Wide Range Handheld Receiver

[k4kyv]

Has anyone tried one of the miniature handheld receivers, like the Yaesu VR-500 or Icom IC-R series?

Seems like it would be a good receiver for casual listening and rf noise sniffing purposes.

Looking at the specs and some comments on the web, I would think the VR-500 would be a better deal than the Icom ones.  The IC-R5 is less expensive, but has no SSB or CW capability, and tunes in 5 kHz steps.  The others are far more expensive than the VR-500.

But I am wondering just how well do those things pick up signals.

Also, do they have a headphone/ext speaker jack for better fidelity reception than with the tiny speaker?

For anyone who purchased one, do you think it was worth the bucks?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I've had an Icom IC-R10 for several years and it works quite well. It has FM, AM, CW, USB, and LSB modes. Fairly broad bandwidth on AM. I use it a lot to monitor 6 meters when I'm not near the station equipment. On HF, the short whip is worthless, but a hunk of wire thrown on the floor and connected to the antenna jack seems to work very well. Battery life between charges isn't that great.

http://www.icomamerica.com/products/receivers/r10/default.asp

[w3jn]

As might be expected in a tiny radio like these, the synthesizers are extremely noisy and they have almost no front end selectivity.  For what they are they work pretty well.

The Icom R-3 is pretty cool as it has a built in TV set as well as a crude spectrum analyzer mode.

[WA3VJB]

A couple of Christmases ago I got a Yaesu VX-2R that really sucked. Plenty of overload on good antenna, lack of sensitivity on the rubber antenna, crappy audio on transmit and receive.  I gave it away.

[k4kyv]

The Icom R-3 is pretty cool as it has a built in TV set as well as a crude spectrum analyzer mode.

I think that's a little too much feature creep.  I am looking for a portable receiver-only with at least fair reception from the AM broadcast band up through 30 mHz, or preferably up through about 150 mHz, using a short whip antenna, with AM, FM and SSB/CW capability, and tuning intervals of 1 kHz or less.

Not looking for too many fancy bells and whistles to drive up the price and increase the likelihood of eventual crap-out. Just a basic multi-mode radio receiver that performs well for what it is.
 
With ever-increasing buzzies throughout the hf spectrum, I am looking for something that would allow me to walk around the area to sniff for noise sources, as well as casually listen to shortwave broadcast and ham stations.

My latest problem is on 160m.  A very rough buzzie, sounds a little like a TV horizontal sweep oscillator, but it shows up every 51.5 khz, starting at the top of the expanded AM BC band, and audible up to about 3 mHz.  It wipes out all but the strongest signals on both the popular AM operating frequencies, 1885 and 1985.  Others show up in between, on about 1832 and 1935.  They drift up and  down the band +/-  a kHz or two throughout the day.  Seems like something local, because the S-meter reading is the same day and night.  I have disconnected all suspected electronic  gadgets in the house to no avail.  The thing seems to run 24/7, and just started up a week or two ago.

[Carl WA1KPD]

Don,
It is not a handheld HT, but I have a  Kaito 1103. LW to FM with  SSB and fine tuning. I like it and for the $80 or so it goes for (new) you can’t beat it

73

KPD

[Pete, WA2CWA]

You might check out Universal Radio's list of current portable short wave receivers:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable.html

Their Feature comparison chart:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/chartp.html

And their discontinued portable short wave receiver list:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portdisc.html

Of course, there's always

[w3jn]

Any of the ones I've used have had miserable performance on AM and SW.  No reception at all with the whip and they get EVERYTHING simultaneously on a decent antenner.   If that's your goal you should get a small portable SW receiver.

[WA1GFZ]

check out the Lowe 150

[W8EJO]

Don,
It is not a handheld HT, but I have a  Kaito 1103. LW to FM with  SSB and fine tuning. I like it and for the $80 or so it goes for (new) you can’t beat it

73

KPD

Dittoe that.

The 1103 is, IMHO, the best bang for the buck of any small portable. I bought mine used for $35 if I recall. It works great with just the whip. I use mine for MW broadcast & to monitor the HF ham bands & SW bands.

I also own a Yaesu VX7-R. It's a wide band receiver as well as a VHF/UHF HT. It's receiver performance pales in comparison to the KAITO1103.

