20 Most Recent Icom IC-R5 Handheld Scanner Questions & Answers

you can press fuct and # ( St : 10 or 12.5 or 25 ) then adjust frequency like t5710

Check the battery contacts. Sometimes there may be corrosion on them from old batteries. You can also check the contacts that connect the logic board to the battery contacts. There are two small Philips screws in the battery compartment. Remove them and the back cover comes off. You can check the contacts on the inside of the back cover and see where they make contact with the logic board. Make sure all contacts are free of corrosion. If it still will not power up. try a CPU reset. While holding down [FUNC] and [V/M], turn the power ON to reset the CPU.

VFO stands for Variable Frequency Oscillator. This is the function that allows you to enter frequencies. It just means you are not in memory channel mode. You can get more info at the factory web sight and download the instruction manual for free.
http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/receivers/handheld/r6/default.aspx

Go to ICOM's web site and down load the free software. Otherwise, download the manual there in PDF format. You can go to RadioReference.com for more information.

The occilator that "locks" the VFO (like a clock signal) is gong out of range. The higher temps are affecting the temprature controlled occilator. I would send the unit to ICOM for repair.

to store a fcy press BAND to go to your fcy range ie 118.000 airband
dial your fcy ie 127.900(shanwick ocean area control) press and hold V/M for 1 sec, small numbers now blink, dial the memory slot you wish to store into ie 001 then press V/M again for 1sec and this will store 127.900 into mem slot 001. make a list:-
mem number / fcy / mode(am - fm) / station / bank
to prog a fcy into a "bank", press V/M for 1sec - blinking mem numbers - dial mem number ie 001(127.900) press MODE - "bank" flashes past-
-- -- -- -- 001 shows, turn dial to show A-00 this is the first "bank", pressing BAND scrolls through all the alpha "banks" - choose one.. ie A-00 (for airband..) press V/M this puts mem 001 into "bank" A mem slot 00, there are 100 slots in each letter 00 to 99. do this to any fcy you want to scan as a group.
to scan a bank press V/M - small numbers appear -
press BAND to scroll through any "banks" you have created ie A B C D etc (only banks with fcys in will display), press MODE -"bank"- press MODE again and you will start scanning just that "bank" of mem slots.
MODE starts and stops the scan... each letter holds 100 mem slots.. happy scanning!!!

First set the squelch (gets rid of the hissing noise and allows the radio to scan)
to do this....

On the side are 2 buttons, the bottom one is monitor.
press and hold then look at the display,
turn the top dial until "AUTO" appears,

The squelch should now keep the radio quiet.

Now the tuning step..
You need to set this because if your radio was on 450.000 and you wanted to listen to 450.012.5 you would miss it if your radio was making 000.025 "steps". IE you would need 12.5 steps. This is the most common step used by ambulance etc in the UK, you will need to check local band plans.
Stick with 12.5 and you should get most stuff on VHF / UHF.
For airband 12.5 will get most stuff, but some is now changing to 8.33.
For HF (below) 136 Mhz I'd use 5

To set the step....

On the front there are 4 big buttons.
press [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] to select VFO mode,
then press [BAND.LOCK] to select the band you want to listen to,
then press [TS.SET] to enter the step
turn the dial to select your step (stick with 12.5 for now)
press [TS.SET] to exit back to VFO mode



To scan...

First set the scan type...
On the front there are 4 big buttons.
Press and hold the one that says [MODE.SCAN] for 2 seconds and look at the display,
turn the top dial until the screen reads ALL,
press [MODE.SCAN] again and the radio should start to scan with the 12.5 steps you set earlier.
If you want to change scan direction, just turn the top dial.
If you want to stop the scan, just press [MODE.SCAN].

When you hear something interesting, make a note of the frequency on the display.

To set memories (store frequencies).....

On the front there are 4 big buttons.
press [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] to select VFO mode,

to get close to the frequency you made a note of, press [BAND.LOCK]
Then set the actual frequency with the top dial,
press and hold [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] for 2 seconds to select memory write mode (1 short and 1 long beep)
turn the top dial to select which channel you would like to overwrite. Start with 01.
press [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] for 2 seconds. ( 3 beeps )

Thats it!

Any more problems just post on here and either me or someone else will help.

M3ODQ

Sorry, but there's no simple answer as channel spacing varies with frequency/band. The majority will be using 5.0, 10.0, 12.5, and 25.0 KHz steps within the USA, but you'll have to experiment with each band. You're skipping over most VHF and UHF signals using the current 50.0 step setting. The R5 is a wide-coverage receiver with lots of features, but the manual leaves a lot to be desired, the receiver is missing features like automatic step selection (found on almost all scanners), and operation can be extremely difficult. Much of your use will involve interpreting the manual and experimentation.

