IC-R8600 SD Card, Settings & Screen Capture

Summary: Using the IC-R8600’s SD card: formatting, saving and loading settings and memory, the card’s folders, unmounting and screen captures.

About the Card

SD (up to 2 GB) or SDHC (up to 32 GB) cards work; Icom tested SanDisk SD 2 GB and SDHC 4, 8, 16 and 32 GB (as of January 2026, not guaranteed). Format every card in the receiver before use, even preformatted ones, so the receiver creates the folder it needs (for example for firmware updates). Data can be corrupted if you remove the card while it’s being accessed, if power fails during access, or if the card is dropped. Cards wear out; back important data up to a PC.

What the Card Holds

Receiver settings and memory channels (.icf), recorded audio (WAV), the receive history log (CSV), the FSK decode log (TXT or HTML) and captured screens (PNG or BMP).

Folders

• IC-R8600 – the top folder
• Capture – screen captures
• Decode > Fsk – FSK logs
• RxLog – receive history CSV
• Setting – saved settings (.icf)
• Voice > yyyymmdd – recordings (wav)

Formatting

MENU, SET, SD Card, Format, YES. It erases everything on the card. Formatting doesn’t securely erase data, so physically destroy a card when disposing of it.

Saving Settings

MENU, SET, SD Card, Save Setting, <<New File>>, then [ENT] and YES. The file is named Setyyyymmdd_xx. Saving Icom’s factory defaults is recommended. Save Form (added after a firmware update; not on all firmware versions) saves in an earlier firmware’s format (a function added in a later version isn’t saved, and a file in the current format can’t be written to an earlier firmware).

Loading Settings

Save the current data first. MENU, SET, SD Card, Load Setting, choose the file, choose ALL (or tick the items to load; settings and memory channels are always loaded), <<Load>>, YES. “Restart the IC-R8600” shows: turn the receiver off and on. Choosing “REF IN/OUT, REF Adjust” saves that setting too.

Deleting a File

Save Setting, touch the file for 1 second, Delete (or Delete All), YES.

Card Information and Unmounting

SD Card Info shows capacity and remaining recording time. Before removing the card while the receiver is on, unmount it (SD CARD screen, Unmount, YES, “Unmount is completed.”). With the receiver off, push the card in until it clicks, then pull it out.

Screen Capture

Turn on SET, Function, Screen Capture [POWER] Switch. Then push POWER to capture the current screen to the card (some screens can’t be captured). Screen Capture File Type is PNG (default) or BMP. View them in SET, SD Card, Screen Capture View; QUICK on a capture offers File Information, Delete and Delete All.

Memory Data

Memory channels are saved and loaded with the settings. The manual doesn’t describe a separate memory CSV import or export on the receiver; the optional CS-R8600 software handles memory data on a PC (see IC-R8600 Loading Frequencies From Squawker PC & Squawker Online).