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write your own review of the ICOM R20.
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W1BKZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 23, 2007 16:14
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GREAT HANDHELD.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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The only con is that I am not able to receive SSB/CW above 1 GHz, as is advertised and specified by themanufacturer. If I am wrong here, please set me straight. Not that there is significant SSB activity at 2 GHz, but the specs allude to the fact that I can tune it inj if I can find it.
Otherwise, it is a really versatile, sensitive, and sweet handheld communications receiver.
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K7WCE
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Rating: 5/5
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May 4, 2006 03:03
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Outstanding
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Hands down the best wide range receiver. Excellent coverage on all bands with plenty of tricks for tweeking: RF gain, noise blanker, automatic noise limiter, ATT, AFC.. There's CTCSS and DTCS squelching/search, voice squelch.
Dual band, band scope (2 if you like!) Plenty of memory, great battery life...
So you could buy the IC-R20 and software for less that the AR8200; and to get the 8200 even comparable you'll need to spend another hundred for the propritary software cable, and 70ish pa pop for plug in cards, for tone scan, recording (20 seconds compared to Icom's 4hrs!), etc.... I could go on about construction quality, Icom's dot matrix display.. etc.
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K0WJH
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 5, 2005 15:29
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Great Receiver
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I love this radio. Receiver is sensitive, audio is excellent and the SSB is clear. I was disappointed to find out I can not receive all of the 800mHz public service frequencies with this unit. Icom mistakenly blocked 868.6125 and others when they blocked for cell phones. Called Icom and they told me they didn't realize the error during manufacturing and that nothing could be done about it now. Hope someone can figure out how to open this unit up, then I'll be a very happy camper.
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LISTENER007
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 6, 2005 20:29
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Update on review
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Well, I have had the R-20 for about a month now and have given it a good workout and I can almost say that I am about 100% impressed. I love it - it's a great unit and I am glad I bought it, even if it was a "premium dollar" purchase. After a few days familiarising myself with the controls, I found the controlling software to be a bit easier than I thought it would be from a few negative comments on the internet, much easier, as a matter of fact.
I outdoes my Uniden 92XLT easily in performance and quite often when the 92XLT starts to fade, the R-20 seems to be quite happily putting out good clean audible signal to listen to.. It is however, sensitive to different antennas, as I have tried about 6 types and it can change the sensitivity in signal reception in each band...
All good objective reviews should point out god and bad and I do have just one thing that certainly annoyed me in the initial first few days of getting used to it,, and that was in the battery department. First, there is this "STUPID" little plastic holder which clips in place for standard AA type cells. Why is it STUPID..?? Because as I changed the first set of dead batteries, it fell out somewhere and it took me about half an hour to find it again, down on the floor under my bed. This immediately put a frown on my face as to how easily a STUPID piece of plastic could be the difference between being able to use or having an unusable receiver, dead in the field, if you lost it...
Not only that, but even the Li-Ion battery that came with the radio had a few fitting problems. I used it, it eventually died after a massive 35 hours, yes "35" hours, then put it on charge and made sure I stuck to the Li-Ion recommended "No More Than 8 Hrs" charge time, then pushed on power button. It didn't fire up. What's this - no power!!! I did it again and still no power. I tried 5 more times and each time it refused to turn on - absolutely dead. I panicked a bit here as I honestly thought I had a dud set. I then took out the Li-Ion battery and went to put in a fresh set of NiMH 2500's,, only,, where on gods green earth is that dmaned plastic holder. Now do you see what I meant about "dead in the field"..??? Well, after again finding the plastic gizmo and fitting a good set of betteries, the radio fired up as per normal.. Hmmm, it must have been the charger or that Li-Ion battery. After about 10 minutes of toying around I figured out that the Li-Ion battery was not seated properly and therefore did not charge up. I gave it a good push in and left it on charge while at work that day and after that, it was back to business as per usual.
Since then I haven't had the problem but it "did" happen and it did cause a minor panic... The plastic bit is a real poor feature indeed and should have NEVER be incoprerated into the design... Apart from that, I remain totally impressed. Totally...!!!
This Baby is worth the cost... It is head and shoulders above any other handy I have ever used, even with that plastic thingy whatsit...!!!
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1HENRY300
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 23, 2005 22:47
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Great performer, but could be more user friendly
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've been using this receiver in public safety for a couple of months now, and overall I'm pleased.
The first impression is excellent... the R20 feels more like a professional radio than most of its counterparts. It lends a feel of quality and durability.
It is clearly engineered with the HAM or shortwave hobbyist in mind in both programming and operation. The display provides large characters for frequency, with much smaller ones for the alpha tag. There is no option to swap the freq and tag size, and the tag is limited to 8 characters, almost as though it was an afterthought. The keypad make public safety-type monitoring functions more complicated than necessary, in favor of changing settings like band and mode.
Programming the R20 is no picnic, and anyone who tries to do it without the manual close at hand is guaranteed a frustrating experience. The programming is step-intensive, and I found the key labelling cryptic and counter-intuitive. It's important to distinguish between a short keypress and a long one, and the manual doesn't always make clear which should be used. Some experimentation will probably be necessary for most users. Unfortunately, the user manual is both inaccurate and incomplete in places.
