If you're good dealing with electronics, it's possible to greatly enhance performance. It's possible to increase the length of the ferrite bar to 7.5 - 8 inches (approximately 200 millimeters). If this is done, it's a match for the General Electric "Super Radio." I have General Electric's Super Radio III, this version tunes to around 1780 kHz (American Expanded AM band).
I have seen two versions of this radio. One uses through-hole parts, while the other uses many surface mount parts. The original version with through-hole parts works much better than the version with surface mount parts. There's a version that uses 3 D cells (batteries), but I don't own that version.
Hello Andre, this radio was very popular in Saudi Arabia, my father had one, I remember in my childhood I used to play with the belt that came with it, I am thinking of buying one for my father, do you think there is a new icf-j40 these days?
Hi there Fawaz, thank you for your comment! I don't think there is a new version available, unfortunately. I know the radio was resurrected about a decade or so ago and was available again as new, with some minor changes. But it is no longer being sold. Maybe you can find a second-hand version like I did?
I don't know if this model is as old as 1980's though looks vintage design. I have two of them and bought them in 2000's. The first one in 2008 or so and second in 2017. These were made for MENA and probably Asia region. They were commonly available in Carrefours in the UAE and other department stores. There are design improvements between the two sets I have. What you have is the older model probably. My 2017 purchase has a soft case that closes with velcro while 2006 has the "hard" case with click on buttons as you have. One of the best radios I have.
¡Gracias! Sí, esto está realmente al estilo de su época, ¡me encanta! Y, claramente, un muy buen diseño. He visto videos del interior de esta radio, placa de circuito de primera calidad.
Hi there Rang, I think they are a bit hard to get, but I do see some sites in the Middle East that still sell this, like here: www.arabiacart.com/sony-radioworld-band-radiotrnsistr-radio-prtble-4-band-fmmwsnocicf-j40agent-guarantee-sony-icf-j40 I don't know where you are, but I think if you search on Google you might find a retailer that will deliver to you.
Thanks Henry! I'm not so much into FM listening, the one or two stations that I do listen to, come through quite nicely on this radio. But I love it for MW, it is really good on MW! A very nice radio.
Congratulations for your purchase 👍 quite a bargain! This old iron sure still has very good ears. And it seems in a pristine condition, lucky you. I like old Sony radios, they're great stuff and so stylish. I've ventured in that territory as well with not so much luck. I've bought a Sony ICF-7600 from the French equivalent of Craigslist. 3x the price of yours, and it turned out to be severely defective. Totally deaf on FM and very, very low audio on SW. And of course the seller just ignored me. I'm stuck with it, it probably just needs a recap, but I'm not up to the job. Finding someone here to do it for a reasonable price is a lost cause. I shall probably wait until an upcoming stay in a SE Asia country and have it fixed there.
Thanks Alain. I like to keep checking the classifieds for old radios, but you never know what you will get ... This same seller who I bought the Sony from, had a Sangean SG-786, I really wanted to buy the Sangean, but it did not work, did not power up. Pity, externally it was in great condition, almost like new. Your idea to fix the Sony ICF-7600 in SE Asia sounds like a good one, will probably be more reasonable there.
@@swlistening thnk u too bro and the next question is: my radio has no sound on fm! you think the problem is about the (IF) ? cus when I turn it to left or right, there is no change frecancy !
Nice presentation! Reminds me of the Panasonic SW radios 📻 from the 80’s. I actually worked for Panasonic back in the day. I know it’s a Sony radio, but still reminiscent of the glory day’s of shortwave.
I miss those glory days sometimes... I used a small 3-band Panasonic radio for my DXing when I was a teenager in the 1980s, but I don't remember the model name anymore.
Hi Ralph, no, we do not have longwave in South Africa and so far I have not been able to catch anything on longwave from elsewhere. I keep trying, but no luck so far.
