R8600 Using the Icom R8600

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

My friend Dan Robinson compares the Icom IC-R8600 with classic receivers in his collection.
https://swling.com/blog/2018/02/guest-post-a-review-of-the-icom-ic-r8600-wideband-sdr-receiver/

73 Eric

 

[DF4OR]

Here is a very brief comparision of sensitivity on VHF/UHF I made against other rigs I have.

https://df4or.blogspot.de/2018/02/comparing-ic-r8600-on-vhfuhf-with-other.html

73,
Ekki, DF4OR

 

[n2pqq]

Am I missing something with new firmwear update 1.31

Firmware Updates / Software Downloads | Support | Icom Inc

 

[prc117f]

Yikes this does not bode well. I would not be happy spending 2600 bucks on a radio and seeing it overload like this, about as good as a 20 dollar stick. My R&S EB-100 does not do this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVnTUU0M1c

 

[prcguy]

What overrode are you referring too? I watched the video and didn't see anything unusual.
prcguy

Yikes this does not bode well. I would not be happy spending 2600 bucks on a radio and seeing it overload like this, about as good as a 20 dollar stick. My R&S EB-100 does not do this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVnTUU0M1c

 

[prc117f]

What overrode are you referring too? I watched the video and didn't see anything unusual.
prcguy

how did you miss the overloading? look at the video starting 4:14 notice all the spikes across the band on one transmission. and its pretty bad. you should not see that at all.

 

[Token]

how did you miss the overloading? look at the video starting 4:14 notice all the spikes across the band on one transmission. and its pretty bad. you should not see that at all.

Are we looking at the same video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVnTUU0M1c

At 4:14 into the video, or anyplace else for that matter, I do not see any overloading at all. I do see several vertical lines on the waterfall, but they seem to be present regardless of if a signal is active or not. Those look like either birdies or, more likely, local noise.

Assuming you typoed on 4:14 and actually meant 4:41, I see audio tones on the transmission, but no indications of overload. The waterfall looks to be about +/- 2.5 kHz in width (hard to tell for sure with the low res video), and that would put the audio tones on multiples of just under 500 Hz. Now, since the Doppler based DF unit he has the radio receiving with has a nominal scan rate of 430 Hz, it would not surprise me in the least if those audio tones were caused by the Doppler DF system.

This corresponds quite well with the fact he did not have the DF antenna connected to the R8600 until about the 4:40 point in the video, prior to that the DF system was on the Icom A6E and the R8600 was on a different antenna. After he connected the R8600 to the DF system these tones, which you appear to think are overload, show up on the signal.

Regardless of what the cause of the audio tones are, I see no indication of overload in that video. I think you have misinterpreted the video results badly.

T!

(edit) After I posted this I measured the tones on the audio provided by the video, the actual scan rate of the Doppler DF unit appears to be about 437 Hz. I think it is VERY safe to say all those "spikes" across the band you are talking about are modulation imposed on the audio by the DF unit.

 

[prcguy]

Yes, I agree its the DF unit causing the unusual spectral display in the video. I have a doppler DF unit and it chops up the receive signal pretty bad.

I'm sitting here carrying on a conversation on 2m simplex with my R8600 less than a MHz away on another 2m freq and my transmit antenna and R8600 receive antenna are maybe 30ft apart and at the same level. The R8600 is happy as a clam with radio transmitting a MHz away at 50w and not many receivers can pull that off. I would say the R8600 is in the small group of upper crusty hgh performance receivers you can buy at this time and no dongle or remote type receiver even makes the list.
prcguy

Are we looking at the same video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVnTUU0M1c

At 4:14 into the video, or anyplace else for that matter, I do not see any overloading at all. I do see several vertical lines on the waterfall, but they seem to be present regardless of if a signal is active or not. Those look like either birdies or, more likely, local noise.

Assuming you typoed on 4:14 and actually meant 4:41, I see audio tones on the transmission, but no indications of overload. The waterfall looks to be about +/- 2.5 kHz in width (hard to tell for sure with the low res video), and that would put the audio tones on multiples of just under 500 Hz. Now, since the Doppler based DF unit he has the radio receiving with has a nominal scan rate of 430 Hz, it would not surprise me in the least if those audio tones were caused by the Doppler DF system.

