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write your own review of the ICOM IC-756.
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AA0CX
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 1, 2007 14:42
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great, with the exception of the blue lines
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Love the rig: but horizontal blue lines began appearing across the display about a year ago. They seem to disappear when the humidity is lower, and reappear when it's higher. I have electric heat, and no humidifier, which makes things drier in the winter, and they're gone in the winter. Today I have had as many as four lines, and as few as one. Two days ago, I had no blue lines, for about 30 minutes, then they began appearing. All in all, it's a very decent mode on CW, my main mode, and the receiver is top-notch. The blue lines are discouraging, though.
73
M.A. Swartzell AA0CX
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K5UNY
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 29, 2007 07:52
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Replaced the screen
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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well my 756 had the screen replaced because it developed Sooooo many horizontal lines the readout was getting difficult to read, as was anything else on the display.
Found out there was an aftermarket LCD available so the radio was sent off to Scott Malcolm at MTS in the state of Washiungton. Scott is a Loong time Icom repair shop and very good.
I don't recall the exact cost but with LCD and labor(quite intensive) it was less than $400???this repair/replacement was done approx 2 years ago.Check with Scott to see if the display is still available today.
756 looks like new and the lcd display is fine.
NOW the tuner has quit tuning, Go figger!!!
Alex K5uny
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K7MDO
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 29, 2007 07:38
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Potential displaly problems
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The IC-756 may be one of the best buys today because of the internet review system where we only get a mix of opinions from folks either with their own agendas or with a bone to pick with Icom.
If you read these posts you simply cannot get a feel for the "probability" of your screen going bad. It may be and probably is quite low.
As to the question about an external monitor, I wonder myself if the HRD program can't be substituted for virtually any front panel function with complete operation of the set achieved through the computer. Maybe you would lose the band scope?
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AI6E
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 10, 2007 11:28
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extremely functional work horse.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased the 756(classic) new aprox.8 months after they came out. No problems with the exception of a failure this month 8/05/07. My antenna fell to the ground after the mast broke. When I got everything back up the radio would no longer x-mit. r-x is still working. Packed it up and off to Icom..they found a bad YGR amp on the RF board. Something must have happened when the antenna fell. That was the one and only failure I experienced with the 756(classic). The display works great but is a concern. Has anybody thought of designing a solution to drive an external monitor with the 756(classic)?? My 756 ser.# is 01024. I use a IC 706(classic) as my back up radio.
AI6E (pre restructuring)
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W8KQE
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Rating: 1/5
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Jun 23, 2007 11:07
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Blue line on display just appeared!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This really sucks! The IC-756 has been my main rig for almost 10 years now, and I have had nothing but high praise for it. In the past, I had read some of the other surprising reviews here that mentioned a blue horizontal line or lines suddenly appearing on the 756 display without warning, but I didn't think I would be affected since i've had this rig for years with no display issues. I've 'babied' this rig since the day I bought it in 1997, never transporting it from it's fixed shack position or using it portable, always covering it with a dust cover when not in use, and even using Q-tips (yes, I am obsessed with keeping this what I thought was great rig in mint condition) on front panel switches and buttons! I turn the rig on this morning to check out 6 meter activity, and I see my first ever horizontal blue line where none should be! Icom no longer stocks this 'Sanyo' LCD display, and if the display should completely fail, as it has for some, the radio is essentially inoperable. Icom needs to somehow own up to this widespread manufacturing flaw and give owners fair trade in value towards a current 756 ProIII, or another current Icom product.
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VA6LJH
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 8, 2007 17:54
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Good general Rig
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I started from a different direction than most. My 1st transmission was with a Heath SB101, followed shortly by a Drake TR3 and then the Drake 4B twins. No, I am not a nostalgia buff or a tube buff. It simply got me on the air for $125.00 into some awful loading antennas. One day after doing 17 adjustments to change bands (and forgetting to change sidebands on the transmitter too often), I said enough, and called HRO about what I thought was an IC746. They corrected me and in short order I had a very new looking IC756. Thanks HRO for checking for the blue stripes (there are none.) What a whole new experience, push 1 button to change bands, it even remembers my last setup. No one is complaining about me drifting off frequency anymore. The antenna tuner is wonderful. The complaints about the scope’s insensitivity don’t apply to me, as the noise level is about S6 here, any signal I can’t see on the LCD I can’t have a QSO with. The Noise Blanker is a bit of a mystery. When I use it at home it does not blank furnace, range, fridge and other switching transients. Yet when I use it mobile at work near a very noisy industrial area, it knocks the S9+15 noise down to S6 and I then can hear a net I use. It is a dandy mobile rig, the only thing is I worry about the LCD when there is a big temperature change.
