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Reviews For: Sony World Band Receiver ICF-SW7600GR

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Sony World Band Receiver ICF-SW7600GR
Reviews: 78MSRP: $180
Description:
Portable shortwave receiver.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00784.3
NAVYVET Rating: 2003-12-11
Great Radio and Great Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Sony ICF SW7600GR certainly lives up to its SW community reputation. I used the reviews here at eHam and Radio Netherland's in-depth, 5 Star rating and review, (http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/icf-sw7600gr.html). I saw none of the negatives noted by some others, especially with the sound quality. My unit is a recent model, with a serial number in excess of 102000 and found the sound very clear and easy to listen to and understand. It was good enough that I have not even tried earphones.

The lack of a tuning knob wasn't a problem…the up/down/auto scan/direct entry tuning modes are very easy and precise.

The 10 storage pages for the 100 pre sets, were easy to master after a few practice entries and made retrieval of your popular stations a snap.

For those that measure a radio's features, in part, by the number of buttons, switches, etc., the 7600GR will satisfy the most demanding button pusher...this compact unit boasts almost 40 control devices...in a radio the size of a large paperback book. Yet, all are easy to access, use and have a solid feel, especially the slider switches. Another great feature not often mentioned, is that the left half of the radio's front panel is metal, not plastic...this helps add to the heft and solid feel.

I did have one early problem with this unit and it was the failure of all things…the telescoping antenna! I believe this failure was a rarity, since this antenna style has been around for decades and the design is not rocket science. It was the first failure of its type I have ever seen. Specifically, the 1 and 3/4" antenna base that is inserted into the back of the radio, would not swivel. It would go up and down, as would the segments, but the one-piece section inside the base would not turn. When I realized that it would break the back of the radio cabinet if I continued to force it...I removed the antenna base external set screw and lifted out the entire unit.

Even though I used some WD-40, I still had to use a pair of pliers to hold it. While I did finally get it to turn, the bottom segment got very hot from the friction and then the one-piece brass, internal connecting pin snapped off. (It's not often you get to look into how these things are put together.) After some study, my guess is that either the bottom segment...the one that has the flat brass piece that receives the set screw...was under sized...or the segment that was inserted, was oversized. It was the heat generated from just the simple, but forced turning, that pointed me in that direction.

So then, I have a great radio that only picks up the local AM band, since the antenna is used for FM, LW and the other world bands. While SONY radio products are legend, their Customer Service is not! After 90 minutes of calls to Sony USA's CS Dept., then to their warranty claims dept., then to their parts dept., then back again to the warranty dept...to finally be told the dreaded words…that a replacement antenna was on ..."BACK ORDER!" (Hummm...could it be SONY had a bad run of these antennae on the 7600GR?)

I gave up dealing with SONY's government style bureaucracy and went back to the selling dealer I had finally found that had the 7600GR in stock...ABT Electronics, Glenview, IL. (Both Universal Radio and Sony were out of stock.) What a difference, however, at ABT...an email was promptly sent, telling me that a UPS call tag was on its way and that a new replacement radio was being held til my returned unit was received…within 48 hours, UPS had arrived for pick up.

So, despite the antenna failure that I view as a fluke, the radio and its many features cannot be beat for the armchair SW listener. The 7600GR provides a lot of fun, education and enjoyment…add the great value you get for the money...as a bonus.

Enjoy!

John Ferguson
PM79 Rating: 2003-06-02
good pre-DRM radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased this radio at 129.99 £, so I paid rather a lot for a small portable receiver.

I have also an old ITT Golf 320 shortwave radio, which doesnt work well because it wasnt treated appropriately when I was a child. I use also a cheap Grundig YachtBoy 217.

When it comes to shortwave and FM performance in terms of sensitivity the Sony performs the same with the two other receivers. In terms of fine tuning in the shortwave band I can say that the ITT Golf 320, despite its malfunctions, performs better than the SOny in selecting medium and weak- signal stations.

