Andrew Talbot wrote:

Off topic I know, but I crave your indulgence :-)

Looking at the specifications for the IC8500 Communications receiver, I
notice that for the US market the bands 824 - 849 and 867 - 894 are blocked
- obviously it is not allowed to listen to the mobile phone bands in the US
(Is there much analogue mobile-phone traffic there now ?)

I think that there is still quite a lot of analogue in less populated regions.
The
digital coverage is very variable, particularly the GSM service.

Stewart G3YSX