Summary of ICOM IC-R8600 before purchase

IC-R8600 communications receiver is now available in my place.

IC-R8600 in ICOM Ham Festival on Dec., 2016

 
The instruction manual can also be read but written in Japanese. The Japanese price is 228000 Yen, about $2000 excluding tax. Quantity of the first lot is about 250 sets. Now I have picked up some brilliant features and compare with some features of AOR AR-DV1.

AOR AR-DV1 receiver (with SONY ICZ-R250TV behind)

In short, the IC-R8600 is a wide band receiver with digital mode decoder. Comparing to AOR AR-DV1, there are some functions such as IP+(IP3 distortion reduction) to improve unwanted interferences, variable NOTCH filter, Digital twin PBT(Pass Band Tuning with double sharp filters provided with DSP), variable Digital IF filters for SSB/CW/AM, variable Noise Blanker and CW-Reverse(which exchanges receiver sideband LSB/USB) that AR-DV1 with 1702D firmware does not have. Those are built on the IC-R8600. These features are especially for VLF, LF, MF and HF.

Anything else on IC-R8600? Yes of course! dPMR and NXDN descrambler(may not equipped with US version), digital reception history log (up to 50 logs), history csv saving, screen capture, voice recording, data saving onto a SD card like IC-7300 and ID-51 series, network clock synchronization, tone control, FM de-emphasis, speech, FSK decoder, IF output, remote Ethernet control via internet, analog S-meter output jack to connect your 9VDC of maximum voltage meter and so on.

But, no DMR, TETRA, Alinco and YAESU SYSTEM FUSION(C4FM) decoder currently on the IC-R8600. In my country, DMR, TETRA, dPMR, APCO P25 are not commonly used, while domestic digital SCPC format with A-CELP and M-CELP vocoders is mainly used by our government, which cannot be decoded because he restricts to hear his communication easily. There is no thought of "Public Safety" in my country like the US.

Still, the IC-R8600 attracts us because it has 4.3” large color LCD with touch screen and real time smooth & fast spectrum scope, high spec features for VLF – HF and digital voice decoders…. Compared to AR-DV1, the IC-R8600 seems cost effective. Will expect to upgrade much functions with newer firmwares.

I have ordered one and expect to get soon.