Why does the ICom IC-R9500 have video-out disabled?

[KE7IZL]

I know the US version doesn't have a TV receiver video output (AM video carrier demodulator is disabled). Non-US versions output the TV tuner's demodulated video signal from an RCA connector. I'm aware of these facts, as they are mentioned in the manual for the device. However I haven't really been able to find out WHY it's disabled in the US version, only that it IS disabled in the US version. No documentation from ICom says why it is disabled in the US version, only that it is disabled in the US version. I have found one or two other sites that claim it's due to FCC regulations, but these I don't count as official sources. And none of these 3rd party sources of this info have actually stated which regulation it would violate, nor any link to an FCC webpage. While there are multiple FCC restrictions on radio transmitters, the only FCC restrictions that exist for receivers is that they must not receive cellphone bands, and they must not decrypt any encrypted government/military communications.

My hunch (if it actually has anything to do with the FCC) is that it has something to do with confusion over the 2009 switch from NTSC (analog TV) to ATSC (digital TV). The FCC now requires new TV transmitters to be digital, not analog. My guess is that since ICom is a Japanese company, the legal experts that ICom hired, might not be as familiar as they should be with the English language, and when reading the FCC's requirement that no new TV TRANSMITTER could be analog, they may have misinterpreted it to mean that all TV DEVICES (both transmitter and receiver) must be digital. But since their equipment design was already complete (all the circuits had been layed out and the device was ready to be manufacturered), they couldn't just change up the circuits and put an ATSC tuner in it (not that they needed to anyway), as the design was already programmed into the assembly-line robots and the manufacturing process was already underway. So they did what they could and re-programmed the one robot that was to connect the tuner circuits, to make it not connect the tuner for the US release, and just sold all the others that had working tuners to all non-US countries.

Well that's what I'm guessing at least. Does anybody on these forums have any idea about the actual reason? And how close is my guess to the actual reason?

 

[dkf435]

I would say you are probably close, their was a date where you could not bring any more analog only TV receivers into the country. The Icom 7000 ham radio had its TV reception disabled because of this plus it falls under laws about watching TV while driving.

David Kb7uns

 

[KE7IZL]

I would say you are probably close, their was a date where you could not bring any more analog only TV receivers into the country. The Icom 7000 ham radio had its TV reception disabled because of this plus it falls under laws about watching TV while driving.

David Kb7uns

I thought it was analog transmitters (other than ham radio ATV transmitters) that were no longer allowed to be sold in the US. I think the rule requiring TV receivers to have a digital or digital+analog tuner and not analog only tuner, was because analog only would be mostly useless (except for like connecting an older camcorder game console, etc). However a receiver that did both audio AND video (like the IC-R9500) would not be useless even if it couldn't work with most video sources, as it would still receive audio as a normal wide-band receiver would. Plus, since it can tune in ANY band, it could receive amateur analog fastscan TV (which IS legal to transmit in the US, as there's no such thing as amateur digital TV yet). And since it wasn't a dedicated TV receiver I don't think it falls under the FCC's rule about TVs requiring digital TV reception. In fact, if I DID buy this device it would primarily be to search for amateur TV transmissions (there's a LOT cheaper options for receiving audio signals than an R9500).

This brings up the question, how is it disabled? Unlike cellphone band blocking, which under FCC rules must be blocked so that the average hobbyist would be unable to unblock it, I'm guessing that re-enabling the TV reception is not under strict FCC rules. So would reenabling this device's TV reception be a simple matter of soldering back a wire that was cut for the US version of the device? Or did they remove the entire TV-tuner board? Has any owner of an R9500 successfully modded it to get TV reception working? At the price it's going for (over $10000) I would NOT consider it worth the money, unless ABSOLUTELY EVERY FEATURE that it was originally intended to have (including analog TV reception), was available to me. If I wanted something that could receive audio radio transmissions up to 3GHz, I would buy an IC-R20 instead. If I wanted SSB up to 3GHz (no ICOM radio has this ability except maybe the R9500) I would go with one of the below receivers from AOR:
AR8600MkIIB (costs only $959.95) AOR AR8600 Mark IIB Wideband Receiver AR8600
AR8200IIIB (costs only $719.95) AOR AR8200 Mark III B Wideband Receiver ar-8200

