G7RUX
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In what way does it do this? I’m curious as I’ve found mine very good and the display seems perfectly fine.
What would you like an improved display to look like or have that the R30 doesn’t?
R30 R30 replacement?
- Thread starter kc5igh
- Start date
What would you like an improved display to look like or have that the R30 doesn’t?
Yeah . . . me too, cherubim.
I've set the backlight to light up on every transmission so I can see the display a little better, and I've noticed some background audio hiss with the backlight on that goes away when the backlight times out.
Trivial complaints about a terrific radio!
-Johnnie (KC5IGH)
Any upgrade to a larger display will shorten battery life. But, the Icom 52A has a great screen I would like to see on the next update to the R30, if one will come. Don't see it happening any time soon since that one announced in japan without P25 will take away critical components for another receiver. Guess we will see.
The R30 currently uses 3.6v and its battery of course matches that. The Icom handheld transceivers use 7.2v due to the power needed for TX. Thus, the R30 battery provides almost double the Ah. I believe your point is easy accessibility for batteries, but I would prefer not to trade that for longevity. The R30 has been out of production, yet the batteries for it are readily available. Additionally, with the lower voltage requirement, USB battery packs can be used to power/charge the R30.
Vagrant, how are you hooking up a usb battery pack To power the R30?
G7RUX
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Both the R30 and the ID52 can be charged from 5V USB suppliies, through the handset USB socket.
However, whilst the capacity of the lower voltage R30 pack might *seem* to be larger )3280 mAh vs 2200 mAh), this is a rather simplistic and misleading approach. The R30 pack has a capacity of 11.5 Wh whilst the “standard’ ID51/52 pack (BP272) has a capacity of 15.8 Wh.
My point was not so much around accessibility but more that being able to use the same packs on a receiver and a transceiver provided economies for the users and for the manufacturers. It looks likely that Icom might agree with this.
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@bearcatrp - I’m about to sleep and I will post a photo of the USB battery I use all connected. The cable is just a simple short USB cable. There‘s no magic.
@G7RUX - With the lower voltage needed, the R30 can be “powered” via USB which is nice. If the replacement has a color screen then I figure/hope they would go with the HH batteries.
@G7RUX - With the lower voltage needed, the R30 can be “powered” via USB which is nice. If the replacement has a color screen then I figure/hope they would go with the HH batteries.
G7RUX
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I can indeed power my ID52 via the USB connector…it runs without a battery, up to about 0.5 W output.
Have you actually tested the ID52 without a battery? While the ID52 can charge and power via USB, using only that to TX does not seem wise, nor valid. As far as I know, the battery must be connected to the ID52 when “powering” via USB. Please do not test without a battery. If you did test without a battery, how many amps was the USB connection providing? Were you using a USB wall wart that can provide a couple of amps, or a PC connection?
A year or so ago I verified the R30 will run via USB without the battery attached. The R30 will pull around 5v via USB when the GPS, backlight, recording, and dual monitoring is on. Having the battery installed while operating is still the best practice.
Seriously, do not operate you ID52 without the battery attached, even if only for RX.
A year or so ago I verified the R30 will run via USB without the battery attached. The R30 will pull around 5v via USB when the GPS, backlight, recording, and dual monitoring is on. Having the battery installed while operating is still the best practice.
Seriously, do not operate you ID52 without the battery attached, even if only for RX.
Did you mean to show the current draw in mA or A instead of the 5 VDC USB voltage?
@kruser - Good question
Without the battery installed on the R30, it pulled 5.05v and never more than 0.25 Amps when connected via USB battery. I just tested while monitoring a constant FM signal, GPS on, recording off, backlight on, Bluetooth off, volume on max. I expect amp draw would increase a bit with BT and recording on, but I doubt it draws over 0.50 Amps with everything going.
With the R30 battery connected and while monitoring a constant FM signal, GPS on, recording off, backlight on, Bluetooth off, volume on max it actually pulled around 0.64 Amps at most as it was simultaneously charging the battery.
With the R30 off and only charging via USB, it did not pull more than 0.5A. It was around 0.48 amps to start and then kept dropping down to around 0.36 amps within a few minutes.
* If the USB battery, or PC USB port, does not provide at least 1 Ah, I recommend just charging and not powering at the same time.
@G7RUX - I blame my lack of sleep as to missing your very clear point of not having the battery connected.
Without the battery installed on the R30, it pulled 5.05v and never more than 0.25 Amps when connected via USB battery. I just tested while monitoring a constant FM signal, GPS on, recording off, backlight on, Bluetooth off, volume on max. I expect amp draw would increase a bit with BT and recording on, but I doubt it draws over 0.50 Amps with everything going.
With the R30 battery connected and while monitoring a constant FM signal, GPS on, recording off, backlight on, Bluetooth off, volume on max it actually pulled around 0.64 Amps at most as it was simultaneously charging the battery.
With the R30 off and only charging via USB, it did not pull more than 0.5A. It was around 0.48 amps to start and then kept dropping down to around 0.36 amps within a few minutes.
* If the USB battery, or PC USB port, does not provide at least 1 Ah, I recommend just charging and not powering at the same time.
@G7RUX - I blame my lack of sleep as to missing your very clear point of not having the battery connected.
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G7RUX
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Indeed. The ID52 specification indicates it will run from 5V; the dry battery box holds 3 AA cells with a nominal voltage of 4.5 V but using NiMH cells the nominal is around 3.6-3.8 V. It runs from USB quite happily with no battery and I tested it transmitting at 0.5 W (Low 1) and it worked just fine. The USB supply I used is capable of delivering in excess of 5 A but I didn’t measure the current drawn; I would expect less than one amp.
However I understand your reservations; I am an experienced electronics and RF engineer so I had a dig around in the service manual to decide if it would be safe to try and concluded it would be fine.
G7RUX
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I believe the blurb I have seen indicates that the R15 does use the same batteries as the ID31/51/52 series.
I'm looking forward to the R-40.
N9PAT
Newbie
I was reading a Japanese radio magazine that interviewed the Icom design team. They were talking about the IC-R15 and it is basically aimed for airband reception and its not a replacement for the R30. They did state that a replacement for the R30 would probably come in time, but gave no specific timeline.
Yeah, just lookin at the RC-15’s frequency range tells the story. It’s less useful than the IC-R6..
The screen on the new R15 is the same as the 52A. Had the 52A for a short time and the screen is nice size. Better for using the waterfall display. Anyone know if Icom submitted R15 to the FCC yet?
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