Well, I decided to purchase a 'spares or repair' Icom IC-R5 recently with the hope that it could be fixed primarily for me to use 'on site' at the Scampton Air Show which is the only event I'm likely to attend this year.
Having seen a recommendation for Castle Electronics (hamradiosales.co.uk) after a short conversation with Geoff there, I despatched the IC-R5 off to him last week hoping he can get it working. As yet, I've heard nothing, so watch this space!
I have owned an IC-R2 and R5 in years past, and the Icom IC-R5 is a one bank or all banks scanner. It's scan speed is not very fast either, but usually when 'on site' at an air show, I'll be monitoring a handful of frequencies at the very most, so it's drawbacks are not much of an issue for me in that situation.
I thought the little Icom would be an ideal 'discrete' scanner to use when out and about which is not very often for me, hence why I didn't want to spend much on it. If it can indeed be fixed, I'll report back on it's performance when used 'on site' and when attached to my home antenna.
As I mentioned, Scampton is about the only air show I'll attend this year and I know there's quite a bit of skepticism of the price versus content for this show at the moment on various forums.
I would like to give the organisers of what is a brand new event the benefit of the doubt but I must admit the 'flying' content with just over a month to go looks fairly light considering it will be nearly £80 for myself and my wife to attend (better value admittedly for families as under 16's go free).
There has been much fanfare in recent emails of attendees to the show, only to learn they are joining the static display only, which is great, but at the end of the day if I want to look at aircraft sitting stationary, there is a large number of air museums I can visit at any time to admire aircraft in that way. Is it only me or do most people want to attend an air show to see aircraft in their natural environment and that means flying!
Well, I'm holding off buying tickets for now as I want to see if anything else develops in the last month or so. I may well attend my local show down the road - The Victory Show at Cosby on the same weekend - not a full scale air show by any means, but they always puts on a good flying display and for £15 advance ticket cost is excellent value!
As with all air shows, it's good to include the air show 'common' frequencies in your scan: 121.175 - 130.675 - 132.9 - 130.5 - 130.625 - 134.55.
Cosby Victory Show have always tended to be allocated 121.175
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