@@swlistening Im listening (in Ostrava) Polskie Radio Jeydnka on 225 kHz 1200 kW, its strongest and only one AM station that i can catch at home in daytime. 2000 kW 540 kHz Solt is running very bad, i sended video. For you may be with best signal Alger Chaine on 252 kHz, its 1500 kW from north of africa. At night is 252 signal strong in my house.
@@RalphCZ Thank you Ralph, I have tried Algeria on 252 kHz, but nothing. Algeria is quite far away from South Africa. I do keep trying all the time, I would like to catch something on long wave, before all the long wave stations close down. There is a possibility that I might travel to Slovakia in December this tear, hopefully I will be able to catch some long wave then!
@@swlistening in Slovakia will be good signal of Jedynka and more better of Kossuth, unfortunately slovak AM transmitting ended with end of 2022. Main czech transmitting before one more year.
Thanks Henry, that is very true! But this ICF-J40 is quite a mystery to me, some say it was made in the 1980s, then production ended, and then it was resurrected in the 2000s. But there is very little information available.
@@swlistening What I have read suggests it was made from 1985, and continued being manufactured for many years. It appears that it was discontinued sometime after 2009 but I'm not 100% sure. I assume it works better with 4.5 volts instead of 3 volts. The chip it uses can work from 3 volts to 8 volts; but I assume they won't go higher than 6 volts.
It looks a lot like my Sanyo RP-8800 radio, which I have recently been using as a BFO for other radios without SSB. I bought mine at a car boot sale for £2, it's actually one of my better radios. Shame I don't feature it more on my channel.
@@swlistening I actually did a shortwave bandscan of the radio on my channel a while back. You should find it if you search for it. Ii's actually a good radio with the LW band too.
In fact, dsp killed the traditional radio hobby for me. About all brands use the same hardware, it's only the configuration that differs, i.e. agc mute on or off and a more or less decent speaker. The ferrite bar has become smaller and smaller, but dsp has some advantages when reception is strong, like a low noise floor. So even cheapos sound reasonably well on stronger stations. A good dsp radio can be awsome, but nothing beats a solid analogue radio from last century. True analogue is like honey for the soul. 73's from Holland and good DX!
So true. There are some really great DSP radios, I own many of those. The Tecsun PL-368, XHDATA D-808, XHDATA D-109 and various others are still fun radios to do DXing with and they work really well. But nothing beats a good quality, old-style analogue radio. It just sounds and works differently.
@@swlisteningJust like my Sony. I need to still fix the issue on mediumwave. It DXes well, just one problem. On this band and on longwave, the speaker sounds like an old toy speaker with a low battery. Sort of like a crystal radio set. Edit: My Sony isn't good on FM either, very weak on strong signals. If I add a wire to it, it only improves a tiny bit, but it is barely noticable. I use my PL368 for FM nowadays, or an old MP3 player of mine, my clock radio which I somehow managed to pick up VOA from Botswana, or my first phone, a Mobicel C1. Edit 2: I just tried scanning FM on it, it only picked up 3 signals, I could only improve using fine tuning, but it would be very quiet and when I would leave it would get distorted and go in a way I can't describe.
@@FamtechVideos Maybe the Sony just needs a little repair inside? I am not a technical person, so I wouldn't hazard a guess at what the issue might be, but to me it sounds like it could probably be repaired quite easily.
@@swlistening My father used to help his father repair electronics. He has a lot of experience. He has a PHD in physics for improving the sillicone chip. I am learning from him, we will disassemble the radio again soon. It doesn't turn off when it has batteries, so we will investigate that as well.
