Icom IC-R6

[AIRMAN]

Is there anyone on this forum who owns one of these?

Any info regarding this model would be appreciated.

Thanks

[dags]

yep i have one fantastic little unit very sensitive takes 2 aa batteries lasts for a long time between recharge i take mine just about every where i go about as big as a packet of winnie blues for the price of these you cant go wrong a keeper for me thats for sure

[Comint]

Still only has mono audio, like the rest of the Icoms.

--
Comint

[dags]

thats not a issue to me only having mono audio ,might be to other people ,whats right for me most probably is not for others and vice versa

[AIRMAN]

At least the socket is on top of the unit and not sticking out on the side.

Earphones are essential for me as I have a hearing impairment which started years ago courtesy of military service.

I have the R6 on order now.

Thanks for the reply dags.

[rochedalescan]

Let us know how it works out Airman, I am keen to get a little Icom myself.

[AIRMAN]

Let us know how it works out Airman, I am keen to get a little Icom myself.

Sure will.

[AIRMAN]

Let us know how it works out Airman, I am keen to get a little Icom myself.

Here's my review of the R6. It's not very comprehensive, but it will give you some idea for you to decide. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I owned and flipped scanners and I had an R5, but this one is a little better. read and have a think about it mate:


The ICOM IC-R6 is a communications receiver and is latest the edition of the R2 and R5 IC-R6 pocket size scanners. I previously owned an R5 that performed very well except that it was not possible to link banks on it. The R5 could only scan one bank or all banks, but not selected banks. ICOM have recognized the fact that most users want this feature and they have now included it in the R6 that describes the feature as BANK LINK.

I purchased this model late last month and it arrived in a neatly packaged box with a belt clip, a carry strap and an extensive 82 page Instruction Manual. There were no other accessories like a plug in wall charger or batteries. There are a whole range of accessories available for this model, but at a price and have to be ordered either through the dealer or maybe some on line dealer in the USA. The R6 works exceptionally well with just two Eneloop AA NimH. I have a rechargeable unit to rotate the charges of four AA’s and I have no need to plug the R6 into a mains system, so it didn’t concern me that much. Operating time is much improved over other scanners I have owned. This one goes for about 3 or 4 days or maybe 15hrs+ on a continuous session. This is with the dial lamp permanently ON as well. The LAMP has four options; OFF, ON, AUTO 1 and AUTO2. I should mention that in normal daylight the screen is quite visible and doesn’t require to be illuminated. I use mine mostly at night and even in lying in bed so the LAMP ON feature stays that way as I can’t be bothered to alter the setting each day.

Programming the R6 can be an exercise in frustration to anyone who has not owned an ICOM receiver before and it requires the manual to be consulted at each stage initially. Having no numerical keypad means that a frequency has to be entered into the VFO by selecting the right band and there are eleven of them in sequential order:
AM broadcast band
HF band
50 Mhz band
FM broadcast Band
VHF Air band
144 Mhz band
300 Mhz band
400 Mhz band
850 Mhz band
1295 Mhz band
WX – 01 weather (USA only)

Having selected the right band the user then rotates the dial knob on the top of the R6 until the pre-decimal number comes up by holding down the FUNC button and rotating the dial knob simultaneously. The post decimal number can be set by fine-tuning just the dial knob, then pressing the memory accept button to enter it. This sounds complex, but it is dead easy once you have the system learnt. The selected frequency is still in VFO mode and can be further corrected by MODE and STEP.
Programming from VFO into a main numerical memory (000 – 1299) is a relatively easy process. Once you have entered say 50 or so memory slots of your favorite frequencies they then can be ‘tailored’ to any of 22 available banks (A to R, T, U W, and Y). These BANKS can be individually named and so can each frequency. The user can only scan these banks by name. The dial will not display frequencies in this mode. It’s either frequency numbers or names, but not both. There is not enough room on the display screen to show both. This is a bit of a down side about the R6. One needs to be reminded that this is a pocket sized scanner, so if you want to see both on a larger display screen, you will have to move up to an RX7 or an R20 and of course pay more money for the privilege.

SUMMARY:
The ICOM IC-R6 is a good value for money (around $300) well made Japanese scanner. Its performance on the supplied SMA FA-S270C antenna is good on UHF, acceptable on VHF, but poor on anything lower. I am ordering another SMA antenna, a Diamond SRH120 which is ‘tuned for aviation vhf which is my favorite. I am optimistic this will improve the R6 in that band. The R6 is ideal to carry around and with a mono earbud connection can be covertly used. I am again disappointed that the earphone socket is still mono. How cool it would be if the user could listen with standard stereo earbuds (ipod type) sans the cumbersome mono/stereo adapter!
ICOM R & D logic of creating a central 1300 memory slots so the user is then obligated to ‘tailor’ each of the frequencies therein into a nominated BANK of their choice has some degree of merit, but it is a painstaking process and I guess the Japanese fellows in the ICOM labs think that’s par for the course! I have 69 frequencies in my area I have entered so far and at this point in time, its not really worth me setting up separate banks for them as the R6 is claimed to scan at the rate of 100 persec.

Thanks for reading.

Ref: http://www.icom-australia.com/products/ ... ic-r6.html


Airman

[Phantom]

Thanks for the review airman!!

[Stretch]

Cheers Airman. Much appreciated