The IC-R8600 and a Tale of Three Antennas

I have three antennas connected to my new ICOM IC-R8600 receiver:

‣ ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna for VHF and UHF

‣ Hy-Gain 18 AVT/WB-A vertical for HF

‣ Homebrew 80-meter inverted Vee for HF

Monday night, I heard a foreign-language station on 1700 kHz. It never identified and after an hour, it disappeared into the noise. Tuesday night, I checked 1700 and the station was there again, but it was much stronger than Monday night.

I switched between my two HF antennas, but there was not much difference. I inadvertently switched in the discone and I could hear it on the VHF/UHF antenna too, but at a lower signal level.

The IC-R8600 seemed to be so sensitive that it could hear HF signals on a VHF/UHF antenna!

I tuned the radio to the LW band. In the past using other radios, I could only hear LW activity with the 80-meter inverted Vee, but with the IC-R8600, I could also hear LW activity with the vertical antenna, but at a lower signal level. I switched to the discone and yes, I could also hear LW activity with the VHF/UHF antenna, but at a much lower signal strength.

Wow! The IC-R8600 is an amazing receiver!

By the way, I finally identified the mystery foreign-language station: Radio Mega, WJCC in Miami Springs, Florida, 1666 miles to the south-southwest. I first logged WJCC two years ago and have heard it occasionally since then, but never as strong as I have heard it with the IC-R8600! It was armchair copy last night.