R8600 Other Than a R8600 ?

[BOBRR]

Hello,

Thinking of a R8600.

Do listening only; mostly <30 MHz, but occasionally like to hear the aero band conversations.

For staying in the same price range, what other receivers should/might I consider ?
Why ?

General thoughts on the 8600 would be appreciated.

Reliability ? That relay issue: a "show stopper" ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[palmerjrusa]

Hello,

Thinking of a R8600.

Do listening only; mostly <30 MHz, but occasionally like to hear the aero band conversations.

For staying in the same price range, what other receivers should/might I consider ?
Why ?

General thoughts on the 8600 would be appreciated.

Reliability ? That relay issue: a "show stopper" ?

Thanks,
Bob

I love my IC-R8600.

You might consider the AOR ARDV1.

 

[MStep]

My experience is that the 8600 is a notch above the DV1 if you are going to concentrate on frequencies below 30 MHz--- the band scope can be very helpful to ferret out "utility" frequencies in the shortwave band. The biggest minus with the 8600 is the lack of DMR decoding capability. Most folks were shocked that it was not included with the radio's introduction, nor has Icom made any progress in adding it as an upgrade, firmware or otherwise, to the 8600.

The AOR DV1 is a very capable receiver, albeit not quite at the same level as the 8600 on the shortwave bands. Besides from it's smaller footprint, one of the main advantages of the DV1 is that it includes practically all the standard digital modes that are in use today on frequencies above 30 MHz, including DMR. Some folks were a bit disappointed at the rather simple display window of the DV1.

A lot of my friends started with one, and then ended up adding the other about a year later. Both great radios.

 

[palmerjrusa]

My experience is that the 8600 is a notch above the DV1 if you are going to concentrate on frequencies below 30 MHz--- the band scope can be very helpful to ferret out "utility" frequencies in the shortwave band. The biggest minus with the 8600 is the lack of DMR decoding capability. Most folks were shocked that it was not included with the radio's introduction, nor has Icom made any progress in adding it as an upgrade, firmware or otherwise, to the 8600.

The AOR DV1 is a very capable receiver, albeit not quite at the same level as the 8600 on the shortwave bands. Besides from it's smaller footprint, one of the main advantages of the DV1 is that it includes practically all the standard digital modes that are in use today on frequencies above 30 MHz, including DMR. Some folks were a bit disappointed at the rather simple display window of the DV1.

A lot of my friends started with one, and then ended up adding the other about a year later. Both great radios.

I'd echo what MStep said.
I have an ARDV1 and am pleased with it, it's display screen is no great shakes though, especially compared to the IC-R8600's display, which is awesome and a thing of great beauty.

Currently thinking about getting an AR5700.

 

[mancow]

If mainly interested in HF what about an IC-7300?

 

[rumcajs_tr]

I have both R8600 and DV1 so I can give you a direct comparison and the R8600 is far far better than DV1. Especially on HF, but it outperforms DV1 on VHF and UHF as well. I purchased DV1 only to complement missing digital modes on 8600, but most of the time, I use DV1 only as a digital decoder connected to IF OUT of R8600 and tuned DV1 to 10.7Mhz. Not that the DV1 is a bad receiver, just the R8600 is so much better.
Also, the AM receive on air band on the R8600 is one of the best, it sounds as good as most of the professional dedicated aviation transcievers.
The price of R8600 is quite high, but if you go for it, you won't regret. I would never sell my R8600, this is the kind of radio you keep until end of its life.

 

[MStep]

There is quite a substantial price difference. Depending on the dealership, the Icom 8600 can be anywhere from $1,000 USD more up to twice the price of the AOR DV1.

 

[SigIntel8600]

I have both the IC-R8600 and the DV-1. I would spend the extra dough and get the IC-8600 for HF monitoring. Just remember any radio is only as good as the antenna it is connected to.

