The ICOM 9500 was way out of my budget when I first saw one, so I had to put the block on buying one sadly. The IC-R8600 though, was just within my budget, when I was looking for a compact SDR receiver. I find it to be an excellent all around Ham bands receiver on HF, as well as VHF and UHF of course. Touch screen and menu driven radios, I have now become accustomed to, and after many years of operating radios with lots of controls, I find this receiver very easy to use and set up in any mode. I like the 1 Khz tuning steps, which enables me to QSY and tune in nearby SSB CW signals rapidly, with minimal tuning knob rotation. Fine tuning an SSB or CW signals is simply done, by touching the frequency readout, and rotating the tuning knob. I find the Noise Reduction and Notch, to be very effective at reducing QRM and QRN on the crowded ham bands. The S meter provides an accurate reading at any RF gain setting, and that's a nice change from what I've been used to with other high end Ham receivers. I tend to keep the preamp switched in on HF, and use the RF gain to adjust sensitivity, and it is a very sensitive receiver at max RF gain setting. Reducing the RF gain with the preamp on, really does remove a lot of band noise, for more comfortable copy in noisy conditions. Selectivity is excellent, and the filter settings are very effective at reducing both noise and adjacent channel interference as well. An external speaker is required, if you want to get the very best of audio quality on CW and SSB and AM of course. Try using the LSB mode and narrow filters for CW, and you will be blown away, by the clarity of the CW tone at any pitch. An external S meter is a nice, if you like to look at and scrutinize varying signals with a bit more detail. Interesting video comparing both receivers, I would say for me, the 8600 is a great receiver and does everything I need it to do.
They are both wonderful receivers and I have owned both of them, Nick. But you gotta love the controls on the 9500. It is a beast, but what fun to operate! Rob Sherwood told me a few years ago that he likes the 9000 a bit more than the 9500 as there is no "grass" on the screen of the 9000.
@@myradiovideos Robert, your Christmas and New Years wishes are very thoughtful. May I return these wishes back to you and your loved ones. I am grateful for your reaching out with the nice gesture! Randy
Israel R who works as a HAM radio tech service in EA3 shows on his youtube channel how easily the 7300´s lithium rechargeable battery (suffering from the same bad design that the one in the R8600 and IC9700) is replaceable for a normal lithium one that will last for decades.
The IC-9500 is a professional receiver and also like the easy access to all its many features vs menu driven like the IC-8600 which is a Swiss Army Knife of receivers thanks for the reviews you have a great collection of pro receivers
Thanks John. The impetus for this review was a review I read from a web site that said the 8600 was better. I disagree and needed to straighten up the record
12.55 in on the 8600 did you see that signal that swept up the frequency range, it was very clear on the scope and gave a short heterodyne as it passed the centre frequency, that's another one of the beauty's of a spectrum scope
I found that radios with 12V supply run best on big lifepo batteries with least noise pickup and ghost signals. It is also a very good idea to connect the chassis to cenral heating or other earth ground. The moment you connect you can see the difference on the waterfall. Thanks a lot for your video! Due to the big box with front speaker the older one gives better audio in your comparison. With an additional good speaker the little one could do better.
11930 khz Marti via Greenville for Cuba listening yesterday at 1500utc great radio 9500 congratz. my friend Happy Xmas and Happy Newyear 2023 de ON3MK 73,
Thanks for the video review. I own two Icom R8500s, and one R8600. Ergonomically, I much prefer the R8500 for my HF and VHF SWL DXing. The average RF sensitivity on the R8500, R8600, and R9500 is sufficiently high to make the receivers RF noise-limited in a typical suburban 50/60 Hz power line noise monitoring location. However, I still use a wideband 0.6 dB NF LNA with my R8500. When connecting the R8600 to a pair of quality Edifier R1280DB table top speakers, the R8600 should sound better than the R9500 w/ internal speaker. This is especially true when using 10 KHz wide AM DSP filter bandwidth for international shortwave broadcasts. The sound is amazing. The R8600 menu disadvantage is mostly eliminated by first carefully tweaking RX parameters, and then saving it to a memory channel. A low noise directional outdoor antenna well removed from the house RF noise field + Edifier or similar high quality speakers + carefully tweaked RX parameter channels = not necessary to buy an expensive R9500. Judging by the R8600 vs. R9500 sales figures, I have good company.
The 8600 audio is much better if it’s connected to an external speaker. So does the 9500 of course. It would be interesting to compare audio from both radios that way.
