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ICOM IC-705: A slightly different perspective

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by OH8STN, Sep 24, 2019.

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  1. WB7VTY

    WB7VTY Ham Member QRZ Page

    First, nice review. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I have a slightly different perspective than what I have seen anywhere, but granted I havent looked at all of them because there are lots of duplicates it seems. Maybe this will all be a repeat too. I agree, I think the 705 is an exciting radio and if it is what it appears, I expect the receiver to be far better than my 817nD. I also agree that the 818 was a HUGE disappointment to say the least. Complete waste of time considering all the things that could be improved on the 817. BUT.. regardless, I love my 817. Ive had it for about 10 years and it definitely has room for improvement but it is a ton of fun and regardless of its short comings, it does a great job and I wouldnt trade it for any other radio. Its a tank. I personally dont see the 705 and 817 as quite the direct competitors as it seems most people do. It all depends on what your interests are. I have no interest in digital modes, and when I go out to play SOTA it is nearly 100% CW when on HF. I either take my 817 or my PFR3B and have no interest what so ever in carrying additional anything for any of the digital stuff. For those with a desire to take along digital capability, there is no doubt the 705 will be a big win. However for my application, the 705 is a TON of overkill in terms of features. Power consumption is yet to be seen. Not to suggest its a bad radio, its just not the right tool for what I like to do. The only reason I would consider buying it is for its improvements in core performance over the 817 or PFR, and I also agree, to have a display I can actually read without optical aid - the 817 as you know is literally about the size of two postage stamps. The 10 watts, the wifi, bluetooth, spectrum display, etc, while great features for some needs, have no use to me at all, especially in a field radio. What I would love to see yaesu or kenwood do, is come out with something akin to an improved 817 with internal tuner in the form factor of a elecraft KX or the 705 with a big KX style display. No color touch screen / spectrum display needed for me. Regardless of all the debating, I think the 705 will be a big winner unless there is a unknown major boo boo, which isnt likely. I might even buy one. But the reasons I would buy one have nothing to do with the eye candy and features that for the most part truly are bells and whistles for what I enjoy doing, and that I will never use, and everything to do with getting improvements I expected out of yaesu on the 818 that they completely failed to deliver. Cant wait to see the 705. Im still holding out hope that it will actually have an internal tuner. All of that neat stuff and no internal tuner seems like kind of a big oversight. I'd trade wifi / bluetooth / USB charge for that in a heartbeat. Thanks again for the review. Amazing little rig.
     
    KO4ESA and KU3X like this.
  2. KK6NLZ

    KK6NLZ Ham Member QRZ Page

    For me.. pandapter is crucial! in an emergency I don’t want to be spinning a dial trying to find someone.
    Also makes portable more fun on bad propagation days ..getting a little edge always helps. If the screen wasn’t important id just get a mountain topper and call it a day.
     
    KO4ESA and WA2LXB like this.
  3. VK2JI

    VK2JI Ham Member QRZ Page

    Unfortunately ICOM have decided not to include an ATU for the HF bands. Perhaps they may change their mind before the final production version? After all they have the design from the IC7300.
    I also use resonant antennas but having matching capabilities built in for that odd situation where you don't have everything antenna-wise working as planned, having the fall-back of the ATU would be a significant benefit of the rig.

    What modes can the rig decode to the display? RTTY? PSK31? CW? Of course FT8 would be really nice along with a keyboard input (possibly via Bluetooth) but as that digital mode technology is still developing it's probably too soon to have FT8 as standard in a rig.

    73 Ed.
     
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  4. K3SZ

    K3SZ Ham Member QRZ Page

    You can see one here (an Icom BP-272 battery):
    [​IMG]
    No idea if the HFPack folks will adopt this radio for use or not.
     
  5. WA2LXB

    WA2LXB XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    If I had to design the ultimate QRP rig it would be the KX3 with all options installed including the ATU & 2M plus 70cm, cross band repeat capability, an on-board band scope like the 705, up to 25 watt peak Xmit power, onboard sound card for digi modes, waterproof to 1 meter, 4 USB connections for wireless keyboards, USB cables, etc. Of course it would cost ONE BILLION DOLLARS and have to be helium filled to keep it light:D
     
    KO4ESA, K8HIT and K0PIR like this.
  6. VE3MAL

    VE3MAL Ham Member QRZ Page

    Reading over these comments, I'm surprised that an internal ATU is such a big deal. Besides the Elecraft, nearly every other radio's internal tuner takes the radio from tolerating about 2:1 to about 3:1. Not all that useful. For those situations where you have a non-resonant antenna, manual QRP tuners are cheap, tiny, consume zero power, and are capable of far, far more than any internal tuner. Take a look at the Emtech ZM2, the PA's Sota tuner, etc. If you need to push one button, Elecraft's T1 is an option too.
    What cannot be fixed with a little tiny box attached to the side would be current draw and heat dissipation. Here's hoping the rx current draw is considerably better than the 7300, and, that it can actually tx 10w all day on heavy duty-cycle digital modes without overheating. Not achieving one of those would pretty much be show-stoppers for portable digital operation on battery.
     
