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You can
write your own review of the ICOM R-8500.
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K9XK
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 14, 2003 13:56
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A decent compromise
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I had owned and R-75 for years and sitting along side it was the trusty Radio Shack scanner. One day my wallet was just bulging and I said, "okay why not?"
The first thing that strikes me about this radio is that is does not seem, well, as "advanced" as some receivers (like the R-75) and especially modern transceivers. The meter looks like something from 25 years ago, and if you dim down the display -- which you need to if it's a bedside RX -- you see the two "bulbs" backlighting it.
If you are an HF buff, you'll notice it's missing many features that make a good receiver: filter options, DSP, continually adjustable AGC, dual IF shift. It is also missing a bit of the sensitivity that the R-75 has, but not much. On that end of things, it does pretty well, with the exception of some receiver noise on some bands that the R-75 never had.
So why does it seem a little "dated?" Well, it IS. The 8500 has been around a LONG time!
On the "scanner" side, the rig does well but you still cannot select more than one bank for scanning, a terrible shortcoming, IMO. It is either one bank or everything. A workaround, if you are not going to use all your banks, is to manually combine memory info. For example, on the '8500 I have a "Police" bank and a "Police/Fire" bank. That is a labor intensive workaround but it gets the job done.
One feature that is noteworthy is that you can shuffle the available memories between banks. By default, you 'only' have 40 memories per bank, which is plenty good enough for most but if you wish, you can pull some memories out of one bank for assignment to others. You could have some banks that are 100 memories, if you wished.
The display only has two settings - too bright and too dim. And as I noted earlier, the dim looks like Thomas Edison is inside the rig holding up two bulbs.
Aside from this and the very silly and cheap S-meter, the radio is quite good looking and rugged, with rubberized buttons throughout and a nice face. My IC-910H has the same feature - beatitiful face and controls at the same time their expensive HF rigs of that era had cheap plastic faces and even cheaper plastic buttons. Go figure. They are coming back around on the HF side, though.
So, no, this is not the perfect radio, but I really like it for its DC-to-daylight capability and I am a big Icom fan, so in the shack it will stay until I need to sell it to pay for their new $9,000 HF transceiver. Then I will pick up an R-75 and a Radio Shack scanner again.
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REEF2K
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 17, 2003 18:03
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high quality all-rounder
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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i've owned a couple of these,both second hand but like new condition.
the best thing about these is that they're so easy to use without many multi-funcion buttons to confuse you. the build quality is very good with good fit and finish to the unit.
performance is great,it'll do the job of a good hf receiver if that's all your mainly into and on vhf,uhf and above it has good sensitivity but handles strong pager splatter and images very well,much better than other cheaper base scanners offer so i guess you get what you pay for.i had a yaesu vr 5000 i think it was called and it was awful as it could'nt handle the strong pager noise which would break-through everywhere,so i returned it and looked for another second hand 8500 which is in a totaly different class,but again so is the price when new.
it realy is a great all-rounder and makes a good second hand buy if you want high performance receive accross the spectrum.
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HERALD123
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 8, 2003 20:36
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have had problems
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I'VE OWNED THE 8500 SINCE OCT. 02. THE PROBLEM I'M HAVING IS THAT SOMETIMES WHEN YOU TURN IT ON THE FREQUENCY STARTS FLASHING. YOU HAVE TO SHUT IT OFF AND START AGAIN. IT HAS BEEN TO ICOM ONCE, NO LUCK. I FINALLY MADE THEM A VIDEO TAPE OF THE PROBLEM. AM WAITING TO HEAR BACK. I REALLY LIKE THE RADIO BUT THIS BUG IS DRIVING ME NUTS.
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DF1AS
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 28, 2003 06:08
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Well equipped
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have it for some years now and would never sell it. The oven controlled oscillator (OCXO) and the 250 Hz CW Filter are plugged in.
I adjusted the OCXO CR-293 with a <1E-9 source. Frequency stability in fact is better than specified - but adjustment is a must. I have in total four ICOM transceivers/receivers with this TCXO (CR-293) installed and they all were originally calibrated bad (one was ok, three were even out of spec.!).
The 250 Hz CW-filter is the expensive 455 kHz type and works very well for the SW bands (even if ICOM tells that only the 500 Hz filter cold be plugged in - nonsense).
I'm working mostly in the GHz bands with homemade transverters. The 8500 is very helpful in calibrating oscillators and mixers, which fall in the covered 2 GHz range of the receiver.
The remaining time I don't switch the receiver off and use it for all ham bands from 160 m up to 23 cm, SSB, CW and FM. Sometimes as an FM radio - three IF bandwidths for FM and for AM are well designed.
