(And a Look at some other radios which use their Whip Antennas for AM Reception)

When Sony introduced the ICF-2001 in 1980 it was nothing short of a revolution in portable radios. Not to be confused with the later ICF-2001D (which is a completely different model introduced in 1985 and known here in the US as the ICF-2010…one of the longest-lived and most iconic portable radios ever made), the ICF-2001 was the first portable radio to offer direct frequency input via a numeric key pad with a digital readout and other digital tuning features. Manufactured between 1980-1983 it was the forerunner of a succession of digital models which would change the way we used radios. It was replaced by the completely redesigned ICF-2002 in 1983 and the well-known ICF-2010 (aka 2001D outside the US…why Sony choose to name it so confusingly we’ll never know) which reigned supreme between 1985-2002. Somehow though the ICF-2001 seems to have faded into relative obscurity and I had never seen one or known enough about it to look for one until a reader named George graciously loaned me his 2001 because he felt I should experience one of its unique capabilities which I will describe shortly. It also has one or two unusual quirks which we will discuss.

Above: Top: ICF-2001 Bottom: ICF-2001D (ICF 2010)

Features & Specifications:

Frequency Coverage: AM: 150-29999 KHz Continuous – FM: 76 – 108 MHz

Dual Conversion

SSB with Fine Tuning

Earphone Output 8 Ohms (Earbud Supplied)

Rec Out Jack (Mic level)

Timer Input Jack (for external control)

External Antenna Screws for 75 Ohm FM antenna or Wire AM Antenna (Supplied)

External DC Input Jack: 4 ½ Volt AC 122 AC Adapter, DCC-127A Car Adapter

Batteries: 3 D Cells, 2 AA Cells

Dimensions: 12 1/4″ x 6 3/4″ x 2 1/4″

One Very Unusual Feature:

Here is where the ICF-2001 is unique. Although it contains the usual built-in ferrite rod antenna for AM and LW it also uses the whip antenna simultaneously on these bands. This is not to be confused with the several radios I have tested which can use their whip antennas on AM…the ICF-2001 can use both antennas at the same time. This allows you to get the additional gain from the long whip antenna and still have some directional control via the ferrite rod. It also features an Antenna Adjustment thumbwheel which you use to peak reception as needed and it is very effective. It is important to understand that any radio using a whip antenna will benefit from it only in the lowest noise locations…in most of today’s homes there is enough background RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) that the ferrite rod will be much more effective indoors, not only because it is directional and can be used to null some of that noise but also because so-called magnetic loops are more immune to noise than whips or wires are. So, in order to really check the effectiveness of this unusual radio I would have to take it out to the backyard where there is no background noise…luckily, I have a large country lot with nothing but farms around so noise is non-existent there. But first I wanted to see how it fared as a traditional radio on AM using just its ferrite rod.

Checking It Out: AM Performance: It appears to have high current drain on the three D cells. The Owner’s Manual says the two AA cells for the digital control circuits should be good for a year but claims only 9 – 10 hours of operating time on standard D cells…it will be much better with today’s Alkaline cells or you could use rechargeables with an external charger but I don’t want to fault it for this…in 1980 the thrill of digital operation would have been well worth it.

The first thing I did was to test the radio indoors on the ferrite rod and I discovered that the radio had to be oriented horizontally and perpendicularly to the other radios I compared it with. Consulting the Service manual confirmed that the radio has its ferrite rod on the right side oriented vertically. (Since this radio was loaned to me by a reader, I didn’t want to open it up but judging from what I could see in the manual I would guess it to be perhaps 4 – 5 inches long). It is important to note that the ‘2001’s ferrite rod is mounted vertically on the right side of the radio so the radio has to be laid down flat or on its kickstand, otherwise the ferrite would be positioned vertically which is not the right polarization. In other words, using the ferrite rod you cannot stand the radio upright as you would with other radios. My Five Star AM reference radios clearly outperformed it with much stronger and less hissy recovered audio from weaker signals. I then put it up against my ICF-2010 which ranks Four Stars on AM and the 2010 beat it as well. I then put it up against a Sangean ATS-909X2 which ranks Three Stars on AM and although the Sangean was a hair better they were fairly close so I would say the 2001 would squeak into the *** group on its ferrite rod. I will say that the 2001’s single medium-ish bandwidth was somewhere between the 2010’s Wide and Narrow filters and is a good choice for listening to weaker signals…I would judge it to be between 3 – 4 KHz bandwidth.

