Article:17737 of rec.radio.shortwave

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From: rja
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave

Subject: Re:     ICOM ICR7100 RECEIVER (365 lines)

Date: 29 Jan 1993 01:56:26 GMT

Organization: Sun

Lines:346

Message-ID: Hi all

>

>I'm considering to change my actual scanner (AR 1000) with an

>ICOM IC-R7100. I would like to hear any impression about it.

>Is it a good choice ? What else do the market offers for the

>same price/performances ?



    Here is my accumulated net data on the R7100:



Article 853 of alt.radio.scanner:

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>From: dave
Subject: Re:Has Anyone Purchased An ICOM R7100 Yet?

Message-ID: <1992Jun8.133057.23728
Sender: usenet
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Organization: BINJFBA Society

References: <1992Jun5.173215.8369
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1992 13:30:57 GMT

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In article <1992Jun5.173215.8369
|>

|> I haven't seen any evaluation of the R7100 VHF/UHF receiver here,

|> or in any hobbyist publication other than Bob Grove's Monitoring

|> Times.

|>

|> If anyone has one, could they kindly share their experiences with

|> said receiver?



My wife bought me one for my birthday last month.  So far I am very

pleased with it.  One of my favorite features is "program scan auto

memory write".  This feature alows scaning between two scan limits with

all hits saved to memory channels 800-899 (no dups).  There are ten scan

edge pairs for setting up continuous scanning between any two freqs.



Another great feature is the ability to store a "select code" with any

memory channel.  Select codes are "S" (skip) and 0-9.  This allows you

to scann for only select code 3, for example, so that you can categorize

all memories and scan for them easily.  This is important since there

are 900 regular memories plus the ten scan edge pairs.



I have no way of judging the sensitivity, selectivity or IMD or the

receiver but I can say it is more sensitive, selective and noise free

than any of my ham band only VHF/UHF equipment. In fact it is my

prefered receiver for 2m and 70cm.



Scan rates, delay times and may other features are programmable from the

front pannel.



It can be programmed to to both a primary scan (simple, normal scan) as

well as a lower priority background scan.  For example, say you want to

scan the VHF areo freqs from say 127-139 MHz to find out what was there

and save any hits to memory while scanning the local trunked police

freqs at 840 MHz.  Simple.  Program in the police freqs in say memories

100 thru 150.  Program in the scan edges of the areo band into one of

the scan edge pairs.  Then select programed scan with advanced scan

mode.  Presto.  While scanning the police freqs it will do double duty

and check for any activity on the areo bands.  There are five simple

scan modes and three advanced modes.  Duty cycle of the

forground/background scans is, of course, programmable.



The computer interface is the same as previous Icom gear so you can

control up to four receivers from a single computer port.



So far the only thing that I have a problem with is a relay cutting in

when it switches above 800MHz (don't know the exact freq).



Finally since it is an all mode, continuous coverage receiver, there is

absolutly nothing between 25 and 2000 MHz that you cannot receive.



They are extreeeeemly hard to get hold of.  My wife bought mine through

Grove.  The Icom folks at HAM-COM '92 (Dallas) this weekend said that a

certain US government agency had purchased several thousand of them

because they were so much better than most of the milspec stuff...



===============================================================================

Dave Rogers                            

M & R Software, Inc.

Internet:  dave
On contract To: NEC America, Radio Software Dept



Article 16076 of rec.radio.shortwave:

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Newsgroups: alt.radio.scanner,rec.radio.shortwave

Subject: Re:Has Anyone Purchased An ICOM R7100 Yet?

Message-ID: <1992Jun8.162317.1453
>From: gary
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1992 16:23:17 GMT

Reply-To: gary
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I had an ICOM 7000 and got rid of it for the following reasons



1) San rate way too show - like a few channels per sec rather

than 28-38 channels per sec typical of the PRO2006 and AR1000XLT.

2) No banks.  "Categories.." in the R1700... I'll think about it ?

Nost disgusting..

