I have owned the Icom IC-R5 for a year now and is one of the best receivers I have ever owned.
It is very sensitive. It especially excels in the MIL-AIR band. You are correct, you can slip it in your pocket with ease. In order to do that you must buy a stubby like the "miracle baby" or something to that effect, because the antenna it comes with is almost bouble the length of the radio!
The only gripe I have about it is that you can't link the banks together. You can create up to 18 seperate banks. But you can either scan all banks at once, or one at a time.
The radio is without a keypad and hence is rather difficult to operate at first. But give it a couple of weeks, and you'll find it very easy to operate.
If your looking for an excellent "small" performer, this one is best. I tinkered around with my friends Alinco DJ-X3 and lacks in areas such as:
* Audio isn't as loud as the R5.
* Scan and search rate is much slower.
* Only has 700 channels, and are rigid (10x70 channels). The R5 has Dynamic Memory banks.
* No alpha tags. When you have over 400 frequencies programmed in, it's nice to alpha tag them.
* It seems fragile (cheap plastic feel). The R5 is built like a tank!
Regards,
Richster.
