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

[Teotwaki]

I have used my first 8600 so much I bought another when Main Trading Company in Texas had them on sale, no Cali sales tax and free shipping. I did set the first one up for remote access using SDR Control for iPad. SDR-Control for iPad
Another thing that you can do is to take the phono jack antenna input and add a transformer dongle to make it 50 Ohms compatible. Then while remote controlling the radio you can select from the two 50 ohm HF antennas and the VHF/UHF N connecter input.

The dongle build thread is here: R8600 - ICOM R8600 antenna port #3 - Making it useful

 

[bagmouse7]

It is a great receiver, and it is my most frequently used radio.
While the Icom software could use some (alot) of updating, it does work well and it provides some of the fastest and most flexible scanning available.
Sure the 8600 could use some more digital decode modes, but there are plenty of ways to decode digital modes if that is what you enjoy.
I mostly use my 8600 for Airband and Rail monitoring using the Icom software, it runs for hours or days at a time.
I also have an IC-RC28 remote which allows control of the 8600 when using the Icom software, which is really nice....
While it is expensive, it actually provides a great value and I think it actually IS well worth the price.
If I had to strip the shack down to 1 radio the R8600 would be it.

 

[xms3200]

bagmouse 7.. How is the IC-8600 for VHF air, is it pretty sensitive, I have heard conflicting replies, what is your opinion.

 

[Napalm]

bagmouse 7.. How is the IC-8600 for VHF air, is it pretty sensitive, I have heard conflicting replies, what is your opinion.

It's amazing, I don't have any empirical data for you lol. But I can hear towers that are non-existent on other radios on the same antennas.

 

[xms3200]

That is great to hear. Looking at the specs, it looks like sensitivity on the IC-8600 for VHF air is 5uv, while the IC-R15 is 1uv, makes me think the IC-R15 is more sensitive, but interesting to note the 8600 is a performer.

 

[KB2GOM]

That is great to hear. Looking at the specs, it looks like sensitivity on the IC-8600 for VHF air is 5uv, while the IC-R15 is 1uv, makes me think the IC-R15 is more sensitive, but interesting to note the 8600 is a performer.

Great! Okay, really dumb (donkey) question: if you have a group of frequencies in memory, can you direct the 8600 to scan them, or do you just have to hang on one frequency at a time?

 

[kruser]

Great! Okay, really dumb (donkey) question: if you have a group of frequencies in memory, can you direct the 8600 to scan them, or do you just have to hang on one frequency at a time?

Yes you can.
Although the 8600 is not a scanner, it works pretty good for scanning type functions.

 

[bagmouse7]

bagmouse 7.. How is the IC-8600 for VHF air, is it pretty sensitive, I have heard conflicting replies, what is your opinion.

Sensitivity is really good (enough), but best part is that the audio recovery is excellent (it sounds fantastic) and when scanning it resumes with 0 delay (as well has having a very fast scan rate) so scanning large lists for frequencies is quick.
The R8600 is certainly build for scanning lots of frequency's with a very rich feature set for scanning.
In addition to the normal bank scanning and bank linking, the 8600 adds a "scan select" group number to each memory channel.
You can then select the groups you want to scan and then select (no not) the channels based on the "scan select" tag number.
These 2 functions together (band link and select scan) allows you really select exactly what you want to scan.

 

[Napalm]

Sensitivity is really good (enough), but best part is that the audio recovery is excellent (it sounds fantastic) and when scanning it resumes with 0 delay (as well has having a very fast scan rate) so scanning large lists for frequencies is quick.
The R8600 is certainly build for scanning lots of frequency's with a very rich feature set for scanning.
In addition to the normal bank scanning and bank linking, the 8600 adds a "scan select" group number to each memory channel.
You can then select the groups you want to scan and then select (no not) the channels based on the "scan select" tag number.
These 2 functions together (band link and select scan) allows you really select exactly what you want to scan.

Oooh I didn't know or forgotten about scan select. That's neat.

