Ive used a scanner for yrs in NYC to listen to EMS, PD, FD etc so im familiar with the basics, but im interested in buying a shortwave radio to listen to things like nasa, military air. land. sea etc. Im not interested much in the over seas radio stations. My question is I am looking into buying a good shortwave. 1) how is the icom r75 vs r8500? 2) Are these good radios for my interests in military/nasa (Utility freq) ? Is it as easy as 1 2 3 pluggin in a set freq # and hearing an active channel ? Will i need a 10000 ft wire to hear things etc ...sorry for the newb questions...dumb city fireman here and very new to the shortwave radio hobby...thx )
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- Thread starter caydo7
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Doesn't much matter if you are interested in overseas stuff or not, if you listen to shortwave you will end up hearing it. 
Remember, all of those things you are interested in, except NASA, also are transmitted from other countries, and much of our more interesting military stuff, for US military, originates from overseas.
Re R-75 vs R8500. They serve two different purposes. I have both and they are both very good radios. However, comparing just SW usage the R-75 is probably slightly the better of the two, and much the cheaper, like 1/3 the price. Of course, the R-75 will not go above 60 MHz. I would not suggest you get the R8500 thinking you can combine a "scanner" like radio and a SW radio. You might find you want to listen to both at the same time, be scanning public service freqs while listening to SW.
However, if you also want to delve into the worlds of VHF/UHF military air and possible satcom stuff combined with SW the R8500 is just the ticket. Or really anything above 60 MHz that is other than the FM mode that a good scanner will give you.
Now, if someone told me I had to get rid of one or the other, I could only keep one of them between the R-75 and the R8500, I would keep the R8500. But it really sounds like for what you are describing the R-75 would be fine.
They are both very good radios, and I would recommend either with a clear conscience, however they are not the only answer out there.
I am definitely sold on the SDR concept. If you don’t mind having to keep the radio tied to a computer you might find that an SDR is the way to go, but not everyone is OK with that or wants it.
The RFSpace SDR-IQ is slightly cheaper than the R-75 and just as good in many ways, better in some, than the R-75. The SDR-IQ has more caveats associated with it though, it might be the better deal for you, but if you are in a high RFI or high RF field area it might not be. And if you cannot install a decent antenna, you have to deal with something more marginal, then the good but slightly low sensitivity, in comparison to the R-75, might be a limiting factor. While I love it (that is why I have two of them, plus one of its big brothers, the SDR-14), it might not be the right radio for everyone. And the Microtelecom Perseus SDR is simply VERY good, one of the best receivers I have ever owned, I would rate it in the top 4 or 5 I have ever personally used, of hundreds of radios, and it is also an SDR, hard to beat the combination. However, I personally think the best deal for an SW listener today, the best combination of high performance, not oppressively high cost, and simply unbeaten features for under $2500, is the WinRadio G31DDC Excalibur. The Perseus has a slightly better front end in theory, but cannot match the Excalibur in features.
Definitely a lot of choices out there.
Is it as simple as plugging in a frequency and hearing an active channel? In general no, SW, specifically interesting military type comms, is just not like that. The “cool” stuff tends to be few and far between, and takes some time rooting it out. Sure, you can program the freqs and watch them, most of the good ones are know, but it is not like running a scanner with 200 freqs in it and scanning at 50 ch/sec. On SW and most of the interesting modes like SSB, you do not program in a bunch of frequencies and leave the radio in scan expecting it to stop on the good stuff. Squelch just does not work that well for weak signal modes like SSB. For sure, cool stuff is out there to be heard, but it takes a bit more interaction with the radio than scanner listening does. The wide waterfall displays of SDRs make this task easier and more sure, but still not “scanner” easy.
