R-8500 replacement

[Declared_Hostile]

Since the US version of the R-8500 has been discontinued, I was wondering if anyone has heard about any sort of replacement in the works?

Personally I would like to see something with the same or greater capabilities of course but updated and maybe tweaked here and there. Something with a full color LCD maybe based on the Icom 756PROIII or 7800chassis.

 

[crayon]

I had an R-7000 and while it was cool and all .. I did not regret selling it because I got tired of spinning the VFO looking for new transmissions.

The fusion of a personal computer with software definined radios is where the future is at.

It would still be nice to have a knob to twist for old times sake when fine tuneing ...

 

[n2pqq]

I would like a replacement to have the following.

LCD screen
longer alpha tags in memories
able to receive drm radio with the drm software
trunking would be nice also
dsp filters is also something it should have.

I enjoy my icom r8500 and will continue to use it.


Fred

 

[K2KOH]

I had an R-7000 and while it was cool and all .. I did not regret selling it because I got tired of spinning the VFO looking for new transmissions.

The fusion of a personal computer with software definined radios is where the future is at.

It would still be nice to have a knob to twist for old times sake when fine tuneing ...

I dunno, Crayon...half the fun is spinning the dial and finding new stuff, espeically in the UHF aero band. Same works for HF.

 

[crayon]

I dunno, Crayon...half the fun is spinning the dial and finding new stuff, espeically in the UHF aero band. Same works for HF.

Yeah, I agree. Knobs are cool.

I guess for me though, with my R-7000, I got burned out on it since I wanted it do more than it could. Even trolling through a couple megahertz got to be laborious.

Really looking hard at a winradio.

 

[K2KOH]

Expensive tastes...not bad!

 

[Declared_Hostile]

I've only had my hands on an Icom R-7000 once but I could tell it was definitely not a scanner and was pretty hopeless as far as searching and scanning went. It was all receiver and actual scanning and searching as an afterthought. The 8500, while still not an optimal "scanner", does general non-trunking, non-digital scanning duties quite well.

As far as computer control vs. hands on the receiver, I must say I am torn. I like using the computer for managing and entering frequencies ( I loaded 800+ channels into my AOR 1000xlt by hand-that'll give ya nightmares) and it is also excellent for logging and recording but I still like to "run" the radio via the receiver. That tuning knob gives one a "feel" when tuning some transmissions you simply can't get via clicking a mouse.

The 8500 was/is a great radio but it is getting a little long in the tooth and short on features especially when compared to the competition. Icom has done some really innovative things with their new handheld receiver and their new high end amateur transceivers and I'd like to see some of that applied to a high end receiver.

 

[HuubRoem]

Since the US version of the R-8500 has been discontinued, I was wondering if anyone has heard about any sort of replacement in the works?

In the Netherlands Amcom told me there will be a next generation end of this year......