Icom R75
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Chuck, while I'm not a R75 owner - I'll let them chime in here - I don't think you're going to find too many sad stories about the R75. Sure, any receiver has things that need improving - but I suspect you're going to find that the R75 is a workhorse.
You did check out the reviews linked in our wiki, right?
Category:Receiver Reviews - The RadioReference Wiki
Specifically I would look at the EHam comments, see if Dave's receiver page has anything, the DXing.info website and also the NASWA review done by my friend Al Johnson N4LUS back in '99.
That should get you well on your way 73 Mike
You did check out the reviews linked in our wiki, right?
Category:Receiver Reviews - The RadioReference Wiki
Specifically I would look at the EHam comments, see if Dave's receiver page has anything, the DXing.info website and also the NASWA review done by my friend Al Johnson N4LUS back in '99.
That should get you well on your way 73 Mike
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As Mike mentions, the R75 is a very high-quality workhorse receiver. Once you get one, it will be hard to let it go. 
The filtering options are incredible as you can install several crystal filters in the 9mhz and 455khz sections. Are you into cw/ssb dxing? Casual cw/ssb ? The filter options can really spruce things up from stock.
Thing is, you can spend almost as much on the optional filters as much as you paid for the receiver. If all you need is a 500hz cw filter at 455khz, not a big deal. If you are a contester you might end up doubling up the 9mhz and 455khz filters (in a special menu) for really specific bandwidths.
The front-facing speaker is handy for temporary / field ops, but definitely invest in a quality communications speaker (or quality communications headphones) so you can actually hear what you paid for.
The ability to toggle the preamp(s) on and off is nice if you are using either very large or very small antennas. It can make a big difference other than just using the attenuator or rf-gain control.
The optional DSP noise-reduction (some are already equipped out of box with it) works *ok*, although it doesn't hold a candle to dedicated outboard dsp filters or those on receivers that cost much more. Nice to have.
Hard-core dx-ers might consider it a backup receiver, but for most of us, the R75 is a nice receiver if your interests in dx'ing increases to the point where you need extensive crystal filtering.
The filtering options are incredible as you can install several crystal filters in the 9mhz and 455khz sections. Are you into cw/ssb dxing? Casual cw/ssb ? The filter options can really spruce things up from stock.
Thing is, you can spend almost as much on the optional filters as much as you paid for the receiver. If all you need is a 500hz cw filter at 455khz, not a big deal. If you are a contester you might end up doubling up the 9mhz and 455khz filters (in a special menu) for really specific bandwidths.
The front-facing speaker is handy for temporary / field ops, but definitely invest in a quality communications speaker (or quality communications headphones) so you can actually hear what you paid for.
The ability to toggle the preamp(s) on and off is nice if you are using either very large or very small antennas. It can make a big difference other than just using the attenuator or rf-gain control.
The optional DSP noise-reduction (some are already equipped out of box with it) works *ok*, although it doesn't hold a candle to dedicated outboard dsp filters or those on receivers that cost much more. Nice to have.
Hard-core dx-ers might consider it a backup receiver, but for most of us, the R75 is a nice receiver if your interests in dx'ing increases to the point where you need extensive crystal filtering.
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Turbo68
Member
+ 1 for the R-75 use to have one sold it with regret got one on order should be 4-6 weeks from icom japan and u might also want to consider the Palstar-R30A both these receivers are excellent for hf.
Regards Lino.
Regards Lino.
R75
Thanks for the suggestion. I already use an FT 100D and FT 897D for my ham use in the shack. This R75 would be used at my listening post in the bedroom where I also have my scanners. I enjoy listening to SW and the ham bands at night. I use a Grundig 700 now and not too good on the ham bands. Cost of the 2 rigs is also a factor at this point, but thanks again for the suggestion.
chuck
Thanks for the suggestion. I already use an FT 100D and FT 897D for my ham use in the shack. This R75 would be used at my listening post in the bedroom where I also have my scanners. I enjoy listening to SW and the ham bands at night. I use a Grundig 700 now and not too good on the ham bands. Cost of the 2 rigs is also a factor at this point, but thanks again for the suggestion.
chuck
Chuck,
Ah I understand now. Well, if you're looking for a SW radio with fidelity of a quality AM receiver, then I would look at a used Grundig Satellit 800. There are a ton on EBay for sale at around $200.
