2m, 6m, or 10m Ham radios which is best, why

Gadfly · Jul 7, 2012

handlebar said: ↑

Before I moved to the east coast from The Great Northwest® I had three of these come into my shop over the space of two years for the same complaint: users were being told of a horrible buzzing sound on their transmitted signal that was not audible locally (i.e., it wasn't like the mic gain was too hot, etc.) These were all being used as base stations, with two of them using the optional remote control head cable/interface kit.
The first one took me a little bit of time to troubleshoot (it got a lot faster after the first one), as it didn't start to occur until after the radio had been in TX mode long enough for the fan to come on. The fan sounded fine mechanically, like any computer-style fan, but something in its internal fiddly bits (to use the technical term) started to generate noise pulses on the B+ buss, which also fed the TX PA stages. Since they were in warranty, and my shop was an Icom authorized warranty station, I replaced the fans and sent in a note to Icom's service manager. By the time I was sending in my third fan & its claim, Icom issued a service bulletin , as others had begun to send in similar reports. Soon thereafter a new fan was being used in the assembly line, and Icom Parts sent a few of the new ones to us and a couple of other shops who were deemed too far to make trips to their offices easy.
So the only consistent problem I'd come across was fixed fairly soon after their dealer network gave them feedback, which was a lot more responsive than some of the other big-gish brands I'd dealt with.
For folks who're contemplating using these mobile, the control panel is at least one order of magnitude more complex than the Heads-Up Display on, say, an F-22 aircraft. And, while most commercial gear is spec'd to work from -30 to +60 degrees C., this is only rated down to -10 C. (14 F.) Colder than that and lotsa stuff slows down, not the least important of which is the fancy display screen. Probably not a problem for diesel rigs that are *always* running in cold weather, with heat in the cabin, but if one's private vehicle stays out in the cold without heat inside, figure on leaving the radio off until it's nice & cozy inside. Trunk mounting the main part of the radio can be a problem unless your vehicle's trunk has heat in it, too.
The 7000 seems able to make the most of weak signals, between DSP and fancy filters and such, but I can't conceive of using it whilst motoring merrily down the highways and byways, except for maybe using a couple of memory channels that I can scroll through by using the remote mic. Anything fancier and I'd have to wait until next time I was parked. Or hiring a chauffeur to squire me around so I can make sense of all the info available to the user. <sigh>
So -- besides being really "feature-packed" (or just call it confusing, which it is for me), and the old fan problem that they fixed, and having a warm environment to work in, it's a really nifty rig.
Hope that helps,
-- Handlebar --
BTW, just worked California, Alaska, Idaho, British Columbia, and Whitehorse, YT on 20M as a "1-B NC" station during Field Day, 20 meters, 5 watts, battery power, wire antenna thrown over a tree. Alas, not with a 7000....
diddly dahdidah
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Its time, I figure, to replace my IC706MkIIG, so I am thinking of the 7000. I like the remote head feature and the many bands one can access with it plus it's a scanner, and aircraft receiver, and a General Coverage receiver. I have 2 of the 706's, and they have given super service without a minute's problem.
Thanks for your comments!

GF

WA4GCH · Jul 7, 2012

Gadfly said: ↑

Its time, I figure, to replace my IC706MkIIG, so I am thinking of the 7000. I like the remote head feature and the many bands one can access with it plus it's a scanner, and aircraft receiver, and a General Coverage receiver. I have 2 of the 706's, and they have given super service without a minute's problem.
Thanks for your comments!

GF
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The 7000 is nice we have several people here with them ...

WA4GCH · Jul 12, 2012

2 meters on 144.200 SSB ..... 600 miles ...

kc0iv · Jul 13, 2012

WA4GCH said: ↑

2 meters on 144.200 SSB ..... 600 miles ...

View attachment 33109
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Odd QSL card Bruce. No info about contact.

Leon
(kc0iv)

Jersey John · Jul 13, 2012

kc0iv said: ↑

Odd QSL card Bruce. No info about contact.

Leon
(kc0iv)
Click to expand...

Might be on the back side.

WA4GCH · Jul 13, 2012

Jersey John said: ↑

Might be on the back side.
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Its on the back .....

This card from New york has it on the back also ...
I try to keep the envlope since it has the post mark

k7tkr · Jul 15, 2012

Gadfly said: ↑

Its time, I figure, to replace my IC706MkIIG, so I am thinking of the 7000. I like the remote head feature and the many bands one can access with it plus it's a scanner, and aircraft receiver, and a General Coverage receiver. I have 2 of the 706's, and they have given super service without a minute's problem.
Thanks for your comments!

GF
Click to expand...

Man I feel your pain. I just took my 706mkIIg out of my truck. I think it's been bumped one too many times and I've started having issues. Playing with the idea having maybe sending to Icom in Bellview, Wa or trading it-just not sure. Like you you I also used it to chase SW utility signals and did do some 6m stuff with it. These days, what with my laziness in upgrading to general and this darn KW I'm in now, thinking of going straight 2m and up. Looking at getting that new APRS ready Yaesu FTM-350 and the GPS on-board chip for out of the box APRS. Had a lot of fun with that back when I owned my Kenwood aprs rig. Guys at HRO are directing me to Yaesu this time over the new TM-D710A. Going to miss the 706 though- heck, already am.

73

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