Specs & Ratings
Bottom Line
Bar none this is the best mobile radio in existence. The price of course demands that it needs to be... and they quite honestly live up to the price. With future features coming down the pipeline as well and folks figuring out all the ins and outs of this radio more and more every day it's exceptional Combine it with Repeater-scores.app for the Nearby Repeater Database, and it's bar none the most useful VHF/UHF radio ever made.
Pros
- Insanely fast channel scan and scope
- Waterfall Scope is genuinely amazing and useful
- Improved import/export functionality, even for memory channels, which allows using the free channel editor from Repeater-scores.app.
- 2500 Repeaters can now be stored in the nearby repeater database. Combine that with the extra data made availalbe via Repeater-scores.app and you've got a powerful tool for locating utilized repeaters anywhere you go in the USA and Canada.
- The screen is smaller than the 5100 slightly, but higher contrast and far easier to work with.
- Lots of folks are having success with custom apps (repeater book) or integrations (Winlink)
- Conceptually the USBC connection to transfer files to SD card is a better way to do things. The driver requirements and lack of support are a bummer though
- Fixed some bugs of the 5100 like the duplicate repeater callsigns bug in the nearby repeater “database”.
- No need for RT Systems or custom software. Just use the online editor at Repeater-scores.app and transfer your CSV file to the radio. No special cables or proprietary software needed.
Cons
- USB-C connectivity for Windows only. A third of the USA is using Macbooks, and Linux is very popular amongst hams.
- We cannot figure out how to delete a memory channel from the radio UI. A minor inconvenience since you can maintain channels externally and it's better that way anyways.
- The nearby repeater search as shipped is still close but not quite. It includes repeaters all around the world... and it's a North America only radio. Fortunately for USA and Canada this is fixed by Repeater-scores.app
- Nearby repeater still cannot handle DCS (DTCS by ICOM terminology) repeaters.
Who This Is For
Anybody looking for the ultimate VHF/UHF mobile experience, or even a home base station or for POTA. If you've ever spent an hour programming in repeaters for a region only to travel there and hear silence... this radio will do a far better job with zero effort required. Just use the nearby repeater feature combined with the Nearby Repeaters export from Repeater-scores.app and you'll instantly have a list of all the nearby repeaters right at your finger tips, with key details like wide area coverage, Echolink/Allstar, are they system linked repeaters, do they have nets... this radio smokes the competition.
Testing Notes
We picked this radio up a few short weeks after it's release from Ham Radio Outlet. We immediately updated the firmware to 1.10, which was essential for getting all of the features of the radio. We first utilized the radio as part of our portable base station setup, and then later swapped the 5100 in our Ram 3500 out for the 5200, which was a very simple swap. For those wondering, the base unit is identical both as far as mounting and dimensionally to the 5100.
Detailed Review
A lot of folks will say "a thousand dollar radio just to get on dead repeaters is pointless". Infact we ran into just that response recently on an ICOM thread over at Reddit. To those folks we say: It's not dead, you're just navigating VHF/UHF poorly, and the ID-5200 is the ultimate road map around the country... once setup right with community based tools like the options from Repeater-scores.app.
Let's start with the details that really make the radio stand out. We get that the color display is nice, it's got a waterfall, and it's got X channels and Y characters... lots of offerings are out there with such things.
The unique things that ICOM has that nobody else has is the Near Repeater Search functionality. If you're mobile and traveling to an area you've never been and wanting to make contacts, programming in all of the repeaters is hard. Sure, the ICOM 5200 and a few others radios can be linked to Repeaterbook on your phone, but talk about a double terrible idea to do while driving. With your 5200 (or 5100 or 52 handheld) you can have a database of repeaters right in your radio, and since the radio has GPS, it can figure out just which repeaters are nearby. Sounds useful right? Well, out of the box it's sort of useful, but how do you tell all the repeaters apart? By us there's six repeaters named Skyline, and only one of them is actually busy. Fortunately for us and 5200/5100/52 users, Repeater-scores.app wrote a cool little Repeater Database generator that also includes useful details about the repeaters right into the display of the radio. You can see in the list above that the closest repeater only is a linked repeater (L) while the 3rd repeater down is System Linked and has both Echolink and Allstar (S for system linked, B for both Echlink and Allstar). This is a pretty cool expansion!