If I wanted one with video demodulation (not having tuner disabled), I'd buy one of these below:
SR2000AB (costs $3049.95) AOR SR2000A Frequency Monitor AOR sr-2000a
AR-AlphaB (costs $9949.95) AOR AR Alpha Wideband Receiver. AOR AR-Alpha

The more expensive of these can handle both AM and FM video carriers. AM is used for some amateur TV video (and before 2009, professional broadcast sources) and possibly some no-license required video sources (like wireless security cameras or video baby monitors), and FM is used for some amateur TV signals and I believe most no-license-required video sources. Presumably the cheaper one can only handle AM video carriers (but this isn't specified on the webpage).

At the bottom of both of these pages for these devices it states that you will no longer be able to receive broadcast TV stations because of the digital transition, but does NOT say that they have done what ICom did (disable the analog video tuner). So I assume that AOR still makes manufactures them with a working TV tuner, with the idea that it will be used for receiving a not-professional-broadcast video source. And of course they can all receive audio-only signals like other radio receivers.

Both of these (while over $1000) are still cheaper than that ICom IC-R9500 device (which is over $10000). I don't know what ICom is thinking, but since AOR's best receivers are better than ICom's best receivers (and even their cheap receivers will do SSB above 1300MHz, which is something that NO ICom receiver does, except maybe the R9500), I'm strongly considering AOR to be my main source for radio supplies, and dumping ICom (which previously I had considered to be the best radio receiver manufacturer). I wonder if ICom is starting to notice a trend of customers leaving them, for other companies such as AOR?

 

[prcguy]

SSB reception on the AOR AR8200MKIIIB is not very good, if it were my only SSB receiver I would get another hobby. The BW is just not right for SSB, it drifts in frequency and the audio is fatiguing over time. I suspect the AOR 8600 is similar.

My old Icom R-7100 receives SSB up to 2GHz and its very good quality, far above my AOR 8200. I could listen to it for days and not get a headache like the AOR 8200.
prcguy

I thought it was analog transmitters (other than ham radio ATV transmitters) that were no longer allowed to be sold in the US. I think the rule requiring TV receivers to have a digital or digital+analog tuner and not analog only tuner, was because analog only would be mostly useless (except for like connecting an older camcorder game console, etc). However a receiver that did both audio AND video (like the IC-R9500) would not be useless even if it couldn't work with most video sources, as it would still receive audio as a normal wide-band receiver would. Plus, since it can tune in ANY band, it could receive amateur analog fastscan TV (which IS legal to transmit in the US, as there's no such thing as amateur digital TV yet). And since it wasn't a dedicated TV receiver I don't think it falls under the FCC's rule about TVs requiring digital TV reception. In fact, if I DID buy this device it would primarily be to search for amateur TV transmissions (there's a LOT cheaper options for receiving audio signals than an R9500).

This brings up the question, how is it disabled? Unlike cellphone band blocking, which under FCC rules must be blocked so that the average hobbyist would be unable to unblock it, I'm guessing that re-enabling the TV reception is not under strict FCC rules. So would reenabling this device's TV reception be a simple matter of soldering back a wire that was cut for the US version of the device? Or did they remove the entire TV-tuner board? Has any owner of an R9500 successfully modded it to get TV reception working? At the price it's going for (over $10000) I would NOT consider it worth the money, unless ABSOLUTELY EVERY FEATURE that it was originally intended to have (including analog TV reception), was available to me. If I wanted something that could receive audio radio transmissions up to 3GHz, I would buy an IC-R20 instead. If I wanted SSB up to 3GHz (no ICOM radio has this ability except maybe the R9500) I would go with one of the below receivers from AOR:
AR8600MkIIB (costs only $959.95) AOR AR8600 Mark IIB Wideband Receiver AR8600
AR8200IIIB (costs only $719.95) AOR AR8200 Mark III B Wideband Receiver ar-8200

If I wanted one with video demodulation (not having tuner disabled), I'd buy one of these below:
SR2000AB (costs $3049.95) AOR SR2000A Frequency Monitor AOR sr-2000a
AR-AlphaB (costs $9949.95) AOR AR Alpha Wideband Receiver. AOR AR-Alpha

The more expensive of these can handle both AM and FM video carriers. AM is used for some amateur TV video (and before 2009, professional broadcast sources) and possibly some no-license required video sources (like wireless security cameras or video baby monitors), and FM is used for some amateur TV signals and I believe most no-license-required video sources. Presumably the cheaper one can only handle AM video carriers (but this isn't specified on the webpage).

