I spent this morning doing a lot of work around our property. When it was time for a break, I turned on my trust Sony ICF-5500W and tuned to WTZQ: one of my favorite regional AM braodcasters. Though WTZQ is over 30 miles from my home, any good AM radio, like the ICF-5500W, can receive their 1,000 watt signal with ease.
As luck would have it, when I turned on my 5500W, WTZQ started playing Love Me Do by The Beatles. It sounded absolutely amazing via the 5500W’s internal speaker: full-on, rich AM audio fidelity! Absolutely brilliant!
I cranked up the volume so our local black bears could enjoy.
I relaxed a good half hour, and caught up on reading the latest two issues of RadCom with my ICF-5500W playing WTZQ in the background.
Sometimes it’s the simple stuff that starts one’s morning off the right way.
That and plenty of good coffee.
Loved this post. More like it, please! Perhaps from guest posters?
story well written, picture great. importance of radio in our lives. great fun when we’re allright,
at other times a source of comfort.
Did any of those local black bears show their appreciation by “thanking” you in person, Thomas? 😉
Not this particular morning, Dean! They have been around a lot lately, though. They’re one of the reasons it’s so difficult to have a beverage antenna around here. One chewed through the coax to my mag loop antenna while I was gone in Canada. I never new the coax jacket was flavored. 🙂
Why can’t SONY still make good radios like the ICF 5500W? They seem to be loosing their way
I agree…..it was a terrible loss to SWL when Panasonic, Sony, Sanyo, Philips, and others basically left the
market manufacturing HF receivers. I have heard that the Sony ICF-SW7600GR is no longer in active production because they can’t get the discrete components anymore. They still manufacture one unit but it is a Japanese only item with limited SW frequencies.
There is a market for them still and a group of consumers that are willing and able to pay quite a bit more for a quality product, I wish we could convince them to start production of quality units again, the mfrs that are left like Tecsun, Eton, and Kaito/Degen have a few decent units but they don’t come close to the top of the line or high line units from the Japanese…
Couldn’t quite receive WTZQ here in New Zealand, but I did cheat and listen online http://wtzq.streamon.fm/
Ha! Yeah, I imagine WTZQ is a bit of a challenge to catch on the air there in NZ. Glad you found the stream!
-T