whitenoise
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- Dec 26, 2004
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The ICOM IC-R9500 now shows up on universal-radio and AES websites for $13,500. You can order now (says available in April). Was FCC approved on 23rd of Feb.
IC-R9500 USA pricing
- Thread starter whitenoise
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That price is ludicrous! It brings an old saying to mind... "A fool and his money are soon parted!"
GreatLakes said:
And it's amazing to think just how many fools of that calibur are out there. I guess if you have enough money to easily plunk down 13.5K on a receiver like that for your hobby, then you either have more money than you know what to do with or you've had prior experience with filing bankruptcy before rofl.
Of course I'll admit that its a serious receiver and has some very legitimate (or not so legitimate) uses by organizations. But for a hobbyist, that's ridiculous.
Mike
Turbo68
Member
I suppose its no different than spending it on another Hobby and thats cheap in the US you Pay 20 Gran in Australia.
Regards Lino (Melbourne Australia) ALINCO-DJX2000E,AOR-3000A,AOR-8200MK3,ICOM-R5,ICOM-R20,ICOM-PCR1000,ICOM-R9000,ICOM-R9500,UNIDEN-245,UNIDEN-780,MAYCOM-AR108,UNIDEN-396,UNIDEN-996,RADIO SHACK-PRO96,REALISTIC-PRO2035,YAESU-VR500,YAESU-VR5000,YAESU-VX7R.
Regards Lino (Melbourne Australia) ALINCO-DJX2000E,AOR-3000A,AOR-8200MK3,ICOM-R5,ICOM-R20,ICOM-PCR1000,ICOM-R9000,ICOM-R9500,UNIDEN-245,UNIDEN-780,MAYCOM-AR108,UNIDEN-396,UNIDEN-996,RADIO SHACK-PRO96,REALISTIC-PRO2035,YAESU-VR500,YAESU-VR5000,YAESU-VX7R.
I wonder how good it really is? Keeping in mind, it's just a receiver, not even a transceiver. How good can it be?
jonny290
Member
these rigs are beautiful receivers meant for pulling in super weak signals, have incredible filtering capabilities, hard switched (relays at $50 a pop, not PIN diodes at $2) bandpass filters, etc, etc.
And yes, it will receive p25 (though for legal reasons they can't include it in the default package, unfortunately)
The only thing these radios pull in better than weak sideband signals are sour grapes, however.
And yes, it will receive p25 (though for legal reasons they can't include it in the default package, unfortunately)
The only thing these radios pull in better than weak sideband signals are sour grapes, however.
jonny290 said:these rigs are beautiful receivers meant for pulling in super weak signals, have incredible filtering capabilities, hard switched (relays at $50 a pop, not PIN diodes at $2) bandpass filters, etc, etc.
And yes, it will receive p25 (though for legal reasons they can't include it in the default package, unfortunately)
The only thing these radios pull in better than weak sideband signals are sour grapes, however.
My old IC-R7000 had electro-mechanical relays, incredible filters, etc. It cost about 1/10th as much.
Why would the P25 option be omitted for legal reasons? It can be obtained from Universal Radio in Ohio.
I liked Batdude's line of reasoning about Ham P25 systems:
Perhaps, someday.
The R9500 combines several pieces of state-of-the-art equipment into one device. I would love to have one myself, the same as I would love to have an IFR 2945 and would not hesitate to plunk down the money for either.Batdude said:
Perhaps, someday.
This site has some great new pictures of the IC-R9500. You can click on them to enlarge them too! I have to admit, it looks super, but how do we know it's not just a glorified IC-R8500 hidden inside? :wink:
http://ndl-dx.se/icom_r9500/
http://ndl-dx.se/icom_r9500/
jonny290
Member
Japan's down with the D-Star, and it'd look bad if Icom "backed" D-star on paper but instead included P25 reception by default in their flagship receiver. They did, however, want to make it available, due to the high percentage of P25 in use in this radio's market.
I guess legal should be "marketing/political" reasons, really.
Edit: Here's the FCC type acceptance page for the R9500. The full manual is included. Can take a look and judge if it's a rewrapped receiver or not; I'm thinking not.
R9500 FCC page
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jonny290 said:
Some of my comments were tongue-in-cheek. I have no doubt it's a great receiver. But I also have no doubts it's not worth $13,000.00...not unless my life depended on it. Even then my wife would argue with that! :wink:
jonny290
Member
na, just by my semi-uneducated eye, I'd ballpark the true worth of this around 6 to 8,000 bucks, when you take into account the DSP and decoding onboard. It really does have a pile o' tricks, but they're just trying to bleed Feds with that price tag. They know Homeland Security is loaded.
eorange
♦RF Enabled Member♦
If you understand and need these requirements:GreatLakes said:
...then it's that good for you. If you don't, then it's overkill.
Also note this is marketed as a Professional receiver. For most companies and professional organizations, $13K is a drop in the bucket.
Turbo68
Member
Hello I am not a technical Person and I do not go by Receiver specs the Reason is if you dont have a good Antenna you are not going to get anywhere and I got the ICOM-R9000 and the new R-9500 connected to a DRESSLER-ARA2000LL and I also use an AOR-5000 and I Also use custom made Antennas for the Airbands and I can listen to Aircraft on VHF over 1000 km away on a full signal strength and a clean signal and thats no different to Hand Held Receivers.
Regards Lino (Melbourne Australia)
Regards Lino (Melbourne Australia)
eorange
♦RF Enabled Member♦
You know, I was just wondering that same thing - what antenna would give this receiver full performance??
eorange said:
Considering the rig has three antenna connections on the back, one SO239 type, and two "N" type, you would definitely need more than one antenna! With it's wide frequency range, you'd need an antenna farm to take full advantage.
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