In fact I prefer browsing the SW frequencies with the analog knob and after finding a frequency I tune to the Sony to make a comparison. Some very weak and noisy stations could be pulled out of the Sony, like for example Radio Polonia at 9525 Mhz, only of course when propagation conditions werent favouring the frequency. Synchronous detection doesnt really benefit the Sony radio, since when there's interference from another station eg at 6055 Mhz, instead of using the synchronous detector, you have just to fine tune around 6054-6052 or 6056-6058 and interference is reduced.

connecting an external wire at the whip antenna brings some boost. Unfortunately the other radios are to weak to use the long wire.

I'm dissapointed by the memory function. There should be a separate bank for MW, LW and FM positions and not all piled up together. It would also help if all frequencies were numerically listed, from the shortest to the longest, instead of having to do all this manually. the memory banks are so messed up that I hardly use this function.

in the MW and LW the Sony might be its money worth. I live in London and theres a lot of electrical interference here. cheap unfiltered DC adaptors increase the noise in some SW frequencies. So its difficult to hear without noise. But in less noisy places the radio performs wonders especially at night.

at daytime foreign MW stations could be heard with 40-60 % stronger signal than the Grundig. The ITT Golf had problems in MW and LW, mainly because of internal damage. In London I could hear many stations from Benelux, France and Spain, even during day while in Greece I could hear stations from all over the Balkans, especially at night.

I listen to radio just for music, sports and news. I'm not deep into SSB, CW and DX. I could have bought a cheaper radio like the ATS-9921 or the Grundig YP-400 or Porsche or any second hand radio. But if the future doesnt cease FM, SW, MW and LW I intend to keep it as long as possible
NRS250 Rating: 2003-04-30
Sony SW7600GR Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had this radio for about 9 months. I love it. It has excellent sensitivity is easier to use that some reviews suggest. I wish that they had included a station ID option like the SONY SW77 but I guess you have to fork over another $300.oo for that. All in al I am very happy with this receiver.
8HHAGGIS Rating: 2003-03-07
Ergonomic Nightmare with Very Good RF Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
In a nutshell, the Sony ICF-SW7600GR is is a daunting device that requires focus, effort, and skill to operate effectively. It is not, in my judgment, a "friendly" radio for casual SWL'ing, even for the advanced user. In fact, in some ways it is more suited to the needs of utility radio loggers or BCB DX'ers than SWL'ers. The RF performance is nearly equal to a very good tabletop set, though, so a dedicated and determined user may be able to snag weak and problematic signals that other comparable radios miss or cannot render intelligible.

The 7600GR has all the earmarks of a radio "designed in a vacuum" by engineers who have not had any input from typical users. There is no hint in its ergonomics of any intent to make it easy and convenient for the regular listeners to any specific band. The small, low-contrast LCD does not show that one is tuned to any specific band and has a minimum of indicating information at any one time: essentially, just the frequency, the memory number (and Page no. of the memory locations), and a "TUNE" indicator that flashes on strong signals (no S-meter indication.) The clock is suppressed during radio operations unless one presses a key for it, replacing the regular display. This is typical of many other radios and is a needless inconvenience. Setting the clock is difficult and requires many steps of operation, with manual in hand: one is not likely to remember the process later.

CUMBERSOME TUNING & MEMORY SETTINGS

Paged memory (with 100 settings) is cumbersome though one can set up memory locations in specific 'zones' that way (if one can remember what they meant; I cannot, and require a handwritten crib sheet.) In this era of flexible and informative PDA's it is sad that this spartan memory functionality resembles the complexities of the earliest programmable calculators of the 1970's. Setting memory cells requires two hands to press simultaneously buttons that are well separated physically, and are labelled with low contrast, tiny print. Users with eyeglasses are likely to be at sea unless operating it "by the Braile method", as it were.

