Re: [IRCA] East-coast SRF-59 reception "firsts"

["Craig Healy" <bubba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> The best shot at regular TAs from the east coast would be by the New
England
> DXers or someone nearer the coast; I don't know if any of them have caught
> the UL bug yet, but I look forward to hearing their results once they do!

A couple of years ago I bought a Sony ICF-SW100S.  Slightly larger than a
pack of cigarettes, and covers 150KHz-30MHz, plus FM.  It has AM/LSB/USB and
a LSB or USB sync detector.  It's a reasonable radio, though rather deaf.
For the last trip that I took with it, I wrapped a couple dozen turns of #14
solid wire around a cardboard box and connected to a variable capacitor.  A
simple passive tuned loop.  That improved sensitivity by a considerable
amount and made it actually useful.  Was able to pick out WNBH-1340 in New
Bedford, MA from Monhegan Island off the Maine coast in the middle of the
day by setting the antenna just right.  Was also able to pick out co-located
WCTK-98.1 in New Bedford by careful positioning of the included whip antenna
while on the east side of the island.  There is an external antenna input
but I've never been able to get it to work except with the Sony external
antenna attachment.  Even that isn't useful on AM.

Maybe not a true ultralight, but certainly pocket sized.  It also has a
small speaker, digital tuning in quite small steps, and pretty good battery
life.  The major problem is that it's way too expensive.  I think it was
around $400.  The old Radio Shack TRF was a better receiver by comparison.
Can't recommend the ICF-SW100S to be honest.  These days it's in the toolbag
I bring to work at various clients.  I've used it as a substitute off-air
monitor on occasion.

Craig Healy
Providence, RI


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