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| Reviews Summary for ICOM IC-821H |
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Reviews: 14
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Average rating: 3.1/5
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MSRP: $2040.00
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Description: 2m/70cm All Mode TCVR for Satellite Operation
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Product is not in production.
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write your own review of the ICOM IC-821H.
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LA0BY
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 13, 2011 10:47
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RN2425 switch transistor failure
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Last year I already had an intermittent problem with the 2m section. The RF power output suddenly dropped a lot, but became normal when checking at home.
Now the IC-821H failed again in the same way, and this time it stayed bad. This gave me the chance to identify the bias switching transistor RN2425 as the culprit. I replaced it with a BC161 mounted on the upper side of the Main Board PCB.
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IK2TYL
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 13, 2011 10:48
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sticky buttons
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have the same problem that AA4AN described. After a few years of very limited use, all rubber buttons of this radio have become "sticky". They all work fine, but when you touch them you have this funny feeling like the surface of each button has an invisible coating of maple syrup
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AA4AN
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 27, 2011 19:10
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Sloppy buttons
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought this new in late 90's. It has performed well over the last 13 years, and I have not experienced any issues like others have mentioned. Only problems I have are - lights have burned out. I now keep the display on dim to protect the last bulb. I'll probably replace them with LED's. Other issue is the soft rubber buttons on front panel are "sticky". It's like they are melting. No, It's not overheating... the buttons are sticky. Push in and I make an imprint of my fingerprint. Anyone else experience this?
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LA0BY
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 16, 2010 11:59
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Comfortable radio, but recent RF power failure
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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For more than 10 years I am using my IC-821H for weak signal work only. It is a very comfortable rig. One good feature is the second receiver which allows me to monitor one band while working on the other. I know the radio emits a rather high sideband noise level.
Having not had any problems earlier, recently the RF power disappeared on 2m. First I thought it was the PA module that was gone, but then it worked when I put it on the testbench at home. Next time out in the field it failed again after some minutes. Then I did a lot of tests at home, but, of course, everything worked fine over a supply voltage range of 10,5-14V DC. I suspect a bad switching transistor Q42 (in analogy of the 70cm failure reported here), but have not replaced it yet. For now this issue remains unsolved. Any suggestions welcome ...
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N8ERM
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Rating: 0/5
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Sep 7, 2009 05:40
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ICOM'S mistake
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This rig takes a lot of TLC to keep it going. I keep great records of maintenance and mine has had 27 repairs in the five years I have owned it. I gave it to a good technician and it is his problem now.
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ON7WP
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Rating: 1/5
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Mar 26, 2009 12:35
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japanese rubbish: repair delight rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is a problem radio, I just repaired mine for the third time and some of my friends radios also.
Known issues:
1. bad contacts in flat cables
2. interruptions in through plating on boards
3. toasted PCB tracks in PA stage
4. rotten modulation due to low bias settings, unadjustable
5. bad sideband noise performance
6. idiot CTCSS menu, encoding only not possible
7. ...
I had to take the radio apart several times to correct oxydation contact problems in the white flat cables to the front.
If it works, it's fine, but menu structure sucks, 9k6 performance is slow and confusing.
I bought two FT736 as backup, far better radios....
Pedro ON7WP-AA9HX (owning more than 35 HF radios, over 40 handhelds and over 25 VHF-UHF multimodes, so I can compare....)
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W1JHR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 25, 2009 16:26
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Good general vhf /uhf tranceiver
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought my unit used 6 years ago. It has worked without a problem until about 2 months ago when it became irrational. I had read earlier reviews about the ribbon cable problem and after opening the unit, disengaging the cable and cleaning the end with a pencil eraser it began functioning logically. From start to finish it took 20 minutes and I have no problems since that time. I bought the unit for Sat work after having owned an IC-820H. This is certainly an improvement especially with the front panel power control. I also appreciate the bias tee on the antenna output for controlling preamps which I use on 144 and 432 with this unit. I wish the keys had back lighting like my 706 but this a keeper, too.
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G0NIG
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 7, 2006 06:52
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Terrific Piece of kit.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Admittedly I've only owned the radio a few months but it is a delight to use. The quality of receive is excellent with no strong out of band signal breakthrough (I live close to a hospital paging system) which totally trashed the VHF frontend on a IC7400
Reports on the transmitted audio have always been very complemetary. Mine started live as a Euro version with the 1750Hz tone but a simple internal mod enabled the CTCSS encoder. If you do this mod ensure that you turn the tone deviation down to 600Hz or you'll receive some dreadful reports.
I have two small critisms as to the features, or lack of them:
1. No RF/IF Gain control. On a radio like this I would have thought that this would have been a given.
2. No VOX. I'm a keen contestor on HF and would like to start with VHF/UHF contesting and for SSB operation I consider a VOX facility essential.
I have fitted the UT-84 tone squelch board and intend to fit the CW narrow filters into both the main and sub rx'ers.
Some comments have stated that it can be a little fiddly to setup for satellite use but I didn't find it too much of a hurdle.
Used prices do vary quite considerably, I purchased mine for 360GBP from a local operator but have seen them on dealers shelves for in excess of 800GBP.
For me this one will be a keeper for some time to come.
Regards
Nidge (G0NIG)
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G0RAX
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 1, 2005 14:04
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lovely rig, shame about the manual
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Beautiful radio but the manual is inscrutible. Still can't find how to tx on 70cms, and I note from other users its not just me being dumb. I have figured out the FT 857 D ok which does much more, and other modern rigs from their user guides. Icom need to employ the yaesu user guide writers.
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KC0KKI
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 12, 2005 15:26
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Best I have owned
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Not sure why there are 2 categories here for the same rig...But I have had no problems whatsoever with my IC-821H. It looks great, works great and has never failed me. It is a perfect companion to add VHF/UHF to my IC-736 and really works great. I was skeptical before my purchase after reading the reviews here and half of them were bad...But...I have always had good luck with Icom rigs so I gave it a try and I am glad I did. If money is no object, then buy an IC-910H. If you are sick of using a mobile rig as a base and are on a budget, then I recommend considering a good used IC-821.
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