Ham Radio Product Reviews By Fellow Hams
Manufacturer Name: Icom

Subject Name: Icom:

Icom IC-W32A Hand Held Dualband Transciever: Rate 6/10,
Mike Lipkowitz (N3ML), New Jersey:

I have purchased this Icom dual-bander hand held about 4 years ago, it is a real nice rig, I use it on both 70-Centimeters and 2-Meters often until I purchased my HF rig. I really enjoyed the capabilities of the Icom, it can also recieve 900 mhz if you dare to take it apart, I like to keep radios like this in my collection, I find the onboard help to be nice when you plain forget how to use a feature, since there is alot of them to remember. The hand held has real good audio in the recieve compared to some dual-bands, which the speakers just put out little audio and when you turn it up it sounds like a mess. I have some complaints which arised from useage of this Icom, I had it no longer than 2 years and the BNC internal connector came loose inside causing a bad connection to the antenna, I also had experienced that the battery does not last too long, you just have to keep a second battery and charger handy with you, because you are going to need it. From a scale from 1-10 I would rate it a 6.

73's de Mike N3ML

ICOM IC-T7H Joshua, KD5LSX Rate: 10/10,

The ICOM IC-T7H is my first radio. After using it, I can't see myself buying another handheld or even a radio from another manufacturer! I will admit it does have a couple of shortcomings; but the advantages greatly overshadow them. It is quite heavy with the supplied BP-173 battery pack, but this radio is built like a tank. The antenna may not work well in some situations (does any rubber duck really work that great?); but a simple mag mount antenna will fix that problem; anyways, the supplied antenna works just fine outside. I find that, when running high power (5 watts), the radio tends to get rather hot after a 20 minute QSO. However, I can hit repeaters from 10+ miles away with the rubber duck while running low power (500 miliwatts), thus reducing the heat. So far, I have had little or no problems with intermod. Some people complain about the small screen size, but the backlit LCD displays all the essential information (frequency, duplex setting, tone encoder/tone squelch/pocket beep, memory channel, relative signal strength, power setting). The unit has excellent audio quality. It has a scan function that will cover 118-174Mhz [including aircraft, ham, business band, MURS, NOAA weather radio, some wireless microphones], and 400-470 [including ham, business band, and FRS]. The scanner comes pre-progammed for all the VHF and UHF frequencies it can cover plus it has four scan memories. Unfortunately, you can only transmit on 430-450Mhz on UHF. A welcome feature is the CTCSS scanner, which can be used to open up a repeater. When using the power saver in "auto" mode and running low power, the battery lasts for two or three days! The manual is short and almost unneccesary -- the radio sets up in just minutes. All in all, I would reccomend the ICOM IC-T7H to anybody, especially a newbie, or as a first radio. That, and you can't hardly find a sturdy dual-band handheld radio with these features for $200-250. Nice job ICOM!

73 de Joshua, KD5LSX

Yaesu Vs Icom   IC706

I'm going to purchase either the Ft100D series for the IC706. Please give me the low down on these 2 rigs. I'm leaning toward the Ft100 cuz of the DSP. But the IC706 looks tougher. Hows the speaker quality FT V IC? Can the IC or the Ft be modified for out of band xmit?
Tx
mac
KC6KPV

Icom IC707

I was going to ask if anyone HAD an IC707. I remember a Hamvention - about 4 years ago, where Icom had a new: HF xcvr that came in two flavors.... One had a VFO (well, digital syntheziser) and the other was programmable - No VFO, just a "channel selector". I would have preferred the channel selector version. I have about 20 favorite frequencies... RTTY, Phone nets, PSK and disaster comms frequencies... I have never seen one of these sold in the US, or ever heard of them being imported.... I do not remember if this was the IC707 or the IC77, but in any case, it was a neat idea... Bob

I am looking for a computer program for loading my ic706mkIIg memory Any one have information on a windows based one?

73's
CUL
Sid Williams
K4SID

Icom IC706

Subject: was: mobile environment now: advice wanted

I use my 706mkiig almost exclusively for psk31 right now (with digipan and the high stability crystal) and even with a dummy load for an antenna (dont knock it, I have worked span and russia from an New York apartment) I can tell you that the ssb narrow filter (1.9) is just way too broad sometimes. Desense (in the soundcard) can be a problem with digipan and although I can only speculate, I would think the 250 hz cw filter and tricking the 706 into using it for ssb is the way to go for psk 31. I would imagine you could just barely see a faint signal (because of desense) and then go to the narrow filter and pick up that contact. Let me add that I LOVE DIGIPAN and its the best free software I have ever recieved. I havent had any luck using the 706 built in dsp to knock down nearby signals. 73 and let me know how your psk31 setup comes along. I have a real antenna for 6m and am always looking for 6m psk31 experimenters.

Thomas, N2YTF

Subject: IC-706 dummy book

I just bought a 706 and find the manual complicated is there a "706 for Dummies" book out there?

From: n8zzw

I am satisfied with the Icom 207H, it does have some great features, such as the detachable control head and most features are accessable with "one touch" of a function button. There are a few things that I don't like, such as the bottom mounted speaker. Audio level is acceptable if you are stationary with the windows up (I mounted the rig under the passenger seat), but as soon as you roll the window down a bit or get on the highway, the volume is too low even with the control all the way to the right. An external speaker is an absolute must! Some of the buttons on the control head are too close together , particularly the "power" button. For those of us with big hands this is inconvenient at best. Otherwise the rig was easy to install and since my dash is all plastic, the detachable control head was the main feature that attracted me. The control head is small enough that I was able to use Velcro to mount it to my dashboard. The receiver is a little too hot and tends to get clobbered with intermod when in the city or near cell/paging towers. The radio does have an attenuator built in to the squelch control, so keeping the squelch knob past the 12 o'clock position will activate it, but most times it is not enough. The extended recieve capabilities are of no real use to me. I think if the reciever front end was made to accept only Ham frequencies this would not be a problem. If you don't mind having to buy an external speaker right off the bat when you purchase the rig, then otherwise I think it's a good dual band rig at this price.

Time owned: 0 to 3 months The 207H did everything I wanted in a duobander, but I thought the transmit audio was too bassy. Evidently, some of the units are like that. The receive (and transmit, although I didn't try that) mod is great, although sensitivity varies over such a vast range. Intermod rejection was not terrible, just poor (listen to a 706 on 2M for terrible.) I DID like the separation feature and the capability to control volume, squelch, etc. from keys on the mic. If not for the poor transmit audio, I'd still have it.

73's de AB4KZ