Terry
W8EJO

[Rob K2CU]

Don,

That spur every 51.5 KHz or so could be a switcher. Or, it could be one of those fluorescent replacement lamps with an electronic ballast. I picked up a couple of 150 W equivalents that use 41W and they put out wandering spurs up through 15 meters. From what I can tell the emission is from the coiled glass envelope.

[N5RLR]

Below is my review of the Yaesu VR-500 that I posted on eHam.  To my experience, the included rubber duck is good for VHF and above; yes, the thing is ultrasensitive and doesn't have full-range audio.  If one has good hearing, the built-in speaker may do; if not, I'd recommend an earphone.
 
In direct answer to your question, Don, yes, I believe it's worth the money; it does very well for casual listening, and RF sniffing.
 

Dec 18, 2005 21:05    Good for the traveler.      Time owned: more than 12 months

For a travel portable, the Yaesu VR-500 makes a good choice, in my opinion. Although chock full of user-defined settings, it is fairly simple to operate. Being that it covers from longwave to 1.3 GHz, it's a decent "single radio" for traveling, especially when there's nothing interesting on the motel's cable TV.

This being said, there are also its shortcomings, some of which have already been noted [in other eHam reviews] here. The most obvious of these is its broadband input. Behind this Yaesu has placed a rather "hot" RF amplifier, with the result that this radio hears very well...perhaps a little too well. On a weekend when Amateur Radio operators are having one of their many QSO contests, don't expect this receiver to pull weaker stations out of a "pileup." It simply isn't designed for it.

Another shortcoming is of the various settings and presets, many of which may not be used by the casual listener. Certainly the Dual Watch and Band Scanning features are nice, but I personally haven't used them yet. Not saying that I won't, just not yet. I have used the Band Scope, however; kinda nifty.

Still another may be the number of memories: one thousand. Of course, finding frequencies to fill these up shouldn't be too much of a problem [just look around on the Internet!]. Programming so many frequencies can be a bit of a chore, and so I recommend Yaesu's optional ADMS-3 programming software [it runs in Windows, from W95-up, again, as noted here]. One can import comma-delineated files into its database, or cut-and-paste from MS Excel.

Again, in spite of what this little rig isn't, taken as what it is, it is a fun radio. I personally have a "kit" made up of my VR-500, a BNC-to-1/8" adapter, a roll-up wire antenna [Radioshack #278-1374], earphone, microcassette recorder, audio attenuator adapter and patch cable, and batteries. All this fitted into a soft vinyl camera case. Great for keeping entertained and informed while traveling, and for casual listening just about anywhere.

Mikey likes it.

Note:  The cable supplied with the programming software requires a 9-pin serial port on the host computer.  Mine does, and has worked flawlessly in Win95 and XP.  Don't know how it'd fare with a USB/serial adapter.  YMMV.

[W1JS]

I have an IC-R10 and would not recommend it.  It is lousy on HF.  A rubber duck is fairly useless and with a real HF antenna, the RX suffers from overload and is very wide.  And it does not make a very good VHF/UHF scanner.  I bought it for a real portable HF rx and scanner, but have been very disappointed.  The only reason I have kept it is for RF sniffin' if I need it.  Much better on HF is the Radio Shack version of the Sangean ATS-909 which I have.  It is about the size of a large paperback book.  I got it for less than a $100 when Rad Shack was closing them out.  Another one I have, which is older and a bit travel worn (broken ant., etc.) is an earlier version of the Sony ICF-SW7600GR.  About the size of a medium size paperback book.  Both rx's perform reasonably well and have SSB/CW capability.  The sound on the Rad Shack rx is pretty good with a pair of headphones.  It sits on the bedside table for "just monitoring"... 

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I should have mentioned earlier that I still have my Sony ICF-2010 which I bought in the early 90's. It still works quite well with the built in whip antenna on the higher bands and even better on the lower bands with an outside antenna or a hunk a wire thrown on the floor.

And a "good" outside antenna on the R-10 will definitely cause overload of the receiver with signals. That's why I just use my hunk of wire thrown on the floor for an external antenna.

Sony ICF-2010

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Get ya one of these. Much better than this modern stuff. The one I have is quite FB.



Zenith Trans-Oceanic Royal 3000

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I also have my Hammarlund HR-10. Not a lot of short wave coverage but it does cover 160 and 80 meters.



I just realized I have a 2010, R10, and a HR-10. Something with the "10's".

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Cool! A Hammarlund portable.