Jim schrieb:

Currently I have Sony 2010 receiver. Works great.
I'm planning to get a amateur radio. On my Sony,
I can barely hear anything in amateur radio bands.
Even when I upgraded the antenna, all it did was
to increase the noise.

Have you checked your 2010 is not affected by the blown FET (Q303)
issue?

So, my point is this:
Instead of spending $300+ on portable receiver,

(of which the choice isn't huge nowadays anyway)

just wait and then buy a amateur transceiver.
With every configurations being equal, ham radio
will surely outperform portable SW receivers.
You can even buy a used one for $300.

Am I right?

Mostly, yes. Transceivers don't suffer from the power restrictions
present in portables, thus mixers with much better strong signal
characteristics are possible. Ham gear is, however, traditionally
optimized for SSB use and may not use as good filtering and such for AM.
(It be noted that the same applies to several Icom receivers as well.)
Also, particularly older gear (20 years) may not have as good overload
rejection as more current models. Lastly, be sure to check the ifs and
buts of owning and operating ham gear if not licensed. (Be sure to check
the usual suspects among tabletop *receivers*.)

Stephan
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