    K7GYB likes this.
  7. WA2LXB

    WA2LXB XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    7300 has an emergency mode for the ATU that allows a considerably greater mismatch than 3:1 at reduced power. See section 11 of the manual: http://www.icom.co.jp/world/support/download/manual/pdf/IC-7300_ENG_CD_1.pdf or https://www.remotetx.net/ic-7300-enable-emergency-tuner-mode/
     
  8. K7LZR

    K7LZR Ham Member QRZ Page

    I still maintain my original position from another post regarding this. Here it is:

    ".....Very good. Looks like a nice enough portable but I just don’t think that Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu or Elecraft get it when designing field gear. What we really need is a more rugged HF/VHF/UHF radio – and I mean military type ruggedness in a class such as that of the Harris Falcon III, Barrett, or Codan radios. And not so many big knobs sticking out – they tend to break easily. Also not so many jacks/wires poking out of the sides. Its too messy and won’t easily fit into a case with stuff plugged in. And a true field radio will have universal power input – it will operate from internal batteries, or accept an input from 10-30vdc, or 110/220vac. All in one box. With today’s power supply technology it can be done fairly easily and keep weight reasonable too. Lastly, dump the touch screens. While okay on your tablet or smart phone, they are a real pain and a big mistake magnet on a field radio. The US Navy just dumped all of its touch screen navigation controls on its destroyers in favor of proven mechanical systems for the same reason. Such a radio would likely cost about the same as a tricked out KX-3 but would be much more value for dollar.

    So the ham radio which still comes closer to these goals in this class is the good old Yaesu FT-817/818.....
     
    K7GYB likes this.
  9. WW5F

    WW5F Ham Member QRZ Page

    With reference to my original post, "It has DSTAR, therefore I'm not going to buy it.", I don't do Dstar because it's a digital voice mode. Along with Fusion and currently two flavors of DMR, I view all of them as currently harmful to amateur radio. (one answer to, "why are we having trouble getting new folks to get licences? and why do they get a license and then become silent?") Dstar, Fusion and DMR create cliques in my local area. Also, since Dstar and Fusion are proprietary, I see DMR as the winner in the long run since it's open source. When I see Dstar and Fusion fail, and everyone using some future, interoperable version of DMR, I might join the VHF/UHF digital voice revolution then. The logic behind my thinking is I'm not going to financially support a mode that currently divides hams and is doomed to eventually fail.

    Nothing crazy, just simple as that. Some of you may think that's crazy, but I don't think I'm alone.

    I've been a fan of Icom since my first IC-2AT back in the early 80's. I've owned just about all of their new (mid priced) HF/VHF radios up until recently. I just want to stick with analog for now. This new 705 looks like it's going to be a great QRP rig. But I draw the line at Dstar. That kills the deal for me.

    Peace out.
     
    WN1MB likes this.
  10. KC2SIZ

    KC2SIZ Ham Member QRZ Page

    Yeah, I'm not crazy about the form factor. Portable radios can come in for some rough treatment, and this radio doesn't look particularly tough. How's that video display going to hold up after this thing has rolled down a rocky hillside?
     
    K0PIR likes this.
  11. WB8LBZ/SK2023

    WB8LBZ/SK2023 Ham Member QRZ Page

    At least one poster mentioned the lack of an antenna tuner. I have one built into my HF rig and my amp. They get little use as my antennas are resonate where I use them no need for a tuner. There was a mention by others about an external amp. There is an LDMOS amp kit made in Germany that will give legal limit output with 1 to 2 watts drive. There is a worry about that pretty delicate display and the dainty knobs, wrap it with bubble wrap and shove it into a protective case and operate it remotely via USB cable. I think you guys are worried about small stuff. This will be a block buster radio and all the nay-sayers will be on the outside looking in once it comes out.

    73, Larry WB8LBZ
    El Paso, TX
     
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  12. K6CLS

    K6CLS Ham Member QRZ Page

    you're at home... fine. when you go portable, you may not be able to carry and set up anything resonant... hence use of a tuner. Having to carry one more box just adds to the packing burden. Ask all the folks that moved from FT-817 to KX3 how's that internal tuner treating them.
     
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  13. K0NGO

    K0NGO XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    Great video!
    It sounds great, but what is with both ICOM and YAESU and their refusal to put WX station reception capability in their radios?
    That is my biggest complaint with my 817, and I was hoping that ICOM would see the light of having this important feature in (what I use it for) an emergency radio. :-(
     
    KO4ESA likes this.
  14. NX1Q

    NX1Q XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I paid $495.00 for mine HRO Black Friday double mail in rebate extravaganza.
     
    KO4ESA and K0GMK like this.
  15. K7GYB

    K7GYB XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    So you dogmatically refuse to use an external tuner? I absolutely refuse to use internal tuners - they are deoptimized so they can fit into the radio and typically don't do a good a job as an external manual tuner. I like the feel of tuning up my own antennas on my 817ND and know without a doubt when it is flat... so it's not that great a feature as far as I'm concerned. The power draw is going to be an issue regardless of how "cool" the radio looks. Go ahead and carry your larger battery and the large solar panel (which by the way ARE accessories). Finally, no mention of how great that that touchscreen is going to work with wet, grimy fingers or in harsh environs. I go out in all types of weather when doing SOTA - being at the mercy of glitchy tech when you most need it is not something I can co-sign. I'm not a hater, just being "pragmatic".
     
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