The audio quality is probably the best you can get right now. It's a great value. Yes, the 800 is a big radio but the audio quality makes up for it. Also, it does a decent job on the HAM bands. (Take a look at YouTube - several videos of someone listening to 80m.)
I currently own a R75, Icom IC-7000, and a Sony 7600GR. I'm thinking about picking up the 800 myself - if only for a nightstand radio.
Take care,
-Nick
n7zya
Ah I understand now. Well, if you're looking for a SW radio with fidelity of a quality AM receiver, then I would look at a used Grundig Satellit 800. There are a ton on EBay for sale at around $200.
The audio quality is probably the best you can get right now. It's a great value. Yes, the 800 is a big radio but the audio quality makes up for it. Also, it does a decent job on the HAM bands. (Take a look at YouTube - several videos of someone listening to 80m.)
I currently own a R75, Icom IC-7000, and a Sony 7600GR. I'm thinking about picking up the 800 myself - if only for a nightstand radio.
Take care,
-Nick
n7zya
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a29zuk
Member
There is an 800 for sale at Universal Radio right now if you haven't already noticed!
Halfpint
Member
Re: Icom IC-R75
I've got 4 IC-R75s (2 are in almost daily use and the other 2 are *very carefully and lovingly* stored away as `just in case' `spares'.) and I wouldn't part with them unless it was `from my cold dead fingers'. (In case you might be wondering how I managed to end up with 4... I received a call one day from a friend of mine who was calling to let me know that a mutual friend and radio shop owner was `retiring' and was going to be auctioning off *all* the contents of his shop and if I was interested in anything I should get in touch with him before the auction date and he would `deal' with me on anything I might want. To `shorten?' things he offered me a *really great* deal on the IC-R75s, and a few other things, if I could get up to his place at least a couple weeks before the auctioneer did the inventory for the auction. To say the least I managed to find the necessary `free time', money, ETC. to get up there that very next weekend and came back home with the back of my Explorer *loaded* and pretty much most of my 16' trailer loaded, too. [I ended up with a lot more than just radio gear. I also got some workbenches, assorted tools, test equipment (At that time I still was running, part time, a Stereo/Hif-Fi repair and restoration shop and pretty much anything I thought would be useful was `fair game'. {VB GRIN!}), hardware, parts, tubes, ETC..] He called me shortly after the auction and told me that even though I hadn't really `gotten away with' all that much stuff from his shop he'd gotten more for what I bought than he got from everything else and thanked me profusely for taking the time to come up and both buy and spend some time just talking / visiting. Unfortunately, only just 3 years later, I received a call from his daughter telling me that he had `passed on' [Went to bed and didn't wake up.] a couple days earlier. As part of his `last requests' I was asked to deliver his eulogy and, you know, it was probably, if not actually, both one of the hardest and most touching things I have ever had to do short of dealing with the passing of my parents. He was the person who got me `in to' / interested in electronics and both `drove' me to make it through school to get my degree and then hired me once I graduated. When I later received an offer to go to work with another, `big national', company he graciously, and actually somewhat pointedly too, told me to take the job. [In fact he basically told me that, if I didn't take the offer, he'd `whup my a$$' and otherwise make `life miserable' for doing such a `boneheaded' stunt.] )
I also have a Grundig Satellit 800 a e1-XM and a G4000A along with a Sony ICF-2010. (I bought the ICF-2010 back around the time they had been out for a few years as a portable I could use traveling or on a nightstand when using my old Halliscratcher... err Hallicrafters was too much of a `pain' to go and fire up to listen to R. Nederlands or DW and still get some sleep. The Satellit 800 was purchased as something I could use out in our backyard and have enough volume to be heard when barbequeing or working in the gardens. The G4000A came along with the Satellit 800 as part of a `package deal' but then has since proven itself to be a *fairly* capable traveler on some of our far and few between `weekend' outings where I didn't really want to worry about something happening to the ICF-2010. [IE: There are those times when one already has *more* than enough in one's `carry-on' and just gets `the willies' thinking about what baggage `handlers?' inflict upon checked baggage and don't want that inflicted upon one's `old friend'. {GRIMACE!}])
Anyway... Back to the IC-R75s... All of them have the UT-106 DSP option, the CR-282 High Stability Crystal option, and I've got several different 9MHz and 455 KHz filtres that I switch in and out as needed. (Someplace around here I've got a list I put together of which filtres work best for what. But, I haven't done much swapping recently, and I really don't remember what was for what right off the top of my head right now or just which filtres are in which unit.) I've got several different antennas I can use ranging from a couple LF Engineering H900s, several different `commercial' `wire' antennas, and a N/S Beverage running all the way out to the South end of our 1/4 section and, until our Southern neighbor sold out to a developer and the developer tells me to remove it or removes it, also all the way to our Southern neighbor's South property line. (The wire for the latter stretch of the Beverage is still there but, I don't really have any idea of how much longer it'll be there, especially with the way the economy is, and I've got things in place to terminate my section right at the property line when it finally has to go.) Both of the IC-R75s I've got in use are very decent, and in some ways a lot better, replacements for and performers compared to my old Hallicrafters. Whilst I do have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for the old Hallicrafters rig I wouldn't want to have to go back to using it *and* all the assorted outboard `goodies' even though it is still quite an able rig even now. The IC-R75s have completely `spoiled' me with how well they work and how easy they are to get setup for different situations.