This is a classic street race. A true shootout. Run what you brung. No adding extra stuff that doesn’t come with it. If we are adding stuff then why cant I add an extra WJ 8711 to the 9500? Thanks Neil, Merry Christmas!
I had an Icom 9500 but sold it as it ran hot on A/C and it was fifteen years old; I feared for its reliability and the prospect of a big bill scared me. My 8600 was sold fairly quickly as even though it was a great radio I could not get on with it; don’t ask me why, I just did not like it. Recently I managed to get hold of a new old stock R8500 and love it because it is old school just like me. If only I could find a new old stock R9500.......
11950, the S meter readings for both radios were almost identical, that is nice... I use Smart SDR software on my laptop when I use the 8600... My HDMI output of my laptop feeds a 52" LG, 4K HDR, TV Set.. Makes things look and feel real nice... FYI It would have been nice to put that Bose speaker on the 8600 , I am sure it would have helped... 11.900, that station had 5 to 6 Db Deep fades, the perfect test for SYNC.. In some cases the signal strength fell to near Zero,, and in both cases the Sync held its LOCK... Excellent test for both radios.. And yes the last software upgrade did improve the Sync and DNR function... AS for the record 30 seconds, OK, but what I do is have my record function on all the time. With the SD card I get hours and hours of record time, so as soon as I turn on the radio, it starts to record, like my Icom 705.. And yes many push buttons... Still the 9500 is the Fun Radio to use. I like to push buttons as you do.. Nice thing about the Kenwood 890S we both own.. As always THANKS NICK!!!!!! Your the best!!! Robert
The clock battery on the 8600 is a lithium battery that goes “dead” if the radio doesn’t see 12vdc for a few weeks. You probably just haven’t used it in a while.
You are exactly right. I did try to leave the radio plugged into DC power for a week straight and the battery only held charge for a day or two. The battery is shot.
Not surprising to get some amount of medium wave band bleed through intermodulation whatever it is technically called with the power levels you've got there from local MW stations. .... I wonder how either an aor 7030 or the 070 would have coped. The 7030 was specifically designed for this type of thing which is really prevalent in Europe.
Nick, I would ask for one more test, fast and simple... These radios go up to 3 GHz.. Try finding a beacon up in the 1.2 GHz ham radio spectrum and see how both radios perform up in those high bands.. Just a Christmas ask, 🙂
Robert, for you I am happy to do it. I have never tuned around that high before. Is there a beacon list or at least a freq range where I might find something? And if I do find something which mode will it be?CW?
@@dieselten01 Yes CW.. I am not sure about the frequency, as it may be different here in San Diego then Texas.. I would just use the spectrum scope to see of you find something.. If not just tune around the 800 MHz band as that is all Digital trunk radio and probably can find some signals.. Exploration..
@@myradiovideos i just looked at the specs for my antenna. It is an OmniX Scanner Base antenna rated for 118-137, 148-175, and 225-900 mhz. So 1.2 gig is probably a no-go. I will cruise around in the 800’s and see if I find anything.
@@dieselten01 These scanner antennas will work as high as 1.5 GHz.. Their overall gain will drop off by a few db but should be OK for receiving.. My scanner antenna is the same, but I was able to pick up a overhead Armature Satellite with it on the 1.2 GHz band using my Icom IC-9700 receiver.. If you dont hear anything the 800 MHz band should be fine as well... When I get above 1.3 GHz, my 8600 becomes more of a piece of Test Equipment.. Being in San Diego, the Military uses a lot of these higher frequencies, Satellite operation, plus your 2.4 GHz WiFi router in your house.. Try tuning up to 2.4 GHz WiFi band, and see what you pick up with the scanner antenna.. Should find you in home device.. I have done that with my 8600... Should be a good test for the 9500 to validate its high band performance...
@@myradiovideos i just cruised on the 8600 from 800-867 mhz on CW. Picked up nothing. Saw bunch of signals around 850-860 but I think that was all P25 Phase 2 and the 8600 only does Phase 1. Then cruised 1200-1240 and there was nothing. Prolly my antenna?
My comment might be obsolete? But having a icom 7300 and a icom 781 not exactly the same as the 2 rx rigs you are testing but in the same ballpark? My findings were similar? My old 781 was good competitors . However the RF gain control on the old 781 was my 'go to ' to bring out the best . The RF gain on the ic 7300 is a joke , having played with a 7610 ,the RF gain on the 7610 is also almost useless ? Didn't see you adjust RF gain ? Do these rigs have RF gain ? I live in remote countryside location with good balanced doublet ant . Which might spoil me ? However the 7300 is a good all-rounder (with poor rg gain ) and lots of screen/ menus. I suspect it's similar to your 8600? That 9500 is a dream .