For a comprehensive database of active frequencies in your area, visit:

www.RadioReference.com

try this....
create an "airshow" bank to scan just the airshow fcys.
press V/M for 1sec -blinking mem numbers- dial a known mem that has an airshow fcy stored in it ie 025 (127.875) press MODE "bank" will flash past..
-- -- -- -- A-00 shows up ( I use this bank for airshows) press V/M, this puts mem 025 (127.875) into "bank" A mem slot 00, each letter holds 100 mem slots , put all your aishow fcys in here and when you scan bank A you will only scan the airshow fcys and not the entire airband!!
to scan a bank...
press V/M - small numbers show- press BAND this will diplay your bank letters, just select A## then press MODE for 1sec -"bank"- press MODE again and you will start scanning just A for airshows...
press MODE to start and stop the scan.. happy scanning! ps Southport was not as good this year as last year although it was good to see the vulcan again!!

It is a bit long winded but, if you are familiar with how to store frequencies into memory numbers, it is almost the same for all the alpha numeric banks, then the rest of the programming is very similar to this method with the additions of tone, code, duplex up or down for each individual frequency etc. My advice is to write your own notes on a large sheet of paper and develop a chart with all your fcys in list order and where you have put them in banks, add how you got there and only refere to the manual if you get really stuck (the manual tends to be too vague and complicated to follow). if your scanner is empty at the moment, this is your best opportunity to learn the hard but best way to programme this lovely beast! ps the scanner is very good once you have mastered it...

assuming you can scan the air band from 108 - 135 what you now need to do is select your range of frequencies from the numeric memory and put them into a "prog", then you can scan the frequencies in there only, better still store them in one of the alpha numeric "banks" or "groups" and scan only those groups. the scanner itself will place active chanels into memory slots automatically for you if you want, then you only hear pre-activated chanels, this is limited though and does not give you very much scope!

It is very likely that the batteries need charging, tip, charge them in a separate charger, if the batts are low, the scanner asks for confirmation to charge them (it is not automatic) and with no display you won't see this message and will forever keep trying to charge them without confirming "yes" for the scanner to do it!!.

If you have re-loaded the software and then connected the scanner the pc should say "found new hardware" if this is not the case then the port may be inactive, try loading the software using windows add new progs in control panel and see if this solves the problem. You can check the ports by going into control panel / system / device manager / ports. By the way, are you using the ICOM OPC 478 lead with the inbuilt electronic converter in it!

What you have is a programming issue. The radios need to be "cloned" so they will all work together. You can buy the software on line for about $65.00 then you can change frequencies when ever you want.

you can go to scanner master.com and get what frequencys you need. if this don't work let me know i will give you a new site.

I am a marine electronics technician with 28 years experience. I have also been a licensed amateur radio operator for the past 12 years. Based on my professional experience with both brands (Icom and Yaesu), I have to advise you to go with one of the Icom units. The Yaesu is a good radio, but Icom's customer support is far superior. I have had no problems dealing with their service department over the years, something I can't say about Yaesu.

Hope this helps.

try plugging and unplugging the charger/ac adapter several times to see if the switch that is built into the jack might be stuck from dirt or corrosion.sometimes you can take a toothpick and get them unstuck too.

This is a problem with any scanner which has no keypad..

First set the squelch (gets rid of the hissing noise and allows the radio to scan)
to do this....

On the side are 2 buttons, the bottom one is monitor.
press and hold then look at the display,
turn the top dial until "AUTO" appears,

The squelch should now keep the radio quiet.

Now the tuning step..
You need to set this because if your radio was on 450.000 and you wanted to listen to 450.012.5 you would miss it if your radio was making 000.025 "steps". IE you would need 12.5 steps. This is the most common step used by ambulance etc in the UK, you will need to check local band plans.
Stick with 12.5 and you should get most stuff on VHF / UHF.
For airband 12.5 will get most stuff, but some is now changing to 8.33.
For HF (below) 136 Mhz I'd use 5

To set the step....

On the front there are 4 big buttons.
press [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] to select VFO mode,
then press [BAND.LOCK] to select the band you want to listen to,
then press [TS.SET] to enter the step
turn the dial to select your step (stick with 12.5 for now)
press [TS.SET] to exit back to VFO mode



To scan...

First set the scan type...
On the front there are 4 big buttons.
Press and hold the one that says [MODE.SCAN] for 2 seconds and look at the display,
turn the top dial until the screen reads ALL,
press [MODE.SCAN] again and the radio should start to scan with the 12.5 steps you set earlier.
If you want to change scan direction, just turn the top dial.
If you want to stop the scan, just press [MODE.SCAN].

When you hear something interesting, make a note of the frequency on the display.

To set memories (store frequencies).....

On the front there are 4 big buttons.
press [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] to select VFO mode,

to get close to the frequency you made a note of, press [BAND.LOCK]
Then set the actual frequency with the top dial,
press and hold [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] for 2 seconds to select memory write mode (1 short and 1 long beep)
turn the top dial to select which channel you would like to overwrite. Start with 01.
press [V/M.S.MW.SKIP] for 2 seconds. ( 3 beeps )

Thats it!

Any more problems just post on here and either me or someone else will help.

M3ODQ