The receiver sensitivity is an optimum on all bands. With a long wire connected you need the attenuators, but you may not compare this receiver concept with that from a 775 or PRO2.
I sometimes also miss a notch filter on SW, and sometimes one or two more antenna connectors. There are two (and a half), an SO-239 up to 30 MHz, above type N. The third one is a cynch socket for long wires.
I guess the next step at ICOM should be to integrate a TFT display for a spectrum scope, NF DSP ... we will see what comes.
Yes, I know ... the 781, 970, and 9000 were great (and big) things. But the time of 19" racks seems to be over. Today you can put the same performance or even more into less space. If you had a look into an 8500, you know that in principle they even wasted space to get a housing that fits to some other ICOM rigs ...
73
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DRACO
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 11, 2003 15:42
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High Quality Receiver
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've owned the ic-r8500 for about 2 years, the design and build quality is superb and with a very high quality LCD and VU signal meter making this receiver very Handsome indeed, but that's unuff about how it looks. The VHF and UHF performance is great, but its on HF were it
even outshines some of the dedicated HF receivers on the market.
For me the icom ic-r8500 is a very high quality receiver which will give its user great listening pleaser.
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AA5CH
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 14, 2002 17:11
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Expensive but Good
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Trying to save some money and desk space, I initially purchased a Yaesu VR5000. After five days it completely locked up and I had to "hard reset" the microprocessor, losing all memories. It was plagued with intermod / image rejection problems and was difficult to operate with the multilayered menus. It was returned and I ordered the R-8500.
After five minutes, it was obvious that I had made the correct decision in spending the additional money for the R-8500. If you are familiar with the operation of most modern amateur radio transceivers, you will quickly master the R-8500. The receiver sensitivity appears equivalent to my HF/VHF/UHF transceiver on all frequency bands. I have experienced no image rejection / intermod problems. Some might prefer a digital signal strength meter, but I enjoy the analog meter.
So far the noise blanker does not appear to be very effective. The relays that engage as the receiver scans are mildly annoying. It would be nice if a clock and bandwidth scope were integrated into the display. The display dimmer seems to be "all or nothing." Given the larger picture, these are all minor problems or perceived shortcomings.
The bottom line...the R-8500 is an expensive, but good general coverage receiver.
73,
Brad
AA5CH
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NILVDAQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 7, 2001 11:52
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Sounds great, lotsa fun
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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While considering nice FM stereo tuners for the hi-fi, such as McIntosh, Tandberg, or Magnum Dynalab, I stumbled upon communications receivers. The R8500 was one of the few to offer a stereo demodulator option, it cost no more than tuners restricted to the FM broadcast band, and it provided incredibly greater "toy appeal". After a couple of years with the R8500 I've become a radio hobbyist. I wholeheartedly recommend it for music listening through any high quality stereo system, but fire, ambulance, and police calls are much more interesting. Need a change of pace? Scan through the shortwave bands for news from around the world or listen to aircraft pilots talk to ground control. The R8500 opens a big window into an otherwise invisible world.
For the nuts and bolts, I use the ICOM discone antenna above 30 MHz and a Dressler active whip below. Both antennas are mounted on the roof and are pretty inconspicuous. Because RFI from home appliances and the serial interface can affect reception, most listening is done just with the R8500 playing through a bookshelf speaker. It took me a while to understand the jargon and what all the knobs and buttons did, but after climbing the learning curve, it's very easy to use. Performance and construction quality are first rate.
For me, the ICOM IC-R8500 was an excellent introduction into the radio hobby and one I'll not soon outgrow.
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K3KZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 8, 2000 10:33
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Good all-'round unit
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Well made radio with good "feel" to it.
To: N9PHL- In ur review of R-8500, you mention an "outboard sync. unit" from Sherwood Engineering
but they must call it something else.....can you provide further details ??
Sorry to communicate this way but no email found for N9PHL
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N9PHL
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 6, 2000 16:46
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Solid Construction
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned my 8500 for about a year and a half. I find its performance to be excellent on VHF and UHF and "okay" on HF. If you desire an "all in one receiver" as I did then you will most likely be happy with it. The physical construction, operating controls and display are professional quality. Very easy to operate - no complicated menu structures & hidden features. Connectivity on the back panel is wonderful including the ability to get discrimator audio out with just a jumper change - a real plus for trunking use - or high speed modem usage of any kind. HF utility performance is not bad but easily out classed by expensive HF radios. If you plan on listening to AM SW stuff you will want to buy the outboard sync. unit from Sherwood Engineering. VHF & UHF airband reception is great which is what I really bought the unit for in the first place. A little pricey but you only live once.
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