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Reviews For: Sony ICF-SW1S

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Sony ICF-SW1S
Reviews: 2MSRP:
Description:
Ultra-compact Shortwave Receiver System
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0024
RAHOBIT Rating: 2017-01-25
Cool pocket rocket Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I'll also give this one a score of 4 because as the previous review points out there are some obvious issues especially as they grow older.

My list of "deficiencies"
- they only tune to nearest 5 kHz (shortwave)
- there is no fine tuning
- not quite selective enough in view of above
- there is no ssb
- there is no ECSS
- the keys can be unreliable or intermittent
- the volume knob is rather flimsy and badly placed
- there are only 10 memories
- there is no aerial plug socket (but clamp a wire to the telescopic works)
- the electrolytic capacitors go faulty (but can be replaced)
- if the batteries leak you can expect major damage as there is not much space inside for the corrosion to go anywhere but the circuit boards

However, it is extremely sensitive, perhaps not quite selective enough (and cannot off-tune), extremely small, quite economical on alkaline batteries and has jacks for recording and earphones as well as an external power supply input.

It can be used as an alarm clock and it has a (single time delay) sleep function.

The size and sensitivity of this radio enabled Sony to advertise "carry the world in the palm of your hand" I think and that's true.

It was superseded by the SW100 which adds just about all of the missing features. However I still carry around the SW1 as a handy pocket radio of significant capability. Well done Sony.
N0WF Rating: 2006-10-20
Very good and bad Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Performance 5, especially considering it's size.
Cool Factor 5, still am drooling over it.
Usefulness 5, handy travel companion.
Reliability 2, read on!
Most if not all SW1's have quit working due to component (capacitor) failure in the audio section. You can see the problem and cure at http://cc-module.com/sw1/sw1.html be advised this repair is not for the faint of heart. Have found people willing to repair it for $30-$65. Once fixed, you will have a James Bond cool AM/FM/SWL radio that will be your faithful travel companion. These can occasionally be found non-working at bargain prices and the parts to fix are like $2 but the complexity of repair will tie up a good technician for a couple of hours minimum. Download the pictures and present them to your technician if you don't fix it yourself. Likely the newer epoxy dipped Tantalum capacitors are more reliable than the aluminum cans they replace so the unit should perform as it is supposed to. Overall, the SW1S is a fine gadget you will be proud to own and use!