Hi,
Sony shortwaves are very reliable - a relatively cheap and good one is the ICF-SW11. I also use the ICF-7600G which is excellent. The Grundig "Yacht Boy" range is also supposed to be good.

An excellent alternative that is now reasonably priced is the "WorldSpace" range of digital recievers. We have a Sony DSB-WS1000 which is the size of a large portable cassette tape player. It will run off 4.5V DC or batteries and gives crystal clear stereo sound. It will pick up the BBC World Service, CNN, other news channels and a number of music channels which are all free to air. There will also be a number of subscription services offered, I think that some are currently available in Kenya.

You can use it right through Africa, Asia and most of South and Central America and the USA. The rest of the world is not yet covered by the WorldSpace satellites.

There area couple of advantages to having a shortwave. The Worldspace receiver can only get one "channel". So for example if you have a short wave radio, you can listen to BBC world service broadcasting to Africa, South Asia etc., Wolrdspace will only give you the Africa broadcast. Also, the shortwave will give you access to other English language broadcasts eg. from Germany and the Netherlands, which will give you a different angle on the same news event.

Cheers,

Andy

[This message has been edited by Andyk (edited 01 June 2001).]