One cannot simply turn this unit on and scan around the SW bands for stations. There are two speeds/modes of scanning: pressing one rocker causes a continous slow scan of about 10 kHz per second in either direction; the other set of two rockers give an incremental step of 1 kHz. But there is about a half second muting pause any time one of these functions is pressed, which is very disconcerting. I would rather hear a little "glitch" or click in the audio than a seemingly long dead zone. The 'continuous' scan is too fast for moving around slowly in a given band, and one ALWAYS overshoots a station, requiring several steps back to get on frequency again, each time with that irritating mute and pause. However, this 'continuous' scan is way to slow just to zoom through a given band, looking for strong stations in a language one comprehends. It seems to take forever! And, of course, you have to remember exactly WHERE each band starts and ends (I have devoted one memory page to ten "start positions" of most of the bands I prefer) since the LCD gives no hint of it; nor is there a printed key on the case. The radio desparately needs one more scan mode to get through the bands quicker, as well as presets for all the bands so that one does not have to jump through hoops to get there, and to spend lots of time up-front pre-setting the memories so that the radio has any usefulness.

The green LED illuminating the LCD is very dim, and probably to reduce energy consumption, the display is rather low contrast; the LED goes off in ten seconds' time (longer while one continues to press buttons.) I would prefer an optional "always on till shut off" mode in addition, but this is not available.

AUDIO QUALITY

The speaker is about 2-1/2" in diameter and though it plays loud, gives audio that is tinny and fatiguing. This is no real problem for me, as all my own use of this radio will be with a pair of high fidelity headphones. Then, the sound is good though the low frequency response is SO extended down to the bottom that phones with strong bass response will reproduce lots of thumps and near-DC noises during typical SW fade conditions. Perhaps an optional low cut filter would be helpful. There is a high cut filter which really merely depresses the uppper midrange slightly, perhaps around 3 kHz and above.

The IF filtering is well designed to minimize ANY trace of adjacent channel noise and inter-carrier whistles and beat tones: with phones having extended HF response I can almost never hear any trace of whistles when tuning through crowded SW bands. This is all to the good (for me) but it must be said that there is almost no trace of audio response above about 5 kHz (if that) in these bands; nor in the MW band. Not pleasant quality unless one's goal is identifying and logging difficult weak signals, not enjoying strong ones in long-term program reception. For me, this is a plus as the whistles (on phones) of most radios make it hard for me to listen at all; I'd rather have the 7600GR's response characteristics. Other users may radically differ in their own preferences.

The SSB mode works well and seems stable, enabling HAM reception and utility use (as well as rendering intelligible the few SSB or ISB international stations or feeders.) The LO is not particularly drifty; my impression is that it might drift no more that about 2 kHz in the first a half hour of use, which is not debilitating. The sync detector does work and can be used to eliminate undesirable sideband chatter or whistles; but it loses lock during typical fading on international SW reception, with consequent noise artefacts of crunching, thumps, and bursts. I leave it off except when it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.

Though PASSPORT TO WORLD RADIO states "Image rejection adequate, but not excellent", I have yet to verify the presence of ANY genuine image during my reception sessions. Today I slowly swept from 12 MHz through 17 MHz (which seemed interminable!) looking for *any* trace of an IF image of the strong 15 MHz carrier of WWV; I heard none. The Grundig S350 has images galore (see my recent view for details) and was useless as an SW receiver for my purposes. So, in this respect the 7600GR is a great improvement.

I have not yet heard any evidence of blocking or overload by local HAM operators that drove my Grundig into fits. Furthermore, there is less junk (not legitimate weak harmonics but spurious cross-modulations) from local AM MW stations in the tropical band region than I pick up on my Icom R75, which is so touchy in that respect that it requires a BCB filter in its antenna line to be useful at all from 2 MHz to 4 MHz.

SENSITIVITY/SELECTIVITY

To illustrate the 7600GR's sensitivity: I was using my Icom R75 (on its 175 ft. external wire antenna) the other night to try to ID a weak, fading station at 5019.9 kHz and after about 10 or 15 minutes of struggling could not be sure of what I was hearing. I gave up and went to bed, turning on the 7600GR, which is at present using about 40 feet of No. 22 gauge wire tacked to the corners of my bedroom as its aerial. I tuned to 5020 -- as close as I could do with this set -- and found that the same weak station was also present, with about the same reception quality. I continued to listen and finally heard the announcer articulate the words "Solomon Islands", confirming that the signal was from the SIBC's 10 kW transmitter. I was delighted to thus learn that the 7600GR will be very useful in extending my DX sessions in my alternate bedroom setting, away from my dedicated garage reception "shack". If the signal is usefully intelligible at all on the R75, I will probably also be able to hear it on the 7600GR.

