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THEY ARE ON TRUNKING SYSTEMS, WHERE SIGNALS QUICKLY APPEAR AND
DISAPPEAR ON VARIOUS FREQUENCIES.  THERE ARE RECEIVERS THAT ATTEMPT
TO DECODE TRUNKING CONTROL SIGNALS AND TRACK THE FREQUENCY JUMPS
ACCORDINGLY, BUT THE IC R30 DOESNT INCLUDE THIS CAPABILITY.  ALSO,
MORE PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCIES ARE SWITCHING TO ENCRYPTED P25 SYSTEMS.
I TURNED UP A FEW OF THESE AND HEARD NOTHING BUT GIBBERISH.  THE IC
R30 LACKS THE ABILITY TO DECODE DIGITAL MOBILE RADIO DMR SIGNALS,
WHICH IS UNFOR DUAL WATCH AND BAND SCOPE THE IC R30 CAN RECEIVE TWO
SEPARATE SIGNALS SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH ITS DUAL WATCH FUNCTIONALITY,
AND IT WILL SHOW BOTH FREQUENCIES IN ITS 2 X 1R5 INCH DISPLAY AS A
OR B BANDS THAT YOU CAN DESIGNATE AS EITHER THE MAIN OR SUBBAND SEE
FIGURE 1.  YOU CAN LISTEN TO ANY FREQUENCY OR MODE ON THE A BAND,
BUT ONLY THE 108, 146, 370, AND 440 MHZ SEGMENTS ON THE B BAND.
THERE IS A BAND SCOPE YOU CAN ACTIVATE WITHIN WHICH EVER BAND YOUVE
SELECTED AS THE MAIN BAND.  IT CAN SWEEP ONCE, OR CONTINUOUSLY,
THROUGH A RANGE CENTERED ON THE DISPLAY FREQUENCY.  THE SWEEP RANGE
IS EQUIVALENT TO 5 TIMES WHATEVER YOUVE CHOSEN FOR THE TUNING STEP.
THE IC R30 DOESNT PROVIDE A TOUCHSCREEN DISPLAY, SO THE ONLY WAY TO
STOP THE SWEEP AND SELECT AN INTERESTING LOOKING SIGNAL SPIKE IS TO
PUSH THE CLEAR BUTTON AND THEN TWIST THE DIAL TO MOVE THE SWEEP
MARKER TO THE TARGET.  MEMORY CARDS AND AUDIO FILES ON THE SIDE OF
THE IC R30, YOULL FIND A SLOT FOR A MICROSD MEMORY CARD.  THE RADIO
USES THIS CARD TO STORE VARIOUS TYPES OF DATA, INCLUDING FREQUENCY
MEMORIES AND AUDIO FILES.  YOU MUST SUPPLY A CARD FOR USE WITH THE
RECEIVER, BUT THESE ARE INEXPENSIVE AND WIDELY AVAILABLE.  FOR THIS
REVIEW, I USED AN 8 GB CARD.  YOU CAN REMOVE THE MEMORY CARD AND
READ THE CONTENTS ON YOUR COMPUTER BY PLACING THE CARD IN A USB
ADAPTER.  HOWEVER, IN THE IC R30, YOU HAVE AN EASIER OPTION AND THIS
IS WHERE THE USB CABLE COMES INTO PLAY.  IF YOU ATTACH THE USB CABLE
BETWEEN THE IC R30 AND YOUR COMPUTER, YOUR COMPUTER WILL RECOGNIZE
THE RADIOS MEMORY CARD AS IT WOULD ANY OTHER STORAGE DEVICE, SUCH AS
A DISK DRIVE.  IN MY CASE, THE COMPUTER DECIDED THAT THE IC R30
WOULD BE DRIVE E.  ALL I HAD TO DO WAS OPEN WINDOWS EXPLORER, AND I
COULD ACCESS EVERYTHING ON THE CARD AND WRITE TO THE CARD AS WELL.
THATS MUCH MORE CONVENIENT THAN PHYSICALLY SWAPPING CARDS AND
ADAPTERS.  AS A BONUS, THE IC R30 BATTERY CAN RECHARGE THROUGH THE
USB CONNECTION.  THE AMOUNT OF POWER AVAILABLE AT USB PORTS CAN
VARY, SO SOME MAY BE BETTER CHARGERS THAN OTHERS.  I TRIED A FEW USB
OPTIONS, AND WHILE THE BATTERY CHARGED IN ALL CASES, CHARGING SEEMED
FASTER WITH THE DEDICATED ICOM CHARGER.  IN ADDITION TO AN AUTOMATIC
RECEPTION LOG, ANYTHING YOU CAN HEAR CAN BE RECORDED AND STORED TO
THE CARD FOR LATER PLAYBACK, EITHER THROUGH THE RADIO ITSELF OR YOUR
COMPUTER.  THE IC R30 STORES AUDIO IN WAV FORMAT, WHICH CAN RESULT
IN SOME LARGE FILES, BUT MY 8 GB MEMORY CARD HAD PLENTY OF ROOM.
THERE IS SOFTWARE AVAILABLE FROM BOTH ICOM AVAILABLE THROUGH DEALERS
AND RT SYSTEMS THAT YOU CAN USE TO
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