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| Reviews Summary for Icom IC-2AT |
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Reviews: 27
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Average rating: 4.9/5
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MSRP: $ic-2at
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Description: VHF Hand Held
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More info: http://
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You can
write your own review of the Icom IC-2AT.
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KB3PXR
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Rating: 5/5
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May 23, 2008 07:41
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Great for My Dad
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought it for my newly licensed Dad at a hamfest. I admit I have used it more so far than he has, but it is easy for him as there are no menus. This radio will also teach the fundamentals of repeater operation +/- offsets and simplex vs. duplex setting as these are manual and not automatic like mine. No CTCSS, but that is not needed in this area as the local repeaters will also have DTMF access when the PL is turned on.
Reasons I gave it a 5:
-Simple operation
-Learning tool
-Obviously can take abuse as the paint is worn off of this one as well.
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W4ABW
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Rating: 5/5
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May 19, 2008 10:42
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A good 2m Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I cannot remember when I got my IC-2AT. I dropped it into a fast running creek in the GSMNP once but it came out fine. I made a lot of qso's from trails in the National Park and even called for a rescue once. My AT still has years of life, I hope.
Last Time owned category should have a More than 12 years, HI !
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K5ENA
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Rating: 5/5
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May 19, 2008 09:15
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Great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I took my IC-2AT out of my desk drawer the other day. Still works like a charm, accessing the local 28-88 non-pl tone repeater. I acquired this radio at a local hamfest in 1982. Just like the Energizer bunny, keeps going and going, etc.
John, K5ENA
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AC5XP
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Rating: 5/5
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May 19, 2008 06:49
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Great design from Icom, a true classic
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This radio stems from the late seventies, and was the first Icom hand-held in a whole family of portables that were to follow it. It was a roaring market success for Icom, selling like hotcakes. It actually built up a cult following of hams.
Icom also used the design as a platform for professional radios. As an example, the IC-M12 VHF marine hand-held of the same era uses exactly the same radio board and synthesizer, but the thumbwheels are replaced by a 12-position switch which drives a programmable diode matrix.
I remember the IC-2AT well because in the early eighties, a friend of mine bought it as his first radio when he got his ticket and he let me use it extensively, albeit in the IC-2T form (without the DTMF keypad but similar otherwise)
I remember it to be an impressive radio. Very light-weight; standby time was very good; receiver was sensitive and selective and modulation was excellent. It's also built very well and therefore reliable.
A nice touch were the thumbwheel switches; simple but effective, and they yielded it the earlier mentioned cult following. So nothing but praise for this little radio. The only drawback for today's use would be the absence of the PL tones of course.
A year or so ago I saw one offered for sale on a hamfest for $10, in really nice cosmetic condition and factory original. I figured it probably wouldn't work but all the service documentation for this one is available on the web so it should not be too difficult to fix it, as radios like these were not equipped yet with the hard-to-find custom chips that plague today's throw-away radios when they go bust.
So the nostalgia got the better part of me and I bought it. You can imagine my surprise when I came home and it turned out to work like a champ. Like new, after 30 years.
So it now has a special place in my collection of 1970-1980's radios, which I consider the golden years of ham radio.
Noteworthy is, that some of the radios in my collection have developed black LCDs unfortunately. These early LCDs do not seem to last much longer than about 20 years due to the imperfect seal between the glass layers. Needless to say my IC-2AT won't suffer this fate; I have never seen a thumbwheel switch goes black...
Meet you on the band with your IC-2AT, on a repeater without PL tones of course!
73s, Loek d'Hont AC5XP
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KB2HSH
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 29, 2008 15:47
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The Rig, The Myth, The LEGEND
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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When I received my ticket in 1988, there were two radios that caught my eye: the original Argonaut and the IC-2AT. Thanks to a quick trip to eBay, I picked one up for $25.00. (It is pristine for a 25 year old radio!) To say it's a bit weighty is an understatement, but it has an amazing receiver, and is tough as nails.
Compared to the last "full size" HT I had (Alinco DJ-120T), it is fantastic on AA batteries (via the BP4 alkaline pack). It lasts for DAYS on APRS with nothing more than 600 mAH AA Ni-Cads pulled from solar lights that I ran over with my Yamaha.
Next step is to pick up a 4AT to complete my OLD SKOOL portable satellite station.
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KB2FCV
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 20, 2007 13:51
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Simple and Reliable
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is my hamfest/utility radio. I can't remember how long ago I bought it but it seems like forever. I sold my chargers for it a long time ago and just use the alkaline pack with it. You can't kill this radio. It's so easy to just dial where you want to talk. I wish it had PL from the factory.. I just don't have the heart to put after-market mods in it. I'll have this for a lifetime. Oh, I also have the 3AT and 4AT as well.
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N4KC
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 3, 2007 14:49
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OK, I'll admit it, too
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have one of these true "bricks" (it's about the size of a standard brick) on the shelf. After going through a couple of the stock battery packs, I invested in a bunch of rechargeable ni-cads and used those for several years. I even did the big HT "no-no" and used it with a mag-mount external whip in the wife's car for a long time. It actually did a fine job on receive but the 2.5 watts probably drove the repeaters--and those listening to them--crazy.
Yes, it's too heavy for my daily walks compared to my VX-5, and the lack of tone encoding would negate some nice local repeaters, but I bet if I had some batteries, it would work just fine now. And there's something about simply dialing those thumbwheels to change frequency, or using the little switch on the back to change the offset, that was delightfully easy. My first synthesized rig, too, and it was soooooo nice to be able to quickly jump to those new repeaters that were coming on the air in the '70s without having to wait for the crystals to show up in the mail!
73,
Don N4KC
www.n4kc.com
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W4ABW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 3, 2007 04:56
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Never wears out
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought my IC-2AT so far back I do not remember exactly when. I listen to it almost every day but do not carry it anymore as its a lil heavy compared to today's smaller rigs. I bought a couple of replacement BATs a few years ago and it still transmits fine business. I used it a lot in the 80's on the AT. The trail that is.
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VE4MM
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 2, 2007 16:54
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MY FIRST HANDI
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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STILL HAVE ONE TODAY. IT IS NEW.
GOT MY FIRST IN 1983.
I ALSO HAVE AN IC7800, IC718, IC765, R7100.
73
Michael Mark, BSc EE, ARRL Life Member, VE4MM
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K1MBR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 2, 2007 16:36
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The Standard!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I was licensed back in 1980 and I got my first synthesized HT shortly afterwards...yes it was the venerated IC-2at. I think I got this unit in 1980 or 1981, I remember having my name on a waiting list to get one. WHAT a workhorse!
As things changed it changed as well. Later I added a ComSpec PL board and remoted a small DIP switch on the front so I could change PL tones as needed, later still I added a scanner board to it so it would scan 1 mhz segments at a time.
It was very easy to work on and repair, I changed the BNC connector twice and replaced the PLL buffer transistor once. I rebuilt the battery pack at least 3 times.
It was retired as a full time packet radio about 8 years later. It now sets on a shelf, but would still work just fine if I rebuilt the battery again.
Larry "I'Gor" K1MBR
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