If you are looking for a really good, and actually also reasonably priced, LW/MW/HF receiver *I* really do not think you could go wrong buying one. There may be some other radios that might have this or that spec that may appear to be better but the IC-R75 is a danged good `all around' `yeoman like' receiver that won't be disappointing to own.
I've got 4 IC-R75s (2 are in almost daily use and the other 2 are *very carefully and lovingly* stored away as `just in case' `spares'.) and I wouldn't part with them unless it was `from my cold dead fingers'. (In case you might be wondering how I managed to end up with 4... I received a call one day from a friend of mine who was calling to let me know that a mutual friend and radio shop owner was `retiring' and was going to be auctioning off *all* the contents of his shop and if I was interested in anything I should get in touch with him before the auction date and he would `deal' with me on anything I might want. To `shorten?' things he offered me a *really great* deal on the IC-R75s, and a few other things, if I could get up to his place at least a couple weeks before the auctioneer did the inventory for the auction. To say the least I managed to find the necessary `free time', money, ETC. to get up there that very next weekend and came back home with the back of my Explorer *loaded* and pretty much most of my 16' trailer loaded, too. [I ended up with a lot more than just radio gear. I also got some workbenches, assorted tools, test equipment (At that time I still was running, part time, a Stereo/Hif-Fi repair and restoration shop and pretty much anything I thought would be useful was `fair game'. {VB GRIN!}), hardware, parts, tubes, ETC..] He called me shortly after the auction and told me that even though I hadn't really `gotten away with' all that much stuff from his shop he'd gotten more for what I bought than he got from everything else and thanked me profusely for taking the time to come up and both buy and spend some time just talking / visiting. Unfortunately, only just 3 years later, I received a call from his daughter telling me that he had `passed on' [Went to bed and didn't wake up.] a couple days earlier. As part of his `last requests' I was asked to deliver his eulogy and, you know, it was probably, if not actually, both one of the hardest and most touching things I have ever had to do short of dealing with the passing of my parents. He was the person who got me `in to' / interested in electronics and both `drove' me to make it through school to get my degree and then hired me once I graduated. When I later received an offer to go to work with another, `big national', company he graciously, and actually somewhat pointedly too, told me to take the job. [In fact he basically told me that, if I didn't take the offer, he'd `whup my a$$' and otherwise make `life miserable' for doing such a `boneheaded' stunt.] )
I also have a Grundig Satellit 800 a e1-XM and a G4000A along with a Sony ICF-2010. (I bought the ICF-2010 back around the time they had been out for a few years as a portable I could use traveling or on a nightstand when using my old Halliscratcher... err Hallicrafters was too much of a `pain' to go and fire up to listen to R. Nederlands or DW and still get some sleep. The Satellit 800 was purchased as something I could use out in our backyard and have enough volume to be heard when barbequeing or working in the gardens. The G4000A came along with the Satellit 800 as part of a `package deal' but then has since proven itself to be a *fairly* capable traveler on some of our far and few between `weekend' outings where I didn't really want to worry about something happening to the ICF-2010. [IE: There are those times when one already has *more* than enough in one's `carry-on' and just gets `the willies' thinking about what baggage `handlers?' inflict upon checked baggage and don't want that inflicted upon one's `old friend'. {GRIMACE!}])
Anyway... Back to the IC-R75s... All of them have the UT-106 DSP option, the CR-282 High Stability Crystal option, and I've got several different 9MHz and 455 KHz filtres that I switch in and out as needed. (Someplace around here I've got a list I put together of which filtres work best for what. But, I haven't done much swapping recently, and I really don't remember what was for what right off the top of my head right now or just which filtres are in which unit.) I've got several different antennas I can use ranging from a couple LF Engineering H900s, several different `commercial' `wire' antennas, and a N/S Beverage running all the way out to the South end of our 1/4 section and, until our Southern neighbor sold out to a developer and the developer tells me to remove it or removes it, also all the way to our Southern neighbor's South property line. (The wire for the latter stretch of the Beverage is still there but, I don't really have any idea of how much longer it'll be there, especially with the way the economy is, and I've got things in place to terminate my section right at the property line when it finally has to go.) Both of the IC-R75s I've got in use are very decent, and in some ways a lot better, replacements for and performers compared to my old Hallicrafters. Whilst I do have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for the old Hallicrafters rig I wouldn't want to have to go back to using it *and* all the assorted outboard `goodies' even though it is still quite an able rig even now. The IC-R75s have completely `spoiled' me with how well they work and how easy they are to get setup for different situations.
