Another very happy IC-R7100 owner here!
Found one very cheaply that had been in service at a University Electrical Engineering lab.
It was well used but still in very good condition. Had it tuned up and a few components replaced as well as replacing the display bulbs.
They do not seem to come up for sale very often, and with good reason- it is a great receiver!
As mentioned above- the 10.7Mhz IF output works very nicely with an SDR or panadapter.
For me, it has killer selectivity, meaning that strong local signals do not bother it when listening to a weak signal on an adjacent frequency.
It is a receiver that needs a good antenna system to really make it shine.
If you plan on staying in the hobby and learning more about radio, then hold on to it as you will have to spend plenty to find a radio that is as good.
Otherwise, if you do plan to sell it, there are many folks here on RR that would be happy to buy it I'm sure.
Commscanaus.
Same here. I have the R7000, R7100 and R9000. I would not get rid of any of them for any reason. They kick butt over any scanenr I've owned which is a lot including the latest digital models from Uniden and GRE. The GRE's are horrible for me due to the desense from several local paging transmitters. They do OK for 800 MHz stuff but are almost useless for VHF Low and High bands here. I can use them as long as I have PAR filters tuned for the paging signals inline. The Unidens are superior for me over the GRE's for the same paging issues. The Unidens do still need the PAR filters however otherwise I'll get intermod from the paging signals. The Uniden's do not desense like the GRE's do at my location.
All old double conversion scanners are horrible here for intermod. I have a bunch of old crystal scanners as I loved the audio in the old Bearcat's (pre Uniden). I still monitor our low band highway patrol on old Bearcat III's
Those days will be over soon though as a new statewide VHF High P25 system is being built as I type.
Now for the Icom's, I think I could hook one up at the base of a local paging tower and I doubt it would be affected by desense or overload. I do not need any type of PAR filters on the Icoms plus they are very sensitive to weak signals. The GRE's do fine when used in a more rural area away from strong local signals. I've taken mine to my buddies farm in the middle of the state and the GRE's work wonderful there. They usually beat the Unidens for weak signal reception. The Icoms are not practical to take out on the road.
But like has been mentioned, the Icom's are not scanners if that is what you are after. I do scan with one of mine from time to time but that is usually when I'm watching for low band openings from afar. I program in several common low band freqs and when they go active, I know it is time to start spinning the dial in search of new signals.
To the OP, you will never find a scannner that comes close to the receiver performance of a working R7100.
If you really get into the radio hobby, you will reget selling it in my opinion! Of course, if you do not have other scanner type receivers to compare with, you may never know what you are missing.
What do you think you would like to monitor? That could make a good case for keeping or selling the R7100.
Scanners do have their place in the shack. I run several all day long but my Icom's are my primary "tuning around" receivers.