At the bottom of both of these pages for these devices it states that you will no longer be able to receive broadcast TV stations because of the digital transition, but does NOT say that they have done what ICom did (disable the analog video tuner). So I assume that AOR still makes manufactures them with a working TV tuner, with the idea that it will be used for receiving a not-professional-broadcast video source. And of course they can all receive audio-only signals like other radio receivers.

Both of these (while over $1000) are still cheaper than that ICom IC-R9500 device (which is over $10000). I don't know what ICom is thinking, but since AOR's best receivers are better than ICom's best receivers (and even their cheap receivers will do SSB above 1300MHz, which is something that NO ICom receiver does, except maybe the R9500), I'm strongly considering AOR to be my main source for radio supplies, and dumping ICom (which previously I had considered to be the best radio receiver manufacturer). I wonder if ICom is starting to notice a trend of customers leaving them, for other companies such as AOR?

 

[VE2XWA]

R9500 TV tuner

Yes the tv tuner in the R9500 was disabled to comply with new the FCC regulation back in 2007.
Big deal? No. The first R9500 i got (iam at my third one) was an unblocked US version with the TV tuner disabled. After a talk with Icom Canada i was able to activate the tuner my self by removing a diode.

Enabling the 800mHz is an other story by replacing a mix of diode an a firmware update.


BTW i found this statement from the OP very funny:
AOR's best receivers are better than ICom's best receivers!!

Dan

 

[KE7IZL]

SSB reception on the AOR AR8200MKIIIB is not very good, if it were my only SSB receiver I would get another hobby. The BW is just not right for SSB, it drifts in frequency and the audio is fatiguing over time. I suspect the AOR 8600 is similar.

My old Icom R-7100 receives SSB up to 2GHz and its very good quality, far above my AOR 8200. I could listen to it for days and not get a headache like the AOR 8200.
prcguy

Do you know of any good receivers that go up to 3GHz that receive SSB well in this region of the spectrum?

I suspect the AOR-8600 is probably better as it costs over $100 more than the 8200. Not sure about the 8200, but I'd guess that the 8600 probably has a bandwidth selection. Of course there are higher price receivers in the $4000 $5000 $6000 range offered by AOR, and they probably do SSB well in the 2GHz+ region of the spectrum.

 

[prcguy]

The only receiver I have experience with that goes that high is the AOR 8200MKIII and would not recommend it for serious listening. Well, I did have an Anritsu spectrum analyzer with AM/FM/SSB demod that went to 20GHz but it didn't have many features for casual receiving.

I also have the Icom R-7100 that goes to 2GHz and works real well plus a Yaesu VR-5000 that goes to 2.6GHz but I think the AOR 8200 works better. In other words I think the VR-5000 is a medium size POS.

Aside from some weak signal amateur stuff around 2.3GHz what's above that where you would need an SSB receiver?
prcguy

Do you know of any good receivers that go up to 3GHz that receive SSB well in this region of the spectrum?

I suspect the AOR-8600 is probably better as it costs over $100 more than the 8200. Not sure about the 8200, but I'd guess that the 8600 probably has a bandwidth selection. Of course there are higher price receivers in the $4000 $5000 $6000 range offered by AOR, and they probably do SSB well in the 2GHz+ region of the spectrum.

 

[KE7IZL]

The only receiver I have experience with that goes that high is the AOR 8200MKIII and would not recommend it for serious listening. Well, I did have an Anritsu spectrum analyzer with AM/FM/SSB demod that went to 20GHz but it didn't have many features for casual receiving.

I also have the Icom R-7100 that goes to 2GHz and works real well plus a Yaesu VR-5000 that goes to 2.6GHz but I think the AOR 8200 works better. In other words I think the VR-5000 is a medium size POS.