To the other poster, it's not just about sensitivity. The handhelds can get easily overloaded by nearby transmissions. I have a 500W public safety tower within a mile of me and other radios get swamped. The 8600 can listen to a channel 7 kHz up with no ill effects.

 

[G8OEO]

A while back I tried using my IC7300 fed from the 10.7MHz of my 8500 to get some idea of how aircraft comms would sound on this sort of radio. It was ok but I was disappointed by the degree of squelch hang at the end of each transmission.
The radio seemed slow to close the squelch, with a burst of noise before the audio was completely muted.

It seems no amount of messing with the RF gain and squelch setting would help, so I would be very interested to hear how the 8600 performs in this respect with both AM and FM comms.

 

[N1FKO]

A while back I tried using my IC7300 fed from the 10.7MHz of my 8500 to get some idea of how aircraft comms would sound on this sort of radio. It was ok but I was disappointed by the degree of squelch hang at the end of each transmission.
The radio seemed slow to close the squelch, with a burst of noise before the audio was completely muted.

It seems no amount of messing with the RF gain and squelch setting would help, so I would be very interested to hear how the 8600 performs in this respect with both AM and FM comms.

I think the 8600 is quicker than the 8500, I don't have an 7300 to compare. I find them both pleasant to listen to with the caveat that local noise means squelch is set to about S5 when listening to AM.

On FM the differences in local repeaters is more significant than any difference in the radios. Not a lot of simplex FM around here.

I think your IF experiment may introduce variables not present when listening to the individual radios (e.g. AGC action).

 

[bagmouse7]

I think the 8600 faster than the 8500 and it is actually fact very fast. I have attached a 30 second sample from the 8600 that was just recorded (21:30 EST) so you can take a listen. I was scanning 2 banks with around 150 frequencies, 0 delay setting. This is a pretty standard Friday night airband traffic from my location.

 

[prcguy]

A while back I tried using my IC7300 fed from the 10.7MHz of my 8500 to get some idea of how aircraft comms would sound on this sort of radio. It was ok but I was disappointed by the degree of squelch hang at the end of each transmission.
The radio seemed slow to close the squelch, with a burst of noise before the audio was completely muted.

It seems no amount of messing with the RF gain and squelch setting would help, so I would be very interested to hear how the 8600 performs in this respect with both AM and FM comms.

If the 8500 has AGC applied to the 10.7MHz out you will have the AGC in the 8500 fighting the 7300. I don't think the 10.7MHz output was intended to feed another receiver and its probably for panadapters or video converters, etc.

 

[Token]

If the 8500 has AGC applied to the 10.7MHz out you will have the AGC in the 8500 fighting the 7300. I don't think the 10.7MHz output was intended to feed another receiver and its probably for panadapters or video converters, etc.

The other thing to consider is that the R8500 has DC voltage (9 VDC maybe, I don't remember the voltage for sure) on the IF out, used to power the TV-R7000 or TV-R7100 (Icom analog TV converters) when attached. If you want to use the IF Out for anything, make sure whatever you plug in is OK with DC on its input, or use a DC Block.

Which brings me to one of my uses for my R8600s. I often use one of my 8600s as a downconverter with an HF focused SDR, typically something like the WinRadio G33 or G35, on the IF Out. This allows me to use these SDRs, and the features / capabilities they bring, in frequency ranges they normally would not be able to do.

Similarly, in regards to the discussion of blocked vs unblocked, I sometimes to use one of my R8600s (an -04) behind microwave downconverters. It is just more convenient to not have to plan for a chunk of blocked RF.

T!

 

[fasteddy64]

When I retired in 2020 I gifted myself an R-30 and an 8600. I used them both but after a year I realized that they were both overkill for the type of monitoring I do and sold them both.
I use my Drake ham rigs for HF, I have several scanners and an R7100 for all the VHF/UHF stuff I listen to.

