R30 IC-R30 discontinued in October?

[spacellamaman]

i think its time to sell our r-30's.

I think you are right on track, and to show what a nice guy I am, I will give a shiney new $50 USPS money order for the first 10 R-30's I recieve.

Postage paid of course.

I don't think so. You should read this. Especially the last sentence in the first paragraph...
Icom's Statement on DMR

don't listen to him.... just a hater

... Broadcastify ...

my my aren't you brave

 

[bearcatrp]

Oh? Do you have a link for this? I love my IC-A25, but the battery is giving me the "replace soon" nag, even though it charges to 100%. If I am going to buy a 150.00 battery, I might as well check out this new radio first.

Icom releases the ID-52A/E Amateur Handheld Transceiver with Color Display and Bluetooth® Communication | News Release | Icom Inc.

Icom,Global,Land Mobile,Marine,Aviation,Amateur,Receivers,Satellite,LTE,WLAN,IP,Digital,Analog,Radio,Network,D-STAR

www.icomjapan.com

 

[AK9R]

The ID-52 is a new dual-band amateur radio handheld transceiver with D-STAR. It is not replacement for the IC-R30.

 

[kruser]

Oh? Do you have a link for this? I love my IC-A25, but the battery is giving me the "replace soon" nag, even though it charges to 100%. If I am going to buy a 150.00 battery, I might as well check out this new radio first.

How many cycles does your battery show as used under the Other info menu?

There's a bug with the R30 batteries. You sometimes must let it run dead and then fully charge it in the charging cradle (not USB) to get it back in sync with the radio.

 

[mooychild]

I think you are right on track, and to show what a nice guy I am, I will give a shiney new $50 USPS money order for the first 10 R-30's I recieve.

Postage paid of course.

Well nice offer, but as a owner of three scanners (R30, DV10 and BCD436HP) i can say each one has pros and cons. When i travel to a new place i need at least two of them to discover the air

but in known places usually r30 is enough for me

 

[devicelab]

It could very well be that ICOM discontinued the R-30 if they cannot get supply chain parts. Many, many companies are doing similar strategies with their product lines. Only the richest tech companies (that make very expensive toys) can afford to redesign their product chains in order to meet customer demand.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

How many cycles does your battery show as used under the Other info menu?

There's a bug with the R30 batteries. You sometimes must let it run dead and then fully charge it in the charging cradle (not USB) to get it back in sync with the radio.

Currently only at 20 cycles and recharges up to 100%. I bought it second hand and it only recently started doing this (perhaps 5 cycles ago??) so I do not have the cradle. I charge it via the DC socket on the side.

 

[kruser]

Currently only at 20 cycles and recharges up to 100%. I bought it second hand and it only recently started doing this (perhaps 5 cycles ago??) so I do not have the cradle. I charge it via the DC socket on the side.

I noticed after I'd posted that you had mentioned the IC-A25. I missed that part. My original post was regarding the IC-R30 so what I said may not apply in your case being the A25 is an aircraft radio. If parts of the firmware code are the same between the A25 and R30, the steps below may be worth a try.

Try letting it run until the radio shuts down on low battery. Then charge it fully using USB but don't turn it on until you know it's completely charged. I don't remember if this syncs the batteries condition with the radio or not but it's worth a try.
I've always done it with the charging cradle which you don't have unfortunately.

For reference, the battery that came with my R30, which I bought when they hit the market, has almost 200 charge cycles now and is still going strong.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

Right on. I just hit ok and move on. Its just annoying, but as long as she charges to 100%, im not going to worry about it.

Ok so I had a senior moment. I DO have the cradle for my IC-A25N, so I am going to run the battery to zero and try the charge trick for it.

As soon as I turned on my IC-R30, It gave me the same message for the first time ever. 87 charge counts. This one i do NOT have the cradle. So i have it draining its battery next to the 25 and will have to try a recharge via USB on that one. Both batteries charge to 100%. So stupid.

Come on Icom!

 

[racingfan360]

Try letting it run until the radio shuts down on low battery. Then charge it fully using USB but don't turn it on until you know it's completely charged. I don't remember if this syncs the batteries condition with the radio or not but it's worth a try.
I've always done it with the charging cradle which you don't have unfortunately.

My experience of the R30 is this doesn't work with the USB charging method, but works perfectly via the charging cradle (ie direct charge to the battery). Worth a go though, might save yourself a few $ on a cradle.

 

[kruser]

My experience of the R30 is this doesn't work with the USB charging method, but works perfectly via the charging cradle (ie direct charge to the battery). Worth a go though, might save yourself a few $ on a cradle.

That's what I think I remember also. But like you said, it's worth a go!
Hopefully it will work for the OP on both his radios.

 

[perseus68]

 

[Echo4Thirty]

That's what I think I remember also. But like you said, it's worth a go!
Hopefully it will work for the OP on both his radios.

It worked on my IC-A25N, but not on the R30. I will spring for the cradle soon and take care of it too. Thank you all for your help!

 

[AK9R]

@perseus68 Where exactly did that image come from?

 

[perseus68]

@perseus68 Where exactly did that image come from?

I noticed this update today right here: N9EWO news page

 

[kruser]

It worked on my IC-A25N, but not on the R30. I will spring for the cradle soon and take care of it too. Thank you all for your help!

Oh well, you are halfway there!
Glad it worked on the A25 at least.

 

[DudleyG]

@Echo4Thirty Question... On several occasions on this forum, there have been debates about whether dedicated and/or commercial equipment can better receive distant signals (i.e. sensitivity) versus regular scanners and/or receivers. Since you have both the ICOM A25 and the ICOM R30, have you ever compared which one has the best sensitivity for distant signals? Example if you are 10 miles from the airport, standing on ground (not up in the plane), which one can best hear the controllers or the ATIS info? I am just curious. Obviously the R30 can receive many many more things than the dedicated VHF air band A25 plus the R30 scans faster, etc., it is not a debate about which is the better overall scanner/receiver.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[cherubim]

@Echo4Thirty Question... On several occasions on this forum, there have been debates about whether dedicated and/or commercial equipment can better receive distant signals (i.e. sensitivity) versus regular scanners and/or receivers. Since you have both the ICOM A25 and the ICOM R30, have you ever compared which one has the best sensitivity for distant signals? Example if you are 10 miles from the airport, standing on ground (not up in the plane), which one can best hear the controllers or the ATIS info? I am just curious. Obviously the R30 can receive many many more things than the dedicated VHF air band A25 plus the R30 scans faster, etc., it is not a debate about which is the better overall scanner/receiver.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Commercial airband transceivers are less sensitive than scanners and communications receivers however they often have better selectivity. My Icom IC-A15 doesn't pull in as many weak signals as my R30 but it does have good selectivity/filtering and louder audio to cope with inherently higher noise levels with AM.

The R30 performs exceptionally well in monitoring the VHF/UHF airband and I prefer it to any airband transceiver.

 

[DudleyG]

@cherubim Thanks for your input, I have the R30 and know how sensitive it is, just wondered about dedicated airband transceivers

 

[jaspence]

Using the stock antennas, my Pro 18 with the factory upgrade does better than my IC-R30 on DTW airport, but the R30 has better audio.