3) No freq centering on scan.  My ICOM-7000 always stopped 5 Khz

too soon.  Not a problem with the PRO2006.



I think that if all you want to do is listen in on a few freqs then the

R7000 (any maybe R7100) is a great "communications receiver".  But, if

you really want to scan, in my mind, the R7000 doesn't quite make it.



Its computer-controled scanning is anemic.  Problem is that, since it does

not use any "banks", it transfers VFO info across the serial port.  This

is way too slow... like 2ch/sec.



Fix these problems... and I'll buy one (again)



Gary



--

Gary Buchholz / KE9ZM Internet:gary
University of Chicago Packet:  KE9ZM
Academic and Public Computing 

1155 East 60'th St., Chicago, Ill.(312) 702-7611





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Status:RO



Article 16147 of rec.radio.shortwave:

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>From: dave
Subject: Re:Has Anyone Purchased An ICOM R7100 Yet?

Message-ID: <1992Jun11.131928.22873
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In article <1992Jun8.162317.1453
|> I had an ICOM 7000 and got rid of it for the following reasons

|>

|>  1) San rate way too show - like a few channels per sec rather

|> than 28-38 channels per sec typical of the PRO2006 and AR1000XLT.





Scan rate is programmable (without computer control) but the default is

14 channels/sec.





|>  2) No banks.  "Categories.." in the R1700... I'll think about it ?



The 7100 has 9 banks of 100 channels each.



|> Nost disgusting..

|>  3) No freq centering on scan.  My ICOM-7000 always stopped 5 Khz

|> too soon.  Not a problem with the PRO2006.

|>



The AFC does freq centering and the step rate is programmable.



|> I think that if all you want to do is listen in on a few freqs then the

|> R7000 (any maybe R7100) is a great "communications receiver".  But, if

|> you really want to scan, in my mind, the R7000 doesn't quite make it.

|>

|> Its computer-controled scanning is anemic.  Problem is that, since it does

|> not use any "banks", it transfers VFO info across the serial port.  This

|> is way too slow... like 2ch/sec.

|>



With computer control the scan rate can be as high as

1000 channels/sec (even on the 7000).



|> Fix these problems... and I'll buy one (again)

|>

|> Gary

|>



The Icom 7000 and 7100 are not even remotely related (unless you

consider Icom a relation :-) The 7000 was notorious for overheating and

serveral other problems, however, I feel that they have all been fixed

or improved with the 7100 and there are numerous bells and whistles on

the 7100 that no other scanner that I have seen has (such as VSC) and

the Icom Window Scan.



If all you do is listen to the local fire dept., then just about any old

Rat Crap scanner 'll do.



===============================================================================

Dave Rogers                            

M & R Software, Inc.

Internet:  dave
On contract To: NEC America, Radio Software Dept









       COMPARING THE ICOM R7100 TO THE R7000 RECEIVER



                    by Bob Parnass, AJ9S



 [Note:The following information is gleaned  from  6  years

experience with an R7000 and the past 3 days experience with

a brand new R7100. -BP]



The radio RF/IF/AF portions of the R7100 are similar to  the

older  R7000,  but  the  R7100  is constructed using surface

mount parts.  Consequently, the R7100 is smaller.  A-B tests

indicate  both  the R7100 and Radio Shack PRO-2006 receivers

are about equally sensitive, and more sensitive than  the  6

year  old  R7000.   Both  the  R7000 and R7100 are much more

immune to intermod than the Uniden/Bearcat  760XLT  and  the

portable PRO-43.



Many of the functions controlled by separate rotary switches

and potentiometers in the R7000 are controlled by pushbutton

switches and firmware in the R7100.





              Deleted Tuning Meter, Added AFC



Too bad the R7000's analog center reading meter function was

replaced  with  3 indicators on the R7100.  The R7100 has an

interesting AFC circuit, controlled by a front panel switch.

