This is my go-to handheld receiver. I also own an IC-R3 and Yaesu's VX-3R and VX-8R.

The IC-R20 is an extremely useful receiver for a few reasons. It is very sensitive, and can pull in stations that other handhelds will not receive with the same antenna. It is in fact too sensitive at times, and benefits from both the attenuator and the RF gain control. Weak HF signals are comfortable to listen to on the R-20 even if there is a lot of noise, as you can turn down the RF gain to the point where it is just at the noise threshold, allowing only signal to break the silence. Turn down the AF gain and you are listening to weak signals with more comfort than several popular tabletop HF transceivers (yes really). There are several downsides to this radio. The SSB is very "computery" and there is a good bit of frequency drift for the first 1/2 hour of operation from a cold start. It will take a while to settle down and then you will still need to adjust it periodically, but eventually even music is tolerable (normally whacked on SSB). The SSB feature comes in handy often enough, because there is a roughly 2400 Hz filter in there of some kind. AM mode is really really wide, to the point where you will be receiving a signal which is 5-7 KHz away in either direction from the tuned frequency. This is no big deal for the most part, but when you do get two stations at once it is annoying. SSB mode allows you to overcome this to a large degree, as I alluded to above. The audio recorder function is nice to have if you find something weird. I don't use it that often. Scanning might be slower than other "dedicated" scanners, but it is still pretty fast and you also have an all-mode all-band receiver rather than the typical limited scanners, which also usually lack more than AF / FM reception. The spectrum display is nice for visualizing the activity on a band on the wider step settings, and with the narrowest step setting you can visualize the carrier and side bands very easily if you are curious about those details. It's no spectrum analyzer, but it does in a pinch for simple jobs. This receiver is the standard handheld used in the intelligence and security countermeasures communities in many nations. It's not perfect, but it is the best of breed at this time, and if Icom releases an R-30 I will be the first one in line at the local HRO. KC2RCX Rating: 5/5 Nov 15, 2010 06:15 Send this review to a friend Time owned: more than 12 months

A Pleasant Surprise A short , non technical evaluation from KC2RCX. Icom R20 or AOR 8200 Mark 3B ?

Calling several dealers at the time, it was quite unanimous that the ICOM is a better investment for the $$$$. Therefore, I went with the Icom R20. It seems that when someone writes a review/opinion of a radio in this hobby, he or she feels compelled to list all the radios they have owned. I guess it sort of gives the reader a comfortable feeling that the evaluator, has some experience in this hobby. Although, everyone has different interests in different parts of the spectrum for different activity's, I too will mention the radio's I have had and currently own.

Heathkit SW-7800, Heathkit SS-9000, Heathkit HW-5400, Sony ICF-2010, Kenwood R-2000, Kenwood R-5000, (6) various models of the Zenith Transoceanic line, including (1) tube, Drake SW8, Drake R8, Drake R8B, Icom Pro 2, Icom Pro 3, Yaesu FT-1000D, Ten Tec RX-320D, Icom R7000, Palstar R-30A, Icom R75 with S-AM, new ones don't have it anymore, Ten Tec RX-340, Ten Tec Jupiter. Believe it or not, I never transmitted, not even once on any of the transceivers. Bought purely for receive ! ICOM R20: (Serial # 0602964) A convenient package to take on the go or out on the deck. Great feature set, very nice clean audio for a radio of this size, ergonomics excellent, consistent long battery life make this radio a good choice for the person that wants a good all-around radio to experience the spectrum. Radio performance below 30 MHZ for AM DX or utility hunting is not on par with dedicated HF radio's, but allows full coverage in these bands, all mode. Exception, using the R20 with my Palomar Loop antenna's, the receiver was quite sensitive in the LW and MW area's. However, without a good antinuator, don't even think about connecting a long-wire external antenna as the front end will overload in almost all cases. The attached whip is tuned fairly well for the full coverage. Unlike other radios with a feature set such as this one, the learning curve is straight forward. I would say that the only practice one would need is in the memory scan modes. Radio is exceptional above 30 Mhz. In most cases dual receive capability, nice back lit display, host of easy to access features make this a winner. However, those seeking computer control software for this radio will be dissapointed, as there is no real solution that can access the full feature set of the radio. There is however, adequate cloning software for memory organization via an easy to connect USB cable, not included. In conclusion, you will find the built in recorder worth it's weight in gold. The nicest feature I think of the recorder besides recording anything your listening to at the press of a button, it can be setup very easy to record only when a signal is received. Signal quality trade off with amount of storage used. In normal which is excellent, about 2 hours. Enjoy ! KC2RCX