Aside from some weak signal amateur stuff around 2.3GHz what's above that where you would need an SSB receiver?
prcguy

When I go tuning into a new band that I've never received before, using SSB is simply downcoverting the actual radio signal, into the audio frequency range with no actual demodulation (no AM or FM demod), so it lets me hear (and see on a spectrogram on my computer) the actual signal. This allows me to visually and audibly tell if it is an AM or FM modulated signal, so I know what mode to switch my receiver to. If I used an ICom PCR1500 and went into the 1300MHz+ bands, I'd be going in blind with no SSB (AM and FM only are allowed above 1300MHz with a PCR1500 or 2500), so no way to know for a given signal whether I should be trying to demodulate it with AM or FM. SSB is the mode I always use first (specifically USB), to determine the type of signal I'm encountering, before I switch my radio to AM or FM mode. When I'm scanning an area of band I've never been in before, I just leave it on USB and scan through the band until I hear something interesting, and then depending on what I see on my computer's spectrogram I will switch to either AM or FM to try to demodulate it, but that technique can't be used above 1300MHz with any ICom receiver (unless there's some mod to enable this). But with one of those AOR receivers, which DO permit SSB above 1300MHz, I would not have this problem. And from what I understand, the 2.4GHz band is VERY active with all kinds of consumer electronic wireless gizmos and gadgets. Things could be really interesting there, if only I could tune in with USB mode first, to determine just what is available there. So for this use, ICom receivers are a no-go, while AOR sounds like what I need.

 

[VE2XWA]

Here you go

Dan

 

[KE7IZL]

Here you go

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/25/8f2703c727fb107f2bd47d4dabe5a7c0.jpg

Dan

So what radio is that in the picture?

 

[VE2XWA]

R9500

Dan

 

[KE7IZL]

R9500

Dan

Well that's their most expensive receiver from ICom. AOR has receivers under $1000 with that same receive capability (SSB at frequencies over 1300MHz). And if the quality isn't good enough, they have mid-range priced devices the AR5001DB which costs $4299.95 (http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/widerxvr/5001.html), and has the ability to do SSB at frequencies over 1300MHz, and at that price, I'm sure it's a LOT better quality than the sub $1000 scanners. But still, it's less than half the price of the ICom R9500. ICom does not have ANY receiver cheaper than their R9500, that is capable of receiving SSB on frequencies over 1300MHz.

So yeah, AOR has a much better selection of wideband receivers to look through, and some of their cheaper receivers are capable of doing what from ICom is limited to only their most expensive receiver. I think AOR is the company I will be looking to buy from when I upgrade wideband receiver.

By the way, please turn your embedded picture into a link by removing the IMG tags. Your last picture (the one with the closeup of the R9500 screen) fills the size of my monitor many times over.

 

[VE2XWA]

Ok. I hope you find the receiver that is the best for you. But besure to do some research before buying any of the latest AOR receiver. They are knowed to be plague with all kinds of bugs.

 

[KE7IZL]

I'm guessing that a $4000+ receiver doesn't have bugs in it. For that price, it must have gone through a TON of quality control at the factory.

 

[VE2XWA]

Well, we are all expecting that but since awhile now AOR is very disapointing:

AOR 5001D Problem: http://youtu.be/gUJU1geYk7w

AOR AR-Alpha Review Problems & Faults #1: http://youtu.be/R1le75Jk_Tw

Just to give you an idea......

Dan

 

[prcguy]

You say Icoms need a mod to receive SSB above 1300MHz but the R-7100 and R-9000 go above 1300MHz SSB right out of the box with no mods.
prcguy

Well that's their most expensive receiver from ICom. AOR has receivers under $1000 with that same receive capability (SSB at frequencies over 1300MHz). And if the quality isn't good enough, they have mid-range priced devices the AR5001DB which costs $4299.95 (AOR AR5001D Wideband Communications Receiver), and has the ability to do SSB at frequencies over 1300MHz, and at that price, I'm sure it's a LOT better quality than the sub $1000 scanners. But still, it's less than half the price of the ICom R9500. ICom does not have ANY receiver cheaper than their R9500, that is capable of receiving SSB on frequencies over 1300MHz.