In MW use, the 7600GR proves its solid RF design by the consistently good performance in rejecting sideband chatter. As a former (now retired) FM & MW radio station chief engineer, I can testify that most American BCB stations conform to FCC bandwidth rules, and -- if they are using a processor like an Orban "Optimod" [TM} -- have little out of band audio chatter beyond +/- 15 kHz of carrier frequency. On most sensitive radios, however, the sideband splatter from a strong station playing bright program material may seem to occupy several channels either side of carrier. This is an artefact of the radio, not the station's actual signal. It can be confirmed by using a very well designed receiver, such as my Hammarlund HQ-140x or my Icom R75, which will reproduce no splatter crosstalk when tuned 20 kHz away, and very little even on an adjacent channel signal (then, usually only on the closer sideband.) The 7600GR has the same kind of performance, enabling one to listen comfortably to stations on adjacent channels, aided by the sync detector and the selectable sideband mode. My unit, with its 40 foot wire or coupled to my Radio Shack loop antenna, seems to perform almost as well on the MW band as my R75: again, I can continue to do MW DX'ing at bedtime, away from my normal listening post.

The unit passes my most critical MW listening test: I can use it for long-term program listening to classical music on CBU-Vancouver at 690 kHz, even though I am only about 37 miles away from powerhouse KNBR-San Francisco (50KW ND in Belmont at 680 kHz.) By means of the sync detector, the USB of CBU is almost free from any splatter crosstalk from KNBR, illustrating both the radio's outstanding performance and KNBR's careful, legal operation.) I must add that it is essential to use the Radio Shack AM antenna loop, and not the forty foot wire antenna, in order to do this: I couple the loop -- through a small DC blocking capacitor -- to the external antenna input jack of the 7600GR.

WARNING: this jack has +6VDC on its positive terminal, to phantom-power the Sony active antenna. So use a capacitor to block this DC if you want to utilize any other type of home-made antenna (not recommended by Sony, who should simply have made this phantom power signal OPTIONAL and defeatable.) Of course, in order to prevent static damage, one should use an external antenna ONLY when operating the radio, and disconnect it during any electrical storm.

MW tuning is not as frustrating as SW tuning, due to the relative ease of stepping through a smaller band. And it is easier to enter three or four digits than five digits for direct entry use; one also tends to remember MW frequencies easier than SW station settings.

I should add that I have not even tuned this unit to the FM band, which I never listen to, as San Francisco bay area stations -- many of which I used to engineer -- are not to my taste as a music-lover.

TEETHING PROBLEMS:

Out-of-box use is daunting (as explained above in the discussion of the tuning challenges) but above and beyond that, I was dismayed to find that the dial light operated only ONCE in a short burst of light for a fraction of a second, and then remained 'dead'. I had already returned three defective Grundig S350s to my patient dealer and was loathe to take back the 7600GR, lest the clerks start throwing things at me. So I reluctantly (and perhaps unwisely) decided to operate on the unit myself before making the long trip back to my dealer.

It was easy, compared to many other small radios, to open the 7600GR by removing five rear screws. I found that the LED terminals were underneath the edge of the speaker, which came out quickly when two clips were pressed. If I touched the LED with a plastic probe, I could get it to light up. "Aha, a bad solder joint!" I immediately thought. When I took out two more screws and carefully pried two more clips, I was able to lift up the front circuit board and peek behind it. Yes, one of the leads on the LED was poorly soldered, and had a messy, crusty metal blob that had not flowed and adhered to the lead. It was very obvious by eye in my physical inspection; it should have been caught by Sony personnel during the assembly and testing of the radio. In one second, using my precision soldering tip, I reheated the junction and the LED worked properly. This saved returning the radio, which would have had to be sent back to Sony for repair. There are, so far, NO other physical or mechanical defects in the unit (fingers crossed!) and no surprises, other than learning what a challenge it is to operate the radio.

