wrote:

I just bought a Sony ICF-SW7600GR and it should arrive this week.

I live inside city limits in Lexington, KY where I don't have the ability
to string antennas.

Consequently, I am looking at buying an active antenna for this unit.

Any suggestions where to begin?

What no-one has mentioned up to now is the sort of problems you might
be facing, and how various solutions deal with them.

Here are some (simplified) facts:

[ ] Radio signals are electromagnetic waves

[ ] Electromagnetic waves have electric and magnetic components

[ ] A whip or wire antenna picks up the electric part of the signal

[ ] A loop antenna picks up the magnetic part of the signal

[ ] The local man-made radio background consists of electric noise

[ ] Signal-to-noise ratio is everything

What you can draw from this is that, if you have an electrically-noisy
environment, the loop antenna can help. It will receive less noise. It
can't help with 'atmospheric' noise, and neither can a whip or wire.

You can mount a loop antenna in a window, as you can a wire antenna,
and you can place your receiver there and extend the whip. With wires
and loops you can have them in the window, and have a 'lead-in' to
your radio.

You can do this very cheaply: You'll need an antenna jack plug for
your radio. Measure the length around the perimeter of your window
frame, and add say 15 feet. Get some single flexible insulated cable
of this length - it isn't critical. It could be 'earthing cable' or
whatever you have to hand. Tape the cable around the perimeter of your
window, so that the two 'tails' from each end are about the same
length. Twist the tails together. Remove the insulation from each end
for about 1/4", and connect one to the antenna connector connector
inner, and one to the outer. You can feed the wire through the holes
and twist them in place. Make sure they don't short or you won't get
any signal! You can now happily try receiving signals with the radio's
whip, and with your loop antenna. It won't cost much at all.

It won't be pretty, either, but it'll get you started.

Why is the window important? It probably furthest away from the
electrical noise, and nearest the radio signals, which can be severely
reduced by any metal frame of the building.

This is a great hobby. Enjoy it!