Icom has done a remarkable job with the ID-5100A and ID-4100. I say this as it took me several days, more like a week, and many hours of YouTube videos to finally figure out which one to buy. Well, I went with the ID-5100A simply because with some discounts from GigaParts the price wound up being only $60 difference. This video shows you some of the basic setup to help get you on the air quicker. Do not forget you will have to register your call sign on a D-STAR Gateway first. This video shows how to program an analog repeater, adjust the time, activate the GPS, and several others. All-in-all this is one of the easiest radios to program repeaters in to. If you can program a phone number in to a cell phone then you can sure program a repeater in to the ID-5100!
I took me a while to finally get one. I debated between the ID-5100 and the ID-4100, but with some discounts the price difference was only $60.00. It is a great radio and easy to program.
Morning Craig! I had the same dilemma and also went for the 5100 from Ham Radio Outlet. STILL a better price than GigaParts. And, I've got a REAL problem with GigaPart so, price or not, I stay about as far away from them as possible. GREAT posting though! This for certain will motivate me find the time to FINALLY take the 5100 out of the box it was shipped in and give it go! See on D-Star my friend and 73! Greg NU4R
I've had mine for nearly 2 years now and love it. I have a love/hate relationship with the display but other than that it's a great radio. The display is nice and big, easy to read but aside from it being a touch screen, the display looks like it was developed in the early 90's. Don't let that keep you from buying one. I'll put my IC-7100 in the mobile from time to time to work a little HF but then I can't wait to go back to the 5100 because of the dual watch. I leave my favorite repeater up on the left side of the radio and the right side is scanning all of the other local repeaters. Having two sets of controls for each side of the radio makes it easy to adjust the volume of either side independently or adjust the squelch should you need to do that. If you have the right files downloaded onto your SD card to import into the radio it works perfect for traveling using the internal GPS in the radio to find the repeaters in the area that you are currently traveling in or through. It's like having the Repeater Book built into the radio. The list isn't always perfect but you can use Excel to touch up the list by adding repeaters that are not in there or adjusting the file for things that have changed. I think this is one of the most underrated radios on the market today.
I have had much better luck talking with others in the short time I have had the ID-5100A installed in my cat than with the Fusion radio that is also in there. In fact I have had more QSO the past couple days on D-STAR than I have the past several mons on Fusion & DMR combined. I didn't know the repeater list can be edited via Excel. Good to know. I do find this to be one of the easiest radios I own t program an analog repeater in to it. I will be programming some out of state repeaters in to it, hopefully today, that should make it easier to use in other states.
I have been amazed at the amount of stations on D-Star. I was hesitant about the 5100 also, but so glad I bought it instead of any other dual-bander regardless of brand. It makes a decent scanner too and I have programmed in a lot of non-ham frequencies to scan.. great radio!
I love my ID-5100, but I can't get it to stop rebooting on high power. Sometimes it'll send for a few minutes on high before it reboots, sometimes I just hit the PTT and it'll reboot every time. I installed a 12-24V -> 13.8V boost inline to keep it regulated from the vehicle battery, but it hasn't solved the problem. I'm just using it (daily) on MID power until I can figure out what's going on.
This might be stating the obvious but try a new power cable if you can get a hold of one, it's worth a shot. I know some IC-7100's had an issue with shutting down. I believe the setup of the IC-7100 cable is setup differently though. The first steps to cure your Icom IC-7100 shut down problem By Tallman
The ICOM tech did tell me to check for resistance in the power source, noting that I couldn't judge voltage by looking at the ID-5100A display. (It would restart when the screen was clearly reading 13.9V for instance.) So, that leaves me with getting a voltage meter in-line, I suppose. Replacing the power cable isn't trivial, since it's running along the door panels and through the firewall. I can, however, attach a 12v battery directly to the back of the radio to test it.
If your battery booster isn't doing the trick it's probably one of two things. It's either an issue with the 12v supply going to the booster or a problem with the radio itself. If you have an issue with your wiring from the battery to the battery booster, the battery booster isn't going to help. You may also have something funky going on with a fuse holder or your positive or ground isn't making a good connection. Be sure your ground is wired to the battery and not something metal on the car that you think is at ground potential. If you rule that out then I'd say something is wrong with the radio. Don't discount that something could be wrong with your control cable. I have a ferrite core on each end of my cable just to keep something from getting into the display or the radio itself. With my 7100's I had an issue with the radio turning off when a loud incoming signal played through the speaker. It took me months to diagnose the problem. At first I thought the radio was just randomly turning off. I swore up and down it was a problem with the radio. I have a 7100 control head in the shack and another one that I take on the road with me that I use with a RemoteRig setup. Being that the control head connects with Cat5 I had what I thought was a good idea to use a metal two position Cat5 AB switch to switch between local operation and remote operation. The main port was connected to the back of the radio and the A port was connected to the control head in the shack with the B port connected to the RemoteRig box that's connected to the internet. When I'm leaving to go on the road I throw the switch to the B position and I can use my 7100 away from home. It worked very well 95% of the time but the radio would turn off from time to time. Eventually I realized that if the volume was up loud and someone with louder audio than normal would come in, that's when the radio would turn off. I eventually figured out that even though the Cat5 cables were good shielded cables and I was using a reputable AB switch, something didn't work right while using that switch. If I eliminated the AB switch and just swapped cables in the shack over to the RemoteRig box I could now blast the audio from the radio when I was away from home and it never turns off. If you are using an aftermarket cable between the display and the main unit, after my 7100 problems I would be suspect of that cable while you are diagnosing this issue. I realize it's just a standard 6 conductor cable but you may have a sketchy crimp on one of the ends that's intermittent. For the heck of it, be sure the setting in the radio that allows the radio to remain on if the control head is removed is turned on. If you have a bad cable thats causing the problem, changing that setting may help you out.
Wow - lots of good information here; thank you! It looks like I have a number of avenues to try: verify electrical wires for good connection verify fuse holders add ferrite beads to the control cable I've got my AGM battery box charged up. I'll connect the radio directly to that for a couple days and see if the problem goes away. If it does, I'll know it's not the radio. I'll check back in here with what I find. Thanks again.
This is the only Icom that I own. I really like the 5100, purchased the Bluetooth board to use with my iPad and the RS-MS1 app won’t work. Incompatible!
I use the ID-5100A with blue-tooth installed. Using a tablet, the ID-5100A and an OpenSpot combined with the Icom RS-MS1A remote control software, my HF radio stays off now.