(Somehow demonstrate insane scan speed of the 5200)
The other thing the ICOM ID-5200a has is an insanely fast scan speed. Truly no other radio comes even close. We were impressed by the 5100 scan speed, which let's call 150mph while most folks out there are doing the speed limit, or driving in a school zone if we're talking about Baofengs. The 5200 somehow took the crazy high speed of the 5100, and said "I bet this'll do 800"... and they were right.
The Waterfall scope is both legitimately useful and enjoyable to use. We fired it up just for fun in VFO mode, and discovered a bunch of VHF nets and conversations going on right around us we weren't even aware of! We joined in on the nets, and noted the new to us repeaters we hadn't considered as they are outside our standard usage patterns.
Don't want to scan a bunch of VHF/UHF frequencies though? You can just import a ton of repeaters for a region via Repeater-scores.app and then fire up the scanner on a memory bank/group. Then instead of seeing a waterfall of all frequencies, you just see what memory channels have activity. So take the near repeater search functionality, but give yourself a visually way to manuever through all the regional repeaters for activity! For us this meant the experience was both functional, and fun!
The real standout we think the 5200 has going for it though, is that it's got to have the most human forward and inutitive UI out there. Yaesu radios give us graphic calculator nightmares, or they utilize jumbled up acronyms for functions... or sometimes seem to just make things up! ICOM on the other hand has a pretty standardized Ecosystem of usage that you'll find consistent between the 5100, 5200, and 52 handheld. If you know one ICOM, it won't take you more than a few low friction moments to get familiar with the other!
Measured Wattage
Claimed Wattage: 50W VHF & UHF
Measuring Device: Inline Surecom SW-102
Frequency Band | Wattage |
|---|---|
National VHF (146.520 MHz) | 46 W |
National UHF (446.000 MHz) | 57 W |
GMRS CH 1 (462.5625) | 43 W |
***measuring SWR with an inline device is imperfect, but has some value especially as we test every handheld radio the exact same way.
Accessories we recommend
So the 5200 doesn't need much out of the box, but there is a fellow ham N2DYL aka "Shred Jesse" who designs up a lot of cool parts for various projects he's on. He's designed three great printable things for the ICOM 5100/5200 that you can either print yourself for free, or ask him to print. Added bonus, he designed everything in the US, he prints them in the US, and he uses USA made plastic filament. That's a rarity these days!
The first thing Shred Jesse makes that we love is a portable base station setup frame. He can customize it with your call sign, it's setup to hold a 20ah radio, and with a few other small and cheap parts you've got a fully portable 5200 setup. Even if you don't necessarily care about portability though, it still costs less than most quality 12v power supplies, takes up less space, and you gain portability. You'd be crazy not to get this!
The next thing Shred Jesse makes for the ID-5200 that is another easy choice, is a really good frame for mounting the 5200 base unit anywhere. It's superior to the ICOM offering both in that it has more flexibility in installation location, and that it adds a bit of space beneath the unit to help it not overheat if mounted against a carpet or insulating surface such as wood.
The last thing is an easy little win: An ICOM microphone surface clip. Shred Jesse took an already exisitng 5100 option and tried it out, and found that it kept breaking on him. So he BEEFED the design up (a thing he seems to do a lot with 3d models he finds on Makerworld) and with those design tweaks the clip is now less stressed with taking the mic on and off, and utilizes far more material in the right places to provide a much strong attachment.
Final Verdict
We highly doubt you got this far with the radio and aren't aware of our opinion of it. It's the new standard by which all other UHF/VHF radios should be judged. We'd honestly have given it a perfect score... IF the folks at ICOM had ensured that their features actually functionally meet the road, and they supported mac users. ICOM, if you're reading this, try and work with the folks over at Repeater-scores.app. They've got a web browser way to edit channels, they have a vastly superior nearby repeater database generator to what you've built... there's some opportunity to take this already industry leading radio up to the bar none best radio out there!