 

[ems55]

I have both R8600 and DV1 so I can give you a direct comparison and the R8600 is far far better than DV1. Especially on HF, but it outperforms DV1 on VHF and UHF as well. I purchased DV1 only to complement missing digital modes on 8600, but most of the time, I use DV1 only as a digital decoder connected to IF OUT of R8600 and tuned DV1 to 10.7Mhz. Not that the DV1 is a bad receiver, just the R8600 is so much better.
Also, the AM receive on air band on the R8600 is one of the best, it sounds as good as most of the professional dedicated aviation transcievers.
The price of R8600 is quite high, but if you go for it, you won't regret. I would never sell my R8600, this is the kind of radio you keep until end of its life.

Hi, do you use any programming or control software for the R8600 ??

 

[Ubbe]

If mainly interested in HF what about an IC-7300?

I've also looked at that and seems to be the exact same thing as 8600 but has only HF and are half price. Getting 3GHz capability in a receiver will always be expensive. Then add a BC125AT for aviation, that's one of the best I've heard, and put the rest of the money in a good antenna system. That IC-7300 are a HAM transmit rig so would be very attractive in the second hand market if you want to get rid of it.

/Ubbe

 

[rumcajs_tr]

Hi, do you use any programming or control software for the R8600 ??

Yes, I use the original one from ICOM, got it with the receiver - CS-R8600 for memory management and RS-R8600 for remote operation. Also for remote operation, there is very good free software called wfview

 

[prcguy]

The 8600 and 7300 look and feel similar but the 8600 has a lot higher performance and you pay extra for that. The close spaced dynamic range is between 10 and 13dB better on the 8600 and can vary some depending on individual radios. You can look up measured specs of both radios here along with many others.

Receiver Test Data

I've also looked at that and seems to be the exact same thing as 8600 but has only HF and are half price. Getting 3GHz capability in a receiver will always be expensive. Then add a BC125AT for aviation, that's one of the best I've heard, and put the rest of the money in a good antenna system. That IC-7300 are a HAM transmit rig so would be very attractive in the second hand market if you want to get rid of it.

/Ubbe

 

[dlwtrunked]

I have both R8600 and DV1 so I can give you a direct comparison and the R8600 is far far better than DV1. Especially on HF, but it outperforms DV1 on VHF and UHF as well. I purchased DV1 only to complement missing digital modes on 8600, but most of the time, I use DV1 only as a digital decoder connected to IF OUT of R8600 and tuned DV1 to 10.7Mhz. Not that the DV1 is a bad receiver, just the R8600 is so much better.
Also, the AM receive on air band on the R8600 is one of the best, it sounds as good as most of the professional dedicated aviation transcievers.
The price of R8600 is quite high, but if you go for it, you won't regret. I would never sell my R8600, this is the kind of radio you keep until end of its life.

I have both also and the R8600 is far superior unless you want modes not in it but in the DV1. (By the way, professional dedcated aviation transcievers are notoriously generally not that good for receivers--they do not have to be for line-of-site signals.)

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Thanks for previous comments on the R8600.

Thinking seriously about getting one.

I guess it has been out now about 6 yrs.
That's a fairly "long" time.

Would hate to buy it, and learn that Icom is releasing a new updated one.
Any rumors, or opinions, re if a new one is due out "shortly" ? Or similar ?

And, is there any way of displaying the screen, or the screen and controls, on a pc ?

Thanks again for help, and opinions,
Bob

 

[ems55]

Yes, I use the original one from ICOM, got it with the receiver - CS-R8600 for memory management and RS-R8600 for remote operation. Also for remote operation, there is very good free software called wfview

Thanks !!!

 

[Ubbe]

You can look up measured specs of both radios here along with many others.

I did that and in the table for dynamic range the Icom 7300, 7610 and 8600 share the places 20,21 and 22 and are probably just component tolerances and factory calibration that makes up a very small difference. The 7300 show a sensitivity of 0,3uV and 8600 0,4uV and dynamic wide range 106dB for 7300 and 86dB for 8600. There's another 8600 higher up in the list but only proves that manufacturing tolerances makes up for the differencies. If I only wanted HF I would go for the 7300 as it is more cost effective as to not pay twice as much for 3GHz capability.

