Recommendation for a VHF/UHF receiver (NOT scanner) and trusted source for buying used

[KB2GOM]

Was thinking maybe Icom R7000, but will consider others.

 

[KC1UA]

What's your price range and what are your intentions with the receiver? A 7000 is a good choice but they are getting a bit old and as Icom is apparently not even offering repairs for their IC-R8500 receivers I'd anticipate they can't service the 7000 either. Have you considered a quality SDR which will allow you to observe several MHz of spectrum at a time and point and click to receive signals. There are a lot of options but we may be able to help you more if you can narrow things down a bit.

 

[dlwtrunked]

I have owned multiple R7000. Once a star, it is outdated and all mine eventually failed. Do not do it. The R8500 is a nice receiver but I gave away the three I owned to friends 2 years ago as I own better that them. You should really be looking at the R8600 if not wanting to use an SDR. As far as from who, HRO would be one possible source.

 

[jazzboypro]

I bought my R8600 from DX, i bought quite a few things from them including other radios. Very satisfied with them so far.

 

[KB2GOM]

I bought my R8600 from DX, i bought quite a few things from them including other radios. Very satisfied with them so far.

DX Engineering?

 

[majoco]

I bought a very used R7000 from our local auction site and after a good cleanup it has performed flawlessy although I had to change the memory backup battery. I run it on a 13.8 volt supply to keep the heat down although it still get appreciably warm. I made an interface to run it from a free bit of software (R7000 Commander) which also works very well.

 

[jazzboypro]

DX Engineering?

Yes

 

[N4KVL]

Assuming you have a computer to dedicate to this application, a higher quality SDR with proper filtering for chosen band will serve you well.

 

[Ubbe]

I had one R7000 owner say that it overloaded easily and had intermod problems. My IC-R2500 are the most sensitive receiver I have and have used it in places close to sites with lots of high power transmitters and it have never overloaded or gave any kind of intermod problems. It performs like a good commercial 2-way radio. When a signal are too weak to be monitored on any scanner I use the 2500 and its packet data audio out signal to successfully decode digital signals.

I think the dual diversity receiver 2500 costs $700 when it was available and the 7000 where twice that cost and the 8500 three times the cost but I'm unsure if they where actually any better receivers. A 8600 are 4 times the cost but are also a much more modern SDR receiver but I have not been able to compare its VHF/UHF performance to other receivers. Maybe it's more focused on shortwave performance.

/Ubbe

 

[jazzboypro]

I had one R7000 owner say that it overloaded easily and had intermod problems. My IC-R2500 are the most sensitive receiver I have and have used it in places close to sites with lots of high power transmitters and it have never overloaded or gave any kind of intermod problems. It performs like a good commercial 2-way radio. When a signal are too weak to be monitored on any scanner I use the 2500 and its packet data audio out signal to successfully decode digital signals.

I think the dual diversity receiver 2500 costs $700 when it was available and the 7000 where twice that cost and the 8500 three times the cost but I'm unsure if they where actually any better receivers. A 8600 are 4 times the cost but are also a much more modern SDR receiver but I have not been able to compare its VHF/UHF performance to other receivers. Maybe it's more focused on shortwave performance.

/Ubbe

I have both the R-30 and R8600 I find that both are excellent on VHF/UHF. If the digital modes are important to you, i think you would be better served by a scanner like the SDS/100/200

 

[Mike_G_D]

I had one R7000 owner say that it overloaded easily and had intermod problems. My IC-R2500 are the most sensitive receiver I have and have used it in places close to sites with lots of high power transmitters and it have never overloaded or gave any kind of intermod problems. It performs like a good commercial 2-way radio. When a signal are too weak to be monitored on any scanner I use the 2500 and its packet data audio out signal to successfully decode digital signals.

I think the dual diversity receiver 2500 costs $700 when it was available and the 7000 where twice that cost and the 8500 three times the cost but I'm unsure if they where actually any better receivers. A 8600 are 4 times the cost but are also a much more modern SDR receiver but I have not been able to compare its VHF/UHF performance to other receivers. Maybe it's more focused on shortwave performance.

/Ubbe

Wow! I have an R7000 (original owner; purchased in the late 1980's) and can tell you - it has NEVER had a problem with overload or intemod whereas EVERY other receiver I've used (except maybe an old Regency M400 that was pretty amazing) HAS had those kind of issues!

I wonder if maybe you (or the person or persons who told you this) are confusing it with another "7000" receiver. I may be wrong but I think there was another brand "7000" receiver (AOR maybe??) that had a "7000" model number and it was a very different beast.

