Eddy wrote:
Thanks, David & Tony, re. details of MSF.

As regards my battery-backup issue, here's an update, all, on progress.

After much trouble trying to get through to the right people at Sony, I
have been told by two people there that the "Sony ICF-CD855L CD Clock
Radio" does NOT have the usual form of "battery backup" but that there
IS "battery backup". One of these two people then went on to say she
could find no details about its exact nature OR for how long the backup
would operate in the event of a power failure, though she dared to say
(sounding rather unsure to me) that she thought that all pre-sets and
clock-settings would be preserved "for at least two hours". The other
person is still to come back to me with further details.

Has anyone heard of this apparently new form of "battery backup"?
Sorry, if I appear to be ignorant about it, but almost all the gadgets
that I possess which have battery backup have an aperture somewhere
round the back or underneath into which you fit a good old-fashioned
battery of some sort, if not some slender little battery of the disc
variety. The Sony ICF-CD855L has no such opening in its casing.


FWIW I've got a Sony radio alarm (about 10 years old) and while there's
no battery to change it does keep time and presets for, IIRC from the
manual, 2 to 3 hours. It certainly works during the very occasional
power cut. I suspect the one you're looking at has something similar.
Why not just buy it mail order and return it under the distance selling
thing if it's not up to scratch?

Rob