This corresponds quite well with the fact he did not have the DF antenna connected to the R8600 until about the 4:40 point in the video, prior to that the DF system was on the Icom A6E and the R8600 was on a different antenna. After he connected the R8600 to the DF system these tones, which you appear to think are overload, show up on the signal.

Regardless of what the cause of the audio tones are, I see no indication of overload in that video. I think you have misinterpreted the video results badly

T!

 

[Yarzok]

Is anyone using the matching external speaker
with integrated power supply.

Sp39AD ?

If so what are your thoughts on it .

I'm on my honeymoon too.
Unpacked my 8600 with the Sp39AD, and the AH-8000 antenna yesterday.
Matter of fact the AH-8000 discone antenna is sitting on the floor next to me.
Trying to figure out where and how the heck to install it outside.
I can't really give you a review, but I trusted the judgement of some users and got the SP39AD.
All I can give you is there are no external P/S wire mess.
It sit nicely next to my Honey "8600"
And to me it sound OK

 

[n2pqq]

New firmware version

Version 1.32 for USA version

Firmware Updates / Software Downloads | Support | Icom Inc

 

[AOR-262]

To all those owning an IC-R8600, do you use a Stylus pen to touch the screen for settings etc. Will any Stylus pen work?

 

[prcguy]

Finger works fine.

To all those owning an IC-R8600, do you use a Stylus pen to touch the screen for settings etc. Will any Stylus pen work?

 

[wrex]

To all those owning an IC-R8600, do you use a Stylus pen to touch the screen for settings etc. Will any Stylus pen work?

I use a Targus stylus pen. Works very well. Spectrum scope stays clean.

 

[prc117f]

Are we looking at the same video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVnTUU0M1c

At 4:14 into the video, or anyplace else for that matter, I do not see any overloading at all. I do see several vertical lines on the waterfall, but they seem to be present regardless of if a signal is active or not. Those look like either birdies or, more likely, local noise.

Assuming you typoed on 4:14 and actually meant 4:41, I see audio tones on the transmission, but no indications of overload. The waterfall looks to be about +/- 2.5 kHz in width (hard to tell for sure with the low res video), and that would put the audio tones on multiples of just under 500 Hz. Now, since the Doppler based DF unit he has the radio receiving with has a nominal scan rate of 430 Hz, it would not surprise me in the least if those audio tones were caused by the Doppler DF system.

This corresponds quite well with the fact he did not have the DF antenna connected to the R8600 until about the 4:40 point in the video, prior to that the DF system was on the Icom A6E and the R8600 was on a different antenna. After he connected the R8600 to the DF system these tones, which you appear to think are overload, show up on the signal.

Regardless of what the cause of the audio tones are, I see no indication of overload in that video. I think you have misinterpreted the video results badly.

T!

(edit) After I posted this I measured the tones on the audio provided by the video, the actual scan rate of the Doppler DF unit appears to be about 437 Hz. I think it is VERY safe to say all those "spikes" across the band you are talking about are modulation imposed on the audio by the DF unit.

start watching carefully at 5:01 in the video. a transmit comes in and you will see it. I had the wrong time period. Its starts right at 5:02 but freeze at 5:03 or 5:04

you cant miss it , it happens really quick. Reminds me of the same issue with the RTL dongles. Whoever made that video should specify what span its set for. I hope its set fore a small slice and what I am seeing is misinterpreted as overload.

Start at 5:01 and watch carefully.

 

[Token]

start watching carefully at 5:01 in the video. a transmit comes in and you will see it. I had the wrong time period. Its starts right at 5:02 but freeze at 5:03 or 5:04

you cant miss it , it happens really quick. Reminds me of the same issue with the RTL dongles. Whoever made that video should specify what span its set for. I hope its set fore a small slice and what I am seeing is misinterpreted as overload.

Start at 5:01 and watch carefully.

No, that is not overload.

And the span at the time you are talking about is +/- 2.5 kHz, you can tell that by both the video (the waterfall shows the span in the upper left and right corners, it is fuzzy because of the 480 video resolution but says 2.5 kHz) and the DF unit audio modulation. At ~437 Hz per line you can count and estimate the width of the display span.

The signal that starts at 5:03 in the video is at a slightly different center frequency from the previous transmission, lower on the order of 100 Hz, so everything shifts down roughly 100 Hz. All of the lines in the display, that you are taking for overload, are modulation caused by the DF unit. They shift from the other transmissions, but are still relative to each other.