I also tried extending the whip to varying degrees to see if I could get any improvement but was not successful in doing so. I thought that perhaps just a bit of the whip might add some signal strength before noise took over but such was not the case…as I started to extend the whip the only thing that increased was noise…tests with AM on the whip would have to wait for a sunny day to get it outdoors where I expected it would fare much better. (It did).

SW Performance was very sensitive. I compared it with the Sony ICF-2010 and several top current day receivers and found the ICF-2001 matched them…it is excellent on SW. I didn’t spend a lot of time testing SSB which has a simple BFO On/Off system but with its variable Fine Tuning I was able to get good results.

FM was, as expected, not something to be excited about by today’s standards…decent sensitivity but nowhere near selective enough for today’s crowded FM band. It is fine for casual FM listening but modern DSP radios will separate many signals more cleanly. This is true for most (although not all) vintage portables…FM has just improved so much lately.

AM Outdoors using the Whip Antenna: As they say, this is what we came for and after days of bad weather we finally had some and nice days with sun and mild temperatures. I set up a table and chair in the backyard and brought along some reference radios along with the ICF-2001: Panasonic RF-2200, C. Crane CC-3, Qodosen SR-286, Eton E1,  XHDATA D0808 (Original version) and a few others. Scanning dozens of signals covering the entire AM band, first testing all radios with their internal ferrite rods the RF-2200 and CC-3 were, as expected, by far the winners, delivering more noise-free and low noise stations than the others…no surprise there. The Qodosen with its tiny internal ferrite rod was surprisingly at least as good as the Sony….the ICF-2001 is not great off its small ferrite rod.

But the real excitement for me was to see how the AM reception on the ICF-2001 off its whip antenna would be and it was indeed fantastic…totally different than how it was in the house. Now the Sony matched the RF-2200 and CC-3 on many signals as did the Eton E1 with the little SR-286 extremely close but one important point I want to stress is that this varied markedly as I tuned to various signals up and down the band. In fact, each of these hottest radios was best on some stations and worst on some others as well. I’ve said this so many times before – when you are comparing top radios you have to do a thorough band scan and tabulate the results to see the trends because individual signals may give misleading results. So I will repeat – each of these excellent radios was best on some signals and worst on others. All will therefore rate ***** in this mode in the AM Mega Shootout rankings. I also must point out that the Sony’s whip antenna is 46” while the Qodosen’s is only 19”. I tried connecting a longer whip antenna to the SR-286 and as expected it came up to the level of the other radios in that configuration. Over the years the E1 has been much criticized for its AM performance on AM with its whip antenna when used indoors but during these comparisons I was reminded of how good the E1 is on AM with its whip antenna when used outdoors…it was fully the equal of the other top radios.

Back to the Sony: One thing I had been told before I received the radio was that since both the ferrite rod and whip are active simultaneously, it would be possible to rotate the radio to produce some interesting effects, nulling interference or interfering signals but I was not able to verify that in my tests. It seemed that the signal from the whip was so much stronger than that from the ferrite that any signal from the ferrite was over-ridden by the whip signal and I never heard any differences by rotating the radio while the whip was extended. As I shortened the whip to allow the ferrite’s contribution to become obvious (and to allow for some directionality) the overall signal became weaker and could not compete with the other radios. I must admit I only had the radio for a short time and its owner says he has had good results with this but it doesn’t really matter…the ‘2001 is so hot off its whip that it earns a special place among AM portables and it is a top performer in that mode. He also reports excellent LW sensitivity but I did not test for that.

Conclusion: As Sony’s first digital multiband portable the Sony ICF-2001 was a landmark portable in 1980 and it was ground breaking in many ways. It offered a digital frequency readout, direct keypad frequency entry, SSB, memories, auto scanning, timer, variable attenuator and other digital features previously unheard of. Although later models such as the ICF-2010 improved upon it in several ways, the ‘2001 remains unique in that it uses its whip  antenna and a ferrite rod for LW and MW. In some locations of very low noise levels (usually outdoors) it offers much better gain than its ferrite rod provides but my guess is that Sony soon realized that in most indoor settings the whip was too noisy to be practical and settled on the internal ferrite as the best solution for all of their later models. Still, if you are in a very low noise environment a whip is an excellent AM antenna and with this radio you have that option…in some cases the reception is fantastic.  I have to describe the ICF-2001 as one-of-a-kind. I am grateful to George for loaning it to me.

And if you are one of the lucky people who own the excellent Eton E1 and haven’t already done so, take it outdoors and compare it with your best AM radio…I think you will be delighted with it!

Jay Allen