The Sony ICF-6700 has it's strange rectangular "bread bin" shaped cabinet in common with the ICF-6800, in contrast to the '6800 which is a double conversion receiver based on the Wadley Loop cirucuit is the ICF-6700L a conventional double conversion superhet with a frequency counter.
The receiver is 45,3 x 18,4 x 22,7 cm wide and has a wight of 5,5 kg, it has carrying handles on both sides and You can attach a carrying strap, but in fact it's not a portable but rather a desktop shortwave receiver.
The ICF-6700 can be powered from 110/220 V mains or from six UM-1 / mono cell batteries, the battery compartment is located at the top of the receiver, a world time conversion table and band allocation plan is printed in the cover.

The left third of the front panel is taken by the speaker grille, just below, You find the headphones jack and the rotary volume, bass and treble controls.
On the front panel, You find the main power switch and the typical round signal strength meter in the left upper corner, a tiny yellow pushbutton lets You activate the dial illumination for a few seconds when the receiver is battery powered, next to it, there is a switch to turn off the frequency counter to save battery power.
Just below, You find a rotary bandswitch for FM, mediumwaves and shortwave bands SW1 (1,6 - 10 MHz), SW2 (11,5 - 20 MHz), SW3 (20-29,5 MHz). Only in the ICF-6700L version, the longwave band is covered, in this case, the switch at the left is not used to activate the AGC in FM mode but lets You select between long- and mediumwaves.

On the right half of the front panel, You find at the top the small dark red LED frequency counter and next it the preselector dial, the preselector control is located just at the right of it and has to be carefully tuned for a maximum S meter reading after each frequency change.
Below, You find the horizontal frequency dials, a mechanically moved pointer indicates the active frequency range.
The big tuning knob is rubber coated and can be operated without backlash. At it's left, You find the modes switch which also selects the wide and narrow i.f. bandwidth filter and the RF gain control.

The R.F. signal coming from the antenna has to pass the preselector and an amplifier stage and is converted to the first intermediate frequency of 10,7 MHz in the first mixer, after having been mixed to the second i.f. of 455 kHz, it has to pass the i.f. bandwidth filters and is handed over to the AM and SSB product detector. In the FM mode, the receiver acts as single conversion superhet with the standard i.f. of 10,7 MHz. This frequency used as first AF in the AM bands too, is the reason for the gab in frequency coverage between 10 - 11,5 MHz

In practical use, the ICF-6700 is a receiver straightforward to operate. In contrast to the cumbersome electronic and machnic design of the ICF-6800W, the ICF-6700 is based on a standard double conversion design connected to a frequency counter, it's sensitivity is slightly below that of the ICF-6800W, and the i.f. filters - similar to the ones used in the early versions of the '6800, are not that sharp. When You operate the preselector correctly, it performs well on the bands. For single sideband reception, You have to turn the tuning knob with caution as the receiver has only one tuning speed and no fine tuning.
The ICF-6700L is a very nica example of a double conversion shortwave radio with a convetional frequency counter, has the same unique design as the ICF-6800W and is less prone to fail, so less troubles with hafing it repaired. After some disillusion with buying a used ICF-6800W, You might consider looking around for a well performing ICF-6700.

© Martin Bösch, 12.2.2005