I am, however, dismayed by the miniature jacks used by Sony. All my other Sony products have these same minijacks, with plastic grounding sheaths. My other well-used Sony radios, tape machines, and CD players have ALL succumbed to intermittent jacks; one had to be returned to a dealer in a few days, when the headphone jack died completely. I do wish that Sony would replace all of these with more reliable and rugged ALL-METAL jacks with bigger spring contacts (like the Switchcraft jacks I used to buy, long before Radio Shack became the "only game in town" for electronic parts.) I fully anticipate that one day my 7600GR will suffer the same fate, so I intend to prolong the life of the jacks by NOT removing my headphones if at all possible! In addition, the line out jack in my particular unit is very "fussy" and hard to use, compared to the headphone jack.

I also found that the radio is rather sensitive to traces of RF present on external ground leads. I am operating it on batteries, not AC (as I did not purchase the optional plug in adaptor, fearing buzz) but found that if I connected the line out to any external amp or tape recorder that was plugged in to AC, the 7600GR would now develop an irritating 240Hz mains-related hum that would rise and fall during SW reception as the AVC changed gain. The hum would stop the instant the plug was pulled from the line out. After much experimentation I found that I could eliminate this hum if I added ANOTHER separate grounding lead from the RCA jack of the external amp (a small 2-watt self-amplified computer system speaker) to the ground sheath of the phones jack, with a 56 pf capacitor inserted into this extra RF bypassing circuit. This may or may not be needed by anybody else, depending on the exact conditions of their situation. With a battery operated amp or cassette deck plugged into that line out jack, no mains-related RF induced audio hum was evident.

CONCLUSION

I am not really "happy" and satisfied with the 7600GR - yet. It is sensitive and selective, and performs well as an RF device. But its ergonomics are nightmarishly complicated and nonintuitive, and its operation cumbersome. One must consider this a radio not to be used casually, but with dedicated intensity and focus (after thoroughly digesting the instruction manual.) You will be more likely to find reception sucess if you have a distinct goal in mind, and know the exact frequencies you want to receive, by direct keypad input, than by trying to scan across a given band. Then, the radio is a superb performer. My own personal preference, in an ideal world, would be to mate the RF performance of the 7600GR with the ergonomics and audio quality of the Grundig S350 (a unit which seemed to me to be tragically underdesigned in its RF performance.) I don't really expect that the 7600GR will bring me much real pleasure though it WILL undoubtedly be able to capture difficult and obscure signals, as long as I know precisely how to find them. But serendipitous joy in mere band-scanning? Forget it...
8H Haggis, San Jose, California
NG0Z Rating: 2002-12-29
Great Portable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned many receivers over the years: DX-100, DX-440, R-2000 and I think this unit picks up anything the R-2000 did.

I bought this portable to see if I'd get interested in the hobby again and it has already provided many hours of fun. I ordered the adapter but haven't rec'd it yet so I can't comment on the reported noise it adds but I have been running the unit on rechargeables for several days now and can't get the batteries to go dead!

I listen to international broadcast but am more interested in ham, aeronautical and other utility signals. I haven't used the clip on antenna provided rather I ordered the Sangean portable antenna (from C. Crane) that plugs into the ext. ant. jack and it works great. I am surprised the antenna provided is clip on vs. plug in.

This is a very sensitive receiver and it works great for SSB. I use stereo earbud headphones, but I can't fault the speaker due to the obvious small size of the unit. In fact, when I got the package, I was surprised by how small this unit is. Pictures on the web made it look bigger for some reason.

