Icom SDR 1500 and 2500 Questions

[BOBRR]

Hello,

First time poster to the Icom Forum.

Wish to purchase, I think, a SDR software defined radio.

Have been mulling over for a month or so now the pros and cons between the WinRadio offerings, and I guess the Perseus, which is supposed to be the hottest thing on the block now.

Anyway, I have to admit that I never thought of Icom for SDR's. Should have, I guess, but didn't.
Read about them today, and have a bunch of questions, please.

a. Are there only two; the 1500 and the 2500 ?
Costs ?

b. I guess the first question should be where on the Icom site are they described ?
Looked all over the site, but couln't find anything on them, surprisingly.

c. I imagine that you folks did a tradeoff between all the SDR's available, and have selected one of the Icom models. May I respectfully please ask what made you pick an Icom offering over the WinRadio's or the Perseus ?

d. I like to do vhf/uhf listening as well as the HF bands. Which of the two
(I'm assuming there are only two ?) models would I want ?
Major differences between them, etc ?

e. what do you like on your Icom SDR, and perhaps, more important, what don't you like ?

f. When did these units come out ?
Any rumors about anything new in the pipeline for the near future ?
Are these units supported, and updated fairly often, by Icom ?

That should be enough of my questions for a while.
Really appreciate any thoughts, or opinions on all of this.

Any SDR is a fair amount of $, and would hate to get the wrong one (for me).
BTW: I now have a JRC NRD 545. Any idea how they compare to this ?

Thanks again,
Bob

[wayne_h]

The ICOM PCR and WinRadio receivers aren't SDR equipment. Each has all the contained receiver and filtering hardware in its box. The computer is only used to control it. This is an example of a SDR, along with the Perseus.

> a. Are there only two; the 1500 and the 2500 ?
Costs ?

There are currently those two. Price depends on blocked or unblocked, with or without a control head. I'd recommend using Google to research pricing. ICOM discontinued the models without the control heads but you may be able to find one.

> b. I guess the first question should be where on the Icom site are they described ?
Looked all over the site, but couln't find anything on them, surprisingly.

Receivers > Mobile

> c. I imagine that you folks did a tradeoff between all the SDR's available, and have selected one of the Icom models. May I respectfully please ask what made you pick an Icom offering over the WinRadio's or the Perseus ?

I'm not familiar with the Perseus but based on feedback about the ICOM and WinRadio models, and the features they provided, I went with the ICOM 2500.

> e. what do you like on your Icom SDR, and perhaps, more important, what don't you like ?

Dual receivers, the quality of the receiver (ability to handle intermod, high noise floors, etc), the software interface is very WYSIWYG for a receiver interface, VOX recording, P25 decoding quality (along with P25 radio ID's and TG's), the ability to strictly operate in P25 mode when searching or auto-tuning, band scope and activity history, and other things I can't recall.
What I don't like: no P25 NAC decoding, no detailed audio logging (you don't know the when or who if scanning or searching), and uses the old style tone search of stepping through all. ETA: P25 only works on first receiver and second receiver is 50MHz to 1300MHz (or some such).

I didn't go in to my purchase of a 2500 with scanner features in mind so my problems with it are simple and limited. I don't expect trunking or other fancy things. I just wanted a rock-solid receiver and decent P25 decoding quality, which is very stable and accurate. I'm considering buying a second one.

Any questions I left out I can't answer as I don't have the experience with the other equipment or knowledge.