Wow, this radio looks nice 😀 I need to find some headphones, but I was surprised that your audio of what you think could be veSSti FM was kinda raspy - as if there were 2 stations on the frequency with about 30-40 Hz difference between their carriers. Can't think of any station that would be this far off-freq on 1413, neither the naZis nor BBC from Oman seems to fit, and looks like there are no stations anywhere in Africa on this freq. (And Spain is too low-powered) Also noted the best audio from 1548 Radio Islam of all your videos! I wonder if they improved something in their transmitter? 🤨 BTW I don't recall if I every asked you about this, but can you hear Angola on 1133.5 kHz? I used to have a carrier from them back in March when I was able to use a KAZ facing south, I hope it remains active when I would be able to set it back up, hopefully in September. Cheers Andre, 73 🙂
Thanks Arnie! Around 1413 kHz the only signal I ever catch is Vesti FM, but the other station might be 1422 kHz, which is Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), from Matiya near Zomba, in the south of Malawi. It is a 10 kW transmitter and I have picked it up a few times before, always very weakly. The MBC transmitter is not too far away from me. You haven't asked me about Angola before. I have actually been trying to pick up Angola many times, but no success so far. I did pick up something like voices on 945 kHz just a few days ago, which is RNA Radio Ngola, from Luanda. But it was too weak to even try to record, even with the little external microphone I now use to make my recordings. Nothing on 1133.5 kHz so far. I don't think Radio Islam 1548 kHz have made any changes to their transmitter, perhaps it's the Sony that just manages to pick it up so nicely... Edit: I corrected Radio Ngola frequency, it uis not 924 khz, it is 945 kHz, and 10 kW transmitter.
@@swlistening hmmm, that could be 1422 then. There's also Algeria on 422 with 50kW. Really I have no idea. Perhaps it could help if you had an SDR or if there was a (good) remote one in South Africa like it used to exist in Kempton Park in Jo'burg a few years ago. Never heard of Angola on 924. Another one for the future 😉
@@swlistening ahhh... shit happens 😜 945 is strong Romania here, so no chances to hear anything South of me. Did manage to hear a low-powered Smooth Radio from the UK on a KAZ that managed to null Romania, but I'm afraid it could have been switched-off like many other Smooth transmitters in late June. Other DXers, particularly in Spain, Portugal & Canary Islands can hear Sao Tome on 945, however, rather than Angola.
I am sorry, I am unable to translate your comment, could you perhaps post it in English? Or in the original script, then I can use Google Translate for a translation?
@@naveediqbal8371 No, this is not a new radio, it is the original one from the 1980s. I do not think the newer version of this one is still available, unfortunately.
چکیاحسین آباد / اعظم گڑھ / یوپی/ ہندوستان 🇮🇳
If you're good dealing with electronics, it's possible to greatly enhance performance. It's possible to increase the length of the ferrite bar to 7.5 - 8 inches (approximately 200 millimeters). If this is done, it's a match for the General Electric "Super Radio." I have General Electric's Super Radio III, this version tunes to around 1780 kHz (American Expanded AM band).
That's a great tip, thank you Henry!
I have seen two versions of this radio. One uses through-hole parts, while the other uses many surface mount parts. The original version with through-hole parts works much better than the version with surface mount parts. There's a version that uses 3 D cells (batteries), but I don't own that version.
Mine uses the 3 D cell batteries. Do you know which version that is?
Azamgarh up India 🇮🇳
I like sony radio icf j- 40 💕💕💕💕
Hi Shahid, this is a very nice radio indeed!
Hello Andre, this radio was very popular in Saudi Arabia, my father had one, I remember in my childhood I used to play with the belt that came with it, I am thinking of buying one for my father, do you think there is a new icf-j40 these days?
Hi there Fawaz, thank you for your comment! I don't think there is a new version available, unfortunately. I know the radio was resurrected about a decade or so ago and was available again as new, with some minor changes. But it is no longer being sold. Maybe you can find a second-hand version like I did?
I don't know if this model is as old as 1980's though looks vintage design.
I have two of them and bought them in 2000's. The first one in 2008 or so and second in 2017. These were made for MENA and probably Asia region. They were commonly available in Carrefours in the UAE and other department stores. There are design improvements between the two sets I have.
What you have is the older model probably. My 2017 purchase has a soft case that closes with velcro while 2006 has the "hard" case with click on buttons as you have.
One of the best radios I have.
Al estilo de su época, incluso diría que más atrás. Diseño robusto, me recuerda a las Sanyo de los setenta ochenta.
