[musichal]

Thank you, Tom C. for your erudite and on-point reply. Build quality is a consideration. I read somewhere that this is Sony's last SW radio - that they are getting away from the genre. So anyone who wants a built-in-Japan model... well, seems those days are over. (Except for maybe the Sony model that tunes only the six Japanese transmissions, omitting the rest of the world - maybe they're dc-ing that one as well, IDK.) If you want a replacement it may be a now or never proposition.