As most medium-wave DXers know, after Sony discontinued the top-rated
ICF-S5W in 1981, it has never returned to the USA market with a medium-wave DX
specialty portable. But a little-known fact is that the Japanese market has
had
a phenomenally successful medium-wave DX receiver sold continuously since
1985... the Sony ICF-EX5.
Since this radio was strictly designed for the Japanese market, to my
knowledge, it has never been offered for sale here, and the documentation on
the web is almost all in Japanese. Intrigued with the Japanese reports of
outstanding sensitivity and selectivity, I placed a couple of orders for the
radios, eager to test the ICF-EX5 against my ICF-S5W.
To my surprise, when properly aligned (a simple procedure), the
sensitivity of the ICF-EX5 was generally equal to the ICF-S5W, and it has the
added
benefits of a synchronous detector circuit, and double-conversion circuitry.
That's not to say that all is perfect.. the dynamic range seems a little
worse than the ICF-S5W, and the Japanese written on the dial will not please
everybody. But, at a price of $175 delivered (from sources such as audio
cubes.com), it certainly seems like a sensible alternative to those DXers who
always wanted a portable with performance roughly equivalent to the ICF-S5W,
but
don't wish to pay $300 or more for the decent ones which rarely show up on
eBay. If there is sufficient interest, I would be happy to write a full
report
on the comparison in DXM, and also loan out an EX5 to someone in the local
Seattle/Tacoma area who wishes to run comparisons with their own portable(s).
Best wishes, Gary DeBock/N7EKX (in
Puyallup, WA)
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