¡Gracias! Sí, esto está realmente al estilo de su época, ¡me encanta! Y, claramente, un muy buen diseño. He visto videos del interior de esta radio, placa de circuito de primera calidad.
Sir please inform me from where i can get like this new radio
Hi there Rang, I think they are a bit hard to get, but I do see some sites in the Middle East that still sell this, like here: www.arabiacart.com/sony-radioworld-band-radiotrnsistr-radio-prtble-4-band-fmmwsnocicf-j40agent-guarantee-sony-icf-j40 I don't know where you are, but I think if you search on Google you might find a retailer that will deliver to you.
I want to buy it. If you want to sell it please inform.
Thank you for the offer but I really like this radio too much! Not planning to sell right now :-)
FM can be improved by replacing the ceramic filter. With a better ceramic I prefer this radio over DSP radios.
Thanks Henry! I'm not so much into FM listening, the one or two stations that I do listen to, come through quite nicely on this radio. But I love it for MW, it is really good on MW! A very nice radio.
@@swlistening FM is not my favorite, but being able to hear a weak station between two strong ones is something I like to have.
I wanted to buy this radio 📻
Hi Yousif, they are pretty hard to get these days, unfortunately.
I want to buy this radio
Great radio, hard to find these days, unfortunately.
so nice i have 3 icfj40 radio set
Thanks, this is a great radio! You are lucky to have three!
Congratulations for your purchase 👍 quite a bargain! This old iron sure still has very good ears. And it seems in a pristine condition, lucky you. I like old Sony radios, they're great stuff and so stylish. I've ventured in that territory as well with not so much luck. I've bought a Sony ICF-7600 from the French equivalent of Craigslist. 3x the price of yours, and it turned out to be severely defective. Totally deaf on FM and very, very low audio on SW. And of course the seller just ignored me. I'm stuck with it, it probably just needs a recap, but I'm not up to the job. Finding someone here to do it for a reasonable price is a lost cause. I shall probably wait until an upcoming stay in a SE Asia country and have it fixed there.
Thanks Alain. I like to keep checking the classifieds for old radios, but you never know what you will get ... This same seller who I bought the Sony from, had a Sangean SG-786, I really wanted to buy the Sangean, but it did not work, did not power up. Pity, externally it was in great condition, almost like new. Your idea to fix the Sony ICF-7600 in SE Asia sounds like a good one, will probably be more reasonable there.
Which chip is used in it?
I will need to open it up to see, haven't come around to doing that yet. I will, perhaps this coming weekend, and I will make a video when I do it.
hello.thnk u for share this video🙏 that antenna's wire is for fm or sw?
Thank you for your comment Arash. The wire works on both FM and SW.
@@swlistening thnk u too bro
and the next question is: my radio has no sound on fm! you think the problem is about the (IF) ? cus when I turn it to left or right, there is no change frecancy !
@@arash7777xxxx That's a hard one for me to answer, is there no sound at all? Not even static? But the other bands do have sound?
Nice presentation! Reminds me of the Panasonic SW radios 📻 from the 80’s. I actually worked for Panasonic back in the day. I know it’s a Sony radio, but still reminiscent of the glory day’s of shortwave.
I miss those glory days sometimes... I used a small 3-band Panasonic radio for my DXing when I was a teenager in the 1980s, but I don't remember the model name anymore.
@@swlistening yes there were many models during that time, I don’t remember either, lol
in your country you are not using longwave? And if you have any longwave radio can you listen to Europe?
Hi Ralph, no, we do not have longwave in South Africa and so far I have not been able to catch anything on longwave from elsewhere. I keep trying, but no luck so far.
@@swlistening Im listening (in Ostrava) Polskie Radio Jeydnka on 225 kHz 1200 kW, its strongest and only one AM station that i can catch at home in daytime. 2000 kW 540 kHz Solt is running very bad, i sended video. For you may be with best signal Alger Chaine on 252 kHz, its 1500 kW from north of africa. At night is 252 signal strong in my house.
