People can purchase a whole computer, including monitor and keyboard
for less than darn glorified radio...

.... obliviously, this is not working like it used to...

Buy a cheap degen, put up a good antenna and you are in business...
$500+ dollars more just for a bit of signal improvement is obviously
not worth it, only the brain dead still pursue that route...

John

"Alan Dye" wrote in message
news
wrote:
This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted
the
message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the R-75
is
discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and noticed
that
the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its having been
removed
at one point. Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



I was in ham radio outlet in Sunnyvale, CA yesterday and asked about
this particular issue as there are not many SWL receivers now in the
~$500 range. I was told that they had talked to Icom about it (They
move a LOT of Icom out of this HRO location, very friendly with
them.) and that Icom had to discontinue it because one of the key
component suppliers went out of business and there weren't
alternatives for that component. They said they had spoken to Icom
and that they were working on redesigning the R75 into a new radio
without the component. If this is in fact true, they'll likely
release it as a new radio. (Anyone for an IC-R85?)

Icom, if you're reading this, please fix the SSB on the new one, and
keep all the stuff about the R75 we all love. Oh, and it would be
really nice if you continue to include the DSP option, in fact, just
put it in as standard at the factory. Widen out the AM just a tad
to improve program listening for those of us who don't always want
to chase utility, improve the speaker just a bit too. Oh, and try to
keep the ~$500 price point, I think that is the sweet spot for
tabletop units. Should produce enough sales volume for you to own
this segment of the tabletop market. I'd even pay ~$600 for all the
improvements.

p.s. a nice option would be a daughter board like the JRC-545 for a
few hundred dollars that allows me to expand it into a wide-coverage
receiver. That way you won't have to put out a replacement for the
8500...