I love my old Icom R7000 but it has gotten pretty long-in-the-tooth and needs alignment. From its behavior, I think its main oscillator is off frequency moving the downconverted signals a little too close to the edges of the IF filters.

But, again, back in its "prime" when attached to a good outside antenna in a heavy RF environment - it was the ONLY receiver that NEVER had any overloading or intermod issues. Way better than the vaunted RS Pro-2006 which I also owned at the time.

-Mike

 

[KC1UA]

The OP still has not indicated what he wishes to use the receiver for. If it is his first foray into a wideband receiver I'll reiterate that a good quality SDR is a good starting point. The Airspy R2 or newer SDRPlay devices can be bought for about $200 roughly, both have great software support, and both have very good resale value if they don't work out. The IC-R8600 is a fantastic receiver but I'm not sure it's a good choice for a first receiver, although I could be wrong. Lots of $$ to spend if it is a part of the hobby that doesn't catch on for you.

All of the old "top notch" receivers are great ones but given their age they're IMHO a gamble at this point.

 

[KB2GOM]

The OP still has not indicated what he wishes to use the receiver for. If it is his first foray into a wideband receiver I'll reiterate that a good quality SDR is a good starting point. The Airspy R2 or newer SDRPlay devices can be bought for about $200 roughly, both have great software support, and both have very good resale value if they don't work out. The IC-R8600 is a fantastic receiver but I'm not sure it's a good choice for a first receiver, although I could be wrong. Lots of $$ to spend if it is a part of the hobby that doesn't catch on for you.

All of the old "top notch" receivers are great ones but given their age they're IMHO a gamble at this point.

Well, the original thought was to use a VHF/UHF receiver to "tune around" the stuff above HF, particularly the areas between obvious, well-known bands, to see what's there . . . in the hopes of catching something "anomalous," but maybe the search function on a scanner would be better suited to that. It would be my first foray into a wideband receiver, although my Yaesu VX6 has some wideband receive capability.

 

[KC1UA]

That's where the SDR will shine, actually. The ability to simultaneously look at multiple MHz of spectrum, see a signal, and point and click to tune is the way to go. Both of the SDR's I mentioned will fit the bill as a good first receiver, if you don't mind being tethered to a PC. I find it to be superior to the search function of scanners. Again, an inexpensive and extremely effective way to get into a receiver and "see" what's going on out there.

 

[kruser]

Wow! I have an R7000 (original owner; purchased in the late 1980's) and can tell you - it has NEVER had a problem with overload or intemod whereas EVERY other receiver I've used (except maybe an old Regency M400 that was pretty amazing) HAS had those kind of issues!

I wonder if maybe you (or the person or persons who told you this) are confusing it with another "7000" receiver. I may be wrong but I think there was another brand "7000" receiver (AOR maybe??) that had a "7000" model number and it was a very different beast.

I love my old Icom R7000 but it has gotten pretty long-in-the-tooth and needs alignment. From its behavior, I think its main oscillator is off frequency moving the downconverted signals a little too close to the edges of the IF filters.

But, again, back in its "prime" when attached to a good outside antenna in a heavy RF environment - it was the ONLY receiver that NEVER had any overloading or intermod issues. Way better than the vaunted RS Pro-2006 which I also owned at the time.

-Mike

Yep,
Multiple IC-R7000, R8500, R8600 and R2500 owner here and none have ever had a bit of overload or intermod or desense problems. Even from the high power VHF paging transmitters less than a mile away, the Icoms have all been totally immune to overload from any of that. Even when using a pre-amp on an external antenna, all the above Icom's have been totally immune to overload or desense from anything in all the years I've owned them.
They basically have bulletproof front ends with very proper filtering.
Basically a huge difference over any scanner I've ever owned which has been many of all makes over the past near 50 years.

All of the old "top notch" receivers are great ones but given their age they're IMHO a gamble at this point.

That's a gamble I've taken many many times and would still take today but then I do enjoy the common problems that can and do appear in these older receivers. For myself, it's worth the gamble but for someone not handy with that era's radio repair, it may not be worth the gamble.

 

[Ubbe]

I wonder if maybe you (or the person or persons who told you this) are confusing it with another "7000" receiver. I may be wrong but I think there was another brand "7000" receiver (AOR maybe??) that had a "7000" model number and it was a very different beast.

It was an Icom R7000 receiver and the guy was an employee of our FCC that was involved in monitoring the airwaves and tracking interferencies from transmitters, 20 years ago. He had an antenna in his window and listened to repeaters but he complained that it wasn't any good and received a lot of intermod and had to remotly use their Rhode&Swartz receiver to be sure of what he received. Perhaps the front end had been damaged in the past, he was also a radio amateur.

