Icom IC-R2

The battle of the micro-receivers is still alive and kicking thanks to iCOM who has responded with its new IC-R2. Like its predecessor, the IC-R1, which was based on an amateur transceiver model, the new IC-R2 is based on the recently introduced dual-band IC-Q7. If the sales of the R2 are anything like the popular Q7, iCOM will have a hard time keeping up with demand! What follows are my personal impressions regarding the features and performance of this receiver. This, in no way, should be viewed as an endorsement to purchase this radio nor is it intended to discourage anyone from buying it. I have no personal or business relations with iCOM Inc. These are simply thoughts offered to my fellow hobbyists who may be interested in purchasing this particular radio or simply knowing more about it. A lot of hard work and effort has gone into the testing and writing of this review. I would appreciate it if every effort is made to keep this document whole with me as the original author. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this document is copyrighted and therefore protected by US law and international treaties governing intellectual property. Except for personal use, and for the sake of brief passages quoted in reviews and given appropriate credit, no part of this work may be reproduced in any forms or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author. And if you want to share your thoughts about this review with me or have further questions, feel free to send e-mail. Thank you and enjoy! Rich Wells N2MCA Strong Signals web site

What You Get

IC-R2

FA-S270C 7" SMA Antenna

Plastic belt clip

Handstrap

BC-127A/D NiCd charger (holds 4 AAs) ^*

2 AA 700mAh NiCd batteries ^*

Owner's Manual

Operating Guide (pocket reference)

^* Batteries and charger are not supplied in some countries. Be sure to check with your dealer.

Model Tested

Serial #: 014xx

Origin: Germany

Basic Specs

Channels	400
Banks	8
Coverage	495 kHz - 1309.995 MHz
Scan	10 chan/sec
Search	30 steps/sec
Steps	5/6.25/9/10/12.5/15/20/25/30/50/100 kHz
Modes	AM, FM & WFM
Sensitivity	As listed in the manual : AM : 0.63 - 1.3 µv FM : 0.18 - 0.45 µv WFM : 0.71 - 1.0 µv
Conversion	Triple
IFs	1=266.7 2=19.65 3=0.450 MHz
Priority	1 channel
Search limits	25
Search skip	400
Auto-store	No
S-meter	Yes
Delay	Global, 0 - 20sec or hold
Lockout	Yes
Attenuator	Global
Lock	Yes
Tone codes	Yes
Computer intf	Optional
Rotary control	Yes
Channel count	No
Data skip	No
Clock	No
Timers	Yes
Weather	No
Weather Alert	No
Light	Display
Power	2 AA
Audio	100mW
Size	2.3" W x 3.5" H x 1" D
Weight	6oz/170g
Memory	non-volatile?

Granted, all the details are there but they are organized poorly if you ask me. Something's just not right here. I'm no newcomer to radio, especially when it comes to iCOM models. With an R1, R10, R10, PCR1000 and A22 in my stable, I'm use to their quirks and idiosyncrasies.

But this manual doesn't help as much as it should when it comes to introducing the R2's features and operation. In fact, I've already heard from a few people asking how to perform some of the more simple operations.

To start with, as usual, the manual refers to all actions as 'scanning' which is typical for iCOM and others like Welz and Yupiteru. Here in the US, we like to differentiate scanning and searching operations. What we call searching, iCOM likes to call "full", "band" and "programmed scan".

I think the crux of the problem stems from a lack of a keypad. In the past, like on the R1, iCOM was able to provide keys that mapped to these individual scan functions. With the R2, there are few keys and the same key actions are used to start scanning but it is the underlying parameters that determine the type of scan that will be done. It is how to set these parameters properly that will have you hunting through the manual and at times, pulling your hair out to locate the small noted passages that provide these details.

Such operation only helps to make a quirky line of receivers even more so. But practice makes perfect. Just keep at it.

The best thing new users can do is to jot down the various scanning actions and write their equivalent operation in terms they understand. When the iCOM verbage is encountered, it can be "translated" easily. Done enough, it will become second nature and the "translation" will be made instantaneously in your head.

The Table of Contents is well done and will be referenced often with a receiver like this which is chock full of features. There is also a handy Operation Flow Chart which helps detail the key functions as well as all of the parameters under Set mode with useful page numbers to look up more.

The Specifications section is nicely detailed with loads of sensitivity figures for the three receive modes as well as selectivity, IFs, current drain, and tuning steps.

Also included with the R2 is a handy pocket-sized Operating Guide. It is an 8 page summary of the various radio operations that should probably taken along until you are well versed with this radio's operation.

Construction and Physical
Anyone familiar with iCOM gear knows their name is synonymous with well built and rugged. The R2 is no exception. Its weakest point will undoubtedly be the flimsy and arcane belt clip which is supplied.

As you have probably already seen, one of the R2's biggest claims to fame will be its diminutive size. Compared to the R1, the R2 is 9mm wider, 16mm shorter and 8mm thinner. While the R10 is nearly the same width and depth, it is over 50% taller allowing it to dwarf both the R1 and R2.

Looking at the Welz WS1000/WS2000, the R2 is the same width while being 11mm shorter but 3mm thicker. The Welz units are indeed pocket radios which are easy to conceal and use unobtrusively. In fact, you sort of have to use them in this fashion since they aren't supplied with a belt clip. This makes the R2 a pocket model as well; as long as you don't attach the belt clip. If you do, it becomes too bulky since the clip increases its thickness by about 50%.

