IC R7000 VS Ic R7100 as a scanner

[coastwatcher]

Hi All, I need your advice. I am a long time scanning freak.I have always used the prototypical scanners by Uniden and the shack. I am thinking of buying one of the above receivers. My other units work well for what I am doing, but you are always looking for something new. I do realize that these are old units. could you compare one against the other for me. What pro's and con's are present. I hope you will respond.Thanks, CW

 

[ka3jjz]

These aren't scanners - they are receivers that happen to scan. Many scannists will use these kinds of receivers to sit on a single frequency, or check out a couple more closely.

They do scan, but slowly. A software program called RadioMax does seem to work pretty well with these, and does pick up the speed somewhat - but if you're looking to scan with these receivers, not gonna happen. 73s Mike

 

[eorange]

I have the IC-R7000. As Mike said, I typically park it on one frequency; it scans waaay to slow to be a scanner.

On the plus side, it's a sensitive receiver; I've used it from everything from civilian air to mil air to public safety to monitoring fed freqs. It's nice having a big VFO knob that will tune you through every frequency range.

It's also handy to have full 800 MHz, not for listening to analog cell but knowing you have that range - eventually some other service will move into that band. That's probably one reason I'll never give up this rig.

I have no idea how it performs against the IC-R7100.

Hope this helps.

 

[Turbo68]

Hello I use to have these Radios and performance is brilliant but they are to slow for scanning but the sensitivity on them is excellent.

Regards Lino.

 

[crayon]

They are also discontinued models so dont expect to find one-off IC's or other parts quickly/cheaply if something breaks.

I had an R7000 and its a brute. Personally, I found that the lack of computer control was hindering my scanning. Punching in different freqs on that keypad got old quick. I unloaded it.

 

[steve_s]

These aren't scanners - they are receivers that happen to scan. Many scannists will use these kinds of receivers to sit on a single frequency, or check out a couple more closely.

They do scan, but slowly. A software program called RadioMax does seem to work pretty well with these, and does pick up the speed somewhat - but if you're looking to scan with these receivers, not gonna happen. 73s Mike

I wholeheartedly agree. I think it is important to remember that ICOM is in the Communications Receiver business, rather than the Scanner business. There is a very big difference. Yes, communications receivers "scan", but they are lacking many features important for scanners. Of course, by the same token, scanners lack many features important for communications receivers. They just are different animals, tailored for different applications.

Steve

 

[Declared_Hostile]

About the only Icom communication receiver that I've used that made a passable scanner is the R-8500. The 8500 is actually an ok scanner if you want to scan a set bank of channels and they aren't too far away from each other so the relays don't click.

The fact of the matter is though as advanced as it is as a receiver its scanning is outclassed by a 20 dollar wal-mart special and is maybe on par with a 20 year old uniden.

I've had lots of guys who have seen my radio room ask me about buying one of those really expensive rigs like an Icom R-8500 or an AOR 5000+3. Some of them are pretty high end users too who run top of the line Uniden trunk trackers and such. My response is always when you need one, you know you need one. If you have to ask what it will do that your current radio will not then chances are then you don't need one. If you buy one expecting it to be a better scanner than your radio shack or Uniden you're going to be very, very frustrated. If you buy one before you know what you're expecting to do with it or what it is for you're going to get very frustrated.

I almost bought an Icom R-7100 after I bought a Uniden BC-210xlt because it was a good deal at the time. I would have been one disappointed puppy! I needed to crawl before I could walk. A year or so after I bought one and could make full use of it and most importantly I understood what it could do and what it could not.