Pros: Small size, solid construction, sensitivity, synch sideband, value, cool asthetically

Cons: no tuning knob, small switches on the sides for USB/LSB/Synch, no signal strength meter, display light doesn't offer option of staying on

Recommended for anyone starting out in the hobby or that wants high performance in a very small package. E-mail me at jrusciano@mn.rr.com if you want more specifics.
K8OSU Rating: 2002-12-15
Good but not great Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The Sony 7600GR is, for a radio its size, extremely sensitive, and it can pick out tough signals that are all but inaudible. The sync detector is really useful at dealing with adjacent channel interference, but it is useless at reducing selective fading. It does well, too, on SSB. My biggest gripe about the radio is its audio quality. With the built-in speaker, the audio is tiring after extended periods of listening. For program listening, which is my main interest, the Grundig Yacht Boy 400PE, which is slightly less sensitive, is a much better choice, as the audio is quite pleasant.
K4AEN Rating: 2002-08-19
Long term review Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my SW7600 in 1990 in preparation to deploy with my Army unit to Desert Shield. I used it all during Desert Shield/Desert Storm until our unit returned to Germany. I use it every day...it is my alarm clock and it is currently attached to a Cambridge Soundworks powered satellite speaker system. I also use it to listen to W1AW for code practice with a set of earbuds (it helped me get 20wpm needed for extra)I take this radio when I travel.
it's been through a lot, yet I've had no problems with it , other than a touchy earphone jack. An excellent product.
K3IVB Rating: 2002-08-18
IMPOSSIBLE To beat for Price! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought the ICF-SW7600G five years ago and use it every single day. I take it to work and it gets banged around, it’s been dropped several times, hard too. The only thing that has happened to it: It has one hair line crack in the back around the antenna mount, which is the only weak point since the case is thin at that location. Five solid years of use everyday. Just about a month ago I noticed it was getting hard to turn it on, plus the standby function was activated all the time. I took off the back cover and found several cold solder joints, the result I am sure was the several drops it sustained. Simply reheating a few solder joints solved the problem, it’s now working like new again. I listen to everything, SWL, local AM BC, FM and CW in the ham bands. I have listened to the other comparable models, and trying to listen to CW was hard if not impossible on some of them. For the money I can’t find anything better. So satisfied with it, I have the newer (GR) model on the way. This model is always back ordered, and I can understand why.
1JAAT Rating: 2002-08-18
Best in its Price Range Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Five years ago ,i invested in a shortwave so i could keep up on world events.My job takes me out to very isolated areas of Canada, where it is impossible to receive any radio stations except for shortwave..
The very first radio that i had bought was a Grundig YB 300.Piece of garbage!!!It sounded like the broadcasts were coming out of a tin can.I also had to return it, 3 times in one year for manufacturing defects.Two years ago i upgraded to the Grundig YB-400.Another piece of garbage!!!This so-called quality product seemed more like a childs toy.The buttons looked like they would break within 2 months and sure enough several have broke since i purchased it.The only thing going for it,is it's sound.Definitely not worth the price.You have to consider that they are made in China like everything else these days.
This year i decided that it was time for a change in radios.As my YB-400 had fallen apart on me,i wanted something of higher quality.After reading some reviews on different models of radios within the price range of 200-400$cdn, and of course checking them out in the stores,i decided to go with the Sony ICF-SW7600GR(Made in Japan).What a difference in quality.The radio is sturdily built with a nice weight to it.Reception is much better than the Grundig's that i had previously owned.It picks up stations that i've never heard before, with clarity.The buttons don't seem like they will break anytime soon.The only thing that i can say might need some improvement on, would be those little black switches on the side.Otherwise this is a great little radio and i would have to say the best that i have looked at within its price range.A great choice!
W7DZN Rating: 2002-05-02
OK but not for CW Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this radio to take with me when traveling on business for a some SWL and also to listen in on the ham bands. Works well for SWL but for CW sigs on 20 meters and up the sound is warbly. The higher the band the worse it gets. Shortly after I bought in the middle of December 2001 I sent it in to Sony for warantee repair of the warble. A week ago (4 months later!) I received an entirely new radio. It suffers from the problem less than the original but it is still very evident. Using the RF attenuator to reduce signal strength helps reduce the warble but you have to reduce the signal strength nearly down to the noise level of the radio.