One thing that are different are that the 8600 uses half octave filter in the front end and 7300 uses bandpass. I don't know which one that are the most narrow or prefered for HF.

/Ubbe

 

[prcguy]

Rob Sherwood noted there is something going on with some newer Icom equipment where different sample radios measure different on certain specs and its not limited to the 8600. He identified the component but I forget what it was, maybe the A/D converter or mixer components. But the differences are real and there is between 10 and 13dB difference between the best measured 8600 and worst 7300. For the worst 8600 on the list (which is my personal radio) the differences are between 1 and 4dB.

The comments from Rob on the 8600 are its one of the very best receivers he's ever tested for hard to achieve contest radio type specs. It beats out many other radios with some costing upwards of $25k. The 7300 is an excellent overall radio and I've owned two of them. It does suffer from inadequate front end filtering and you can't use them for certain things like a multi radio contest station where different radios are on different bands at the same time, you must use external band pass filtering for that. Otherwise a 7300 should make just about anyone happy on receive.

The 8600 performs much better under the same multi radio single site conditions and also performs slightly better overall. The choice comes down to what the user needs and is willing to sacrifice and also some ergonomics, which are minimal between radios. It's not like comparing an Icom 7300 to a Kenwood 590 where one has a spectral display and the other does not, the 8600 and 7300 are very similar. For HF only it might be hard to justify the extra cost of an 8600 but there is also the Icom 7610 offering slightly better performance than a 7300 with larger display, tunable front end filtering and dual receivers. I have a 7610 and for HF receive only it gives me a better experience than using the 8600.

I did that and in the table for dynamic range the Icom 7300, 7610 and 8600 share the places 20,21 and 22 and are probably just component tolerances and factory calibration that makes up a very small difference. The 7300 show a sensitivity of 0,3uV and 8600 0,4uV and dynamic wide range 106dB for 7300 and 86dB for 8600. There's another 8600 higher up in the list but only proves that manufacturing tolerances makes up for the differencies. If I only wanted HF I would go for the 7300 as it is more cost effective as to not pay twice as much for 3GHz capability.

One thing that are different are that the 8600 uses half octave filter in the front end and 7300 uses bandpass. I don't know which one that are the most narrow or prefered for HF.

/Ubbe

 

[MStep]

If I have a gripe about the 8600, in spite of its beautiful display, not sure why they did not illuminate the various buttons on the radio. The "shack" is kept at a very low light level. Sometimes I forget what keys I have to press to do what, and I have to sometimes use the light from my cell phone to see what I am doing. Minor annoyance, and I guess if you use the radio a lot, you get to learn what is where.

 

[Ubbe]

The 7300 is an excellent overall radio and I've owned two of them. It does suffer from inadequate front end filtering and you can't use them for certain things like a multi radio contest station where different radios are on different bands at the same time, you must use external band pass filtering for that. Otherwise a 7300 should make just about anyone happy on receive.

You transmit with one rig and at the same time try to listen to another band on another rig using an antenna next to the one that transmits? And that would be the difference between a more narrow half octave and a wider bandpass type of frontend filter? I wouldn't think that Icom put resources into doing completely different HF receiver designs in similar specs models 7300 7600 7610 8600 ?

/Ubbe

 

[Ubbe]

I looked at Adam Farson's (VA7OJ - AB4OJ) lab tests of the 7300 and 8600 and they seem pretty much identical. He mentions that the noise reduction in 7300 have an edge over 8600 and the rest of the RF performance are just a few dB of each other. On 50MHz and 70MHz FM the 7300 had a 2dB better sensitivity. The biggest difference are in AM mode where the 7300 have 4-5dB better sensitivity.

If you do not transmit with another rig at the same time as you listen (based on prcguy's experiance) then the 7300 have on average better specs than 8600 on HF according to the measurements. So it's probably depends of the specific speciment under test who will show best results.

7300 (ab4oj.com) $1200
8600 (ab4oj.com) $2300

/Ubbe