OK, so I just bought this ID-52A Plus on Saturday so I guess it really is 3 days in but I didn’t have time to play with it much yesterday so I won’t bother changing the title of the thread.
I bought it as an alternative to an R30 but then was able to score one that same evening. I wavered in returning the ID-52A but decided to keep it as I am really liking it.
I was able to easily figure out most of the operations quickly without resorting to the manual as men are known to do. After downloading the free Icom software I programmed in a couple hundred channels in an hour or so, including the rail and aircraft stuff I listen to as well as a few dozen ham repeater and simplex channels. A little tedious for sure so I might look into RT Systems software as I have had good luck with them for my other radios.
I did find a bug in the software which also is present in the radio itself. One cannot select AM mode in the 375 to 380 MHz. segment of the MilAir band. I sent a message to Icom Support and they replied first thing this morning thanking me for finding a bug and advised they would address it in the next firmware update.
My radio came with firmware 1.10 so I formatted a microSD card and used it to update my radio to the current 1.11. Easy to do! Hopefully the 1.12 (or whatever it is labeled) will address my minor receive mode issue.
I tried a couple ham repeaters and the RX and TX audio was superb. I as happy with the sensitivity in monitoring rail and aircraft stuff as well.
I went back to HRO today and picked up a desk charger. I discovered that the BP202IP3L charger has removable side panels to allow one to piece together up to 6 as a gang charger rack. That might come in handy down the road.
I am hoping that the charger is also compatible with the R30 that is on the way. I am not confident in that as they come with different batteries and I don’t know if the R30 battery is of a compatible form factor. I should know next week when it arrives.
About the only thing so far that I don’t like is a direct entry keypad. While it isn’t difficult to use the scroll knob and MHz. select button, having a numeric keypad would be simpler.
All in all it seems like a great radio and I am already using it today as I am out railfanning.
I bought it as an alternative to an R30 but then was able to score one that same evening. I wavered in returning the ID-52A but decided to keep it as I am really liking it.
I was able to easily figure out most of the operations quickly without resorting to the manual as men are known to do. After downloading the free Icom software I programmed in a couple hundred channels in an hour or so, including the rail and aircraft stuff I listen to as well as a few dozen ham repeater and simplex channels. A little tedious for sure so I might look into RT Systems software as I have had good luck with them for my other radios.
I did find a bug in the software which also is present in the radio itself. One cannot select AM mode in the 375 to 380 MHz. segment of the MilAir band. I sent a message to Icom Support and they replied first thing this morning thanking me for finding a bug and advised they would address it in the next firmware update.
My radio came with firmware 1.10 so I formatted a microSD card and used it to update my radio to the current 1.11. Easy to do! Hopefully the 1.12 (or whatever it is labeled) will address my minor receive mode issue.
I tried a couple ham repeaters and the RX and TX audio was superb. I as happy with the sensitivity in monitoring rail and aircraft stuff as well.
I went back to HRO today and picked up a desk charger. I discovered that the BP202IP3L charger has removable side panels to allow one to piece together up to 6 as a gang charger rack. That might come in handy down the road.
I am hoping that the charger is also compatible with the R30 that is on the way. I am not confident in that as they come with different batteries and I don’t know if the R30 battery is of a compatible form factor. I should know next week when it arrives.
About the only thing so far that I don’t like is a direct entry keypad. While it isn’t difficult to use the scroll knob and MHz. select button, having a numeric keypad would be simpler.
All in all it seems like a great radio and I am already using it today as I am out railfanning.
