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My Radio Shack clock radio, Tivoli Audio, and any car radio have better reception. The Sony ICF-SW7600GR I purchased from Amazon is a huge disappointment. This is my first negative review on Amazon. Using the SW capabilities are hindered by a user interface that is clumsy and non-intuitive, as others have pointed out. I could not believe how bad the FM reception is. Only a few stations come in clear, others have interference from nearby stations, or can only be heard if the radio and antenna are held in a specific direction. The time is not displayed while the radio is on, unless "enter" is pressed, alarms are called "standby", the display is too simple and only readable from certain angles, and the many buttons on the side panel are flimsy and poorly labeled. I will return the radio and get one of the Grundig radios, as recommended by other reviewers.
Couldn't tune in anything but a few local FM stations. Perhaps my unit is defective as I read many good reviews before buying it. Huge disappointment.
Having acquired several other SW radios for my collection over the last year or so, all Grundigs (G8, G6, G3, Satellit 800), the first thing I noticed about the Sony is the quality of the construction. The reception is outstanding on all bands and the sound quality is very good as well.I'm not sure how long ago the 7600GR debuted, but its design feels pretty dated now. This thing feels solid as a rock in my hands, the weight is just right, button presses are solid and not flimsy, it's just in a higher class than the Grundig radios. The sync detector on the Sony is best in class, as all the other reviews have pointed out. The LCD display is bare bones, the switches along the side could be more user-friendly if they were front-facing buttons. What I'd love to see is a completely modern version of the legendary Sony ICF-2010, which this unit really is not meant to be, but it's as close as we'll probably ever get from Sony.Overall, a great shortwave radio.
The digital display is invisible when looking down on the radio from above. The problem is that the adjustment or rotation range is about plus and minus 5 KHz which is very course. When the antenna is fully extended, this translates to a 4 to 6 inch left-right thrashing. The first thing you notice is that the whip antenna is not securely attached to the radio and moves around loosely within the plastic radio housing. With just a little more common sense and effort, this radio could have been great. You wouldn't want it on your night stand in the dark as the dial light is very dim and useless. To hit the correct beat note, there is a thumb wheel on the side of the radio that provides a frequency offset. But the main disappointment is the tuning scheme used in the SSB mode.
The range of the thumb wheel should have been plus or minus 1 KHz rather than 5 KHz. The radio must be tilted back or you must look at the display from below for the digits to appear. However, I found it to be a huge disappointment. This makes fine adjustment of the LSB or USB pitch very difficult. This would be for example when the radio is on a table or night stand and you are in the seated position. The radio has a multitude of slide switches which are notorious for going open or intermittent. All in all, the radio is just awkward to use. Put your money into something with better engineering such as the AOR.
Many reviews downgrade this radio for sound quality and if it was bought for music I can see why. It's much heavier than I though it would be but then again it's NOT a pocket radio. This radio is intended for voice and not music so it excels at doing just that. My Sony was delivered today so I took time to check out it's features against all the hype about this radio. Being as heavy as this radio is I don't see it as a walkabout radio just moved from place to place which I think is the proper way to use this radio. This radio is a hunk of shortwave power on the go.
I added it to my small collection of Shortwave radios after trying others that just didn't meet my needs due to their small size.
But Sony designed this radio for shortwave use so the sound quality for that is just fine.
On this radio the antenna is very long when fully extended and really gives the joint a real workout if you're holding it.
All I can say is WOW.
For the travel I do this radio will always go along so I can keep up on my Shortwave listen and news outside of the U.S.I do have one concern that I'll have to be careful of.The antenna mount.
I like the tone set to "news" since it even improves what music I listen to.
It takes awhile to read the manual (and you DO need the manual) but once that is done this radio is a winner for the shortwave listener like me.
I wrap my index finger of my left hand around the antenna base to support it if I'm holding it and that helps a lot.
On Balance I see this radio as 4.9 out of 5 with antenna weakness being that missing.1
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