The R2 case is molded entirely in dark gray color with a very fine silver metallic flake which adds a semi-gloss sheen to it. On the front panel, the keys are all dark gray as well, except for the orange POWER key, with all molded in a rubber compound.

The display is at the top of the front panel and is very large given the small size of the radio. Beneath this is the keypad which consists of only seven keys. No numeric keypad here. Beneath the keypad is the speaker grill which takes up nearly 50% of this panel's real estate.

Moving up to the top panel, there's the typical rotary control, speaker/data jack, and antenna connector. The unusual feature here is that the antenna is not the usual BNC; it's an SMA connector.

Looking to the left side panel there are the squelch and function keys which are a light gray in color and molded in soft rubber. I have found the FUNC key to be too small and it requires WAY too much pressure to activate. Both of these conditions are made worse by the fact that this key is often used due to the lack of a "real" keypad. I would suggest switching the function of these squelch and function keys given that the squelch is much larger and easier to use as well as being used less often.

That leaves the back panel which houses the belt clip anchor, identification sticker panel and battery compartment cover. The supplied belt clip is plastic and very similar to the one used on the R10. But while the R10 clip mounted to screw-type inserts, the R2 uses a pass-through sliding lock.

Of all the handheld radios I have used, the R10 is the only one whose belt clip I managed to break. Thankfully, iCOM Technical Support was willing to provide a replacement for free. At a later date, I replaced this arcane clip with a metal clip manufactured by Kenwood for their TH-26, thanks to a tip given to me by a Strong Signals reader (see my Scanner Tips page).

Unfortunately, a replacement of the R2 clip will not be possible since it uses a sliding lock attachment instead of the typical two-screw approach. This does allow the clip to be easily installed and removed without tools but I would much rather prefer the option I had with the R10. Not only would a metal clip be much sturdier, it would hardly increase the thickness of the radio compared to this bulky plastic contraption.

Another interesting note about this belt clip is that it has two slots built into it that allow the hand strap to be attached since iCOM was unwilling or unable to provide the usual anchor on the side of the case like the R1 or R10.

The battery cover also introduces some new "technology". Instead of the slide-off cover used by the R10, the R2 uses a latched and hinged method. To remove the cover, a latch must first be unclipped at the bottom edge. This allows the cover to then swing upward and be removed from the body thus exposing the compartment for the two AA cells.

Comparing the R2 to the R1/R10, you'll notice there is no external jack to supply some form of external power. And looking at the specifications in the manual, you'll notice that the speaker jack doubles as a data jack to be used for radio cloning and PC upload/download when used with the proper cable and/or software. No word on whether this jack allows control via PC but I doubt it.

Pictures

Here's the R1, WS2000 & R2

Here's the R1, R10 & R2

Here's the R2 keypad

Here's a front view

Here's a top view

Here's a side view showing the belt-clip

Here's a shot of the battery cover in action

Here's the R2 antenna and adapters (not included)

Here's a closer view

Notice how the SMA/BNC adapter removes some of the R2's "stealthiness" (that's the PRO-74 racing antenna on the R2 and the RH-3 on the WS2000).

Antenna
The R2 comes with the FA-S270C SMA antenna. It's seven inches long and looks quit strange when mounted since it is nearly twice as tall as the radio itself. Since it is an SMA antenna, it is quite thin when compared to a BNC equivalent since the SMA is such a small diameter. For those not familiar with SMA, it is a form factor similar to a typical co-ax F-type threaded connector with a much smaller diameter.

The biggest hindrance here is that, with the SMA connection, it makes using any collection of BNC antennas a pain. iCOM offers the AD-92SMA adapter which converts the female SMA to a female BNC found on most of today's receivers. I ordered a similar connector from Lentini Communications so that I could use a regular BNC antenna on the R2.

To be able to use the R2 antenna on a BNC style radio, I ordered a BNC to SMA adapter from Tech America (#910-0622, BNC male to SMA female). With this adapter in place, I was ready to test the FA-S270C alongside a typical rubber duck antenna using my MVT-7100.

My Handheld Antenna Review revealed that the stock antenna used on the PRO-39/43/60/62/64 (A0337) was an average receiving unit from 30 - 960 MHz so I used it. For this test, I ran both through a set of frequencies ranging from 1 - 940 MHz. For the most part, they turned in near identical results proving that the R2 unit is just an average antenna. Above 800 MHz, it was a tad inferior to the A0337.

Features
As mentioned earlier, the LCD on this radio is quite large given its overall size. The frequency numerals are VERY large and easy to read. Display contrast is very good, especially when viewed from slightly above. It can also be read from just about any angle.

With all the R2's features, you can expect to find a lot of information that needs to be displayed. A quick rundown can be seen in the manual under the "Functional display" section which provides a pictorial representation of all the display indicators as well as their function.

Across the top of the display are the receive mode indicators, duplex and tone squelch operation, and attenuator setting. Below these is the main frequency readout which numerically represents frequencies down to the 1 kHz position. Separate indicators are used along the right-hand edge to denote smaller increments when the 12.5 kHz step size is used.

