Anyone know of a mod that will eliminate the minimum 3 second delay when using any of the memory scan features on the R8500?
I like to use the 8500 for our states VHF low band channels which are several simplex frequencies. Dispatch talks on one and the troopers reply on another.
The 3 second minimum delay time often causes you to miss replies from one or the other.
I really doubt it can be modded like the older R7000 could as it appears to be all processor driven in the R8500 but figured it's worth asking in case anyone has run across such a mod.
The audio, sensitivity and selectivity is just so much better on the Icom's over any scanner that I really enjoy monitoring the low band stuff on the Icom's. But the R8500 delay is annoying when using the memo scan feature.
And yes, I'm aware these radios are NOT scanners but are communications receivers! They just do a much better job at receiving signals over scanners and without image or desense problems that many scanners have when you live in a very dense RF area like mine.
In the old R7000, I forget if I added a board that sensed the signal line and forced a scan resume when signal was lost or if it was as simple as a cap swap to a smaller value. Either way, it virtually eliminated the delay when using any of the scan features. The R8500 is fixed at 3 seconds before it resumes scanning when the delay mode is off.
The R9000 has the same delay also and I've not tried looking for a mod for those as I don't use them in any of the scan modes very often.
My solution is to use an Icom on each of the frequencies but that ties up a lot of radios. The R7000 is showing its age so I've only been using it for other simplex strong signal work.
I guess it won't matter much longer when they make the switch to the new P25 statewide system but I've heard rumors they will keep the low band system.
I should really do this mod on one of the R9000's as they have excellent noise blanker circuits that work fantastic in FM mode above 30 MHz unlike the R8500 who's noise blanker turns into an AFC control in FM mode.
You can get a lot of powerline noise in low band so a working noise blanker can help tons when doing low band DX work.
Lucky for me, our local power company is very responsive at fixing noise report problems. They take noise reports very serious it seems and have a guy that does nothing but sniff out the cause of noise when it is reported.
Anyway, if anyone has seen a mod for the R8500 or R9000 that will eliminate (or shorten) the minimum scan delay pause, please pass on the info!
Thanks everyone.
I like to use the 8500 for our states VHF low band channels which are several simplex frequencies. Dispatch talks on one and the troopers reply on another.
The 3 second minimum delay time often causes you to miss replies from one or the other.
I really doubt it can be modded like the older R7000 could as it appears to be all processor driven in the R8500 but figured it's worth asking in case anyone has run across such a mod.
The audio, sensitivity and selectivity is just so much better on the Icom's over any scanner that I really enjoy monitoring the low band stuff on the Icom's. But the R8500 delay is annoying when using the memo scan feature.
And yes, I'm aware these radios are NOT scanners but are communications receivers! They just do a much better job at receiving signals over scanners and without image or desense problems that many scanners have when you live in a very dense RF area like mine.
In the old R7000, I forget if I added a board that sensed the signal line and forced a scan resume when signal was lost or if it was as simple as a cap swap to a smaller value. Either way, it virtually eliminated the delay when using any of the scan features. The R8500 is fixed at 3 seconds before it resumes scanning when the delay mode is off.
The R9000 has the same delay also and I've not tried looking for a mod for those as I don't use them in any of the scan modes very often.
My solution is to use an Icom on each of the frequencies but that ties up a lot of radios. The R7000 is showing its age so I've only been using it for other simplex strong signal work.
I guess it won't matter much longer when they make the switch to the new P25 statewide system but I've heard rumors they will keep the low band system.
I should really do this mod on one of the R9000's as they have excellent noise blanker circuits that work fantastic in FM mode above 30 MHz unlike the R8500 who's noise blanker turns into an AFC control in FM mode.
You can get a lot of powerline noise in low band so a working noise blanker can help tons when doing low band DX work.
Lucky for me, our local power company is very responsive at fixing noise report problems. They take noise reports very serious it seems and have a guy that does nothing but sniff out the cause of noise when it is reported.
Anyway, if anyone has seen a mod for the R8500 or R9000 that will eliminate (or shorten) the minimum scan delay pause, please pass on the info!
Thanks everyone.
