Icom IC-R5 problems

Location : Stowmarket Spotter Watch Member : no

I have never got clear recieption on my Icom IC-R5. Recently I was at Midenhall and was standing near some other guys with other scanners. The reception they were getting was so much clearer than mine. The receiption is garbled and distorted. I could clearly hear every word from the other guys scanner and could not understand the mulchy mess eminating from mine. :x

Is the Icom IC-R5 always crap or have I bought a duff one?

Would a different aerial help? it still has the standard aerial. If so are theere any reccomendations.

I bought an IC-R5 as it had some good write ups and was nice and compact. I have been bitterly dissapointed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tim

Location : Hertfordshire Spotter Watch Member : No

Tim,

Sounds unusual. I've had an R5 for a couple of years and its a very capable little scanner. I have no basis for scientific comparisons with other radios, but when I have been in the vicinity of other scanner users at airfields, it's compared well and certainly not been totally outclassed as yours seems to have been.

When I bought the R5, I found the manual incomprehensible, so I had to work it out mostly by trial and error. One of my many early mistakes was to tune to FM rather than AM when trying to listen to aircraft. This would give distorted reception, even if you have the frequency punched in correctly. Sorry if I've just tried to teach my grandmother to suck eggs - but my main point is the R5 is a good scanner and, in a like-for-like situation, you should be getting much better results than you are so there is an error or malfunction somewhere.

I am far from being an expert but I am happy to try and help if I can so report back if you are still having difficulty. There is a Yahoo user group that might also help. See also http://www.ukmidlandscanner.co.uk/r5rev.htm

Good luck.

Hertsman

Location : london Spotter Watch Member : no

Good advice above. Always have your scanner in AM when listening to air band on the IC-R5 if you dont already.You may get poor reception when very close to airfield/aircraft aswell as the the signal is so strong it becomes distorted. Cant fault my unit really apart from it not having the ability to put more characters in the names of your channels and no number pad.

Moderator Location : UK Spotter Watch Member : No

hertsman wrote:: One of my many early mistakes was to tune to FM rather than AM when trying to listen to aircraft. This would give distorted reception, even if you have the frequency punched in correctly.

A valid lesson. Got caught out with that quite recently Embarassed

And I've been "scanning" 20 years! Embarassed

Location : Essex Spotter Watch Member : No

Hi

I use the Icom Q7E which scans 29-1300 MHz and also has transmit on the amateur 2m and 70cm FM bands (at low power). It is an amazing set and very good for civil and milair provided you select AM mode. As far as I am aware all standard air-ground uses AM.

Location : North of 56 N Spotter Watch Member : No

It does sound very much like the wrong mode being selected, FM instead of AM.

If you listen to anything else on the VHF FM band does it sound distorted also Marine Channels, Amateur Bands etc ?

Location : Cheshire

Do a full reset of your scanner.

Then make sure all steps for airband are correct. Scanner will set to american defaults.

Hopefully this will cure your problem..

Make sure batteries are fully charged first..
Mike

Location : Colchester Spotter Watch Member : No

I have used my ICOM IC-R5 for 4 years now & can only recommend it as an excellent little scanner, with crisp clear sound. I have also upgraded from the standard antenna to a WSMA-881 Watson 25-1900MHz Super Gainer SMA, which I highly recommend. http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/wsma881-watson-251900mhz-super-gainer-p-4031.html

Admittedly the IC-R5 is a bit of a sod to programme at first, but is easier once you have done it a few times. Once all the frequencies are stored in the scanner they can then also be stored into seperate banks for each airfield or show location which makes scanning so much easier.

The IC-R5 is quite a performer too, as I am often able to pick up Lakenheath approach from here in Essex when it is hooked up to my Skyscan Antenna in the loft.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29733

Overall it's a very capable little scanner which fits nicely in a shirt pocket when wandering around airshows.

TankBuster

Location : northolt Spotter Watch Member : no

yep recently purchased sed scanner and love it to bits only ever had one query which is last week i was at a search and rescue demostration in dorset and was monotoring marine channel 0 (156.000) and with my old uniden ubc72xlt i could clearley hear portland coastguard which is about 10 miles away, with the icom it was incredibly distorted and barely understandable any ideas ??

i tried fm,am and wfm mode and was using 12.5 steps

regards
james