For many years I’ve been the owner of an Icom IC-R20 scanner/receiver and I have been nothing but impressed with it. However, it’s getting a little bit old now and I wanted to upgrade.

My obvious choice was the Icom IC-R30 scanner/receiver. Similar to the R20 but just with much improved overall performance, better screen and digital DStar modes. Only problem is they made them for a very short period of time before covid hit and now they are like hens teeth to find on the second hand market. But last week one popped up on line in good condition, second battery and charging cradle all for just £415.

I kick myself now but I hesitated for a few hours before deciding to buy it and when I eventually went online at 2am it had been sold. BUGGER!

This has sort of forced me to review my communication receiver/scanner setup and ask myself the following question.

Do I really need to cover up to 3GHz? No, I don’t.
Do I need digital DStar? No, I don’t.
Do I really need a new communication receiver/scanner? No but I’m not going to let that get in the way of treating myself to a new toy.

So, I listed the IC-R20 on eBay and sold it within hours. I then logged onto the interweb and placed an order for a shiny new Icom IC-R15 which has arrived while writing this.

The IC-R15 is a bit of a strange beast to be honest. It’s 100% NOT a development of the IC-R20 or IC-R30 with coverage only between 75MHz and 500MHz rather than the 5khz and 3GHz of the IC-R20 and IC-R30. It also doesn’t do any digital DStar modes. But when I think about it, 99% of my scanning/receiving is done within the IC-R15’s range, and never in any digital modes. Anything outside of that then I have my SDRPlay software radio which covers just about everything from 5khz to 2GHz. So moving to the IC-R15 doesn’t in any way restrict what I can do, I just have to do it in a slightly different way. And with all that said and done, let me introduce you to my very own new IC-R15.