Introduced in 1999 the SW07 is considered a logical upgrade to the SW100. Although the SW07 is a bit larger than the "totally tiny" SW100, it offers several upgraded features and performance in return.
The SW07 is described as a Compact Portable at 9.1 ounces with batteries and is a tiny 5 3/8 x 1 5/16 x 3 5/8 inches. It is clearly aimed at the frequent traveler who is willing to shell out top dollar for a very small radio with all the bells and whistles, as well as much of the performance of the costlier SW77. In fact, the main strength of the SW07 is that it is uniquely adaptable for travel. One of the biggest features for the world traveler is "Station Call Tuning," which accesses a user-replaceable ROM (see picture) pre-programmed with broadcast station and frequency information arranged by Time Zone. This is a major step ahead of any other radio which comes pre-programmed with station frequencies. Here's how it works. On initial setup you set your Local Time either by choosing a major city near you or by entering the actual UTC Differential from a table included in the manual. As you then toggle through various Time Zones the radio will seek a database of frequencies most likely to work for that area! You can even have fun searching through some of the frequencies for time zones other than your own. Your Local Time Zone also determines the AM channel spacing (9 KHz or 10 KHz).You have dedicated buttons on the front panel for BBC, DW, VOA and in addition, "OTH" and "MY". OTH (it stands for "Other") toggles among five additional stations, including France, Japan, China, Spain and the Netherlands. Additionally, when you order replacement ROMs you can replace any or all of these last 5 stations and with selections from a list of 25 stations available. This is a great concept for keeping pre-programmed presets up to date and the sheer number of entries in the ROM database is impressive. The MY button accesses an additional 100 presets you can define; each can be alpha tagged with a 6 digit name. Finally there are 10 FM presets and another 10 for am/sw all with 1 touch selection and alpha taggableanother handy arrangement. The variety of tuning features alone makes the SW07 a truly unique portable, especially given it's tiny size.
The other reason this radio is the best is it's use of Synchronous Detection or Exalted Carrier Selectable Side-band and it's easy to use controls.There's a button on this receiver which is a major high-point. It's marked "sync". Push it, and the receiver switches to either upper or lower sideband, but locks on to the station's carrier. It's an automated version of the old shortwave listener technique of switching to single-sideband and tuning very carefully to get rid of the resulting whistle. Why bother? Because the result is a signal less prone to the fading distortion, and it's very handy if there is a strong station on one side of the one you're trying to listen to. Press the "sync" button, and select either the lower or upper sideband, which ever gives clearer reception by removing the adjacent splatter.
If you want a small radio to pull in those weak long distance signals this is the one to have.
Loading...
0:38
Sony ICF SW100by tractionavant14,659 views
Nice radio, that aerial looks to be fantastic, I've never been able to get ant SW stations on my Grundig YB-P2000 radio
RussWWFC 1 year ago