What I don’t like.
The audio. There is always some irritating noise coming out of the tinny speaker, and another speaker didn’t help much. I can listen to the Drake longer, and even the Heath’s marginal audio is less irritating. No, I am not a tube guy, my audio equipment is SS.
The LCD problems. I keep wondering when it will happen to me.
The 1.8/1.9kHz SSB filters. They don’t do as much as I hoped, but maybe my expectations were too high.
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W4VD
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 2, 2007 10:55
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Great Buy
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have been looking for a late model 756 for a long time and finally found one. What can I say? It's a great radio, small as compared to a TS-940 but loaded with features, the scope is a nice addition to any shack, it does need a fairly strong signal to display a station but with the 2 preamps on, they boost the signals enough to been seen. The auto notch works great, better than I had hoped for. The dual watch is great and it does work on adjacent bands, not only in band as the manual says, I was copying a CE1 on 80M CW last night and copied T32MO on 40M CW (who was fairly weak here) no problem. It's a great tool for the DX'er. The radio works great in the digital modes, RTTY via the back panel ACC1 jack and a Rigbalster Plus is superb. with these going for under 1000 dollars this is one of the better deals out there.
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PA0PGA
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 13, 2006 13:39
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One of the Best
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I own this transceiver for two months now, but it is already the most used transceiver in my shack. The receiver is really great, very sensitive, great working filters and passband tuning, DSP is very useful and in constant use on a noisy 80 meter band.
The Noise Blanker works good for the reduction of pulse type noise and the auto-notch is able to "kill" the disturbing carrier signals from lunatics that pester the hams on 80m.
The DSP cleans a lot of rubbish from low-level signals, in fact I like it so much that I nearly always use it.
The LCD display is a Gem: all the info you need is there, the spectrum scope shows band activity and clean spots and let you check signal quality at a glance.
The RIT control is also very useful for measuring the frequency difference and direction between stations in a net, or the distance to a disturbing station, operating near the frequency. Dual watch is a very handy tool to keep an eye on another frequency.
The TX is very good, with excellent audio and enough power for normal use. I get a lot of unsolicited nice comments on my audio, a thing that not happened with my previous sets. Signal strength on the receiving end is very much the same or better than other stations operating from near my QTH and with the same antenna configuration. In general: when I hear them, I can work them, even with 100 Watt.
Most observtions are made on the very noisy 80 meter band, on the other bands the signals are even better, propagation permitting.
Resuming: The IC-756 is a very nice piece of equipment, and when there are no display problems (wich are very rare, in contrast to the impression you may have got from the various reviews on this forum), you can hardly spend your money better than to buy one of these IC-756's. Because your mileage may vary, the 756pro's are also a very good option, of course for much more money.
If you can buy a good IC-756 for around a kilobuck, call yourself lucky, you will be a happy (wo)man.
This transceiver deserves a 10 instead of a 5 on the listing. My 2 cents worth,
73 to all Wim Penders PA0PGA
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JV257
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 27, 2006 16:39
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Just Great
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Been on air since January 06 and the 756 is my first Amateur rig. I have since installed the optional filters, voice synthesizer and high stability CO. Having been an active SWL for many years I am impressed with the receive performance - the 756 dual receive capability is really useful. Have worked the world using 100 watts and a G5RV. Being able to pull a weak signal out of the hash using DSP and filter PBT is impressive. For under 1000 bucks I believe this rig to be excellent value. Have not had any problems at all with this rig.
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K4TB
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 10, 2005 21:36
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Display is Still OK
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Just an update on my review of last February - I've had my IC-756 on almost continuously since then, less a few short power outages once in a while, and the display is still working with no lines. Everything else works great too. Apparently you can leave your IC-756 powered on indenfinitely with no ill effects and thereby avoid the display lines problems.
I still love this rig after almost 9 years.
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