R30 Searching Multiple Ranges & More

[letarotor]

Got my reply from Icom


Thank you for contacting Icom America.

Your results are typical.

The 2 VFO's arent the same. VFO-A has a huge spread... .1 to 3.3 Gig and, as such, is very desirable but wont have the same receive perfection as a VFO that is designed for a smaller frequency range.

VFO B is a 800 meg range, and as such, in this small package, can be engineered to be a bit more precise.

Sincerely,
Gregg
Technical Support Representative
Icom America, Inc.
12421 Willows Road NE
Kirkland, WA 98034

What??? He said VFO B is for an 800 MHz range. This guy doesn't know the radio because you can't even program 800 MHz frequencies into it. It solely works between 108-520 MHz.

This kind of sounds like a blow off reply. He didn't tell us anything we didn't know and he didn't really make any sense in talking about VFO A. And then he was completely wrong about VFO B. Unbelievable.

Thanks for the reply and posting it. I got about 3 hours of sleep and I had to get up early and I've been running / working all day. I'm going to take a look and see if I can find out why turning the RF Gain down on VFO A makes the traffic a little bit better. GigaParts has not called today either. I've been too busy today to stop and call them. But I will be around the house tomorrow and if I don't hear from them real early, by 11:00 AM, I'm calling them to find out where my RMA number is for returning the radio. I got my money back from RT Systems on the software. I'm going to talk to DX Engineering tomorrow and see if I can get them to check the radios they have for the issue prior to buying one from them. This has been going on for well over two weeks now and I'm ready to just get a radio that works properly. I'm tempted to tell Icom to kiss my butt! They were less than helpful. But I do like the radio so I wouldn't mind getting one that works right.

I'm still kind of surprised by the incorrect statement made by Icom in the email they sent you back. Absurd 😔

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[eorange]

What a BS answer. He completely disregarded the actual problem report.

 

[bearcatrp]

Sent them a nasty response about VFO B not going above 520 Mhz. Doubt I will get a response. We are stuck with what we have. Just warn others about it!

 

[letarotor]

GigaParts will never see a dime from me again. They were supposed to call me back 4 days ago and I waited and finally called them back today when I had time. They are blowing me off.

I highly recommend never buying anything from them again now! That little certificate on their page about being able to buy without concern or worry and having issues taken care of is a load of BS.

After telling me that the first radio tested bad, the guy today told me the first radio I had to send back tested with no problems. They didn't do any bench test on it either. They didn't even test it at all I don't think. They told me I have to call Icom and deal with them on the radio now.

I was just getting ready to buy a new, and fairly expensive, dual band Icom ham radio/transceiver. There's no way I'll buy it from them even if they are cheaper. I am so put off by the customer service and the fact I got screwed buying from them and they aren't going to help that I could bite through nails right now.

DO NOT BUY FROM GIGAPARTS if you are concerned with needing to replace something defective that you bought from them!!! They don't even understand what you're talking about either. These people just sell radios, they don't know how to use them from the experience I've had not only this time but trying to ask questions on other radios I bought in the past. I am done with them! They offered absolutely no help whatsoever.

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[letarotor]

Interesting... I went to write a review over on GigaParts site and here's a screenshot I took.

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[letarotor]

While I would be surprised if this review shows up on GigaParts website for my review on the R30, this is what I posted about 15 minutes ago. I got a message saying it is awaiting approval by a moderator for my review. Let's see how honest they will be in posting this copy and paste information I made before posting my review.

****My review****

About 3 weeks ago I received my brand new R30. VFO A was completely unusable. Unless it was a close, strong signal you were not going to receive it. VFO B worked fine. But the full coverage capability is only on VFO A. And VFO B is a double super heterodon receiver that only covers 108-520 MHz. So if A doesn't work, well, you better hope the frequencies you want to listen to are between what B covers.

GigaParts replaced the radio after I paid and shipped it back. And when I received the second R30, It had the same exact problem. However GigaParts Is refusing to work with me on the 2nd radio.

Icom tech support has been useless. I'm trying to go through the email process now and see what they can do. There is a 15%, about $100, restock fee if you return to GP within 30 days. I do not want to pay $100 for a bad radio x 2.

