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You can
write your own review of the ICOM IC-756PRO2.
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K4FX
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 17, 2009 19:06
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Great Radio!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Well it's been one year since I picked up this mint 756 Pro II, and I must say this is one excellent radio, for the price + or - 1500 dollars, it's probably one of the better values on a "near" high end radio. I traded a Flex SDR-1000 with some cash for this one, and I have not regretted it for a moment, I really love this radio.
The Pro II has a lot of bells and whistles, the DSP filtering is outstanding, You are getting 3 (preset by user) filter settings each for CW/SSB and AM/FM. The CW/SSB settings are easily changed and I routinely change mine, making them tighter for contests, and loosening them up for normal operation. You have 3 settings for RTTY, but you also have the twin peak RTTY filter, you can turn twin peak on or off within the RTTY filter, so you actually have 5 overall RTTY filter settings. You can also program IF shift as well as soft and sharp settings into the filter if you want! These filters IMHO work as well as crystal filters from the "old days" When you consider the cost of filters, and the number of custom filters you get with Icom's DSP, this radio is a real bargain!! I use widths as low as 100hz on CW without any ringing, on RTTY, 250hz is used and has made a huge difference in my contest scores. If you use a 500hz filter in your rig for RTTY, get a 250!! You will love it!
If you are into RTTY, this is the rig for you! Icom seems to have had the RTTY operator in mind when they designed this radio, it has a built-in RTTY decoder allowing you to copy RTTY without using a PC.
The rig is very easy to interface to the PC via the rear panel ACC connector. I use the modulator input on the ACC connector for SSTV and PSK31 audio input, I no longer have to readjust my mic gain when changing modes like I had to on my previous radios, the modulator input also bypasses the processor, so I don't even have to cut the proc off for PSK31 or SSTV! Very nice!
The LCD display with bandscope is wonderful, I could not contest without one, and it's gotten me many QSOs on dead bands, also I have seen calls pop up just as I QSYed from a freq, and was able to hop back on that freq and make the QSO, on another rig without a bandscope, what would not have happened no matter how many thousands you spent on it! It sure saves a lot time spent spinning the VFO.
The DVR is another great contesting tool, it's very nice to just press a button and have a CQ CONTEST in your voice going out over the air. It sounds identical to the mike too, I built the simple interface to allow me to use the voice and cw memories regardless of the LCD setup, this lets me use the bandscope and use the voice keyer at the same time, details are in the manual. I don't use the off-air recorder hardly at all. For some reason the folks at Icom chose to not allow US hams to have the option of re-transmitting the recorded audio, models sold outside the US can indeed do that. Other than checking it out to see if it worked, I have not used it in actual day-to-day operation. It reproduces the audio very nicely and stamps the time/date and freq/mode on the audio clip. I'm sure net control ops would find this feature useful.
The antenna tuner is fast and reliable. I used a Carolina Windom 80 for 80/40 & WARC until I replaced it recently with a Homebrew OCF dipole, and the tuner will tune those bands on either antenna in a flash. I have a rather narrow banded Inverted L for 160 and the tuner also works FB on the Top Band with that antenna.
Dual watch is a must-have for DXers and contesters, while not a complete 2nd receiver, it's more like a split receiver, it works for the most part only in the same band and the signals are mixed as far as headphones are concerned, the only control you have is a balance which controls the level of each side. But it works and works for a lot less cost than a complete receiver, makes finding that DX stations listening freq a lot easier :-)
The dual VFO system is extremely user friendly and if you take the time to read the manual, you will soon be setting splits with a couple of button pushes. This design was very well thought out.
Overall the radio is extremely user friendly and laid out nicely. It is also very solid, I have made many thousands of QSOs on this one and it's never missed a beat. With over 1500 RTTY QSO's in a weekend, the PA heatsink gets warm, but not overly so. There is not a lot that Icom left out of this radio. Every time I would think of something I wished it would do, sure enough, I would run across it in the manual eventually. While this radio, unlike a lot of newer radios, can be operated out of the box without looking at the manual, you most certainly want to keep the manual handy for the first few months, many controls have multiple features that are not very obvious. READ THE MANUAL!! After one year, I think I have pretty much discovered all I need it to do, and I have no intentions of letting this one go. In fact I would love to have another one for SO2R. A pair of these would be a powerful combo in SO2R.