If you are looking for a really good, and actually also reasonably priced, LW/MW/HF receiver *I* really do not think you could go wrong buying one. There may be some other radios that might have this or that spec that may appear to be better but the IC-R75 is a danged good `all around' `yeoman like' receiver that won't be disappointing to own.
The newer ICOM IC-R75-12 no longer come equipped with Synchronous AM detection (S-AM). Earlier ICOM IC-R75-02 versions did come with this feature. One of the outside vendors that supplied the necessary chip for this feature, stopped making them, and there is no replacement.
I wouldn't give it a lot of concern however, as the S-AM never really worked properly on the R75. It's still an excellent receiver for monitoring utilities, amateur radio, etc.
Some other radios for consideration would be the Palstar R30A:
Palstar R30A Shortwave Radio Receiver
And the Yaesu FRG-100B, which I think has been discontinued, but they're still around on the used market, and Ebay:
Yaesu FRG100 Communications Receiver FRG-100
One more would be Drake's R8, R8A, and R8B. These have also been discontinued, but you can still find them. I think the R8, and R8B are better choices than the R8A. The 'A' series had some minor issues if I recall.
Drake R8B Communications Receiver
I wouldn't give it a lot of concern however, as the S-AM never really worked properly on the R75. It's still an excellent receiver for monitoring utilities, amateur radio, etc.
Some other radios for consideration would be the Palstar R30A:
Palstar R30A Shortwave Radio Receiver
And the Yaesu FRG-100B, which I think has been discontinued, but they're still around on the used market, and Ebay:
Yaesu FRG100 Communications Receiver FRG-100
One more would be Drake's R8, R8A, and R8B. These have also been discontinued, but you can still find them. I think the R8, and R8B are better choices than the R8A. The 'A' series had some minor issues if I recall.
Drake R8B Communications Receiver
IIRC, on the very early R75's, some of the oem power supplies had a problem shorting and/or running VERY hot and being noisy . You may want to check that, especially if buying used.
Mine was a later-model unit and didn't have that problem, but I ran it off a higher quality supply anyway.
While I wouldn't mind having a receiver from this decade, I do like the fact that there isn't any backlighting to go bad other than burning out the backlight led's - so I run with them off when I don't need it, and the display is quite readable either way.
Also check the operation of the ANT/SET switch relay. It should be easy to figure out if you are on the wrong antenna switch, and this relay could go bad / soft after a long time. At the very least, exercise it a few times if it has been sitting in the closet.
One thing I also do to any radio temporarily sitting in the closet for years perhaps is to rotate the pots once in awhile and leave them on a different position.
Mine was a later-model unit and didn't have that problem, but I ran it off a higher quality supply anyway.
While I wouldn't mind having a receiver from this decade, I do like the fact that there isn't any backlighting to go bad other than burning out the backlight led's - so I run with them off when I don't need it, and the display is quite readable either way.
Also check the operation of the ANT/SET switch relay. It should be easy to figure out if you are on the wrong antenna switch, and this relay could go bad / soft after a long time. At the very least, exercise it a few times if it has been sitting in the closet.
One thing I also do to any radio temporarily sitting in the closet for years perhaps is to rotate the pots once in awhile and leave them on a different position.
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