So yeah, AOR has a much better selection of wideband receivers to look through, and some of their cheaper receivers are capable of doing what from ICom is limited to only their most expensive receiver. I think AOR is the company I will be looking to buy from when I upgrade wideband receiver.

By the way, please turn your embedded picture into a link by removing the IMG tags. Your last picture (the one with the closeup of the R9500 screen) fills the size of my monitor many times over.

 

[KE7IZL]

You say Icoms need a mod to receive SSB above 1300MHz but the R-7100 and R-9000 go above 1300MHz SSB right out of the box with no mods.
prcguy

I mean the ones CURRENTLY manufactured by ICom. Current desktop receivers are R75, R8500 and R9500.

R75 can't receive anything above the 50MHz ham band.

R8500 no longer is manufactured in standard model. It used to have 2 models, government, and standard, with government model allowing receiving in the cellphone band. But now the government model is the ONLY model they sell. So it doesn't matter whether or not it can receive SSB above 1300MHz, because it would be illegal for an ordinary person to own the currently produced government-only version.

R9500 is the ONLY one that is currently manufactured that can be owned by ordinary folks, that has the ability to receive SSB above 1300MHz. But at a price of over $10000, it is not within most people's budgets (including mine).

The 2 models you mentioned (R7100 and R9000) are no longer manufactured, so there's no point in mentioning them in this discussion. Maybe if I was lucky some used ones could be found on EBay, but with this kind of high tech gear, I would not trust a used item to work (who knows what kind of condition a used item is in, regardless of how good the condition the seller CLAIMS it's in). When it comes to high-tech gadgets like this, buying new is the only way for me. So as I said, that immediately eliminates the possibility of me getting an R7100 or R9000, so there's no point in even discussing them.

The AOR AR5001's only problem seems to be with P25 police signals (based on the video that the poster above you showed). If I bought this, it would NOT be for receiving police. I would use it to scan the bands above 1300MHz to search for strange new signals that I've never heard before. Even if it could use police trunking radio systems, I would never use that feature, because that's not what I would want it for. Besides, police in Seattle where I live, use Motorola Type2 (and possibly still Type1) trunking system, which can ALREADY be received by a simple handheld scanner radio that I already own (cost about $100 to $200 range). So for police reception. So again, if I got an AR5001, it would ONLY be to search for strange signals that I've never heard before. All kinds of strange-sounding computer data signals, telemetry, control, etc, I'm SURE are out there, just waiting to be found.

 

[prcguy]

The R-8500 is reported to be a good receiver and unblocked versions show up for sale from time to time. This is just my opinion but I don't see any problem owning an unblocked version. Its illegal to receive cell phone and other services but not to own a receiver that can cover that frequency range.

How would you you get in trouble for purchasing an unblocked receiver and who would show up at your door? I've never heard of anyone at any time having any problem being in possession of an unblocked receiver. My house is full of them, so if anyone has jurisdiction over this please come to my door so we can see what happens....
prcguy

I mean the ones CURRENTLY manufactured by ICom. Current desktop receivers are R75, R8500 and R9500.

R75 can't receive anything above the 50MHz ham band.

R8500 no longer is manufactured in standard model. It used to have 2 models, government, and standard, with government model allowing receiving in the cellphone band. But now the government model is the ONLY model they sell. So it doesn't matter whether or not it can receive SSB above 1300MHz, because it would be illegal for an ordinary person to own the currently produced government-only version.

R9500 is the ONLY one that is currently manufactured that can be owned by ordinary folks, that has the ability to receive SSB above 1300MHz. But at a price of over $10000, it is not within most people's budgets (including mine).

The 2 models you mentioned (R7100 and R9000) are no longer manufactured, so there's no point in mentioning them in this discussion. Maybe if I was lucky some used ones could be found on EBay, but with this kind of high tech gear, I would not trust a used item to work (who knows what kind of condition a used item is in, regardless of how good the condition the seller CLAIMS it's in). When it comes to high-tech gadgets like this, buying new is the only way for me. So as I said, that immediately eliminates the possibility of me getting an R7100 or R9000, so there's no point in even discussing them.

