Hi folks,

Decided to try the ICF-S10MK2, and ICF-38 (easily portable, but not ultralight). The S10MK2 is sensitive; daytime can hear (not a strong signal) KTRH Houston 310 miles ENE of Laredo. At night, I listened easily to KNX Los Angeles 1500 miles away, and KCBS San Francisco (1800 miles) on 740, in the null of KTRH Houston 740. In most situations, I could null the locals at night to hear stations 10 KHz away, and in one case, could hear an Austin station (220 miles) in the null on a local's frequency! In the daytime, it was more like 20 or 30 KHz away to null locals above about 1300 KHz on the dial. Didn't hear any mixing products on the dial. Nice crisp sound. Mono...either listen through one ear on a headphone, or get headphones that allow for mono. This set is rated to recieve only up to 1605 KHz, but my example reaches just beyond 1680! About $13 at K-Mart.

The ICF-38 is clearly more sensitive than the S10MK2 (bigger ferrite), is easier to fine tune, is more selective, has a volume control that is esaier to hit a medium volume level on, and is excellent (I'm impressed!) with regard to nulling. It has a high/low tone switch. No mixing products. I had a much easier time nulling our 1490 local to hear a signal on 1480 and 1500 than the S10MK2, and the null covered a greater portion of a 360 degree circle than the S10MK2. This set is also a mono set meaning the same as the S10MK2 when it comes to headphones. Just got this set today, so haven't tried daytime testing...I'm expecting diminished daytime selectivity above 1300 KHz with our locals on 1300,1340,1370,1410,1490,1550. I'll post on that on Tuesday. So far, pleasantly surprised for a $22 radio!

Heatwave