Icom R75 died quietly last night

[skidplate]

We have been running 13 R75's now for over 10 yrs 365/24-7. As I walked past the bay that holds their rack I noticed something didn't look right this morning. I found rcvr # 8's display was not light.
I'm going to pull it out and put it on the bench in a little while here and find out what happened.
These radios have performed far beyond my expectations, they were supposed to be "throw away" items that can be easily and cheaply replaced as needed. So far, ten years on and this is the first one to give us trouble says something about those little radios.

 

[k9rzz]

Impressive.

Pix of that rack please!!

 

[Fast1eddie]

If you decide to "throw it away", please advise me of where you and your dumpster is located!

 

[NRD-505]

Maybe not truly dead -- just in need of resuscitation.

 

[glimmertwin]

throw away items?? Cheaply replaced?? what the hell?

 

[safetyobc]

Any update? Just curious if you figured out what happened?

 

[russellmaher]

I hardly consider my R-75 a "throw away item" and it's certainly not "cheaply replaced", so could you please tell me how large a discount did you get when you bought yours?

Seriously though, you've got to be pleased with that kind of performance - over ten years and running 24/7/365 and you have 13 of them? Makes me curious about what you monitor with them. Can you legally say?

Russell

 

[dkf435]

When you use some of this equipment for professional use or goverment where they are always spending other peoples money and many of these pro grade receivers are now in the multi kilobuck range for such as Racal, Rockwell Collins, ICOM R9000 $4000, R95000 $13,599, AOR AR6000 $7600, or ARONE $6000 the $679 R75 is disposable.

From auctions on ebay the last couple years from both China and Israel I have seen quite a few Icom R71, R7000 type equipment showing up on the used/partrs market in quanities that would justify walls and racks of receivers being changed out with pictures of the quanities available to show it in the auctions. Just like in the 90s all the AOR AR3000 gutted cases that showed up at ham swap meets would make you wonder who was consuming all these radios and for what projects they were being intergrated into. If the AOR-ONE is capable of 99 receivers controlled by 1 PC, how big are these listening systems??


David Kb7uns

 

[skidplate]

Luckily it was only a fuse in the power cable that KO'd ole number 8. I replaced the fuse after checking out the radio and it has been running just fine ever since. I have no idea why the fuse went open.
I am very pleased with the service life of these radios.
We really didn't want to spend the money that David pointed out on the pro radios. We can throw out an R75 that goes bad and overnight a new one for far less money. As a matter of fact, I bought one for my personal use several years ago and although it does not get the use of the others I am very happy with it.
When Icom decides to retire the R75 I will probably pick up a couple more just to have on hand.

 

[ratboy]

I remember watching 60 Minutes or maybe 20/20 like 25 years ago, and there was a HUGE rack of R71as behind them as the interview was ongoing. I've seen (and owned) them with all kinds of different government tags on them over the last 10 years or so, I'm assuming they are hitting the used market as they are replaced with newer radios, explaining all the Chinese and Israeli, and US marked radios out there. They vary in condition from almost mint to "What did they do to this thing?". The Israeli radios seem to be in the worst shape. The only problems I've seen on R75's is the PS dies on them sometimes, and one I replaced the volume/squelch pot. They seem to be a rock solid little radio.

 

[shortride]

throw away items?? Cheaply replaced?? what the hell?

That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[shortride]

Luckily it was only a fuse in the power cable that KO'd ole number 8. I replaced the fuse after checking out the radio and it has been running just fine ever since. I have no idea why the fuse went open.
I am very pleased with the service life of these radios.
We really didn't want to spend the money that David pointed out on the pro radios. We can throw out an R75 that goes bad and overnight a new one for far less money. As a matter of fact, I bought one for my personal use several years ago and although it does not get the use of the others I am very happy with it.
When Icom decides to retire the R75 I will probably pick up a couple more just to have on hand.

