Handheld Receivers | The SWLing Post

The new Icom IC-R30 handheld wideband receiver at the 2018 Hamvention.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Zantow (N9EWO), who notes that he has published his comprehensive review of the Icom IC-R30 handheld wideband receiver.

Click here to check out Dave’s review.

Based on Dave’s evaluation, it sounds like this is one of the better wideband radios, although like similar models, its utility in the HF and mediumwave bands is somewhat limited. He gives the R30 good marks for AGC and notes a lack of spurious emissions on MW. Unlike other wideband handhelds, he noted no mediumwave stations overloading the HF bands. With the unit connected to an external HF antenna however, intense overloading occurred on these bands.

As I tell anyone considering a wideband handheld, don’t buy it with the intention of logging weak signal DX on the HF bands–it’s just not a great receiver for this. It shines on those higher frequencies starting in the VHF band and moving up.

Thanks for sharing your review, Dave!

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While browsing the front page of Universal Radio recently, I noted that the AOR AR-Mini B handheld communications receiver is currently on sale.

This surprised for two reasons:

I thought the AR-Mini B was discontinued.
This receiver used to sell for about $259 US.

I contacted Fred Osterman (President of Universal) for more details.

Fred informed me that, a couple of weeks ago, AOR USA announced the availability of the model once again. He noted that the units arrived from AOR JAPAN to AOR USA last week and they are now in stock. Fred seemed as surprised as I was that the Mini B resurfaced.

He confirmed that AOR have these in quantity–they’re not simply units discovered in a warehouse corner somewhere. They could be surplus from a large special order.

The AOR AR-Mini B is not a perfect receiver, but at $159.95 it’s a pretty good value for a very rugged, water-resistant receiver that puts much of the radio spectrum in your pocket (100 kHz to 1299.995 MHz).

If you’re tempted to purchase the AOR AR-Mini B, check out this review by Larry Van Horne (PDF) and this review by Dave Zantow first.

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