[PCR-1000] PCR-1000 Portable Power and Software

Tue, 8 Jul 2003 20:37:05 -0400

Robert,
Any power supply capable of 12V DC at 1 Amp should run your PCR-1000. I've
used mine with my laptop computer in the car with a cigarette lighter cord I
got at Radio Shack quite a lot. I've also used a 12V gell cell battery like
those used in burglar alarms and computer backup power supplies. A $15  12V
7.5 Ampere-hour battery, about the size of a common brick, will run my radio
more than 6 hours.

 MAKE SURE YOU GET THE POLARITY OF THE  RADIO POWER PLUG RIGHT! Don't trust
the people at Radio Shack to set it up correctly. They can sell you a cell
phone or satellite television receiver, but 99.9% of them are totally in the
dark on anything more technical. Find a friend that knows how to use a volt
meter (or learn how yourself, it's not difficult and a $10 meter can be very
handy in troubleshooting blown fuses or bad cable connections.) and check
your plug before hooking the radio up. The center of the plug absolutely
must be 'positive' and the outer shell 'negative' or you'll have smoke
coming out of your radio.

>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 09:40:38 -0500 (GMT)
> From: "Robert W. Fisher" <[email protected]>
address intentionally modded to foil spammers- please do same if replying
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [PCR-1000] portable power supply for PCR1000
> Reply-To: [email protected]
>
> Any suggestions on a portable power supply for the PCR1000?  I was
thinking about the N-Charge (Valence Technology, Inc), since it's a 120-130
Wh designed to run a laptop, but it has a low voltage (12V) port as
well.....Should be good for running the laptop and PCR1000 for a few
hours.....
>
> --__--__--
>
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Vic,
I had no trouble with the downloaded 'new' Icom software. It runs on Win2000
and WinXP.  The PCR-1000 page on Icom's website has a link to get it. I just
downloaded it again to check the file and it unpacked successfully with
recent versions of both Winrar and Winzip.

I would seriously suggest you download TalkPCR from
http://www.mahy.demon.co.uk/talkpcr/talkpcr.htm. It's a far, far better
package than the Icom software. I've been running TalkPCR for over 2 years
now and every time I fire up the Icom stuff I quickly go back to TalkPCR
because it's so much more powerful and just as easy or easier to use than
Icoms stuff.

 TalkPCR also has a feature that will undo any screwing up of the radio that
some 3rd party software like Scancat and some others tend to do. You can
store the contents of the EEPROM (the thing that gets screwed up) in the
radio to your hard disk or a floppy  and can re-write the EEPROM if it
becomes necessary.

I've never had the Icom software or TalkPCR mess up the EEPROM but Scancat
has, and some very expensive 'commercial' software as well as a couple that
(thankfully) are no longer around.

> Message: 2
> From: "Vic Culver" <[email protected]>      address
intentionally modded to foil spammers - please do same if replying
> To: <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 09:58:09 -0400
> Subject: [PCR-1000] Icom download software
> Reply-To: [email protected]
>
> I'm just returning to the list after a considerable absence.  I see that
> Icom is now supplying via download a version of the PCR-1000 software that
> is supposed to run on WIN 2000 operating systems.  My question -- how in
> heck do you unzip the package???  And has anyone had any horrible
> experiences with it?  I note the (boilerplate) suggesting that Icom will
> bear no responsibility for screwing up your radio -- does the software
tend
> to do that (still???)?  Thanks for any reply.  Vic
>
>