Next, we have a row of indicators that starts with the battery indicator. It consists of two segments to indicate a full charge. One segment disappears when the batteries will need to be replaced soon and both flash as the radio nears the point of self-shutoff.

When the batteries do get to the point of exhaustion and both segments blink, it is initially accompanied by an audible, double dual-tone alert which I did not see mentioned in the manual.

Using a set of Panasonic AA alkalines, the R2 seemed to run forever on them and was very reminiscent of the WS1000 & WS2000.

Following the battery indicator are the lock, priority, skip and memory mode indicators. The next and final row is used to show the S-meter which consists of a BUSY indicator and 9 segments.

At the end of these two last rows is a larger area set aside to indicate the current memory bank (when in memory mode) as well as the memory channel or search limit, depending on the current mode.

Given its sparse nature, there isn't much to say about the keypad. Use the picture provided above to see what it provides. Most of the keys serve multiple purposes depending on whether they are pressed or held, used in conjunction with the FUNC key as well as the current mode when they are activated. Out of the box, each key is accompanied with a beep which varies with the volume setting. It can be turned off using a dedicated parameter in Set mode.

On the top panel is the rotary control which is used to slew through frequency ranges as well as select menu options. It is simply labeled as 'DIAL' and contains a number of fine and coarse ridges for gripping. It feels quite solid and provides good operational feedback when used. Turned rapidly, it can slew through frequency ranges VERY quickly. If this found to be too fast, the Set mode can be accessed to turn off this accelerated speed.

Unlike most radios with a rotary volume control, the R2 uses two keys on the keypad which also double for other functions. Pressing the volume keys results in a display of the current setting on the LCD with a proportionate number of 'o's.

The squelch is also unusual in that is controlled via a key on the left-hand side. Pressed and held, it acts as a monitor and instantly opens the squelch. Using the Set mode, the monitor parameter can be changed so that each press of the squelch control toggles the monitor on or off, rather than just enabling it while the squelch is held down.

If held in and the rotary control turned, the squelch can be set to be held open, placed in 'Auto' mode, or set to a level between 1 and 9. I was surprised to find the 'Auto' setting quite useful and have left it in that mode.

Holding down FUNC while pressing squelch (a superhuman feat considering the proximity of these controls and the pressure needed on the FUNC key) toggles the 10dB attenuator on and off. Be aware that this is a global attenuator for all modes (VFO, memory, scan and search).

I would characterize the squelch tail as average or perhaps a bit longer in some cases.

One thing iCOM radios are usually noted for are their outstanding audio and the R2 doesn't make an exception. Audio power is massively abundant for such a small radio and considering it is only rated at 100mW. Fidelity is also impressive, especially on the broadcast FM band. The AM detector is also wonderful and stronger AM airband signals come through with near FM quality.

Audio supplied via the earphone jack is also abundant and does not appear to be current limited in any way. It is only monaural and no bothersome noises were detected during scanning or searching. However, when stopping on a signal, it does have that loud, annoying "thumping" sound as the audio amp is turned on. This alone is enough to keep this jack from being used. The usual iCOM touches are here with the thoughtful dust cap covering the jack when not in use.

The R2 also has a power saver function which is used to conserve battery power when the unit is sitting on a single frequency. Using the Set mode, this can be toggled on or off. Unfortunately, it does not have multiple levels like the R10. Once I did enable it, I found the unit made an annoying, fast-paced clicking sound once the saver engaged (of course I've been told I have canine hearing so I guess you'll have to judge for yourself).

There's also a handy auto power-off feature for those of you forgetful types who might leave and forget to turn off the radio. Using Set mode, this parameter can be set to automatically turn the radio off after 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes have passed with no user control activation.

The LCD is lit by a single green LED along the right-hand side. It provides adequate but very uneven illumination. Using the Set mode, the light can be turned off, locked on or placed in 'Auto' mode whereby the light is based on a 5 second timer which resets for each key pressed or rotary activation.

The keypad and controls can be locked to prevent accidental activation which is typically found on most handheld models these days. Using the Set mode, several variations on this theme are possible. In "NORMAL" mode, all controls are locked except for POWER, volume and squelch. Set to "NO SQL", POWER and squelch are active but all controls and volume are locked (makes sense, right?). Set to "NO VOL", POWER and volume are active but all controls and squelch are locked (again, something seems backwards here). Set to "ALL", only POWER remains active.

Once the lock is engaged via the front panel, the key indicator can be seen in the display to indicate such.

Another nice feature is that the R2 comes with power-on resume. When you turn the radio on, it will return to the mode it was in when you turned it off as well as resuming any operation that was in progress (like a search).

Lastly, we'll cover the two reset functions. The first is used to partially reset the radio which returns all settings to their factory defaults except for the contents of memory. The full reset wipes the entire radio "clean" just like it came fresh out of the box.

Set Mode
The Set mode is used to access the parameters or settings which control how many of the R2's functions operate. From the factory, only a fraction of all the parameters are available. Namely, step size, dial select step, priority watch, key beep, backlight and expanded mode.

Once these basic parameters are learned, the expanded mode can be enabled to unleash this mode's full power. Once done, it allows tone squelch control, squelch tone value, duplex, offset, scan resume, scan pause, auto power-off, power save, monitor action, dial speed, keypad/control lock and channel mode features to be accessed.