Yes they have RF gain controls but I mostly start with their stepped attenuators first. Having a remote/quiet location and a great antenna totally changes the ballgame.
@@dieselten01 thanks for your reply. That ic r 9500 is a thing of beauty. Yes i am very blessed, yet i consider my station as modest. Greetings from Scotland.
Nick, if you really want to see how a receiver performs with 2 signals close together, have you considered getting a decent signal generator with a decent attenuator. This is how we measure close in dynamic range but using 2 sig gens on a receiver. You can find a good HP 8640B for under $500. Then put any of your receivers on a fixed freq like WWV or a broadcast station and move the sig gen in. first at 20 KHz and then at 2KHz. If a signal is going up and down with propagation changes, the test is not valid. If you want more info, let me know. Best regards, Glenn Scott E.E.
Thank you Glenn. This sounds very interesting but I like to play with radios. I will leave the lab testing to Sherwood and all the other technicians. I like to to see how well I can make them receive to my ears then compare radios to each other. Thank you for your comments
I have a SDR Play RSP DX and a Adalm Pluto SDR, with the SDR Play RSP DX, I can receive from 1 khz to 2 GHz and with the Adalm Pluto SDR can receive 70 Mhz to 6 GHz, with SDR Angel Software I can Receive DATV and Others Modes!
The ICOM 9500 was way out of my budget when I first saw one, so I had to put the block on buying one sadly. The IC-R8600 though, was just within my budget, when I was looking for a compact SDR receiver. I find it to be an excellent all around Ham bands receiver on HF, as well as VHF and UHF of course. Touch screen and menu driven radios, I have now become accustomed to, and after many years of operating radios with lots of controls, I find this receiver very easy to use and set up in any mode. I like the 1 Khz tuning steps, which enables me to QSY and tune in nearby SSB CW signals rapidly, with minimal tuning knob rotation. Fine tuning an SSB or CW signals is simply done, by touching the frequency readout, and rotating the tuning knob. I find the Noise Reduction and Notch, to be very effective at reducing QRM and QRN on the crowded ham bands. The S meter provides an accurate reading at any RF gain setting, and that's a nice change from what I've been used to with other high end Ham receivers. I tend to keep the preamp switched in on HF, and use the RF gain to adjust sensitivity, and it is a very sensitive receiver at max RF gain setting. Reducing the RF gain with the preamp on, really does remove a lot of band noise, for more comfortable copy in noisy conditions. Selectivity is excellent, and the filter settings are very effective at reducing both noise and adjacent channel interference as well. An external speaker is required, if you want to get the very best of audio quality on CW and SSB and AM of course. Try using the LSB mode and narrow filters for CW, and you will be blown away, by the clarity of the CW tone at any pitch. An external S meter is a nice, if you like to look at and scrutinize varying signals with a bit more detail. Interesting video comparing both receivers, I would say for me, the 8600 is a great receiver and does everything I need it to do.
I agree 100% with your first statement about buttons.
They are both wonderful receivers and I have owned both of them, Nick. But you gotta love the controls on the 9500. It is a beast, but what fun to operate! Rob Sherwood told me a few years ago that he likes the 9000 a bit more than the 9500 as there is no "grass" on the screen of the 9000.
Thanks Randy. I have been used to tall grass my whole life. I hate mowing the lawn!😉. But I do agree a scope without grass is ideal
Randy, just wanted to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, all the best in 2023 with eBay...
Robert
Grundig Radio Group...
@@myradiovideos Robert, your Christmas and New Years wishes are very thoughtful. May I return these wishes back to you and your loved ones. I am grateful for your reaching out with the nice gesture! Randy
Israel R who works as a HAM radio tech service in EA3 shows on his youtube channel how easily the 7300´s lithium rechargeable battery (suffering from the same bad design that the one in the R8600 and IC9700) is replaceable for a normal lithium one that will last for decades.
The IC-9500 is a professional receiver and also like the easy access to all its many features vs menu driven like the IC-8600
which is a Swiss Army Knife of receivers thanks for the reviews you have a great collection of pro receivers
Thanks John. The impetus for this review was a review I read from a web site that said the 8600 was better. I disagree and needed to straighten up the record
12.55 in on the 8600 did you see that signal that swept up the frequency range, it was very clear on the scope and gave a short heterodyne as it passed the centre frequency, that's another one of the beauty's of a spectrum scope
I found that radios with 12V supply run best on big lifepo batteries with least noise pickup and ghost signals. It is also a very good idea to connect the chassis to cenral heating or other earth ground. The moment you connect you can see the difference on the waterfall. Thanks a lot for your video! Due to the big box with front speaker the older one gives better audio in your comparison. With an additional good speaker the little one could do better.