Fuses are kind of like light bulbs. You run current through them long enough the heat will eventually weaken the element. I've had some fuses last several years and other fuses on equipment that wasn't even a year old that had to be replaced. Ever have one of those fuses that didn't burn in the middle and still looked like it was good but it burnt out on the very end where you can't see it?

 

[fourthhorseman]

Fuses are kind of like light bulbs. You run current through them long enough the heat will eventually weaken the element. I've had some fuses last several years and other fuses on equipment that wasn't even a year old that had to be replaced. Ever have one of those fuses that didn't burn in the middle and still looked like it was good but it burnt out on the very end where you can't see it?

Yep.heat is great,ive got a KW rig that will run flawless,but once shut down wont power up again..gotta heat it up with a hair drier to get the broken joint(somewhere in the pwr end) to expand..same with afore mentioned lightbulbs..you can have on thats been on for years,shut it off and the filament will contract and break..

 

[KE4RWS]

Icom R75 Receiver

When it comes to the Icom R75 receiver being considered a "cheap throwaway" I guess it's all comes down to one's perception of the receiver and of course, how much money you earn. Personally I don't consider my R75 to be a cheap throwaway but that's just me talkin' here. Then again, I don't earn as much money as some of those big-time folks out there so I tend to have to make every dollar count as I'm sure most of you do

 

[Jimru]

Funny, if you go by the ads in the radio mags, the Icom R75 is for beginners...

 

[skidplate]

I seem to have given the wrong impression to several people when I said the R75 was a cheap throw away item. What I should have stated was that it was an inexpensive, easily replaceable receiver.
At roughly $600.00 bucks versus $10,000 $17,000 for the pro grade receivers, I think we have budgeted wisely.
Should one of the R75's go bad I can have a new one within 24-48 hrs shipped to us and we dont have to mess with a service contract or vendor to deal with.
Quality-wise, they are no way in my opinion cheap. More than 10 years of service is all the proof I need that it is a good product and I have no complaints at all for the way they have performed.

 

[ridgescan]

I personally think it's an impressive receiver and I'm sure pretty much all who own one have much respect for what it gives you for the money
Jim I figure those ad guys would have us all buying the bigger ones with a pitch like that.

 

[n5ims]

I seem to have given the wrong impression to several people when I said the R75 was a cheap throw away item. What I should have stated was that it was an inexpensive, easily replaceable receiver.
At roughly $600.00 bucks versus $10,000 $17,000 for the pro grade receivers, I think we have budgeted wisely.
Should one of the R75's go bad I can have a new one within 24-48 hrs shipped to us and we dont have to mess with a service contract or vendor to deal with.
Quality-wise, they are no way in my opinion cheap. More than 10 years of service is all the proof I need that it is a good product and I have no complaints at all for the way they have performed.

I get what you were saying. That's similar to several news organizations using middle to high-end video cameras instead of expensive professional cameras when going into war zones or other areas where there may be problems. While their cost may be high to us, it's really low compared to what they might otherwise carry. If they get one confiscated, it's really no big deal so long as their footage makes it out. Since they swap memory cards often, they have a good chance of getting most of the footage out even when there are problems. It's also easier for them to pretend to be "tourists" during some assignments when a big pro level camera, lights, mics, and crew would be very easy to spot by governments that may not be friendly to, or want to control the movements of, the press.

 

[zz0468]

I seem to have given the wrong impression to several people when I said the R75 was a cheap throw away item...

What I'm curious about is who needs 13 HF receivers in a rack in Arizona City!? Given the price differential between the R75 and a Watkins-Johnson anything, yeah, you've budgeted wisely if the R75 is up to the requirements.

 

[Jimru]

I personally think it's an impressive receiver and I'm sure pretty much all who own one have much respect for what it gives you for the money
Jim I figure those ad guys would have us all buying the bigger ones with a pitch like that.

Exactly, Ridge! I just noticed it in a recent MT issue. I love my R75 (although apparently not enough, as I haven't unpacked it since moving last February, but I digress...) and would never consider it "entry level" for most HF hobbyists.