To enter Set mode, the VFO/Memory key is held down until a double beep is heard. Once in set mode, the rotary control is used to scroll the list of available parameters which are represented by character abbreviations. To change the value of a parameter, FUNC is held and then the rotary control is used to scroll through the possible selections.

Due to various restrictions in some places of the world (mainly outside the US and Canada), the step size, dial select step, duplex and offset can not be accessed while the radio is tuned between 0.495 and 1.620 MHz.

VFO
VFO mode is one of the four "major" modes used on the R2 (with memory, scanning and searching being the other three). It is in this mode that frequency information is entered and the rotary control is used to slew through the spectrum looking for active signals. And it is from this mode that the memory write operation is started whereby contents are written to the memory channels.

Since the R2 has no numeric keypad, the BAND and FUNC keys are used to get where you are going. And usually with the help of the rotary control. By simply pressing the BAND key, the radio jumps to a frequency within one of the eight preprogrammed bands or frequency ranges. These eight bands consist of the following ranges: 0.495 - 1.620, 1.625 - 29.995, 30 - 107.995, 108 - 135.995, 136 - 255.095, 255.1 - 382.095, 382.1 - 769.795, 769.8 - 960.095 and 960.1 - 1309.995 MHz. Keep in mind that this is a German model and that models designated for other countries might change these bands accordingly.

As an added shortcut, instead of having to press BAND to sequentially step through the bands, BAND can be held down and the rotary control used to step forward or backward through the bands.

Once this feature has been used to get the frequency in the neighborhood you desire, the rotary control can be used to narrow it down further. To help with the process, the dial action can be sped up using a Set mode parameter. At times, it can be frustrating to use since a rapid twirl of the rotary control can jump several megahertz.

There is also the dial select step parameter. Accessed from Set mode, this parameter can be set to 100 kHz, 1 MHz or 10 MHz. The value chosen will be used to change the frequency by this amount while FUNC is pressed and the rotary control turned. I've always appreciated this on the R1 and R10 and am glad to see it carried over for the R2 as well.

The R2 does come with a preprogrammed bandplan meaning that the correct receive mode (AM, FM or WFM) and step size are chosen based on the selected frequency. Unfortunately, it can not be "fully" disabled. You can temporarily override the mode and step using the MODE and TS keys on the keypad. However, if you have done so, and you tune across one of the preprogrammed band boundaries, the receive mode and step size will be set according to the band just entered. Annoying.

Since my model was intended for use within Germany, the AM broadcast band is set to use 9 kHz spacing; which is semi-useless here in the US where we use 10 kHz channel spacing. I'm sure that other European units will exhibit the same phenomenon so be sure to consider this when purchasing. Keep in mind that, as mentioned above, while within the AM broadcast band, the step size can not be altered.

If signals are listened to on systems that use one frequency for transmitting and another for receiving, the duplex function can be used to quickly swap between them. To do so, the duplex shift direction and frequency offset must be programmed. Both values are set within Set mode. Once enabled, holding down the SQL key will monitor the duplex frequency based on the shift direction and frequency offset values specified.

Programming
With the VFO under control, the stage is set to program tuned frequencies into memory. The R2 comes with 400 memory channels divided up into eight banks. Each memory channel can not only store a frequency but also a receive mode, step size, duplex direction and offset, CTCSS tone, tone squelch on/off and skip (lockout) setting.

When it comes to identifying the memory banks, the R2 uses an unorthodox method. The first memory bank has no label, the second is identified by '1', the third by '2' and the fourth by '3'. You with me here?

For the other four banks, the same labels are used just like above but there is also a special indicator displayed which looks like a diamond. So these later four banks are labeled '[diamond]', '[diamond] 1', '[diamond] 2' and '[diamond] 3'.

Within each bank, the channels are labeled from '00' to '49'.

With that explained, so to speak, we'll turn our attention to the memory write operation. The frequency, receive mode and step size are set up in the VFO in preparation for this write.

To perform the actual write to memory, one of two methods can be used. The memory channel to be written can first be selected in memory mode and then a 'blind' write can be done. Or, the write operation can be started, the memory channel selected with the rotary control, and then the write completed.

Regardless of the method used, when pressing the key to complete the write process, if this key is held down for a little longer, not only will the write take place, but the R2 will automatically increment the memory channel to the next one. This is very handy when first programming the radio with a list of frequencies, one channel after another, in the 'blind' method mentioned above.

In the above scenarios, the write operation was started from the VFO so that its contents could be written to memory. If the write was started while in memory mode, it allows the current memory channel contents to be written to another memory channel or to the VFO.

There is also a function which can be used to clear the contents of a memory channel. But is a bit of bother since you have to go into memory, select the channel to be cleared, go to the VFO, start a memory write operation and instead of pressing the key to perform the write, another key press is performed to do the clear.

Once a channel has been programmed, the receive mode, step size and skip (lockout) setting can be changed at will.

Like the R10, only one bank at a time can be viewed. To see the contents of another bank, FUNC is held down and the rotary control is used to move to other banks.

The last feature to discuss here is the channel indication mode available from the Set mode. Once set, the radio is automatically placed in memory mode and VFO mode can not be entered. Also, memory contents are no longer displayed as a frequency and channel number. Instead, 'CH-nn' is displayed where 'nn' is the channel number (0 - 49) shown in lieu of the frequency. Additionally, the bank number is displayed where the channel number use to be, and instead of using the 'funky' diamond numbering system, the numbers 0 - 7 are used.

