WaveHawk Receiver Guide

The DoC is proud to present a resource for radio hacking and experimentation.

This reference is for the SONY ICF-SC1 also know as the WaveHawk scanner radio, it is advised that people use their radio responsibly and legally.

Features

This is a reasonable scanner capable of receiving from 25MHz to 1,300MHz (with exception of cellular communications bands 823.98-849.02 and 868.98-894.02MHz). There are confirmed reports of receiving signals as low as 3Mhz using the serial interface.

The 300 Channel Memory lets you store the stations of your choice in memory (10 pages, 30 channels per page). It weights in around 15oz (400g) with batteries. Although it is not MIL-STD or as rugged many HTs on the market it sells for around $85 thus making it still a good value.

Weaknesses in the product include only one programmable memory range (300 channels with only one programmable range). It also does not have a built in discriminator although one is easily added with a minor hardware mod.

Scanning is done at a mere 12 channels a second, while this does not compare well to the average high end devices that do 42 to 80 a second it is clearly better then a HT transceiver such as a FT-50 or ICOM T8.

A scanned copy of the manufacturers manual is available at http://www.dis.org/radio/icf-sc1/icf_sc1.pdf.
A scanned copy of the SC1PC software manual is available at http://www.dis.org/radio/icf-sc1/icf_sc1pc.pdf.
For printed copies please contact the manufacturer

A ISO image of the software cd-rom is available at ftp://rv.dis.org/pub/wavehawk.iso.

Just the control software is available at http://www.dis.org/radio/radios/icf-sc1/WaveHawk.zip as a zip image.

The ICF-SC1 moderately modifiable allowing for addition of a discriminator output. by using a 1k resistor from U1 Pin 3 for Discriminator output. details of this can be found in the June 1999 issue of Monitoring Times (Reprinted with permission from Monitoring Times Magazine).

There are modifications for restoration of the cellular band but they are not available here.

Manufacturer's WWW page: http://www.sony.com/radioscanner
A review from StrongSignals http://www.strongsignals.net/htm/impsc1.htm
A mailing list for these radios is at http://www.egroups.com/group/SonyWavehawk

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