The  AFC  will  automagically tune the receiver close to the

center frequency if you tune near an  FM  signal.   You  can

watch  the frequency change as the AFC steps the receiver in

100 kHz increments.  The AFC never quite tunes to the  exact

center,  but  tunes  within  a  window  set  by a difference

amplifier circuit, so the station sounds  good  even  though

the R7100 is slightly off center frequency.





                           Modes



R7000 and R7100 users have the same  choice  of  modes,  but

they  are  easily selected from front panels controls in the

new R7100.  A rear mounted slide switch is used for  USB/LSB

selection in the R7000.





    Fancy Firmware for Memory Organization and Scanning



The firmware in the R7100 is much more sophisticated, and  a

brief  article wouldn't do it justice.  There are 9 banks of

100 channels.  Further, you can associate each channel  with

1  of 10 groups.  There are many possible ways to scan, more

than listed here.  You can scan:





   all channels

   all channels in a given group

   all channels in a given group in a given bank



   all channels in a given emission mode

   all channels in a given emission mode in a given bank



As with most other scanners, there is a lockout bit for each

channel,  so you don't have to scan the NOAA weather channel

even though you have it in memory.



There are 10 pairs of search limits.  The search  and  store

("memory  write")  scan  mode lets you store 100 frequencies

instead of the 20 in R7000.  Another  R7100  improvement  is

that  you  can  program  up to 100 channels for the R7100 to

skip while searching.  I used this for searching for federal

stations  in  the  162-170 MHz range while skipping the NOAA

weather channels 162.55, 162.4, and 162.475 MHz, as well  as

some veteran's hospital paging channels.



The R7100 has 2 VFOs, but Icom calls  them  windows.   There

are  several  window  scan modes, but they resemble priority

scan modes in a Bearcat scanner.





                  New Memory Query Feature



The R7100, like the Bearcat  200xlt,  has  a  feature  which

allows  you to detect memory channels programmed with dupli-

cate frequencies.





                   Tuning Step Selections



The R7000 tuning  step  size  is  selected  using  a  rotary

switch.   The  R7100 tuning step size is selected by using a

pushbutton to step through the selections.   The  R7100  has

more  choices,  including  a 100 kHz step, useful for tuning

around the aircraft bands.



Another new R7100 feature is that a tuning step size can  be

stored into each of the 900 memory channels, so when you use

the tuning knob to tune off  a  memory  channel,  the  R7100

tunes  in  reasonable  increments (e.g., 12.5 kHz in the 450

MHz range, 10 kHz in the VHF-low band, etc.).





           Rescan Delay Added, but Nondefeatable



Icom finally included a decent 2 second rescan delay in  the

R7100  which  owners  complained was missing from the R7000.

Ironically, you cannot defeat the rescan delay in the R7100,

so  it's now more difficult to scan trunked systems in which

the frequency changes with each new  repeater  transmission!

It's ironic that the R7000 lacked a rescan delay.





                   Power Supply and More



The internal power supply in  both  radios  runs  hot.   The

R7100  comes with a 12 VDC power cord included, an option in

the R7000.



The R7000 comes with a  handy  carrying  handle  and  rubber

feet, an $8.50 option on the R7100.





                   Added Clock and Timers



Unlike the R7000, the R7100 contains  a  digital  clock  and

timers  which  can  be used to turn the radio on an off, and

tune to different channels, several times each day.  I prob-

ably won't be using timers, though.





                        What to Buy



The R7100 is more complicated to use than the R7000.   There

are  so  many  firmware  controlled  features  and there are

several 2 key sequencies.



Faced with choosing between an R7000 or an R7100 in a  simi-

lar  price  range,  I  prefer the R7100.  Sensitivity aside,

both are about equal communications receivers, but the R7100

is  a better scanner, especially for finding new frequencies

and organizing memory.

--

==============================================================================

Bob Parnass, AJ9S  -  AT&T Bell Labs  -  parnass
--

Robert Allen, rja
     Samuel Addams:Brewer, Patriot.               "The right to brew beer is the right to be free!" - me