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Reviews For: ICOM R20

Category: Receivers: Scanners

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Review Summary For : ICOM R20
Reviews: 29MSRP: 500$
Description:
3ghz
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00294.4
KJ4BXM Rating: 2009-01-25
Works good, chore to learn to program Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Had mine for a year works great. Paul(KC2QPT), had the problem you had listening to the fm dropping out, turn the weather alert feature off.
OE3SGU Rating: 2008-07-13
Very good Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Like every other Icom product I own this one is very good. The audio filter selection really helps on the HF-frequencies. The built in recorder is very neat, just set the radio mute during the night and listen to the action in the morning. I am looking forward to the IC-RX7!
VK3VMS Rating: 2008-07-12
This radio ROCKS! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned many, many scanners/receivers over the years & this one is the best by far I have ever owned.
The only thing that lets it down (by virtue of its design), is the amount of pocket pager interference you get on the airbands, when it is connected to a discone or external antenna. It's HF performance is bloody good for a handheld as well!!... I love it!!
KC2OYZ Rating: 2008-06-15
Fun radio - but WIDE in all respects Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio is great fun to use - I really enjoy it. I love having a tough little DC to Daylight box that I can take with me anywhere, and pick up the local baseball game or the HF bands, airports, police calls or satellites and space shuttles with ease. I have the desktop charger and every couple of days I pop it into the charger - it charges in about half an hour, so I have never had any problems with battery life - I don't have the LCD on all the time and it is always in power save mode.

It is packed with features, very well thought out, the pre-programmed bands and frequencies are what they should be, and it is built with quality. The audio quality for voice is the best I have ever heard from any portable radio, or many table tops. It does exactly what it's supposed to do.

The reason I'm not giving it a 5 is because it is a WIDE BAND RECEIVER in more than one way - frequency coverage is wide, but so is bandwidth - intermod can be a serious issue, particularly on the lower bands with an external antenna. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out what band and frequency I'm on - I tune to 900 kHz and I've got three local and one canadian station, tune to 76 MHz and there are two TV stations and an FM broadcast station. You can ease the intermod problems with the attenuator and RFGain control, but a couple of filters would make things a lot easier. The internal ferrite bar antenna for BCB will eliminate a lot of intermod on BCB - it appears to be strongly attenuated - problem is, it also eliminates the signal that you want. Perhaps a good preselector would ease the intermod problems - I haven't tried that, although I am considering it - I will update my review if I do.

Bottom Line: Take the R20 for what it is - a fun, feature packed, take it anywhere scanner that lets you listen to anything and everything - and as you become more familiar with the rig, you will learn how to deal with some of intermod problems. But don't expect it to be a serious DX rig by hooking it up to a good external antenna.
COUNTERACT Rating: 2008-06-14
No Antenna Or Programming Issues Time Owned: more than 12 months.
You have to realize this is a very well designed Portable receiver, Not a full-size desktop receiver. I have found by using a Less than full size antenna for HF, it works Very Well. No need to use the ATT either. I have found programming it to be rather easy, and the easy of key-pad use is excellent. A little expensive, but very well worth the money. Happy listening!
W6RFW Rating: 2008-04-17
Great receiver, but hard to program Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use the R20 to monitor the American Association of Railroads (AAR) frequencies at 160 to 162 MHz, at home and in the field while train watching. Interference IS a problem on some channels. I bought a good six pole filter that I use at home and in the car. Interference is not much of an issue when I am walking track side with a short antenna. In the car, I use a mag mount cut for the AAR band. At home, I use a discone about 15 feet up.

I use one channel to monitor all 100 AAR frequencies, and the other to monitor the local road frequency. While scanning, I often encounter one or two channels with a key down condition. It is a real pain to program channel skip, and to unprogram it later. And lately, when I do either the radio picks up the VFO setting and substitutes it for the AAR frequency. I don't remember it doing this when I first got it.

In the field, using software to program the radio is not much of an option. So I have to reenter the channel frequency every time I change a channel skip setting. What a pain. Anone have any hints? The manual is pretty useless, as noted by others.
WZ1P Rating: 2008-04-08
I'm Impressed Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The other R-20 reviews are on the money. I wanted more features in a small portable package so the R-20 made sense. There is a learning curve in regards to the programing of memory banks. The sequence in the manual is a bit complex and must be followed exactly. Once the proceedure is learned the process is quite easy. I also picked up the Icom cloning software and cable that makes programming a snap. The telescoping antenna works well but is somewhat fragile. I replaced it with a Diamond RH951S BNC wideband receiving antenna. At home I use a discone antenna mounted on my tower fed by 100' of Davis BuryFlex RG-8 which does NOT overload the receiver like it did my high-end scanner. The battery life is good but I find that three Sanyo 2700mah AA batteries do the job best. They recharge quickly both at home and in the truck.

I did a lot of research on this receiver before I purchased it. There were no surprises. The price is a bit high but the features make it well worth it. Good job Icom.

Dan, WZ1P

KC2QPT Rating: 2008-02-02
1 Problem so far Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi all, i received my R-20 about two weeks ago. Purchased it new online from National Electronics in Kansas for $459, a good price I understand. Well I loaded about 600 frequencies in the radio and I like it quite a bit.
I have only one problem. I use the radio everyplace and often when listening to several broadcasts the radio "cuts out" for a second or two then comes back on (especially inside). It seems to do this frequently and it is very annoying. When I'm listening to an FM radio talk show and this happens I loose the meaning of the broadcast. No matter which way I reorientate the radio the "cut outs" keep happening. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or there is some type of control that handles a problem of this nature. Anybody have any ideas?
AF4KK Rating: 2007-08-03
Wow, you gotta' get one!! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have many Icom products and they ALL excell in some way or another! The Icom R-20 is no exception! It's a hot receiver with many, many bells and whistles! The dual receiver function alone make the radio worth the $$$! If you purchase a R-20, you wil not regret it. The ONLY downfall? There isn't a bandwidth function so things are a bit wide. Aside from that, kudos to Icom!
W1BKZ Rating: 2007-01-23
GREAT HANDHELD. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
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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Earlier 5-star review posted by W1BKZ on 2005-02-18

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.