Scanning
For our discussion of the R2, 'scanning' shall refer to an action which causes the memory channel contents to be checked for activity.

Like most, if not all iCOM models, the R2 only allows one or all banks to be scanned. There is no in between. No way to link banks of your choosing. Same as it ever was.

If single bank scanning has been selected, the memory bank to be scanned is then selected in memory mode. The scan is then started which operates on the current bank only. If all bank scanning is selected, the scan can be started from any memory bank.

Once a scan is started, the scan direction can be changed using the rotary control. Channels can also be skipped (locked out) on the fly as well. If activity is detected on a channel, the radio will stop to monitor it. How long this monitoring continues depends on the scan pause parameter in Set mode. It can be set between 2 and 20 seconds, or unlimited (as long as the signal is active).

Once the signal goes away, or the scan pause timeout expires, the scan can be resumed. The scan resume action is also a parameter within Set mode as well. It can be set to start scanning immediately, delay for between 1 and 5 seconds, or to not resume (hold) until the rotary control is used.

As mentioned earlier, the attenuator can be toggled on or off as you see fit while scanning.

Searching
For our discussion of the R2, 'searching' shall refer to an action which causes the receiver to test a range of successive frequencies for activity.

To check a range of frequencies for active signals, a search can be conducted. The R2 comes with three types of searches: all, band and programmed. An 'all' search simply searches the entire receive range of the R2! A very useful feature I must say! A 'band' search is used to check all frequencies within a band which is chosen based on the band within with the current VFO frequency resides. This, too, is of little use for most of us.

The most flexible and often used search will be the programmed or limit search. The R2 comes with 25 search limits, each of which can be programmed with a lower and upper frequency to search between. They are labeled P0 - P24 and are simply an extension of the eight memory banks. When you use FUNC and the rotary control to select a memory bank, you'll find them after the last bank. Once there, the appropriate lower and upper limits can be selected to be programmed just like any normal memory channel.

Once programmed, the type of search must be selected which consists of 'all', 'bank' or one of the 25 programmed limits. Now the search may be started which is done the same as a scan but it's started from VFO mode instead of memory mode.

A word of caution: the programmed search limits do NOT store the receive mode and step size along with the frequencies! This shouldn't be a problem if you are using a radio with the correct bandplan for your country and do not want to override the settings of that bandplan. But if you do (imagine that!), you'll have to set up the receive mode and step size before starting the search. And if your search happens to cross one of the preprogrammed bands mentioned above, the receive mode and step size will be reset accordingly. Doh!

Now, during the course of a search, you always run across those nasty birdies and other undesirable signals you'd just love to skip over. Luckily, the R2 comes with a search skip function. The frequencies to be skipped can be specified in one of two ways.

Since they are stored in regular memory channels, they can be specified ahead of time (for those that are known). You see, each memory channel has a 'SKIP' setting which works for skipping during a memory scan, but it also has a 'PSKIP' setting which functions as a normal 'SKIP' as well as indicating to the R2 that this frequency should be skipped during a search (if search skip is enabled).

The other way to specify skip frequencies is to mark them "on the fly". If you come across one during a search, a key press is used to signal that it should be skipped. The R2 performs a memory write of this frequency to the highest, empty memory channel and marks it as 'PSKIP' and then the search continues.

With this in mind, it probably makes the most sense to leave the last memory bank empty and thereby reserved for search skip use if you plan to make extensive use of this function.

Just like in scanning, the same 'pause' and 'resume' parameters selected in Set mode work for searches as well (since iCOM calls everything a 'scanning' operation). The attenuator can be toggled on and off too. To change the direction of searching, the rotary control can be put into use.

Priority
The R2 comes with a flexible set of options that allows one or more frequencies to be checked every five seconds for activity. But the options available aren't those usually available in most of today's receivers.

In 'memory channel watch', the receiver sits on the VFO frequency and checks the selected memory channel frequency for activity every five seconds. In 'memory scan watch', the receiver waits on the VFO frequency and sequentially checks each memory channel of the selected bank every five seconds for activity. In 'VFO scan watch', a search is performed with the selected memory channel frequency being checked every five seconds.

So you can watch a frequency (or multiples) while sitting on the VFO or while performing a search. You can't do this while in memory mode or during a scan.

Regardless of the mode chosen, the R2 can be programmed to provide visual and audible alerts if activity is detected on a priority frequency.

CTCSS
The R2 comes not only with tone squelch ability, but with tone search as well! With 50 sub audible tone frequencies available, the tone squelch can be enabled for individual memory channels, the VFO, or while searching.

Once a tone has been selected, signals on the selected frequency will only open the squelch if matching tones are detected. If the tones do not match, the squelch will remain closed but the S-meter will register accordingly. The squelch can be manually forced open using the SQL key if desired.

Using the R2's tone search ability, it allows unknown tone squelch values to be detected on a VFO or memory channel frequency. Once enabled, the R2 can be seen cycling through all of the tone squelch values, even when there is no signal being displayed. The direction that the tones are traversed can be reversed by simply using the rotary control.