The AOR AR5001's only problem seems to be with P25 police signals (based on the video that the poster above you showed). If I bought this, it would NOT be for receiving police. I would use it to scan the bands above 1300MHz to search for strange new signals that I've never heard before. Even if it could use police trunking radio systems, I would never use that feature, because that's not what I would want it for. Besides, police in Seattle where I live, use Motorola Type2 (and possibly still Type1) trunking system, which can ALREADY be received by a simple handheld scanner radio that I already own (cost about $100 to $200 range). So for police reception. So again, if I got an AR5001, it would ONLY be to search for strange signals that I've never heard before. All kinds of strange-sounding computer data signals, telemetry, control, etc, I'm SURE are out there, just waiting to be found.

 

[KE7IZL]

The R-8500 is reported to be a good receiver and unblocked versions show up for sale from time to time. This is just my opinion but I don't see any problem owning an unblocked version. Its illegal to receive cell phone and other services but not to own a receiver that can cover that frequency range.

How would you you get in trouble for purchasing an unblocked receiver and who would show up at your door? I've never heard of anyone at any time having any problem being in possession of an unblocked receiver. My house is full of them, so if anyone has jurisdiction over this please come to my door so we can see what happens....
prcguy

ICom (and any legitimate company) will not sell unblocked receivers to anybody in the US who's not specifically permitted to have them (government, military, law enforcement, or any other individual who's received authorization from somebody who is legally allowed to give such authorization), and you need to provide paperwork to prove that you are permitted to use such a device. It would be a crime for a radio receiver manufacturer to sell such a receiver to somebody who's not permitted to buy one.

On the buyer's side, it is a crime to purchase any radio that by design or by modification, is able to receive in the cellphone bands. It does not matter if the radio is being purchased from a person or company, whether it is being bought from an entity selling it in the US or imported from an entity selling it from outside the US, nor whether it was originally manufactured in the US or elsewhere. It doesn't even matter if you purchased it while in a foreign country on vacation, where it happened to be legal, in which case it is a crime to bring the device back into the US when you return from your vacation. In such a situation, you must leave your device overseas when you return to the US (or else have it modified by a technician to have cell bands blocked, prior to returning to the US). Also doesn't matter if it's an actual sale (money is exchanged) or if it is given to you by somebody (money is not exchanged). If anybody transfers ownership of such a scanner to you, both people (you and the person transferring ownership of it to you) have committed a crime.

If you already own a legal receiver, it is a crime to modify it to receive the cell-bands. There is absolutely NO LEGAL WAY to acquire a cell-band capable receiver if you live in the US. Therefore mere possession of such a device is PROOF that a crime has taken place. While possession itself is technically not a crime, it is evidence that a crime has taken place. If a police officer becomes aware that you are in possession of a cell-band capable scanner, he can't arrest you, as possession is not illegal, but it is absolute proof that a crime has most certainly taken place. The police officer can than inform a judge of your possession of this device, as probable cause for a search warrant. The judge in this situation will most certainly grant the officer the warrant, and with that he can confiscate your illegal scanner, look up the serial number of it, find out who sold it, and once that has been determined, the officer has enough evidence to prove the specific crime in court. You will be charged with acquiring an illegal scanner, and the owner store that sold it will be charged with selling an illegal scanner. If it wasn't sold but given to you by somebody, the police detectives will be able to find this out, and arrest and charge both you and the person who gave it to you. If it is determined that you modified the scanner, you will be charged with illegally modifying the scanner.

The RARE exception to a non-government entity owning a cell-band capable scanner legally, is if that entity (such as a security company, such as those security contractor companies you hear about on the news) was doing work for the government and such a scanner was necessary for performing the duty assigned to them by the government.

And don't think that just because the FCC (rather than congress) came up with these rules, that they aren't enforceable. When a government department (such as FCC) is created by an act of congress, any rules/regulations that such a department creates have FORCE OF LAW, just as if they were laws passed by congress. I stay away from unblocked scanners as if they were the PLAGUE itself. Last thing I need is to get a criminal record, and since the crime in question involves radio equipment (though not ham radio equipment) it is VERY likely that the FCC would punish me, by revoking my ham radio license (in addition to me having a prison sentence, the punishment that the court would give me).