AC4FS

Rating: 5/5

Oct 28, 2010 06:48

Send this review to a friend Time owned: 0 to 3 months

Excellent Receiver

I received my R20 two days ago, and am nothing short of totally impressed. I sat in the living room last night (east coast of Florida), watching TV and listening to AM DX and shortwave, using just the internal bar antenna and the external telescoping antenna, and I was able to clearly hear the Beijing Hour on China Radio International (11.835MHz shortwave), followed by WBT News in Charlotte, NC (1.110MHz AM). The Charlotte station was over 400 miles away.

The manual is fairly easy to follow, as long as you have some experience with Icom instruction manuals (which I do). Programming memory channels isn't that difficult, but tends to be tedious, if you have more than just a hand full. I can definitely see where purchasing the optional cloning software and cable would come in handy. The price is a bit steep, especially after purchasing a few options (car charger, cover for the R20, etc...), but if you want a fantastic portable receiver with a "DC to Daylight" range, along with the ability to pickup ham SSB and CW signals, it is worth the price. I plan on giving this little receiver a work out over the next few months, and will try to write another review after I've become more familiar with it. G0RRL Rating: 3/5 Feb 7, 2010 06:59 Send this review to a friend Time owned: 0 to 3 months

reasonable but pricey for a scanner

looking at the posts i see im well late in posting. well the radio is new to me. 1st impressions. my location is fairly built up in town. nearest local radio transmitter would be 10 miles away. VHF broadcast band would be the source of QRM plus the usual pager/phone. not a great fan of so called scanners as they all seem to be too wideband. same here with the R20 but it has some surprises. the 1st thing i did was to connect my airband dipole and found the usual overload problems. using the ATT rather than the RF gain helps a lot .. making the radio quite useable. the thing that really impressed me was the lo-bands. 20mtrs was actually quite good using the same airband dipole .. with NO overload at all. by trying a longwire was pointless. later in the evening 80mtrs was also fair. maybee not as good as my Sony7600 but not bad for a handheld. the SSB modes were good. PMR bands were also good but the worst by far were the broadcast bands. MW suffered from being TOO wide as does VHF 88-108mhz. this is no good for any sort of dx listening. i feel the radio has a bit too much gain overall .. and needs a touch more IF filtering. this would be a cracking scanner. forget the RF gain and please ad a fliter Icom to the R30 (wishfull thinking) another thing i found is that i have a loft discone (that i have been using with another bedside radio) this again is no good on the R20 for some reason. i tried adjusting both RF and ATT with no success. yet the R20 on its own aerial it seems quite sensitive ... very strange. Birdies are aparent across the bands .. as is breakthru. but all things considered no worse than others ive owned. not tried a aerial tuner yet. my verdict in the short time ive used the R20. as a handheld its pretty good all round. using a aerial other than the reciever aerial is a bit hit n miss. maybee in a vehical using a magmount may work. audio Q is reasonable ( i prefer the audio filter ON when using the AM bands ) 446 wasnt as sensitive as my legal walkie talkie. the menus are really easy. even without the handbook u can get to use it .. but setting memories u may need to check. ive had a few scanners in the past .. ie. a Fairmate HP100e which was quite complicated i seem to remember .. but the R20 is logical. the backlight is very nice as are the lit keys. the radio feels light .. but then who needs to drag a heavy radio round. its a good size. works on 3xAA NI-MH as i see the replacement Li-on battery is SO expensive. ridiculous. shame u couldnt swap the top volume for squelch! as it has a volume both on the top and the side when in momoband. strange. i prefer the volume on the side buttons. one last thing. i was unable to make HRD work for sorting the memories. perhaps later.? KJ4BXM Rating: 5/5 Jan 25, 2009 17:32 Send this review to a friend Time owned: 6 to 12 months