Once a signal is received, the audio will be heard but the display will still show the values being checked (at a slower rate) as the R2 attempts to find the tone being used, if any. If a tone is detected, the display will stop on this tone so it can be visually noted.

There is also a 'pocket beep' function which can be used to give a thirty second visual and audible indication that a signal has been received on the chosen frequency with a matching tone (specified by the user).

Jeff Goldman reminded me of two interesting details that should not be overlooked. First, that the R2 is unusual from most models these days in that it still allows audio through even when searching for a CTCSS tone. So you don't have to pay attention to the S-meter or use another radio in tandem to know when you're receiving.

Second, when tone search is enabled, the R2 will remember the last detected tone and save it to the Set mode parameter that controls tone squelch (usually programmed by the user for a specified tone).

VHF/UHF Performance
Like all my reviews, I start off with a birdie test to see how much internal interference the radio generates on its own. A sweep from 25 - 1300 MHz turned up 82 such frequencies which is about twice as many as I found on the R10. But it's still fairly good for a radio with its size and coverage. And it did much better than the 180+ found on the Welz WS2000 micro-receiver.

While at home, I used the stock antenna to do another search over the same frequency range to check for interference from images and intermod. In the low 480s, I did find some 460 MHz images and the mid 480s up until about 507 MHz saw plenty cellular images. A few TV images were detected above 850Mhz. Overall, the results were quite good considering the extreme sensitivity of the R2 as given in the specifications.

One thing I did notice was that there were few signals detected in the FM broadcast band. Looking at the receive specs for Wide-FM in this range and noting that the antenna was rated average, I can only suspect that this was caused by desensitization (receiver front-end overloaded by nearby signals which causes it to reduce its gain making it appear "deaf"). Jeff Goldman clued me into this when he mentioned similar problems on his IC-Q7. I could not detect similar problems on any AM or FM signals that I tested.

We then traveled to that nasty part of town where there are a number of local transmitters pumping out gobs of power for pagers, TV and FM broadcast signals not to mention a few nearby cell towers. The results on VHF were quite good except for more desensitization noted on FM broadcast, a few pager images on VHF-lo and a few cell images in the lower part of the civil air band.

Once I got above 400 MHz, things really started to fall apart. Pager/TV intermod was rampant between 400 & 500. There were also a few TV images as well as some TV/cell intermod. Scanning between 512 and 770 MHz in Wide-FM mode found that nearly every tested frequency at 50kHz spacing had a full S-meter signal but no audio. More Wide-FM desense-related problems here?

Above 800 MHz, cell images and cell/cell intermod was quite frequent. Above 900 found more cell/cell intermod as well as some cell/pager intermod and pager images which plagued a large number of frequencies right up to the receiver's limit. Very disappointing.

I returned home for some side by side testing with the R2 matched against iCOM's previous micro-receiver, the IC-R1, along with the WS2000 by Wells (oops...I mean Welz...that was a recent USENET joke I couldn't let pass ;-).

I tested each radio on the same set of signals between 42 and 939 MHz with the same antenna used for each test. Be aware that I used the SMA/BNC adapter on the R2 since a number of BNC antennas were used. Although there will be some loss using such an adapter, I do not feel it was anywhere near significant enough to effect the overall outcome of this test.

In the results table below, for each frequency, I ranked the radios 1st, 2nd and 3rd where appropriate. Where there was no discernible difference, they were scored the same. If the test signal could not be received, a '-' is listed. Here are my results:

Using the above rankings, I added the results for each radio and divided by the number of frequencies tested to get an indication of the overall rank of each radio on VHF/UHF. For a test frequency that wasn't received, a value of 4 was used.

This placed the radios from first to last as follows: IC-R2 (1.7), WS2000 (1.8) and IC-R1 (2.2). So the R2 and WS2000 basically tied for first with the R1 bringing up a close second place.

The R2 does seem to excel on VHF-lo and on 900 MHz which I have personally seen in my own individual use on programmed frequencies that I listen to. Results are also good on VHF aero and public safety as well.

As for selectivity, AM seems acceptable but FM is too wide with WFM being even worse.

HF Performance
I then tested the same radios on some HF frequencies between 3 and 26 MHz. Again, keep in mind that the R2 had to use the SMA/BNC adapter.

In the results table below, for each frequency, I ranked the radios 1st, 2nd and 3rd where appropriate. Where there was no discernible difference, they were scored the same. If the test signal could not be received, a '-' is listed. Here are my results:

Using the above rankings, I added the results for each radio and divided by the number of frequencies tested to get an indication of the overall rank of each radio on VHF/UHF. For a test frequency that wasn't received, a value of 4 was used.

This placed the radios from first to last as follows: IC-R2 (1.6), IC-R1 (1.8) and WS2000 (2.3). So the R2 and R1 basically tied for first with the WS2000 bringing up a close second place.

While it might have come in first, don't expect a lot of HF performance out of this radio. Nearly any other HF/VHF/UHF handheld will outperform it but that's to be expected when sacrifices are made for this kind of radio size.

My biggest complaint for HF would be the lack of a 1 kHz step size.

