Got some questions for you if your listening to both mil air and civilian air band.
R30 Who’s listening to air band
- Thread starter bearcatrp
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Are you being specific on monitoring only on Icom R30 Radios? What questions?
Only using the R30. If anyone is scanning in both A and B at same time, like civ air in A and mil air in B. Just curious on battery life.
And your questions are?...
I admit I don’t own the R30 but I am in the mindset that no matter what bands you choose to monitor a and b will be the same load on the batteries. It’s not about the band it’s about the time on powered.
While I have never attempted to track battery life on my R30, the two biggest draws on the battery are the speaker and the backlight. If you have both the A-side and the B-side (dual watch) monitoring frequencies that are very active, the speaker will get much more use and depending on how loud it is set at, the draw will be significantly higher. By default, analog frequencies don't cause the backlight to come on (like digital frequencies), however you can set the backlight to come on for analog and thus monitoring airplanes, you will also get a bigger draw on the battery if monitoring on both the A and B sides.
When only one side is active (not in dual watch), the other VFO is not drawing anything and is not accessing the memory, so there maybe a slight saving but difficult to measure.
When only one side is active (not in dual watch), the other VFO is not drawing anything and is not accessing the memory, so there maybe a slight saving but difficult to measure.
KinkedCoax
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- Dec 15, 2020
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Aren't all comms technically "air band"?
Thanks DudleyG. Just what I was looking for. Icom has what appears to be a vhf/uhf handheld not released yet. But the fine print has we wondering if they will neuter it. If they don’t, am looking at getting one. Would be nice if that screen was on our R30. Take a look at the ID 52A. If it does cover civ air and mil air, think it would be a sweet radio. Plan on try running civ air and band A and mil air on band B on the R30 to see how it does connected to my discone. Looking at a Omni X mil version too.
jazzboypro
Active Member
According to Icom's website these are the specs for the ID-52A
The full civ and mil airband appears to be available only on A band. I don't think the ID-52A is the best radio to monitor air band. The R30 is a much better choice and of course it as a much larger frequency range. The R30 is also pretty fast for scanning. I have the R30 and it is a fine piece of equipment. With that being said, i will probably be interested in getting the ID-52A if it ever becomes available.
Version | Transmit | Receiver (Working Range) | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
ID-52A | 144–148, 430–450* | A Band: 108–174, 225–479* B Band: 137–174, 375-479* | 88–108 |
The full civ and mil airband appears to be available only on A band. I don't think the ID-52A is the best radio to monitor air band. The R30 is a much better choice and of course it as a much larger frequency range. The R30 is also pretty fast for scanning. I have the R30 and it is a fine piece of equipment. With that being said, i will probably be interested in getting the ID-52A if it ever becomes available.
I emailed Icom USA to ask about the frequencies. Said until it ships, just go off the web site information. Also mentioned the screen on the 52A would have been nice on the R30. When I saw the asterisk under the frequencies listed, got spooked and not going to pre order. I’ll wait until it arrives before deciding. What you posted about B band already has me rethinking my purchase.
The 52 will scan about half the speed of the R30. Transmissions in the MilAir band are so short I’d not want to chance missing one.
If you’re not already a subscriber to the Spectrum Monitor, get on it
Also, there are Japanese 52’s in the hands of a few UK hams. Might check out some YouTube videos.
Keep in mind, that on the R30 (according to the specs), it scans at 200 channels per second on the A side, but it scans at 150 channels a second on the B side. I generally can‘t tell any difference, except when searching ( edge scan) on the UHF military band.
if I do a band search, I put the UHF on the A side and VHF on the B side.
if I do a band search, I put the UHF on the A side and VHF on the B side.
eorange
♦RF Enabled Member♦
I scan lots on the A and B band simultaneously and battery life doesn't seem noticeably impacted.
And just because specs cover the mil air band doesn't mean it's not deaf.
And just because specs cover the mil air band doesn't mean it's not deaf.
Have watched a few you tube videos already. Looks pretty good but until it gets released and actual specs are released, will start considering other options in case this radio turns out to be a turd.
jazzboypro
Active Member
The R30 has it's limitations on digital but for the rest it is probably the best handheld receiver out there at the moment.
Have great success with P25 with my R30. Does better than the 436 I used to own. Put in all the frequencies for a particular department and most times I listen to both sides of the conversations. Its not a true trunk tracker but it can come close if you program it right.
eorange
♦RF Enabled Member♦
Other than not following trunked systems...what limitations? It's just as good as my G4 for solid P25 reception.
One of the trunk systems I listen to is P25 Phase 2 which the R30 can’t receive and the other thing is DMR which I don’t use.
I should say it can “receive“ those associated frequencies, it just can’t decode them.
I should say it can “receive“ those associated frequencies, it just can’t decode them.
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jazzboypro
Active Member
As you said, trunked systems and as pointed out by DudleyG there is also P25 phase II and DMR. I don't really mind i have an SDS100 for that. The R30 and the SDS100 makes a nice combo.
Thats a couple things that suck about the R30. No phase II and no DMR. Otherwise, its a sweet receiver.
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