Do yourself a favor... use a PC, interface cable and Butel's free software (www.butelsoftware.com) for programming. Some digital camera-to-PC cables will do, and are much less expensive than the Icom cable.
Once programmed, I found the receiver's performance excellent in the areas of 42, 155 and 463 MHz. It has plenty of audio volume and clarity, and lots of genuinely cool functions, including the DualWatch feature and internal recorder (which, unlike AOR's, is both included and can record for a useful duration).
The R20 does a fine job, although even routine operations require multiple keypresses. Some demand simultaneous keying, making one-handed operation cumbersome or impossible.
Beware... it is painfully easy to inadvertently overwrite programmed channel information. Users might want to periodically check programmed channels to make sure another frequency, band, mode or some other element hasn't replaced the desired information.
In operation, as in programming, key labels are little help.
I suspect ICOM knows all this... the manual includes a cut-out pocket reference guide. In 25 years of using two-way and receiving radios I've never needed one before, but I'm glad to have it for the R20.
The R20 is not a beginner's scanner, and isn't marketed as one. Even for the experienced user it is more cumbersome to use than necessary. That said, it's a terrific little receiver.
The good: Great performance, lots of useful features and a feeling of quality build. Once you get it figured out you'll probably love it.
The bad: Poor user interface and manual.
The silver lining: Lots of new owners seem to get overwhelmed by the programming procedures, so barely-used R20s seem to be plentiful.
My advice: Download the user manual, and see for yourself if programming and operation procedures make sense to you. If you're patient you'll be rewarded by solid performance and lots of features to please any user.
I look forward to seeing Icom's next handheld offering... if they keep the performance and features, and make it more user friendly they'll have the receiver to beat. Are you listening, Icom?
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AIR490
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Rating: 5/5
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May 7, 2005 17:38
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The best you can get!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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The Icom IC-R20 has to be one of the best receivers I have ever used. It is very sensitive across the spectrum, particulary in the VHF airband. It gives crisp, clear audio, although the volume could be better from the internal speaker.
The Dualwatch feature is basically two scanners in one. It is a positively brilliant feature, which has endless uses. The built in recorder is also a good feature. The only problem here is that the audio files need to be played back on the R20.
It is hard to program for those people used to the Uniden/GRE style of programming, but once you get used to it you really appreciate the flexible nature of the its programming.
The more I use this receiver the more I like it. There is nothing available (in this segment of the market) that comes anywhere near the R20.
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W1BKZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 18, 2005 19:07
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GREAT RADIO
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The only complaint that I can muster up in the short time I have owned the radio is that the internal speaker volume is a bit weak. The received signal sensitivity is remarkable, all over the spectrum. The parametric setup is quite simple, considering what you are actually accomplishing. Battery freedom is a "plus". As others have intimated, that stock antenna is something to replace ASAP. Keep it for a"JUST IN CASE.....".
Technically, it is a really nice piece of work, and, unlike the Vertex VR-5000, it is NOT DEAF above 1.8 GHz. In 'BKZ's book, it's a keeper.
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N2MWE
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 12, 2005 17:08
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Great Portable
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Heard a lot of hoopla about this radio, so I went out and picked one up. I chucked the telescopic whip for an Austin Condor, and prepped for the first test. I connected the radio to my computer and started AirNav ACARS decoder. I normally use an Icom R10 for this...well, noise floor was a lot lower, and I was getting better decode rates.
Next test was on HF. With the telescopic antenna, it pulled in quite a few SW broadcast stations...audio was OK. I then connected the radio to my Cushcraft R6000, and listened to the NAT Aircraft frequencies. The receiver immediately overloaded; not a problem, just lower the RF gain and everything was fine.
All in all, a good DC to daylight portable receiver. Nice to have selectable bank scanning, and CTCSS/DCS decode.
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MI0BPB
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Rating: 3/5
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Feb 12, 2005 09:59
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Parts good, parts poor.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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When using an external antenna it suffers badly from pagers breaking through and desensitising on the rx, particularly on VHF/UHF and on shortwave it overloads the rx. If it was not for this it would be excellent. This is my first scanner, maybe I am expecting too much from this tiny radio? 73 Andrew
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WT3844
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 5, 2004 20:39
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super receiver
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I HAVE HAD THIS RECEIVER FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND I AM VERY IMPRESSED.GREAT SENSITIVITY THROUGHOUT THE SPECTRUM.YOU CAN HOWEVER TAKE THE STOCK ANTENNA AND THROW IT AWAY AND USE ANOTHER ANTENNA FOR THE FREQS YOU ARE LISTENING TO.I USE A GOOD 2METER 70 CENTIMETER ANTENNA BECAUSE I MONITOR A LOT OF VHFHI AND UHF.I HAVE 15 RECEIVERS OF THESE 6 OF THEM ARE HANDHELDS AND THIS RECEIVER BLOWS THEM ALL AWAY.SCAN SPEED IN MEMORY MODE IS ABOUT 30 CHANNELS PER SECOND NOT BAD MUCH BETTER THAN MY R10 R5 AND R2.GOOD JOB ICOM.THIS RECEIVER WILL CERTAINLY BE A KEEPER.
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