a big problem if you decide to upgrade to
something better), it's still considered a good portable broadcast DX
rig today. For a tabletop setup with optimum listening quality (again,
with money being no object), I'd suggest an AR7030 or comparable rx with
455 kHz IF out (on MW loop plus some outdoor SW antenna) coupled with a
Sherwood SE-3 Mk III synch detector (AFAIK, the best money can buy) and
a hi-fi amp and speakers. BTW, I'd gather every kind of information
about SWLing, receivers and antennas before actually buying stuff.

Stephan
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