Sony icf 2010 Review Manual page 3

Radio Netherlands Receiver Shopping List: Sony ICF-2001D / ICF-2010
computers, and gadgets, this is a very flexible set. You can also opt for
manual tuning, with a conventional recognisable knob. It allows you to
move in steps up and down the bands. You move in 50 kHz steps on FM,
25 kilohertz on the airband, and either 1 kHz or 100 Hertz on short,
medium and longwave, depending on what you select. Those steps are
quite audible, and you may well find that since the minimum step is 100
Hz each time, that using this receiver for radio-teletype (RTTY) reception
is difficult. It's less critical when listening to amateur radio operators on
either upper or lower sideband, both possible on this set. Ideally we
would have liked the tuning steps on between 150-29999 kHz to be 50
or even 25 kHz, though back in 1985 this would probably add to the
cost. The set will take account of the fact that the spacing between
medium wave stations is 10 kHz in North America, and only 9 kHz in
Europe.
This leads to an examination of the ICF2001D's selectivity, or ability to
pick out the station you want from the rest of the rabble. The wider the
filter, (rather like a window looking out on the shortwave band), the
better the audio quality, but the greater the risk other stations using
frequencies nearby will also be heard. The ICF2001D offers two settings,
wide and narrow. We found the filters used to be fair for a receiver of
this type. The "wide" setting is perhaps too wide, for in crowded bands
you always seem to suffer from a 5 kHz whistle caused by adjacent
stations. The "narrow" setting, around 3 KHz at -6dB, is definitely
needed, and still produces very acceptable audio when listening to news
programmes.
"Sync" Tuning Facility
There's a new 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.
The 2001D is rock steady enough for this idea to work well.
We noticed a design fault on the first examples produced in early 1985.
The sync circuitry generated its own background noise. On lower
frequencies, e.g. medium wave or the 49 metre shortwave band, it's less
of a problem. But during our on air review in 1985 we found Radio
Bucharest (in those days) on 11940 kHz with an excellent signal when
tuned to AM. You could hear a clear "Sssssh" sound when the sync
facility was switched on. Some listeners reacted to our review by saying
it sounded like a form of jamming. But it was generated by the set itself.
Further down on the 60 metre tropical band results were quite good. We
were also able to listen to feeder transmissions and easily separate the
two programmes being broadcast.
However, we tested another example of the set in August 1985, and
found the synthesiser noise had been considerably reduced, enhancing
the "sync" facility. On very weak signals, the sync facility fails to lock on
to the carrier, but in 9 attempts out of 10, the system works well. The
selectivity of the narrow filter was slightly better than on the previous
model.
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2003-01-27