 

[ArloG]

Back again. Still trying to find/build a cheap or easy to build antenna for VLF. NOAA satellites were fun to work. The built in digital decoders are a bummer. DSD+ and similar applications do a much better job.
A of uses with SDR applications that support the radio. HDSDR is easy to use and is my go-to SDR program.
SDR Console is very nice and has good features. But is a trip to learn and use.
Which brings me to (again) there is too much reluctance...perhaps prejudice....to support the R8600 to use with applications like Satdump, SDR++, And the biggest, Airspy SDR#. Although I occasionally use the last version of it that can use the very nice USRP plugin which Airspy had an immediate hissy fit and blacklisted it immediately and threatened the developer.

Using for example HDSDR with I/Q output at least lets you feed audio to DSD+ and the like to decode digital voice.
And the I/Q output used with programs that lets you feed audio input at least into them gives limited functionality.
I use a SDRPlay RSP2 for many SDR application uses only because my R8600 seems to be "on the wrong side of the tracks is town" and the developers hate it. DSD+ will not trunk track with the R8600. But neither will the radio itself natively.

Side by side with my gone-through by a former Icom tech in Georgia R8500 shows similar reception happiness. The R8600 of course being newer and being a better radio. Probably a 50/50 HF and VHF split in use from both .
Icom's scanning methodology still sucks and I still have to pull the book out. Similarities let me use my old laminated IC-R8500 "Cheat Sheet".

On a tangent. Perhaps even on a vector. My past industrial background had me interfacing with machine software engineers. Had upper level field engineers witness anomalies that the head office deemed me insane. Until they hopped off the plane from Dallas to see for themselves.
Fixes for glitches and features that made using the equipment easier for people to use came sometimes slow. But over time getting to know that if I said something it usually wasn't BS.
Icom has largely not addressed wants of the end user. I'm sure if a government contract mentioned the same things that they would.
Little things. 1 Hz tuning natively. "Can't be done". I'm sure that if an option to use one of the dials, etc. and be able to reassign it for such purposes were worked into the firmware. It Could be done.
A few firmware updates addresses nothing except undocumented one liner changelog notes. The latest update I believe someone on a FB forum was able to discover the actual "enhancements".
My next radio. Even though an Icom enthusiast for too many years. May not be from them. And as is all too common. Software/firmware is written by third party companies who specialize in the IC's used in devices.

I wanted to get my feet wet learning how SoapySDR drivers were created to be able to use the R8600 with applications that do use Soapy as the backbone. No help. Or spoken in "programmerese". Discord was a disaster. Airspy admin's won't even approve and post driver requests for the R8600. Pavel and Vasily and Roschenko and the other vodka drinkers can freely write plugins for SDR#.
Mention the R8600 and its off to "the front" or deep in Siberia.
Icom was zero help. After multiple messages to the initial email. Their engineers will look into it. Maybe in 2031.

If ANYONE has a clue of how to get a kindergarten to diploma tutorial of how to create at least SoapySDR drivers that work with the R8600.
My eyes and ears are wide open.

 

[SigmaDelta]

For those specifically interested in syllabic SSB squelch: Simon Brown's SDR-Console has a very good SSB squelch with voice detection algorithm. Combined with f.i. an Airspy Discovery makes a great HF ATC monitoring setup!

(The best analog syllabic squelch I used were the Sailor RE2100 and Icom IC-M700 Marine transceivers)

73
Paul
PD0SWL

 

[KB2GOM]

When I retired in 2020 I gifted myself an R-30 and an 8600. I used them both but after a year I realized that they were both overkill for the type of monitoring I do and sold them both.
I use my Drake ham rigs for HF, I have several scanners and an R7100 for all the VHF/UHF stuff I listen to.

Very interesting!

 

[KB6DAY]

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.

That sounds like a fantastic feature. I am mulling over getting a R8600.

 

[KB6DAY]

If I buy an R8600 is there a good place to find frequency files I can copy over for listening in SF Bay Area? I am guessing I would have to tinker with the s/w for awhile to to really come up with my own list.