One comment on menu's. Many folks complain about the many menu's on today's radio. I must say this is not the case on the Pro II. There are menu's, but there are not a lot of them and they are all are set and forget. You won't be bothered by menu's with this radio.
Before I got this Pro II, I had heard many people talk of comparing the 756 Pros to other rigs side by side and the other radios sounding so much better than the Pros. Now I know why many "jumped" to that conclusion, I noticed right away that the Pro II's receive audio has a slight "digital" sound to it, very different from the "warm fuzzy" Kenwood audio that many hams are used to. I have discussed this with other Pro owners who agree that it is indeed the case. BUT, when it comes down to picking out a signal way down in the mud, or an S7 signal surrounded by 20 over splattering signals, this radio gets the job done way better than the "fuzzy" ones can! You will soon forget about that "digital" sound. Look at it this way, we are into communications, not broadcasting. I also listen to broadcast stations from time to time and they sound fine. Don't let this very minor detail keep you from owning a great radio!
Is the Pro III worth the extra money? I am not sure, if I had the money to spare, yes, based on my very pleasant experience with the P2, I would buy a used P3 for about 2 Kilo bucks, but no way I would drop almost 3K on a new P3 when I can get this much radio for HALF that price!
Bottom line, if you run across one of these rigs in the 1300-1500 dollar range in good condition, get one, you won't regret it! If you are into RTTY, you really need one of these!!
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W3DS
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Rating: 5/5
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May 10, 2008 18:21
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Outstanding Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The Pro2 is a great bargain if you can find one used in excellent condition. I can't understand why Icom didn't include 2 meters. A real gem of a transceiver I;ll be keeping this one for years to come.
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KK8ZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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May 10, 2008 17:52
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Always come back to the Pro II
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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While I've flirted with the TS-2000 and the FT-2000 (run, don't walk) I always come back to the faithful PROII... the band scope is of course one of the major differences between the PROII and other rigs, but the ease of use, large fonts for older eyes, great audio and knobs large enough for normal gorillas like me to use are major selling points. It's the retirement rig to keep... it will still be a classic 10 years from now... de KK8ZZ
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TI2TL
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 28, 2008 18:02
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Good but I expected more
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Well after a long wait I finally bought the Pro II because of the great reviews. I decided to go with the pro II and not the new Pro III since they are basically the same radio but with a mayor difference, the price. I was expecting the radio to blow away my FT-1000MP but it wasn't so. The radio performs well, but it is not at at the level of my FT-1000Mp. Now to be fair and honest let's say that my yaesu has the NB and AGC mod done to it, and it also has the inrad roofing filter installed, plus all the extra filters. Anyhow the listening in the yaesu is much more natural and relaxed. The noise floor is lower and signals are just heard better.
Now on the good side the Icom has the scope witch is very nice to have and it is fairly easy to make work since all the menus appear as they should and you don't need the manual (like the yaesu) to understand each menu.
I recommend the icom but don't expect the best of the best.
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N3AWS
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 30, 2008 13:43
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Outstanding deal!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Two of the best deals on the used ham gear market these days are the 756 Pro and Pro II. I bought a like-new Pro II and what a deal! The DSP is fantastic. The real time spectrum scope is all it is reputed to be and more. The voice recorder and voice keyer are great for SSB contests. I love the rig for digital modes. The RTTY filter is unbelievable--just be sure to read Don Hill AA5AU's web page on how to use it to it's best advantage. There's so much more and I haven't delved deeply into it yet... it's easy to get up and running but there is plenty under the surface to allow room for growth.
Try it and you WILL like it... these have to be the best deals on the used equipment market!