Will you need 10000 feet of wire? No. But in general the bigger the antenna you can put up the better your radio will perform, and the more likely you will be to hear interesting stuff. There are lots of wire antenna types for SWL use. Each has its good points and its bad points, there is no one “best” antenna. A simple dipole of 66 feet of wire in an inverted V configuration is a good starting point. A horizontal square loop of 256 feet of wire, up at 33 or more feet, would be better. The nice thing about wire antennas is they are easy to make and play with, finding the one that fits your needs best does not have to cost much money at all but might take some time. But yes, if you can have an external antenna with a bit of wire you will be much more happy.
T!
Remember, all of those things you are interested in, except NASA, also are transmitted from other countries, and much of our more interesting military stuff, for US military, originates from overseas.Re R-75 vs R8500. They serve two different purposes. I have both and they are both very good radios. However, comparing just SW usage the R-75 is probably slightly the better of the two, and much the cheaper, like 1/3 the price. Of course, the R-75 will not go above 60 MHz. I would not suggest you get the R8500 thinking you can combine a "scanner" like radio and a SW radio. You might find you want to listen to both at the same time, be scanning public service freqs while listening to SW.
However, if you also want to delve into the worlds of VHF/UHF military air and possible satcom stuff combined with SW the R8500 is just the ticket. Or really anything above 60 MHz that is other than the FM mode that a good scanner will give you.
Now, if someone told me I had to get rid of one or the other, I could only keep one of them between the R-75 and the R8500, I would keep the R8500. But it really sounds like for what you are describing the R-75 would be fine.
They are both very good radios, and I would recommend either with a clear conscience, however they are not the only answer out there.
I am definitely sold on the SDR concept. If you don’t mind having to keep the radio tied to a computer you might find that an SDR is the way to go, but not everyone is OK with that or wants it.
The RFSpace SDR-IQ is slightly cheaper than the R-75 and just as good in many ways, better in some, than the R-75. The SDR-IQ has more caveats associated with it though, it might be the better deal for you, but if you are in a high RFI or high RF field area it might not be. And if you cannot install a decent antenna, you have to deal with something more marginal, then the good but slightly low sensitivity, in comparison to the R-75, might be a limiting factor. While I love it (that is why I have two of them, plus one of its big brothers, the SDR-14), it might not be the right radio for everyone. And the Microtelecom Perseus SDR is simply VERY good, one of the best receivers I have ever owned, I would rate it in the top 4 or 5 I have ever personally used, of hundreds of radios, and it is also an SDR, hard to beat the combination. However, I personally think the best deal for an SW listener today, the best combination of high performance, not oppressively high cost, and simply unbeaten features for under $2500, is the WinRadio G31DDC Excalibur. The Perseus has a slightly better front end in theory, but cannot match the Excalibur in features.
Definitely a lot of choices out there.
Is it as simple as plugging in a frequency and hearing an active channel? In general no, SW, specifically interesting military type comms, is just not like that. The “cool” stuff tends to be few and far between, and takes some time rooting it out. Sure, you can program the freqs and watch them, most of the good ones are know, but it is not like running a scanner with 200 freqs in it and scanning at 50 ch/sec. On SW and most of the interesting modes like SSB, you do not program in a bunch of frequencies and leave the radio in scan expecting it to stop on the good stuff. Squelch just does not work that well for weak signal modes like SSB. For sure, cool stuff is out there to be heard, but it takes a bit more interaction with the radio than scanner listening does. The wide waterfall displays of SDRs make this task easier and more sure, but still not “scanner” easy.
Will you need 10000 feet of wire? No. But in general the bigger the antenna you can put up the better your radio will perform, and the more likely you will be to hear interesting stuff. There are lots of wire antenna types for SWL use. Each has its good points and its bad points, there is no one “best” antenna. A simple dipole of 66 feet of wire in an inverted V configuration is a good starting point. A horizontal square loop of 256 feet of wire, up at 33 or more feet, would be better. The nice thing about wire antennas is they are easy to make and play with, finding the one that fits your needs best does not have to cost much money at all but might take some time. But yes, if you can have an external antenna with a bit of wire you will be much more happy.
T!
hfdxer
Member
very good advice for a beginner into hf world. you will enjoy the hf world. gets quite interesting
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