NEW Icom IC-905 VHF/UHF/SHF FIRST LOOK! 144MHz-10GHz

2.4 & 10GHz will be good for QO-100 (with the additional CX-10G 10 GHz transverter on the RF Module) in the area that Es'Hail-2 satellite covers.

https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geo/eshail-2/
Narrowband Linear transponder
2400.050 - 2400.300 MHz Uplink
10489.550 - 10489.800 MHz Downlink

Wideband digital transponder
2401.500 - 2409.500 MHz Uplink
10491.000 - 10499.000 MHz Downlink

 

Who said anything about hate ??
We barely use the 2 meter band here in Missouri, Ham Clubs are consolidating to avoid going under. Its just the facts, enjoy the new rig.

 

Maybe here but in Europe and the Mid-East the QO-100 GEOSAT is stationary in the sky and has plenty of activity with a repeater in space.

 

It would be nice if the SHFs were to get popular, Beams are small and easier to hide if you live in an HOA..easier/cheaper to home brew for everybody.
I had an HT that had the 220 band in it, I programmed
the local repeater into it and one day keyed up and gave my call sign. Long story short I contacted the owner of the machine and he said it got some use for a month or
so and then it fell out of favor...i have seen that "down under" the SHFs are popular so now they have a ready to go rig..

 

Of course this new unit is a gamechanger. After I heard about the SHF project of ICOM first, I expected something for the future. What I didnt expected was a high professional unit like this. When I saw in the video the easy capability for ATV, its tremendous. Maybe it will become the live DVB standard further. And when I think that this new ICOM transceiver is just a new beginning, I am so thrilled about the future.

At next the RF unit outside is small enough to take place at a balcony or something similiar. The antennas from other companies got a gain of up to 12 dbi, with a length of about 50cm and they can take up to 50W. And when these antennas are horizontal polarized, they got the option of to be a omnidirectional one. So many misunderstandings in the public about hamradio will be corrected. And for about two days a women asked me about my hobby. I answered that I do hamradio. And she asked me:"Is that this with the big antennas?". I said:"No, not anymore in what I am doing".

At next I think that the RF unit outside is to control with Bluetooth or a WiFi signal. So that the remote in the house is free of cable. Thats a step forward too. All in all, it seems to be that this is the next masterpiece of ICOM. That means next that the bands above 1 Ghz got the attentivness that was missing so long. And that the modes and frequencies are not only for specialists anymore, who wants to be keeper of the secret. Because when I personally was searching for infos about those topics, I just found groups and nothing outside. And transverters and videos are really not a secret or something for to bite the tongue.

 

You will find log-periodic antennas on printed circuit board for little money and these are good between about 700 MHz to about 6 GHz. Alternatively, there are Vivaldi antennas either made out out of stamped metal or also printed which would do most of the bands of the IC-905.

The real problem with the higher bands is that one needs direct view. I experimented in 23cm with a 1 W handheld. With direct view, I can hit repeaters 80km away. If there is a thin line of trees in the way, I can't hit a repeater 5km away. In some cases, you will get contact because of reflections, but these are very unpredictable.

This makes the IC-905 particularly desirable to me. The highest bands are a lot of fun, but I would need to climb a mountain. The IC-905 is obviously very portable and together with a small mast, a Vivaldi antenna, possibly a small dish, I am all set.

 

Wow! This looks very much like the SHF-P1 Concept Model at the Icom Booth at Hamvention. Very cool indeed.

 

Nice Beam....!!!

 

Update today
144 @ 10 watts
430 @ 10 watts
1200 @ 10 watts
2400 @ 2 watts
5600 @ 2 watts
Optional 10 GHz @ 0.5 watts

And for those who simply parrot lies and inaccuracies because they heard them from a friend who heard them from a friend... 0.5 watts at 10 GHz into an antenna as small as a 4-inch square feedhorn can work 100+km and even longer when pointed at a rain cell (though clearly a 1' or 2' dish will perform better).

 

I am wondering how well JS8Call would do on 10gz , being it uses the FT8 Modem to provide messaging & keyboard chat.

 

Although a lot remains to be seen about this radio (is it full duplex for satellite work?), one thing is critical: Amateur radio, as a hobby DESPERATELY needs a radio like this. We lost the 3.5ghz allocation in April. 1.2, 2.4 and 10ghz are incredibly valuable spectrum, which we are not using nearly enough. It's a use it or lose it issue. With 3.5, we weren't using it (enough) and we lost it. Money talks, and Big Bidness and the FCC are more than happy to pull the rug out from under amateur radio. I don't say that in a "capitalism/guvmint is bad" sense, I say it in the sense that, that's just the way the world works, and always has. If enough big money wants our spectrum, and can make the case that we are not using it as extensively as we should, then the government is actually obligated to give it to someone who will use it. In that, spectrum is much like real estate, and there are hundreds of years of legal precedent for the government taking land from those who do not use it and giving it to those who will (look up adverse possession and eminent domain).

I know that will trigger a lot of people, but it's just realpoltik (which Oxford defines a "a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations. ex. "commercial realpolitik had won the day"").

Unless we can can 1) be effective as a lobbying block with our votes (and we are, thanks to the ARRL, love it or hate it, although the extent of our influence is arguable) and 2) show tangible evidence that we use our spectrum, every day it is at greater and greater risk of being lost. This is why I wish AMSAT was far better funded and more could pursue projects like a Western Hemisphere version of QO-100. ICOM is putting out the radio to use for it, but we don't have the bird. If commercial interests come after the microwave bands, thousands of hams who can set up a portable earth station at disaster and emergency sites around the country and communicate clearly, with high speed data bandwidth, would be a major obstacle to taking our spectrum.

My concern is that, hams being hams, too many people will shrug and say "I never operate above 70cm. What do I care?"

 

No 220 band in Japan

 

Price?

 

Roger that; I ordered one from DXE even though they were out of stock and didn't expect to have more until the end of August. While I was OK with the wait I decided to see if anyone else carried the Create LPDAs... Sure enough, The Antenna Farm had FOUR in stock and at a much better price! I cancelled my DXE backorder and a mere three or four days later the antenna arrived on my doorstep.

It is very well made and while the instructions are not as clear as I would like it is coming together perfectly. Lots of tiny screws to contend with but all of the pre-drilled holes line up and assembly is straightforward once one has studied and gone back-and-forth from the diagrams and the parts list a dozen times or so. A Metric ruler or calipers is very helpful, too.

I know any LPDA won't have near the gain of a long-boom Yagi but having multiple bands in one antenna with one 50-ohm feedline is the big payoff for me.

Once I complete the assembly (still working on tree trimming and an upcoming house painting as well so antenna work is in done spurts) I will paint the entire antenna for camouflage as usual.

More pics will follow a brief write-up in the Antennas Forum, too.

73,

Jeff, AK5B

 

Probably worth it whatever it might be, silly!