Works good, chore to learn to program

Had mine for a year works great. Paul(KC2QPT), had the problem you had listening to the fm dropping out, turn the weather alert feature off. OE3SGU Very good Rating: 5/5 Jul 13, 2008 08:46 Send this review to a friend Time owned: 6 to 12 months

Like every other Icom product I own this one is very good. The audio filter selection really helps on the HF-frequencies. The built in recorder is very neat, just set the radio mute during the night and listen to the action in the morning. I am looking forward to the IC-RX7! VK3VMS Rating: 5/5 Jul 12, 2008 03:28 Send this review to a friend Time owned: more than 12 months

This radio ROCKS!

I have owned many, many scanners/receivers over the years & this one is the best by far I have ever owned. The only thing that lets it down (by virtue of its design), is the amount of pocket pager interference you get on the airbands, when it is connected to a discone or external antenna. It's HF performance is bloody good for a handheld as well!!... I love it!! KC2OYZ Rating: 4/5 Jun 15, 2008 14:25 Send this review to a friend Time owned: 0 to 3 months

Fun radio - but WIDE in all respects

This radio is great fun to use - I really enjoy it. I love having a tough little DC to Daylight box that I can take with me anywhere, and pick up the local baseball game or the HF bands, airports, police calls or satellites and space shuttles with ease. I have the desktop charger and every couple of days I pop it into the charger - it charges in about half an hour, so I have never had any problems with battery life - I don't have the LCD on all the time and it is always in power save mode. It is packed with features, very well thought out, the pre-programmed bands and frequencies are what they should be, and it is built with quality. The audio quality for voice is the best I have ever heard from any portable radio, or many table tops. It does exactly what it's supposed to do. The reason I'm not giving it a 5 is because it is a WIDE BAND RECEIVER in more than one way frequency coverage is wide, but so is bandwidth - intermod can be a serious issue, particularly on the lower bands with an external antenna. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out what band and frequency I'm on - I tune to 900 kHz and I've got three local and one canadian station, tune to 76 MHz and there are two TV stations and an FM broadcast station. You can ease the intermod problems with the attenuator and RFGain control, but a couple of filters would make things a lot easier. The internal ferrite bar antenna for BCB will eliminate a lot of intermod on BCB - it appears to be strongly attenuated - problem is, it also eliminates the signal that you want. Perhaps a good preselector would ease the intermod problems - I haven't tried that, although I am considering it - I will update my review if I do. Bottom Line: Take the R20 for what it is - a fun, feature packed, take it anywhere scanner that lets you listen to anything and everything - and as you become more familiar with the rig, you will learn how to deal with some of intermod problems. But don't expect it to be a serious DX rig by hooking it up to a good external antenna. COUNTERACT Rating: 5/5 Jun 14, 2008 06:42 Send this review to a friend Time owned: more than 12 months

No Antenna Or Programming Issues

You have to realize this is a very well designed Portable receiver, Not a full-size desktop receiver. I

have found by using a Less than full size antenna for HF, it works Very Well. No need to use the ATT either. I have found programming it to be rather easy, and the easy of key-pad use is excellent. A little expensive, but very well worth the money. Happy listening! W6RFW Rating: 4/5 Apr 17, 2008 07:23 Send this review to a friend Time owned: more than 12 months

Great receiver, but hard to program

I use the R20 to monitor the American Association of Railroads (AAR) frequencies at 160 to 162 MHz, at home and in the field while train watching. Interference IS a problem on some channels. I bought a good six pole filter that I use at home and in the car. Interference is not much of an issue when I am walking track side with a short antenna. In the car, I use a mag mount cut for the AAR band. At home, I use a discone about 15 feet up. I use one channel to monitor all 100 AAR frequencies, and the other to monitor the local road frequency. While scanning, I often encounter one or two channels with a key down condition. It is a real pain to program channel skip, and to unprogram it later. And lately, when I do either the radio picks up the VFO setting and substitutes it for the AAR frequency. I don't remember it doing this when I first got it. In the field, using software to program the radio is not much of an option. So I have to reenter the channel frequency every time I change a channel skip setting. What a pain. Anone have any hints? The manual is pretty useless, as noted by others.