/Ubbe

 

[KB2GOM]

That's where the SDR will shine, actually. The ability to simultaneously look at multiple MHz of spectrum, see a signal, and point and click to tune is the way to go. Both of the SDR's I mentioned will fit the bill as a good first receiver, if you don't mind being tethered to a PC. I find it to be superior to the search function of scanners. Again, an inexpensive and extremely effective way to get into a receiver and "see" what's going on out there.

I hear you, and I am in actual act of visiting the SDRplay website. But I have a couple of serious concerns (and here I am going to flaunt my ignorance):

1. Space/logistics. Below is a picture of my shack in the morning as I prepare to run the Commuter Assistance Net. The SDR box would have to sit on the shelf (probably where the books are next to the phone), with an umbilical running from the laptop to the SDR unit, and the SDR unit connected to the off-center-fed VHF/UHF dipole which hangs in the corner. I hope the SDR unit can be happy sitting on its narrow side.





2. Screw-around factor. If the software is user hostile, not well-thought-out, and requires a lot of tricks, tips, and hidden tweaks to get things working properly, that is a deal breaker. Yes, I am an old retro-crank (I used a computer professionally for the first time in 1980 and bought my first personal computer in 1983 -- that was before the IBM PC), and I come from the world where real radios have knobs and buttons, but I am not one of those guys who thinks "part of the fun" is getting the thing to work in the first place. Basically, I want to plug it in, turn it on, and use it as a tool for exploring the radio spectrum. To calibrate you, I think, for example, the Uniden SDS 200 is brilliant . . . a really excellent intersection of powerful and yet easy to use. The manual isn't great, but you really don't need the manual.

So, with that in mind, which SDR box/combo would you recommend? Or should I go back to twisting knobs?

 

[dlwtrunked]

I hear you, and I am in actual act of visiting the SDRplay website. But I have a couple of serious concerns (and here I am going to flaunt my ignorance):

1. Space/logistics. Below is a picture of my shack in the morning as I prepare to run the Commuter Assistance Net. The SDR box would have to sit on the shelf (probably where the books are next to the phone), with an umbilical running from the laptop to the SDR unit, and the SDR unit connected to the off-center-fed VHF/UHF dipole which hangs in the corner. I hope the SDR unit can be happy sitting on its narrow side.

2. Screw-around factor. If the software is user hostile, not well-thought-out, and requires a lot of tricks, tips, and hidden tweaks to get things working properly, that is a deal breaker. Yes, I am an old retro-crank (I used a computer professionally for the first time in 1980 and bought my first personal computer in 1983 -- that was before the IBM PC), and I come from the world where real radios have knobs and buttons, but I am not one of those guys who thinks "part of the fun" is getting the thing to work in the first place. Basically, I want to plug it in, turn it on, and use it as a tool for exploring the radio spectrum. To calibrate you, I think, for example, the Uniden SDS 200 is brilliant . . . a really excellent intersection of powerful and yet easy to use. The manual isn't great, but you really don't need the manual.

So, with that in mind, which SDR box/combo would you recommend? Or should I go back to twisting knobs?

Comments:
1. You made me laugh. An SDR is the smallest radio that you will ever one. My SDRs just hang on the end of antenna cable behind the PC. with the USB going to the PC.
2. In my opinion, unless you are using and SDR and taking time to figure out how to use it, you are not "exploring the radio spectrum".

 

[KB2GOM]

That's where the SDR will shine, actually. The ability to simultaneously look at multiple MHz of spectrum, see a signal, and point and click to tune is the way to go. Both of the SDR's I mentioned will fit the bill as a good first receiver, if you don't mind being tethered to a PC. I find it to be superior to the search function of scanners. Again, an inexpensive and extremely effective way to get into a receiver and "see" what's going on out there.

Another question occurred after the half-hour edit time expired: is a lot of the stuff in VHF/UHF in digital format that would require additional software and processing?

 

[iMONITOR]

That's where the SDR will shine, actually. The ability to simultaneously look at multiple MHz of spectrum, see a signal, and point and click to tune is the way to go. Both of the SDR's I mentioned will fit the bill as a good first receiver, if you don't mind being tethered to a PC. I find it to be superior to the search function of scanners. Again, an inexpensive and extremely effective way to get into a receiver and "see" what's going on out there.

+1 on an SDR I'm currently using a SDRplay RSPdx and it's the best airband (VHF & UHF) receiver I've ever owned! I'm using SDRuno software for scanning & logging, excellent!