I've owned various receivers both portable and desktop in my time, but this is the worst ever. If you like radios that specialize in front end overloads and false images (birdies) this is the set for you. If you're a beginner and have never gone into short wave listening, get into another receiver so your first impressions are good ones. I have managed to question other users in various newsgroups on the Internet and they have the same thing to say about the set. Maybe they're more tolerant of the poor performance and noise this thing generates. I've owned this thing for almost one week only because it took me six days to bring it back. If this is the example of modern day engineering in portable receivers, I'll stick to my older receivers, thanks.