11930 khz Marti via Greenville for Cuba listening yesterday at 1500utc great radio 9500 congratz. my friend Happy Xmas and Happy Newyear 2023 de ON3MK 73,
Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Thanks for the video review. I own two Icom R8500s, and one R8600. Ergonomically, I much prefer the R8500 for my HF and VHF SWL DXing. The average RF sensitivity on the R8500, R8600, and R9500 is sufficiently high to make the receivers RF noise-limited in a typical suburban 50/60 Hz power line noise monitoring location. However, I still use a wideband 0.6 dB NF LNA with my R8500. When connecting the R8600 to a pair of quality Edifier R1280DB table top speakers, the R8600 should sound better than the R9500 w/ internal speaker. This is especially true when using 10 KHz wide AM DSP filter bandwidth for international shortwave broadcasts. The sound is amazing. The R8600 menu disadvantage is mostly eliminated by first carefully tweaking RX parameters, and then saving it to a memory channel. A low noise directional outdoor antenna well removed from the house RF noise field + Edifier or similar high quality speakers + carefully tweaked RX parameter channels = not necessary to buy an expensive R9500. Judging by the R8600 vs. R9500 sales figures, I have good company.
The 8600 audio is much better if it’s connected to an external speaker. So does the 9500 of course. It would be interesting to compare audio from both radios that way.
This is a classic street race. A true shootout. Run what you brung. No adding extra stuff that doesn’t come with it. If we are adding stuff then why cant I add an extra WJ 8711 to the 9500? Thanks Neil, Merry Christmas!
Absolutely brilliant videos do me a great favor when you get the chance put the icr 8600 aginst the ic 705 on hf when you get the chance cheers ❤
I had an Icom 9500 but sold it as it ran hot on A/C and it was fifteen years old; I feared for its reliability and the prospect of a big bill scared me.
My 8600 was sold fairly quickly as even though it was a great radio I could not get on with it; don’t ask me why, I just did not like it.
Recently I managed to get hold of a new old stock R8500 and love it because it is old school just like me.
If only I could find a new old stock R9500.......
11950, the S meter readings for both radios were almost identical, that is nice... I use Smart SDR software on my laptop when I use the 8600... My HDMI output of my laptop feeds a 52" LG, 4K HDR, TV Set.. Makes things look and feel real nice... FYI
It would have been nice to put that Bose speaker on the 8600 , I am sure it would have helped...
11.900, that station had 5 to 6 Db Deep fades, the perfect test for SYNC.. In some cases the signal strength fell to near Zero,, and in both cases the Sync held its LOCK... Excellent test for both radios.. And yes the last software upgrade did improve the Sync and DNR function...
AS for the record 30 seconds, OK, but what I do is have my record function on all the time. With the SD card I get hours and hours of record time, so as soon as I turn on the radio, it starts to record, like my Icom 705..
And yes many push buttons...
Still the 9500 is the Fun Radio to use. I like to push buttons as you do.. Nice thing about the Kenwood 890S we both own..
As always THANKS NICK!!!!!! Your the best!!!
Robert
Thank you Robert!
The clock battery on the 8600 is a lithium battery that goes “dead” if the radio doesn’t see 12vdc for a few weeks. You probably just haven’t used it in a while.
You are exactly right. I did try to leave the radio plugged into DC power for a week straight and the battery only held charge for a day or two. The battery is shot.
Great video. Thanks
Thanks Gareth!
On 11.940 the fidelity of the 9500 was far superior imho
Thanks for your comments Shaun
Can you hook up the 8600 to an external monitor? Good Video, 73!
I don’t know. Never looked at it
The 8600 Does Not have an eternal monitor capability...
@@myradiovideos Thank you for the information, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year 🎊!
Talk about David vs. Goliath.
Are the frequency ranges comparable?
Yes
The price of equipment has never meant quality.
I am a ButtonSwitchKnobOlogist. Does not take much study but lots of practice.
Not surprising to get some amount of medium wave band bleed through intermodulation whatever it is technically called with the power levels you've got there from local MW stations. .... I wonder how either an aor 7030 or the 070 would have coped. The 7030 was specifically designed for this type of thing which is really prevalent in Europe.
