R8600 Shout-out to R8600 owners . . . how are you using yours?

[SigIntel8600]

I use my Icom R8600 mostly for HF BCB, Amateur, and Utility monitoring The scope is fantastic for signal hunting on HF. I can also park it on a local P25 frequency. No computer necessary. Paired with my AOR 5700D and AOR DV-1, the R8600 enhances my monitoring activities.

 

[KB2GOM]

Yes, the Icom IC-7100 has VSC or syllabic squelch and its a surprisingly good receiver. The syllabic squelch on the IC-7100 or R8600 is not as good as my Harris RF-5000 series HF rigs or the PRC-70 I had but it does work.

Something tickled my memory, and I found this in the Icom R6 manual:


Voice squelch control (VSC)
This function is useful when you don’t want unmodulated
signals pausing a scan. When the voice squelch control
function is activated, the receiver checks received signals
for voice components. If a received signal includes voice
components, and the tone of the voice components changes
within 1 second, the scan pauses (or stops). If the received
signal includes no voice components, or the tone of the
voice components does not change within 1 second, the
scan resumes.

So the R6 has it, but no SSB receive at all.

 

[bearcatrp]

Usually HF only but sometimes I want to check out a frequency my SDS200 logged and see whats up. A bit over kill but its a sweet receiver. Almost sold it but something told me not to so for now I will keep it.

 

[KB4MSZ]

I'm a Yaesu guy through and through but I'll admit the 8600 works perfectly for my application.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Usually HF only but sometimes I want to check out a frequency my SDS200 logged and see whats up. A bit over kill but its a sweet receiver. Almost sold it but something told me not to so for now I will keep it.

Love my IC-R8600, also my old AR5000+3 which re basic performance is about the same.

However, that great IC-R8600 display!😁

 

[prcguy]

Something tickled my memory, and I found this in the Icom R6 manual:


Voice squelch control (VSC)
This function is useful when you don’t want unmodulated
signals pausing a scan. When the voice squelch control
function is activated, the receiver checks received signals
for voice components. If a received signal includes voice
components, and the tone of the voice components changes
within 1 second, the scan pauses (or stops). If the received
signal includes no voice components, or the tone of the
voice components does not change within 1 second, the
scan resumes.

So the R6 has it, but no SSB receive at all.

I think the type of VSC we are referring to is more like syllabic squelch used in some military radios and mostly on SSB where its only used for squelching background noise. Instead of relying on signal strength it has a circuit with two or three narrow band audio filters with one or two within the human voice band like 400Hz and 2KHz, then one much higher were detected audio is mostly atmospheric noise like 4KHz. The squelch switch will activate in the presence of voice band audio and absence of atmospheric noise indicating some quieting affect.

A good syllabic squelch is like a dream come true, it will ignore noise, dead carriers and heterodynes but open up perfectly with the weakest voice, then gently go quiet when the voice stops.

 

[Marcy57]

I always wonder if the 8600 is it! will there be another version
or a whole new receiver from Icom comes that comes out?
I mostly use mine in VHF/UHF for tuning around...and the
7610 for HF...73,s Marcy

 

[bearcatrp]

I always wonder if the 8600 is it! will there be another version
or a whole new receiver from Icom comes that comes out?
I mostly use mine in VHF/UHF for tuning around...and the
7610 for HF...73,s Marcy

Looking at what Icom is coming out with soon for a handheld, kind of doubt any new desk receiver will be coming out. That IC 15 is pretty limited. Plus, hard to beat a great receiver the 8600 is already.

 

[KB2GOM]

I think the type of VSC we are referring to is more like syllabic squelch used in some military radios and mostly on SSB where its only used for squelching background noise. Instead of relying on signal strength it has a circuit with two or three narrow band audio filters with one or two within the human voice band like 400Hz and 2KHz, then one much higher were detected audio is mostly atmospheric noise like 4KHz. The squelch switch will activate in the presence of voice band audio and absence of atmospheric noise indicating some quieting affect.

A good syllabic squelch is like a dream come true, it will ignore noise, dead carriers and heterodynes but open up perfectly with the weakest voice, then gently go quiet when the voice stops.

Well, I would love to have something that would allow me to squelch and scan SSB memories and stop when a good voice signal comes through . . . that would be wonderful for monitoring the transatlantic flight controller frequencies (sigh).

 

[Teotwaki]

The 8600 appears to have a ton of capabilities . . . so, the question: how, specifically, are you using yours and taking advantage of those capabilities?

Back on topic -

I use mine to search for different signals and sometimes park it on something to monitor for awhile. I am also interested in using it with antennas pointed up for some satellite beacon snooping. I also plan to set things up to be able to access it remotely.

 

[N9JIG]

I actually use my 8600 a lot more than I thought I would. For one I have started to play around with DStar so have been using it to listen to the local repeaters. Also, I work 2 weekly local nets so use it to monitor them with headphones as it has the best audio of my fleet. The spectrum display comes in handy at times as well.

 

[Larry51]

I'm looking to buy a used 8600 (because of the price) and it seems like eBay is the only place that has them. Many of the ones advertised on eBay claim to be "Japanese models." I'm not sure what this means exactly since the labeling on the receiver is all in English. Perhaps the manual? Some ads say it requires "100 volts" AC power. I'm assuming they mean the standard 110-120 VAC like we have in the U.S.

Can anyone advise a safe alternative to eBay for a used model?

 

[Marcy57]

I think recently seen one on QTH.com classifieds ..
unblocked model like around 2grand? 73,s gud luck
Marcy

 

[Larry51]

I think recently seen one on QTH.com classifieds ..
unblocked model like around 2grand? 73,s gud luck
Marcy

Thanks, Marcy.

 

[OpSec]

My 8600 is the receiver for a doppler DF unit. Works great.

 

[bearcatrp]

Doppler DF?

 

[dlwtrunked]

Doppler DF?

That is a common way to do DF (Direction Finding). In essence, generally 4 antennas are electronically (not physically) rotated and the electronics determines the direction of the signal. Personally, I use an Airspy R2, and direction find with an Arrow loop antenna. It will find nulls (so one has to +-90 degrees) sharper that a Yagi will find peaks. I have two different Dopplers but trying to drive while using them is dangerous as one local road sign near the road knows. I now stop, grab the laptop, loop, and compass and go about my task. I have found many stations by doing this including small antennas on shacks in the woods. (For some reason, Arrows site is currently not properly working at the moment.)
https://www.arrowantennas.com/main/fhl.html