ICOM IC-R5 reviews

The ICOM IC-R5 is very small, it easily fits in the palm of my hand, or my coat pocket. Even with the standard, flexible, antenna it's not a problem in my inside pocket.

Programming the IC-R5 is a bit tricky. Everything has to be done with a very limited number of keys, so every key has at least 3 uses. Things like push-and-hold, push-and-push-another-button, etc. are commonplace.

The thing that I really don't like about the IC-R5 is the scanning speed. At only 15 channels/sec it is SLOW, very SLOW. ICOM should have really fixed this before shipping this receiver.

Duplex frequencies is a very nice feature of the IC-R5. This allows you to program an incoming and outgoing frequency, for instance for repeaters. Very handy. I miss this feature on many much more expensive rig.

Cheers!