If you look at the pattern of the lines you will see they remain the same, the fundamental audio frequency of the DF unit (about 437 Hz), its 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th audio harmonic are very clear, with the 4th often muted to the point of not being seen on the waterfall. This is consistent across most transmissions shown in that video when the DF unit is on the R8600, and not present on the R8600 waterfall when the DF unit is on the hand held.

Further, look at the power level of that signal at 5:03 in the video, it is 4x.5 dBu, can't quite make out the ones digit. On my R8600 I regularly see signals 20 or 30 dB above that with no overload. Right now I am monitoring a signal that is 78 dBu, over 30+ dBu above the signal level of the one in that video, and there is no sign of overload. While any radio can overload, regardless of the make, model, or design, I have yet to see my R8600 overload on any man made over-the-air radio signal, of course I am sure I will eventually see it. Lightning crashes do cause clipping and overload, but I don't really count those.

T!

 

[prcguy]

If anyone is doubting the overload capability of the Icom R9600 just look at the link I'll post at the end of my rant. Rob Sherwood is considered about the best source of test data on receivers, especially for close spaced dynamic range, which is the money shot for high performance receivers. Rob is more trusted than the similar ARRL testing and other receiver testing done a few other labs in the world.

Close spaced dynamic range is what separates a ho-hum receiver from one that can deal with massive signals only a few KHz away from what you want to receive. Radios with the highest marks are what are considered "contest radios" that can survive a multi radio field day environment where lots of radios and antennas are crowded on the same location and everyone is running full legal limit.

With all that said look at the second receiver down on Rob Sherwood's list. Rob's personal R8600 ranked as the second best receiver ever tested of any high end receiver ever made for close spaced dynamic range. You will not be seeing any overload in an 8600 under anything but extreme and extraordinary signal conditions. My personal 8600 sits around the #14 slot on Rob's list as there may be some differences in the A/D converters used in the 8600 series, but it still ranks in the spectacular range along with some very expensive radios and receivers.

The anomaly in the video has been identified a couple of times now as an artifact of the doppler DF. I have the DF2020 DF unit and that's what they do. If someone keeps hounding on a non issue like this then they simply have a dislike for a particular item or company and they will make up stuff to smear it even though there is no issue.

Receiver Test Data

start watching carefully at 5:01 in the video. a transmit comes in and you will see it. I had the wrong time period. Its starts right at 5:02 but freeze at 5:03 or 5:04

you cant miss it , it happens really quick. Reminds me of the same issue with the RTL dongles. Whoever made that video should specify what span its set for. I hope its set fore a small slice and what I am seeing is misinterpreted as overload.

Start at 5:01 and watch carefully.

 

[Ubbe]

If someone keeps hounding on a non issue like this then they simply have a dislike for a particular item or company and they will make up stuff to smear it even though there is no issue.

It swings both ways. People that are overly excited about a product or a company that they had only positive experiance from, will defend that company regardless what arguments are presented. It's human nature. Lets keep the discussion on the actual object.

/Ubbe

 

[Yarzok]

Is anyone using the matching external speaker
with integrated power supply.

Sp39AD ?

If so what are your thoughts on it .

Hey I'm a newb. Had my 8600 and the SP-39AD for about a month now.
Cant tell you much about it, the reason I bought the Sp39, was I didn't want to go with the cheap power supply.
So it's 2in1 Sounds good and looks good.

 

[Fast1eddie]

I bought the SP-34, really like the styling of the SP-39AD, but at the time, none had been produced and would have preferred to read actual user reviews instead of Icom's advertising. Using a surplus Drager very low noise switching supply I rescued from the trash when I worked there. Works very well and cannot detect any switching noise.

Would love to take the 8600 to a area where I could erect a significantly larger antenna than I am using now (PAR end fed attic installed), shack is my second floor apartment. Works very well, but as with any HF antenna, larger is best.

Sweet radio, still learning it. Would like to eventually obtain programming software, not up on how to set up data communication with the 86K. Another day....

 

[DVE]

Hi all,

I'm new IC-R9600 user here. Just want to inform that I've created SoapySDR driver for 8600. With it, it will be possible to use different software, as CubicSDR or GQRX.

Windows version is ready, Linux is in progress.