Watch my ek 070 videos and you will see the tiny amounts of bleed through on long wave. All my receivers have it.
Nick, I would ask for one more test, fast and simple... These radios go up to 3 GHz.. Try finding a beacon up in the 1.2 GHz ham radio spectrum and see how both radios perform up in those high bands.. Just a Christmas ask, 🙂
Robert, for you I am happy to do it. I have never tuned around that high before. Is there a beacon list or at least a freq range where I might find something? And if I do find something which mode will it be?CW?
@@dieselten01 Yes CW.. I am not sure about the frequency, as it may be different here in San Diego then Texas.. I would just use the spectrum scope to see of you find something.. If not just tune around the 800 MHz band as that is all Digital trunk radio and probably can find some signals.. Exploration..
@@myradiovideos i just looked at the specs for my antenna. It is an OmniX Scanner Base antenna rated for 118-137, 148-175, and 225-900 mhz. So 1.2 gig is probably a no-go. I will cruise around in the 800’s and see if I find anything.
@@dieselten01 These scanner antennas will work as high as 1.5 GHz.. Their overall gain will drop off by a few db but should be OK for receiving.. My scanner antenna is the same, but I was able to pick up a overhead Armature Satellite with it on the 1.2 GHz band using my Icom IC-9700 receiver.. If you dont hear anything the 800 MHz band should be fine as well...
When I get above 1.3 GHz, my 8600 becomes more of a piece of Test Equipment.. Being in San Diego, the Military uses a lot of these higher frequencies, Satellite operation, plus your 2.4 GHz WiFi router in your house..
Try tuning up to 2.4 GHz WiFi band, and see what you pick up with the scanner antenna.. Should find you in home device.. I have done that with my 8600... Should be a good test for the 9500 to validate its high band performance...
@@myradiovideos i just cruised on the 8600 from 800-867 mhz on CW. Picked up nothing. Saw bunch of signals around 850-860 but I think that was all P25 Phase 2 and the 8600 only does Phase 1. Then cruised 1200-1240 and there was nothing. Prolly my antenna?
Do you know about the SunSDR-MB1 transceiver?
I do not. But I am more interested in receivers
@@dieselten01 Then pay attention to the radio "Belka"
@@citoyen-777 i have 2 of them. Short test in this vid on my channel ua-cam.com/video/5k5XSS5j3eQ/v-deo.html
My comment might be obsolete? But having a icom 7300 and a icom 781 not exactly the same as the 2 rx rigs you are testing but in the same ballpark? My findings were similar? My old 781 was good competitors . However the RF gain control on the old 781 was my 'go to ' to bring out the best . The RF gain on the ic 7300 is a joke , having played with a 7610 ,the RF gain on the 7610 is also almost useless ?
Didn't see you adjust RF gain ? Do these rigs have RF gain ?
I live in remote countryside location with good balanced doublet ant . Which might spoil me ?
However the 7300 is a good all-rounder (with poor rg gain ) and lots of screen/ menus.
I suspect it's similar to your 8600? That 9500 is a dream .
Yes they have RF gain controls but I mostly start with their stepped attenuators first. Having a remote/quiet location and a great antenna totally changes the ballgame.
@@dieselten01 thanks for your reply. That ic r 9500 is a thing of beauty.
Yes i am very blessed, yet i consider my station as modest. Greetings from Scotland.
Nick, if you really want to see how a receiver performs with 2 signals close together, have you considered getting a decent signal generator with a decent attenuator. This is how we measure close in dynamic range but using 2 sig gens on a receiver.
You can find a good HP 8640B for under $500. Then put any of your receivers on a fixed freq like WWV or a broadcast station and move the sig gen in. first at 20 KHz and then at 2KHz. If a signal is going up and down with propagation changes, the test is not valid. If you want more info, let me know.
Best regards, Glenn Scott E.E.
Thank you Glenn. This sounds very interesting but I like to play with radios. I will leave the lab testing to Sherwood and all the other technicians. I like to to see how well I can make them receive to my ears then compare radios to each other. Thank you for your comments
The 8600 is SDR & the 9500 is a superhet. Do u notice a difference?
I assume you watched the video so you know what I know. I like the 9500 better, all the way around.
12000 price matters
I have a SDR Play RSP DX and a Adalm Pluto SDR, with the SDR Play RSP DX, I can receive from 1 khz to 2 GHz and with the Adalm Pluto SDR can receive 70 Mhz to 6 GHz, with SDR Angel Software I can Receive DATV and Others Modes!