The newer radios with the serial number beginning with 16002 are the ones that I got with VFO A being horribly deficient in receiving signals. And now that GP is not willing to help me, even with their buy safe logo on their page, I am considering sending this radio back before the 30 days and just taking a $100 loss on using them.

I highly recommend not buying this radio, and possibly from any vendor, right now with the issues it is having with VFO A. If you do buy it, buy it from a vendor that will allow you to return it and either get your money back or get it exchanged for a working model. There are other people having this issue.

Here is a link that I made just to show an example of what is going on on both of the brand new R30 receivers I got. I added a second video if you want to look and view it. I am highly disappointed in how GP is handling sending me two bad radios. I'm on my own now and I have to deal with Icom because they aren't helping.

Brian

****End review****

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[N4DJC]

Brian,

Taking bets on the review being “moderated” into oblivion ?

 

[4436time]

Interesting... I went to write a review over on GigaParts site and here's a screenshot I took.

Brian
COMMSCANView attachment 99989

After seeing this thread last weekend, I decided to check pricing on several radios, and every one that I checked, including this one, said it was currently out of stock.

 

[letarotor]

After seeing this thread last weekend, I decided to check pricing on several radios, and every one that I checked, including this one, said it was currently out of stock.

Interesting. That makes me wonder if the one they sent me might not have actually been brand new? I did ask them about that and they told me it was. And it did look brand new. It's hard to tell nowadays because none of the plastic around items is ever sealed anymore

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[bearcatrp]

HRO and amazon is showing in stock.

 

[letarotor]

HRO and amazon is showing in stock.

No kidding. Just yesterday Amazon didn't have it. It looks like it's being sold through third-party sellers on Amazon and they don't have them in the warehouses. I may not have seen all of them though either? I know that it was $100 more through Amazon when I was first looking. And when I went back a few days later they didn't have a price or any options to buy it. It was kind of strange because it didn't say out of stock or we will be receiving more or any of that kind of stuff. It was just like the normal ad but there was no price anywhere and no way to buy it

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[bearcatrp]

Have seen amazon prices a little higher on allot of stuff compared to other stores lately. Have done business with HRO allot of times with zero issues. HRO shoes multiple stores have the R30 in stock. One thing to consider is the return policy of any store.

 

[N4DJC]

I wouldn’t count on being able to get a refund or a replacement radio from HRO, they send radios back to the manufacturer unless it’s DOA.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Just did a preliminary check indoors with my IC-R30 (serial #16001027) using the supplied antenna.

NOAA = 162.550 MHz (at my location the signal is not very strong and the audio is fairly scratchy)

I'm not seeing any difference in reception with respect to signal strength or audio quality between VFOA and VFOB.
This is just a preliminary check, I'll investigate this issue in more detail later.

 

[bearcatrp]

If you have a external antenna, best to do it with.

 

[palmerjrusa]

If you have a external antenna, best to do it with.

I did, I'm not seeing/hearing any difference at all between my IC-R30's VFOA and VFOB on 162.550MHz. The signal strength/audio quality appear to me to be all but identical.

 

[bearcatrp]

Can you post your radio info like others have done?

 

[palmerjrusa]

Can you post your radio info like others have done?

My IC-R30:
Serial #16001027
CPU 1.11
DSP 1.03
GPS 11613
Bluetooth 1.11

All settings are at the IC-R30 defaults.

At my location on NOAA frequency 162.550 MHz the signal is quite weak and audio is very scratchy.
On dual display I just don't see any difference between VFOA and VFOB with respect to signal level or audio quality.
I can move the receiver around a little with the supplied antenna which causes reception to come and go and those differences seem to be reflected identically in both VFOs as indicated by the signal strength meter.

 

[hsdtech]

I was literally going to order the R30 from GP tonight. After reading this thread I'm really bummed out, but also thankful. Damn it.

 

[bearcatrp]

I was literally going to order the R30 from GP tonight. After reading this thread I'm really bummed out, but also thankful. Damn it.

Order from HRO. Always a great place to do business with.