 

[prcguy]

"If a police officer becomes aware that you are in possession of a cell-band capable scanner, bla, bla bla" he can do nothing about it because he cannot enforce the federal communications law. I just asked two of my law enforcement friends what they would do about a device that could receive cell phones and they basically laughed a me. One said "If you brought me one and demonstrated it I wouldn't care nor do anything because I have no jurisdiction and no time to play games with stupid radio geeks. Bring me an actual crime and then we'll talk".

So, its not your local police that would do anything about it. A judge will not grant a search warrant based on possession of a modified scanner and I'll bet you a new Icom R-9500 on that. I've even hand delivered an unblocked receiver to the mfr for service and they worked on it and handed it back with no problems. There are even unblocked scanners on the RR swap as I write this and who really cares? There are also probably tens of thousands if not more unblocked scanners and receivers in the US, can you find me one case where someone, anyone has had one confiscated or has been prosecuted? So who is it that's going to confiscate your unblocked receiver or charge you with a crime? And please don't just make up some BS as in the last post. I'm also surprised you would modify an R-9500 or similar to get the analog TV video working. That must have been disabled due to an FCC mandate and if you modify it back something really bad could happen to you ....
prcguy

ICom (and any legitimate company) will not sell unblocked receivers to anybody in the US who's not specifically permitted to have them (government, military, law enforcement, or any other individual who's received authorization from somebody who is legally allowed to give such authorization), and you need to provide paperwork to prove that you are permitted to use such a device. It would be a crime for a radio receiver manufacturer to sell such a receiver to somebody who's not permitted to buy one.

On the buyer's side, it is a crime to purchase any radio that by design or by modification, is able to receive in the cellphone bands. It does not matter if the radio is being purchased from a person or company, whether it is being bought from an entity selling it in the US or imported from an entity selling it from outside the US, nor whether it was originally manufactured in the US or elsewhere. It doesn't even matter if you purchased it while in a foreign country on vacation, where it happened to be legal, in which case it is a crime to bring the device back into the US when you return from your vacation. In such a situation, you must leave your device overseas when you return to the US (or else have it modified by a technician to have cell bands blocked, prior to returning to the US). Also doesn't matter if it's an actual sale (money is exchanged) or if it is given to you by somebody (money is not exchanged). If anybody transfers ownership of such a scanner to you, both people (you and the person transferring ownership of it to you) have committed a crime.

If you already own a legal receiver, it is a crime to modify it to receive the cell-bands. There is absolutely NO LEGAL WAY to acquire a cell-band capable receiver if you live in the US. Therefore mere possession of such a device is PROOF that a crime has taken place. While possession itself is technically not a crime, it is evidence that a crime has taken place. If a police officer becomes aware that you are in possession of a cell-band capable scanner, he can't arrest you, as possession is not illegal, but it is absolute proof that a crime has most certainly taken place. The police officer can than inform a judge of your possession of this device, as probable cause for a search warrant. The judge in this situation will most certainly grant the officer the warrant, and with that he can confiscate your illegal scanner, look up the serial number of it, find out who sold it, and once that has been determined, the officer has enough evidence to prove the specific crime in court. You will be charged with acquiring an illegal scanner, and the owner store that sold it will be charged with selling an illegal scanner. If it wasn't sold but given to you by somebody, the police detectives will be able to find this out, and arrest and charge both you and the person who gave it to you. If it is determined that you modified the scanner, you will be charged with illegally modifying the scanner.

The RARE exception to a non-government entity owning a cell-band capable scanner legally, is if that entity (such as a security company, such as those security contractor companies you hear about on the news) was doing work for the government and such a scanner was necessary for performing the duty assigned to them by the government.

And don't think that just because the FCC (rather than congress) came up with these rules, that they aren't enforceable. When a government department (such as FCC) is created by an act of congress, any rules/regulations that such a department creates have FORCE OF LAW, just as if they were laws passed by congress. I stay away from unblocked scanners as if they were the PLAGUE itself. Last thing I need is to get a criminal record, and since the crime in question involves radio equipment (though not ham radio equipment) it is VERY likely that the FCC would punish me, by revoking my ham radio license (in addition to me having a prison sentence, the punishment that the court would give me).