@@RalphCZ Thank you Ralph, I have tried Algeria on 252 kHz, but nothing. Algeria is quite far away from South Africa. I do keep trying all the time, I would like to catch something on long wave, before all the long wave stations close down. There is a possibility that I might travel to Slovakia in December this tear, hopefully I will be able to catch some long wave then!
@@swlistening in Slovakia will be good signal of Jedynka and more better of Kossuth, unfortunately slovak AM transmitting ended with end of 2022. Main czech transmitting before one more year.
@@RalphCZ I am looking forward to DXing there! Will be in the High Tatras area.
I am looking this radio to purchase for few years...But on line, this set is unavailable...
Can anyone give me the availblity of this radio set..?
Hi there Joyprakash, I think it is quite hard to get this radio now. I haven't been able to find it for sale anywhere, unfortunately.
In the 1980s, made in Japan meant very high quality.
Thanks Henry, that is very true! But this ICF-J40 is quite a mystery to me, some say it was made in the 1980s, then production ended, and then it was resurrected in the 2000s. But there is very little information available.
@@swlistening What I have read suggests it was made from 1985, and continued being manufactured for many years. It appears that it was discontinued sometime after 2009 but I'm not 100% sure. I assume it works better with 4.5 volts instead of 3 volts. The chip it uses can work from 3 volts to 8 volts; but I assume they won't go higher than 6 volts.
@@swlistening I have only seen the 3 battery version on ebay, I saw two listed but not in good condition. They're listed for parts.
@@Henry-d9d Interesting, so it was actually in production for a very long time, right into the 2000s.
@@swlistening It's interesting that Sony used the same model number for the radio, they didn't use anything to distinguish one version from another.
Thank you for a short and attractive explanation on different types of radio.go ahead
It's my pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!
It looks a lot like my Sanyo RP-8800 radio, which I have recently been using as a BFO for other radios without SSB. I bought mine at a car boot sale for £2, it's actually one of my better radios. Shame I don't feature it more on my channel.
Yes, it does actually look a lot like the Sanyo! I'd like to see it in action, would be nice if you coukd show some videos of it on your channel 😀
@@swlistening I actually did a shortwave bandscan of the radio on my channel a while back. You should find it if you search for it. Ii's actually a good radio with the LW band too.
In fact, dsp killed the traditional radio hobby for me. About all brands use the same hardware, it's only the configuration that differs, i.e. agc mute on or off and a more or less decent speaker. The ferrite bar has become smaller and smaller, but dsp has some advantages when reception is strong, like a low noise floor. So even cheapos sound reasonably well on stronger stations. A good dsp radio can be awsome, but nothing beats a solid analogue radio from last century. True analogue is like honey for the soul. 73's from Holland and good DX!
So true. There are some really great DSP radios, I own many of those. The Tecsun PL-368, XHDATA D-808, XHDATA D-109 and various others are still fun radios to do DXing with and they work really well. But nothing beats a good quality, old-style analogue radio. It just sounds and works differently.
@@swlistening I 100% agree.
i have purchased new j40 yesterday
Plz let me know how can I get that radio...
I am staying in Assam..
Plz help me...and plz inform the price of that radio..
Wow! A good MW dx radio.
Thanks! Yes, I think this is going to be a great one for MW DXing!
Nice find! Definitely it is a piece of valuable radio history.
Thanks! Nice piece of radio history but also a good workhorse for my MW DXing!
@@swlisteningJust like my Sony. I need to still fix the issue on mediumwave. It DXes well, just one problem. On this band and on longwave, the speaker sounds like an old toy speaker with a low battery. Sort of like a crystal radio set.
Edit: My Sony isn't good on FM either, very weak on strong signals. If I add a wire to it, it only improves a tiny bit, but it is barely noticable. I use my PL368 for FM nowadays, or an old MP3 player of mine, my clock radio which I somehow managed to pick up VOA from Botswana, or my first phone, a Mobicel C1.
