So a month or so ago I bought a lightly used R30 from a prolific member here. It arrived quickly and appeared in great physical shape. Having an R8600 as well as multiple Icom receivers in the past and many different Icom transceivers. Many of the current radios in my collection share similar operating protocols so I was pretty easy to figure out right from the box. The main difference is the lack of a touchscreen on the R30 that the IC-7100, IC-705, IC-7300 and R8600 I have all have.
Now I have to digress a little. A couple hours before I found my R30 I bought an ID-52A Plus, figuring it would be a decent alternative to the R30 due to the R30 being discontinued and used ones going for as much as they were new it seemed. I like the ID52, it has great audio and covers many of the ranges I am interested in and is compact, especially with all the features it packs in. It does however have a glaring issue for me; it will not receive in AM mode from 375 to 380 MHz., important for me as I like to listen to a nearby air force base and the tower freq falls there. It also does not receive HF nor P25.
As luck would have it I found the R30 within a couple hours of buying the ID-52A and I toyed with returning or reselling the ID-52A but decided to keep it as I would like to get into D-Star and other 2M and 440 activity. This now provides me with another toy to play with...
So back to the R30: As I said before it was easy to get started. Within a few minutes I figured out the basics and started listening to the local rail channel since I was railfanning at the time. I stopped by the base and listened to the tower operations, worked great.
I like the feel-in-hand of the R30, it just feels right holding it. I have gotten pretty good at manipulating the keypad with my thumb while holding the radio so many of the actions can be done with one hand.
I do have a small gripe: the radio uses a proprietary Li-Ion battery pack. I did buy an extra one as well as a AA pack (which works well). I am a little worried that the batteries might be hard to obtain as AFAIK the only other radio that uses it is the R15. I wish they would have used the BP-272 like my IC-705 and ID-52. I have 3 of these as well as a BP-307 higher capacity one.
As for receiver performance I am very happy. Connected to the same multicoupler as my other radios it is at least as good as the R8600 and the various Uniden scanners. On HF it seems as sensitive as the R7100 and 705 if not a little better.
A couple days ago however the belt clip broke so I ordered a replacement from American Communications, it should be here in a week or so. I also got the leather case, something I usually don't get. I figured I would want to protect it.
I do wish however that the main control knob on the R30 (as well as the ID-52A) was a push-button for quick entries, it really would make actions easier.
It was suggested that I get the CS-30 software for it, I did so and it seems to work just fine. I usually get the RT Systems programs but I am happy with the CS-30 even though it was more expensive.
All in all the R30 is everything I had hoped it would be and pairs nicely with the rest of my Icom fleet.
Now I have to digress a little. A couple hours before I found my R30 I bought an ID-52A Plus, figuring it would be a decent alternative to the R30 due to the R30 being discontinued and used ones going for as much as they were new it seemed. I like the ID52, it has great audio and covers many of the ranges I am interested in and is compact, especially with all the features it packs in. It does however have a glaring issue for me; it will not receive in AM mode from 375 to 380 MHz., important for me as I like to listen to a nearby air force base and the tower freq falls there. It also does not receive HF nor P25.
As luck would have it I found the R30 within a couple hours of buying the ID-52A and I toyed with returning or reselling the ID-52A but decided to keep it as I would like to get into D-Star and other 2M and 440 activity. This now provides me with another toy to play with...
So back to the R30: As I said before it was easy to get started. Within a few minutes I figured out the basics and started listening to the local rail channel since I was railfanning at the time. I stopped by the base and listened to the tower operations, worked great.
I like the feel-in-hand of the R30, it just feels right holding it. I have gotten pretty good at manipulating the keypad with my thumb while holding the radio so many of the actions can be done with one hand.
I do have a small gripe: the radio uses a proprietary Li-Ion battery pack. I did buy an extra one as well as a AA pack (which works well). I am a little worried that the batteries might be hard to obtain as AFAIK the only other radio that uses it is the R15. I wish they would have used the BP-272 like my IC-705 and ID-52. I have 3 of these as well as a BP-307 higher capacity one.
As for receiver performance I am very happy. Connected to the same multicoupler as my other radios it is at least as good as the R8600 and the various Uniden scanners. On HF it seems as sensitive as the R7100 and 705 if not a little better.
A couple days ago however the belt clip broke so I ordered a replacement from American Communications, it should be here in a week or so. I also got the leather case, something I usually don't get. I figured I would want to protect it.
I do wish however that the main control knob on the R30 (as well as the ID-52A) was a push-button for quick entries, it really would make actions easier.
It was suggested that I get the CS-30 software for it, I did so and it seems to work just fine. I usually get the RT Systems programs but I am happy with the CS-30 even though it was more expensive.
All in all the R30 is everything I had hoped it would be and pairs nicely with the rest of my Icom fleet.
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