R30 R30 review in July 2021 QST

[w2xq]

I was surprised to find a 5-page review of the R30 in the July 2021 issue of QST. Written by WB8IMY, I can't make a decision as to whether Steve was bending over backwards to be kind or if he really liked the radio. I think the R30 has been around a number of years. Why review it now? I'd be interested in reactions to the piece by R30 owners. Curious minds...

 

[eorange]

I've not seen that article and don't subscribe to QST. Yes, it seems like a late-in-the-game review since this radio has been out for a while.

Just curious if there were any negative highlights. I've had mine for about a year and still can't find much wrong with it.

 

[jazzboypro]

I've had mine for a year and i'm very satisfied

 

[w2xq]

I can't begjn to summarize the article due to its length, sorry. I've been a life member of the ARRL since 1975 (when I finalky got my license) seeing QST change every so ofren over the years.

I thought there might be some QST readers who owned the R30, thus the original post.

 

[w2xq]

The QST review of the IC-R30 (a PDF) is available from the ICOM IC-R30 ICOM IC-R30 Communications Receiver | DX Engineering webpage. HTH.

 

[eorange]

Where is the .pdf located on that page? Guessed it was under All Reviews but still didn't see it.

 

[Kiniutech]

Last PDF https://static.dxengineering.com/global/images/technicalarticles/ico-ic-r30_hv.pdf

 

[eorange]

Awesome, thank you.

 

[vagrant]

I found the review to be accurate. I like my R30 and he seemed pleased as well. To me, he clearly spent some time operating the receiver and appreciated its features. It was also good he did not give up on Bluetooth and realized control and audio work fine simultaneously. I also own the Yaesu VR-500 hand held receiver and the Icom is superior in many ways, as one would expect. I would have preferred a BNC connection on the Icom though.

QST always needs content. It seems odd the receiver was not previously covered.

 

[racingfan360]

I found the article interesting as I rarely if ever use my R30 on anything below 150MHz. I bought my first R30 to compliment a Uniden 436 and a TRX1. When I get some time (?) I should probably write down some of my views on pros and cons of each. The R30 is definitely one of my favorites.

Highlights include the excellent sensitivity (often the case with Icom, as an R2 and R5 owner too), its probably the easiest digital scanner to learn to use IMHO, and the dual-watch has proven to be a surprisingly helpful feature. It is also - to my knowledge - the only receiver that does NXDN4800/Nexedge very narrow slectivity down to 3.125khz 'properly'.

Negatives of me are no DMR (that's by far the biggest -ve), no automatic CTCSS/DCS tone decode, I coul do with more memories and less restrictive memory allocation per bank, the battery life is more limited than I'd hoped for, and its cost given its more limited features. In short, if you dont need DMR its great, if you do then look elsewhere.

 

[kinglou0]

Despite my initial snark towards the ARRL, I took the time to read over the review.

It pretty much nails what most on here have been saying since the R30 release.

Yes, DMR will always rise to the top of omissions but given the amount of good the R30 packs into such a small package, it’s never been a problem for me.

There is no finer and feature packed receiver for Rail/Civil Air/Mil Air than the R30.

I don’t get where the poor battery life comments seem to be coming from. My R30 just sips at the battery and for days when I might be at an airshow or away from an outlet, the AA alkaline pack has been invaluable.

 

[vagrant]

I read about the battery life before purchasing mine. Based on what I read, it was resolved after a firmware update. I do not have problems with mine. Additionally, I simply use a small external USB battery about the size of my thumb to power, or top up the receiver.

 

[bearcatrp]

Better late than never for the review. Love mine. Best hand held receiver on the market. Everyone who owns one needs to email Icom to ***** about DMR. Maybe they will change there minds.

 

[kinglou0]

Everyone who owns one needs to email Icom to ***** about DMR. Maybe they will change there minds.

Will never happen. Icom has been very firm in their position regarding DMR. Ray Novak has been asked about DMR more than a few times and I’m pretty sure at some point, all those requests have made it back to Japan.

Icom Japan just won’t have anything to do with DMR as long as they’re in the business of selling NXDN/IDAS, P25, & D-Star radios.

 

[vagrant]

I use separate scanners that handle DMR as well as other frequencies. Actually, more than a handful of scanners to handle known frequencies. I use the R30 mostly for dialing around and improving a particular signal due to the features it has. By having the additional scanners/receiver my chance of missing something is reduced. An all-in-one can be convenient, but loading it up with too much and you may miss something.

 

[eorange]

I have no interest in DMR, so don't care. If I did care, I'd buy a purpose-built DMR radio.

I fail to understand "must have everything in 1 radio." Who here owns just 1 radio?

 

[KM4OBL]

I haven't been checking QST recently...but now I have a reason to take a look. Thanks for pointing out the review, and for reminding me to look at the magazine!

 

[bearcatrp]

D-star has been going down hill from hams I have talked to.

 

[kinglou0]

D-star has been going down hill from hams I have talked to.

Same can be said for DMR on both the amateur and commercial sides.

DMR on the amateur bands has become a straight mess of bewildering talkgroups, asinine rules, and p*ssing matches over CCRs vs commercial gear.

On the commercial side, DMR is becoming unmonitorable for those with a scanner/receiver.

Even the crappiest radios now have some type of basic encryption that won’t hold up to any brute forcing but will keep me from hearing stupid stuff like grocery stores, hotels, and tow trucks which were always good for a laugh once in a while.

It’s not everywhere but it has definitely increased over the last few years. Everyone seems to forget that it doesn’t need to be AES-256 to make your scanner/receiver a paperweight.