I purchased an Icom IC-R5 at a garage sale...

[fadetoblack73]

Hello. This is my 1st post to this forum. I recently purchased an Icom IC-R5 receiver at a garage sale. I have been playing around with it, but have not had a lot of success in getting it to work. Don't get me wrong... it functions. I just can't seem to get it on the correct frequencies. I downloaded the owner's manual from the Icom website. I like to think that I am fairly intelligent. However, this thing makes me want to go back to kindergarten. All I want to do is listen to the typical police, fire, ems type broadcasts and listen to in-car communications at racetracks. I took it to a local "cb & ham radio" shop. The guy there said that the IC-R5 is too old. He said that the IC-R5 is analog and all of the the police, etc. are using digital broadcasts. He tried to sell me a Uniden scanner to use at the racetracks. So... am I out of luck with this thing?

 

[phask]

Maybe
probably
who knows

Without having a clue as tp where you are or what you are trying to hear - who knows?

 

[fadetoblack73]

Maybe
probably
who knows

Without having a clue as tp where you are or what you are trying to hear - who knows?

Location: Greenville, SC

I said I was just trying to hear the local fire, ems, police type broadcasts. I once owned a "Police scanner" from Radio Shack. The clerk at the store programmed the frequencies before I even left the store. I could hear the dispatcher and the officers chat back in forth. If I ever heard a fire truck in the distance, I could turn it on and listen to what was going on. Plus, I thought it would be cool to hear the 2-way radio traffic between the crew and drivers at race tracks (but this was not the main purpose).

I apologize for not being clear enough.

 

[a29zuk]

Welcome to RR. Clicking on the database tag at the top of page you can select your state and county to look up your local frequencies. Looking at the bottom of the page of your county it looks like most of your communications is on the Palmetto 800 trunking system. This system looks like it is a mixed analog and digital system. You may want to post a thread in the South Caroliona forum on this website to find out what the listeners in your area hear. If most of the communication is digital you will need a digital scanner.

Good Luck,
Jim

 

[mancow]

You should have no problem hearing track traffic with that.

 

[fadetoblack73]

Welcome to RR. Clicking on the database tag at the top of page you can select your state and county to look up your local frequencies. Looking at the bottom of the page of your county it looks like most of your communications is on the Palmetto 800 trunking system. This system looks like it is a mixed analog and digital system. You may want to post a thread in the South Caroliona forum on this website to find out what the listeners in your area hear. If most of the communication is digital you will need a digital scanner.

Good Luck,
Jim

Thank you. I will check it out.

 

[KE5MC]

I am assuming you comment about correct frequency has broader meaning. It would be a frequency that is not covered by the radio, but it seems to have good coverage. You have a step size selected that does not fall on the entered frequency. You are not inputing the frequency with the required keystroke. You have the manual so its easy to check those points.

It is analog so for any Public Service that went digital you are going to only hear intelligent noise providing it can receive their frequency.

snip...

I just can't seem to get it on the correct frequencies.

snip...

 

[oregontreehugger]

Nice find at a garage sale!

I used to have an R5 and it is a great little radio. While it won't receive digital public safety radio systems (as others have mentioned already), there is plenty out there to hear with it. Many agencies are still analog, and there is always aviation, marine, local businesses, shortwave, ham radio, weather reports, etc. to monitor. Icom makes some solid equipment -- your R5 should last for a long time.

 

[safetyobc]

The R5 is a great little radio! I have had one myself. It is probably one of the best airband receivers I have used. It also excels at VHF-High. They are very hard to program, at least at first until you get the hang of it. Good luck!

 

[mhscan]

the best way is get the software to Program it

 

[N8IAA]

You'll get the county, but not the city. County still uses conventional, city uses Palm800.
Larry