Ranking

Here's the ranking criteria

Things I Like

Size, of course

Frequency coverage

Audio power and quality

Sensitivity; to a point

2 AA battery power

Battery life

Lots of features with flexible options

CTCSS search/decode

8 banks of 50 channels each

25 search limits

Power-on resume

Things I Would Change

Needs much better UHF filtering

Needs 1 kHz step for HF

Metal belt clip

Search limits should store mode and step

Allow multiple selectable banks to be scanned

Replace Arnold Schwartzenneger FUNC key with a Richard Simmons variety

Summary
The R2 sure does pack a lot into a little package. It is also one of the few receivers these days with built-in CTCSS. And not only decode but search as well!

It is super-sensitive which is great if you live in the 'sticks' but could present a problem for others closer to civilization and all the strong transmissions that go with it. The CTCSS function might be able to clean up some of it but some agencies don't use it and on 800 MHz it is rarely at all.

It does have a nice memory setup with 8 banks of 50 channels each. Coverage is great and its size makes it easy to take with you wherever you may roam. Audio is another plus. The 25 search limits come in handy as well but will provide a challenge to those who wish to monitor outside of the preprogrammed bandplan.

It is fairly easy to use once you get the hang of it. And it seems to run forever on a pair of AA alkalines.

Recommendations
If you're really in the market for a micro-receiver, it will probably come down to the R2 or Welz WS2000. The Welz also has twice as many channels in ten banks. It too has a large number of flexible options via its Set mode.

The R2 does scan and search a bit faster. It does come with a belt-clip, as funky as it may be, while the WS2000 comes with none. I also find the R2 a bit easier to use but that may just be my familiarity with iCOM models.

The WS2000 does have a full keypad but I don't find that too much of a negative for the R2 given the features available. While audio is nice on the WS2000, if you listen to the R2 for a while and then go back to the WS2000, you'll notice how muffled it sounds.

The display is also bigger on the R2 which allows for larger indicators. On the WS2000, some of the indicators are so small and so near the edge of the LCD that it takes a microscope to see what's going on.

Both have rotary controls and speaker jacks, and run on 2AAs, but the R2 also uses the earphone jack as a data port for radio cloning and PC interface.

The WS2000 also has no CTCSS features and performs even poorer on HF than the R2.

Also keep in mind that if you have a favorite assortment of antennas you like to use, the R2's SMA connector is going to present some frustration since an adapter will always have to be used. Or you can bite the bullet and buy some new SMA antennas which aren't terribly popular yet but are slowly getting there.

The best bet for SMA antennas these days is to probably go with models made by Comet (SMA-501 and SMA-503), Diamond (SRH-519, SRH-805 and SRH-815) or Pryme (RD-9 and RD-98) with prices ranging from $22 - $45. Most amateur radio dealers like AES and HRO will carry most, if not all of these.

Of course, if you can stand a slightly larger radio and can do without the tone squelch/search, the R10 should fit the bill while providing much better interference rejection and good sensitivity.

For those of you looking to the future and keeping your options open for now, we might see the introduction of the AOR AR16 and Trident has said they will come out with their own micro-receiver, the TRX-100XLT, with speech inverter and band scope functions. There has also been a rumor that Radio Shack will introduce a micro-receiver of their own in '99.

As for R2 delivery here in the states, no definitive word on when shipments to the US will start. The last rumors were that iCOM was pushing hard for the November time frame but it might be as late as January of '99.

As for pricing, one dealer has mentioned that they expect just over the $200 mark here in the US.

I would like to close by thanking Hanno of TELCOM GmbH, Germany for being able to supply to me one of the very first R2s off the production line. Their excellent service and e-mail to me regarding European radio news exemplify their support of both the amateur radio and scanning hobbies!

Jeff Goldman Update - October 18, 1998
I loaned my R2 to Jeff so that he could play with it and give his assessment of its abilities. He was also loaned a few SMA antennas from Lentini Communications to try out on the R2 as well. Jeff passed along a number of notes which I will try to form into some coherent structure...

Some of his first impressions were that the "radio is unbelievable", an "amazing radio" and "This radio (so far) is like a dream versus what I expected."

In a suburban part of Connecticut, he found a few cell images where I did but no intermod on 460 - 465 MHz.

He did find that "VFO searches" are possible if you use the ALL or BAND search function since it starts at the current VFO frequency and progresses.

What follows is Jeff's report:

The radio is smart enough to allow you to punch in 46.61 MHz and then let you search up in 20 kHz steps. The "stupid" Welz changes to 46.6, 46.62, etc. The radio is also smart enough to know that if you're on 868.780 and change the step to 12.5 kHz and tune 1 step, it'll go to 868.775. Bottom line is that it understood when you will and won't need to start a search from a freq with an oddball step rate.

Direct searches are no problem using ALL or BAND type searches. The scanner starts up from whatever freq you punch into the VFO and will go up or down in direction.

The stock ducky is acceptable versus other amateur duckies in the bands below 118 MHz.

Size of the radio is supposedly even smaller than the C508A.

The audio fidelity and volume is night-and-day over the C508A and Welz radios.

The delay rate can be set to zero (or upwards in 1 second intervals), which is helpful for split freq taxis/dispatchers or Motorola trunked systems. Hold is cool, too, when looking for new freqs while searching around.

Speed seems adequate versus the R10, especially since the radio doesn't get needlessly get hung up with forced-2-sec delays after the squelch breaks.

