Icom: New D-STAR handheld: Icom ID-52A/E
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What's everyone thinking of the 52? I currently have a D74 and an FT5. Although not super impressed by the FT5 or fusion in general for that matter. I had a 51A and loved it for the size and features (no keypad didn't bother me). Id prefer something more rugged then the D74. Love that radio but my constant going im afraid to break it. The 52 seems to have better water resistance than the 74.
jazzboypro
Active Member
I have 52 and the D74. I much prefer the screen size of the 52 and since i already have 3 ICOM radios the 52 is easy to use and program compared to the D74. The D74 is a tri-band transceiver and the 52 is not. The 52 receives air band but not the D74. Over all a prefer the the 52 but both radios kind of complement each other but i suspect that my D74 won't get much use
Mine wonāt be here until tomorrow, but from all reports so far itās exactly as you describe. More rugged than the 74, it is waterproof enough to not worry about it, and the D Star implementation is great. It seems to scan faster than the 74 and doesnāt have that quirky scan āfeatureā of the FT5. The 52 has a lot of features that donāt appeal to everyone but the deeper you dig the more it impresses. The audio on D Star sounds pretty good to me, not quite a good as the 74 but thereās some tinkering to do with the settings. A 705 makes it easy fine tune if you use the audio scope to analyze the signal.
I like the Icom menu system better than the 74 or the FT-5R (owned one briefly). I have a 705 and had a 51 so itās pretty familiar to me. Personally I think the 52 will be a good radio with some headroom for firmware upgrades.
Good to know. I do a lot more listening than I do transmitting ive found boosting the highs help, to my ears anyway, but im also used to P25 public safety quality audio as well. My fear with the D74 is it getting wet or dropped or damaged some other way. the 52 seems to be a good alternative. The D74 is a fantastic radio and the 52 seems to be right up there with it. Ill probably go ahead and jump on one. I enjoyed my 51 a lot and it seems the 52 has built on that.
Absolutely, I feel the same way about my D74. Especially since itās been discontinued.
I think the 74 and 52 complement each other.. My 74 has been trouble free. They do have features no current handheld offers.
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palmerjrusa
Member
Very impressed so far with my ID-52A (also own a D74 and FT5DR), the large screen is beautiful and sharp, audio is excellent and love the extended coverage of the aviation band. The ID-52A also has a very solid and rugged feel to it (more so than the D74). It's going to take a while for me to explore all the ID-52A's potential of this newest handheld from Icom.
Noticed the HRO Anaheim store was listing the ID-52A as in stock over the weekend but now as out of stock so HRO has likely sold all its initial shipment.
palmerjrusa, when using the waterfall, are the pixels blocky or smooth?
palmerjrusa
Member
The pixels are blocky, not at the resolution of my IC-R8600.
Similar to the R30 but larger due to the larger screen? Does it seem smooth going across the frequencies on the waterfall?
palmerjrusa
Member
Just did a comparison.
Yes, the waterfall display is slightly larger on the ID-52A vs. the IC-R30.
The pixel size appears to be the same on both radios but looking at both displays now = the ID-52A is scanning faster than the IC-R30.
Also, the ID-52A's display being in color, there's some visual representation of signal strength that's not present on the IC-R30's non-color display.
Anyway you can take a picture of this side by side? I'll send you my email so you can send it to me and I will post it if you want.
palmerjrusa
Member
I'll try and do this...
palmerjrusa
Member
Of course the ID-52A has a genuine waterfall display, whereas the IC-R30 is just a band scope display.
Thats very good to hear. Yeah I just purchased one from HRO. Not in a huge rush so whenever it gets here great. Is the speaker louder like they advertise. Some reading that I've done some have commented that there isn't much of a difference.
palmerjrusa
Member
It seems to be plenty loud enough, currently have the volume at 50% and it's louder than normal listening level.
I'll compare it to the volume on my ID-51 tonight.
Courtesy of palmerjrusa. Video of the screen.
Familee
KD2VKA
Just got mine Thurs not sure why but my Yaessu ft3dr was unable to send or receive in my house without reconnecting to my Cushcraft outdoor antenna.
Amazed to see the ID-52A works awesome in the house with this little rubber antenna.
Even brought it down stairs in the basement and still worked!
Not on a zum spot, this was RF to-repeater.
Perhaps the radio has better reception? Or maybe because I am strictly on digital asI await RT systems to finish their Mac version of the software ( they said any day now) Or could my FT3DR be having some issues.
Either way this thing is awesome, I just have to learn Dstar which is a bit more involved for me but I am getting it slowly.
Only in the hobby for about a year stillhavent gotten my yaessu down and now have to learn Icom and Dstar.
Not sure it smart to confuse my self with a Yaesu and an Icom but I impulsively did it.
Amazed to see the ID-52A works awesome in the house with this little rubber antenna.
Even brought it down stairs in the basement and still worked!
Not on a zum spot, this was RF to-repeater.
Perhaps the radio has better reception? Or maybe because I am strictly on digital asI await RT systems to finish their Mac version of the software ( they said any day now) Or could my FT3DR be having some issues.
Either way this thing is awesome, I just have to learn Dstar which is a bit more involved for me but I am getting it slowly.
Only in the hobby for about a year stillhavent gotten my yaessu down and now have to learn Icom and Dstar.
Not sure it smart to confuse my self with a Yaesu and an Icom but I impulsively did it.
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