Jim N3AWS
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K4FX
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 6, 2008 22:15
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Nice Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The DSP is outstanding, works great on digital modes, the color display is useful as well as nice to look at, lot's of bells and whistles, digital voice recorder is very nice.
As one poster mentioned, it is hard to justify the bucks for the features a Pro 3 has,
Bottom line, this is one nice radio! If you can find a nice used one, go for it!
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KK8ZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 23, 2008 21:25
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An amazing HF radio
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I've played with the TS-2000, the FT-920 (great DX rig!) and many others, but this amazing radio offers the best audio of all the rigs that are out there on the used market.. the audio is just spectacular, with easy-to-adjust controls and easy to understand menu options.... trust me on this, I've tried most of the others, and this is the rig I've chosen for my "retirement rig"... Cheers... Bob KK8ZZ
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N6QL
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 5, 2008 17:17
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99.9% of a Pro3 for 1/3 the price
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The ProII doesn't get much play these days now that the ProIII is out. Heck, even the yahoo ProII group converted to ProIII and there is hardly any ProII discussion there. Don't let all of this fool you. Look closely at the specs (look on the Elecraft website - they have a nice table you can compare) and you'll find that the ProII receiver performance is essentially identical to the ProIII. For example:
- MDS figures are identical
- BDR figurs are only 1 dB down from the ProIII
- IMD DR3 numbers for 5khz spacing are only 1 db different!
- IMD DR3 numbers for 20khz spacing are only 5-6 db down
- IP3 for 5khz spacing are 0-3 down
- IP3 for 20khz spacing are 4-5 db down except Pre-amp 2 numbers which are 11 db (that is a nod to the ProIII - the second pre-amp is pretty good
- IP2 - the Pro II is actually better than the ProII with the pre-amps turned off. It's equal with Pre-amp 1 on but it is down about 11 db with Pre-amp 2 on.
- Phase Noise - the ProII is actually 4 db better than the ProIII
The second pre-amp is definitely better on the ProIII but otherwise all other measurements are in within the margin of error. Don't let the guys who plunked down nearly $3k for a ProIII tell you otherwise. A ProII at $1600-$1700 (seems to be the going price) is 99.9% of a ProIII (and actually better in some ways as a result of the Phase noise number) for $1000 less.
I've looked at the numbers and have spent hours at HRO using their ProIII trying to convince myself to buy one and just cannot find an area where the ProIII is discernibly better than the ProII except for those few unique situations where you can use the second pre-amp. Reality is the ProIII is really just the ProII with a better pre-amp2.
So, my point is, the ProII is one of the best high-end transceivers out there - the numbers tell the story. Pick one up for around $1600 and you've saved a ton of dough over buying a ProIII and you won't be able to tell the difference except for the badge and the very minor changes in the menu.
If you are looking to spend a bit less. Take a look at the IC-746Pro (much better radio than the IC-756Pro). The radio has great specs - in fact equal or better than the ProII in some areas - for about $600 less.
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W5VK
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 16, 2007 06:31
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Good for contesting
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is the most complicated radio I've owned and I'll probably never figgure out how to use all the features BUT it is easy to get started with basic functions. I have especially appreciated the voice keyer for contest use. I appreciate the ease of use and dependability of the Icom Radios I've owned.
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IZ1FKS
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 12, 2007 00:28
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good rx but pwr too low
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The receiver is vy good and the transceiver is also really easy to operate.The power out on ssb is a real problem: the average power is too low also because the ssb-peak never reach 100%.putting a wattmeter at the output of transceiver i could monitor how less power i have in comparison to my ic-745.I decided to bring the peak power (CW) to 120W measured with professional meter:after this i have 120W max in CW and digi-modes (but i use no more than 100W for not overheat) and a bit more power on ssb but thinghs are not very different as i expected.I tried icom mic hm-36 and hm-12:i use the late one because it reproduce my voice more accurately and report are always very fine about the modulation.The problem don't change also using a expensive sm-20, a friend of mine gave me for testing.Anyone have better solution?
73 and good DX to everyone
de Phil
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