9 kHz steps is NOT a problem on MW since the AM filter is wide. The USA and Canadian versions have selectable steps (NOT fixed), but 9 kHz is NOT a choice ironically. Also, Duplex may NOT be set in the MW mode (bizarre) in the overseas versions, only in the US and Canadian ones. The Canadian version MAY be uncensored. In the overseas versions, you cannot use the quick method to jump around in 100 kHz/1 MHz/10 MHz steps in the MW band for some reason; but, this is no problem since there's dial speed acceleration available.

The Power Save clicks are NOT as annoying as you seem to think they are. I let others check it out and they agree. It's a personal thing, I guess.

The AUTO setting of Squelch (per the manual) indicates automatic level adjustment with a noise pulse count system.

The stock antenna is the same one included with the Q7.

The R2 w/SMA-501 makes for an amazingly small, great-sounding combination. Again, VERY cool.

Jeff also found that if you hold down BAND while powering up the radio, it lights up all the display indicators as long as you hold BAND down. It is plain to see the RIT indicator which is only used on its IC-Q7 sibling amateur transceiver.

Jeff then did some testing with the loaded SMA antennas and reported the following:

For the last several days I've been testing quite a few duckies and a few telescoping whips on Rich Wells' German R2. From shortest to tallest, I compared the Comet SMA-501 (SMA-type Miracle Baby), VX-1R ducky, Diamond SRH-815 (same size as VX-1R ducky), Watson W-889 (telescoping whip w/elbow joint and SMA/BNC adapter), ICOM FA-S270C (stock ducky on both R2 and Q7), Pryme (formerly Premier) RD-9, MFJ-1712 (telescoping whip w/SMA/BNC adapter), Comet SMA-503, Comet SMA-3, and Pryme RD-98 (super long, super thin ducky).

I'll start at the top freq range I checked, 800 MHz. I found that most antennas were OK in that range, but not any better than that. The SMA-3 is exemplary since it is actually cut for 800 MHz. The telescoping whips were also very good. The tiny SMA-501 is not up to the performance of the other antennas for the most part, but is sure convenient to use and is acceptable, in my opinion. On the other hand, the super long Pryme RD-98 was really awful up there.

Here's some random results with the various antennas on UHF-TV type freqs. At 757.75 MHz (ch 61), the Pryme RD-9 (same size and usually same performance as the stock R2 ducky) was just OK, but the R2 stock ducky was good. The SMA-3 was lousy. At 637.75 MHz (ch 41), the stock ICOM was excellent, the RD-9 was OK, but the SMA-501 was just fair. At 577.75 MHz (ch31), the SMA-3 was useless. At 517.75 (ch21), the SMA-3 and SMA-503 (super thin ducky) were awful, but the telescoping whips, R2 stock ducky and similar-performing, super thin Pryme RD-9 were excellent. At 499.75 (ch18), the MFJ whip, RD-9 and stock ICOM were really good. The SMA-3 and Diamond were poor. And the SMA-501 and VX1R were useless while the SMA-503 was OK.

At 460.5 MHz, all of the antennas were good other than the tiny SMA-501, which was only so-so.

In the 200 MHz area (TV ch7-13, Amateur 223 MHz band), the Pryme RD-9 and stock duckies had a deep null. The Comets (503 and 3) were really good, just as they were at 162 NOAA Wx freqs. The telescoping whips were also excellent at the high end of VHF-Hi.

The SMA-3 and SMA-503, although excellent at VHF-Hi and UHF freqs, were just awful below civilian air freqs (i.e. FMBC, SW, MW). They are cut JUST for VHF-hi and UHF (and 800 MHz in the case of the SMA-3). The long Pryme RD-98 was good at NOAA freqs, but not as good as the shorter Watson telescoping whip. And the long Pryme exhibited all kinds of flutter as the thin whip wriggled around.

Bottom line is that every antenna may have its niche, but if you're looking for a good, all-around antenna, it's undoubtedly going to be a telescoping whip. Rich Wells loves his Watson since it collapses to become quite small and has an elbow joint so it won't poke into your side while you wear it. And you can angle the antenna upwards while the radio lies down on the car seat next to you or on a desk. Price is only $24.95 and it is black in color with blue lettering.

The Pryme RD-9 is a good ducky and is super thin so it's comfortable to "wear" versus the stock R2 similar-performing antenna (not really flexible). A definite step down in performance, but still usable at most freqs, is the shorter (not very flexible) $14.95 VX-1R ducky or similar-performing, super thin $39.95 SRH-815 Diamond ducky.

To display state of the art miniaturization, nothing touches the Comet SMA-501. This is the 1.75" Miracle Baby-like SMA antenna. Together with the tiny, though great-sounding R2, this makes for a really cool-and-compact package! The 501 is not a great performer at any particular freq, but super convenient when attached to this radio. When local to those signals that one wants to hear most, this is THE way to fly. Price is $26.95.

A tip: touching the antenna with the hand not holding the radio will improve performance markedly on many freqs. Definitely worth investing in for those occasions when you aren't looking for DX and want to keep size and weight at a minimum.

I'd like to send a big thanks to Alex Lentini, owner and President of Lentini Communications, for allowing me to test all of these antennas as well as What's-His-Name for the loan of his R2!

Jeff Goldman, WA1UDB

October 11, 1998

---

Copyright © 2010 by Richard J. Wells