Listen Live to what I'm listening to !!

Head Over to My Broadcast Radio Station - Monitoring HF Maritime and Other HF Utility Comms

Saturday 22 November 2008

Sony ICF7600GR Joins the Family

After returning the recently purchased DEGEN 1103 which was faulty with MAJOR overloading and MW coming through all of the HF band. I thought I better hedge my bets for XMAS and finally bit the bullet and bought the slightly (ok alot) more expensive Sony ICF76000GR Portable Shortwave from a USA Ebay Store. It arrived within 6 business day via UPS International Express Post safe and sound and what can I initially say.

Its different :) After getting use to the ergonomic layout of the DEGEN it took a couple of days for me to remember to press "DIRECT" button first then the frequency then ENTER. Unlike the DEGEN the keypad and a few other main buttons aren't light up and so it a little more awkward in the middle of the night to operate with no light. I do miss the jog dial that the DEGEN 1103 has, were as the Sony ICF7600GR using up/down buttons at +/-5hz or +/-1hz. But I knew of this before purchasing the radio and will put up with these little features :)

Apart from that, my initial feel for the SONY is yeah that little buggers does work pretty darn well. The SSB is definitely cleaner and the AM-SYNC well it seems to work. But I've only had a few short band scans with my new toy.

In regards to the DEGEN 1103 replacement, well it arrived the day after I got the Sony, and I quickly opened her up and ran through my test frequency and what a relief. I got a GOOD one, no sign of overloading on the HF and all the test frequencies worked fine.

When I get a bit of time, I'll do a little side by side comparison test, but my feel is I'll probably put the DEGEN 1103 in storage as a spare radio and utilise the Sony ICF7600GR as my primary portable since I've already had a good 18mth usage and fun from my previous DEGEN 1103.

Any ways better get back to the Maria Island 2008 race and other Maritime monitoring.

Regards
Mark

Maria Island Yacht Race 2008

Thought I would see if I could hear the Maria Island Yacht Race This year (http://tashost.com.au/maria_island/index.php). And after finding out that the race primary HF frequency was 2524 khz for all HF traffic, I wasn't confident of getting good reception.

Well after now hearing and recording the 2235 and 0535 sked's, its been tough. I definitely would prefer a primary HF frequency a little higher but hey still a worth the hunt, especially using the ICOM R75 DSP to block / filter the lightening Static Dump and RFI interference from near by sources.

The biggest disappointment was that I was able to hear Hobart Race Control/Check on about 75% copy Readability 3/5. However none of the yacht used HF to relay their position, instead utilised VHF ch81.

Here are the Skeds:

20081121 2235 - (Listen Here)

20081122 0535 - (Listen Here)

20081122 1135 - Nothing Heard (didn't expect to hear 2MHz during the day form hear)

20081122 1635 - Local severe QRM blanket whole HF spectrum S9+

20081122 2235 - A lot of yachts already crossed the line and a few retired, so a couple of position reports. Listen Here.

20081122 0535 - Final sked - Gives weather forecase and attempts to call 3 yachts. 2 do not respond. Listen Here.



Regards
Mark

Brisbane QTH 2007

Brisbane QTH 2007
Heres my little Listening Post at Brisbane

Charlotte Pass August 2007

Charlotte Pass August 2007
The DEGEN 1103 in action on the ski slopes

Listening Post Thredbo

Listening Post Thredbo
Degen DE1103 and Long Wire - Thredbo Camp Site June 2007

Condamine Gorge - XMAS / NEW YEARS 2006

Condamine Gorge - XMAS / NEW YEARS 2006
Brother Robbie and I listening to the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race scheduled radio morning Check in. Those swags are very confortable.

Cold Night - Mum, Dad and Robbie at Lake St Clair on our Tassie Trip 2007

Cold Night - Mum, Dad and Robbie at Lake St Clair on our Tassie Trip 2007
It was a very cold night, but man that fire was bueatiful. Using the Sangean ATS-505 coupled with external 100ft wire for MW DXing.

New Years Eve 2005 - My Wife Tanya and I

New Years Eve 2005 - My Wife Tanya and I
You can see the FRG-7 we brought in my New Years as a Family. Starting with New Zealand / Melborne / Brisbane then lost count after that :) And it finished for me with BBC broadcast of chimes of Big Ben Clock from London.