Edit 2: I just tried scanning FM on it, it only picked up 3 signals, I could only improve using fine tuning, but it would be very quiet and when I would leave it would get distorted and go in a way I can't describe.
@@FamtechVideos Maybe the Sony just needs a little repair inside? I am not a technical person, so I wouldn't hazard a guess at what the issue might be, but to me it sounds like it could probably be repaired quite easily.
@@swlistening My father used to help his father repair electronics. He has a lot of experience. He has a PHD in physics for improving the sillicone chip. I am learning from him, we will disassemble the radio again soon. It doesn't turn off when it has batteries, so we will investigate that as well.
i have purchased new j40 yesterday
That's very interesting! Where did you buy it? If I may ask, what was the price?
11000 rupees pakitani
@@amirnawazkhan7618 Thank you, that sounds quite reasonable to me.
Wow, this radio looks nice 😀
I need to find some headphones, but I was surprised that your audio of what you think could be veSSti FM was kinda raspy - as if there were 2 stations on the frequency with about 30-40 Hz difference between their carriers. Can't think of any station that would be this far off-freq on 1413, neither the naZis nor BBC from Oman seems to fit, and looks like there are no stations anywhere in Africa on this freq. (And Spain is too low-powered)
Also noted the best audio from 1548 Radio Islam of all your videos! I wonder if they improved something in their transmitter? 🤨
BTW I don't recall if I every asked you about this, but can you hear Angola on 1133.5 kHz? I used to have a carrier from them back in March when I was able to use a KAZ facing south, I hope it remains active when I would be able to set it back up, hopefully in September. Cheers Andre, 73 🙂
Thanks Arnie! Around 1413 kHz the only signal I ever catch is Vesti FM, but the other station might be 1422 kHz, which is Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), from Matiya near Zomba, in the south of Malawi. It is a 10 kW transmitter and I have picked it up a few times before, always very weakly. The MBC transmitter is not too far away from me.
You haven't asked me about Angola before. I have actually been trying to pick up Angola many times, but no success so far. I did pick up something like voices on 945 kHz just a few days ago, which is RNA Radio Ngola, from Luanda. But it was too weak to even try to record, even with the little external microphone I now use to make my recordings. Nothing on 1133.5 kHz so far.
I don't think Radio Islam 1548 kHz have made any changes to their transmitter, perhaps it's the Sony that just manages to pick it up so nicely...
Edit: I corrected Radio Ngola frequency, it uis not 924 khz, it is 945 kHz, and 10 kW transmitter.
@@swlistening Do you mean 10kw transmitter?
@@swlistening hmmm, that could be 1422 then. There's also Algeria on 422 with 50kW. Really I have no idea. Perhaps it could help if you had an SDR or if there was a (good) remote one in South Africa like it used to exist in Kempton Park in Jo'burg a few years ago.
Never heard of Angola on 924. Another one for the future 😉
@@ArnieDXer Arnie, my apologies, I made a very bad typo, Angola is on 945 kHz, Radio Ngola. Not 924.
@@swlistening ahhh... shit happens 😜
945 is strong Romania here, so no chances to hear anything South of me. Did manage to hear a low-powered Smooth Radio from the UK on a KAZ that managed to null Romania, but I'm afraid it could have been switched-off like many other Smooth transmitters in late June. Other DXers, particularly in Spain, Portugal & Canary Islands can hear Sao Tome on 945, however, rather than Angola.
App ny seell krna ha kya
I am sorry, I am unable to translate your comment, could you perhaps post it in English? Or in the original script, then I can use Google Translate for a translation?
@@swlistening Do yo have a new radio,if yas where can i get it
@@naveediqbal8371 No, this is not a new radio, it is the original one from the 1980s. I do not think the newer version of this one is still available, unfortunately.
@@swlistening tell me my friend where are you going to meet
very cool radio! we need to see and hear more from it ;)
Thanks and I agree! This is my main MW DXing radio now, but I haven't been doing too much MW DXing lately. I think it is time!