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write your own review of the Icom IC-2200H.
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VK2KIT
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 10, 2009 03:29
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Fantastic 2M rig and awsome air RX (if mod done)
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This radio has the best AM receive performance on the aircraft channels of any Ham radio I have ever owned. With the narrow IF filter engaged on AM, this radio is absolutely outstanding for monitoring local Air traffic. Tests on an IFR comms tester confirm that this is one very sensitive AM receiver.
However, there is one major problem that needs attention. The audio level on AM is about 14dB louder than FM. This is very anoying when you scan both Air and 2m channels. You set the volume control to a comfortable listening level on 2m channels and then get blown out of your home/car when the radio scans to an active air channel. Fortunately, in an effort to protect my own eardrums, I was able to come up with a relatively simple mod that equalizes the received audio levels on AM and FM. After the mod is completed, there is very little, if any difference in volume level between the two modes and monitoring both is a much more pleasent experience. The mod has been posted to Mods.DK and should be available in a day or two hopefully. Go to the IC-2200H section for details.. The IC-2200H is a very good radio. In particular, the ability to select 'narrow' FM for the PMR and air channels is a must with the increasing use of 12.5Khz channel allocations on those 'other' channels that we all like to monitor. My one criticism with this radio (along with many others nowadays) is the lack of any forced air cooling for the heatsink. It really bugs me that manufacturers can claim that a 60watt radio does not require a fan 'due to the large and efficient heatsink'. Do these people really think that a 10% TX duty cycle is the norm for Ham radio operations? When I am talking to someone, I routinely run a 50/50% TX/RX duty cycle. At this rate this radio, along with all the other similar radios get so hot that you could fry an egg on the case. This can't be good for long term reliabilty. Would it be so hard to put one or two little, slow speed fans fans on the back end of the radio to move a little air around without being too obtrusive? Modern mosfet based PA's can produce lots of watts over a huge frequency range, but the trade off is that they are relatively inefficient. At 60watt output, this radio is drawing over 15 Amps from the power supply. With a 13.8V supply, that is around 207 watts of input power. Looking at this another way, the PA is only around 30% efficient and the heatsink therefore has to dissipate the other ~140 watts as heat! At lower power levels, the efficiency level is often even worse. It seems that gone are the days of 60-70% efficient class C amplifiers!!
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KD0GIV
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 9, 2009 13:47
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Good 2m FM radio
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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If you don't mind menu's this is a great radio. After reading the manual it programs easy. I've had no problems with this radio.
I use this for a base and it works excellent using a discone with 2dB gain. The squelch/gain knob and s-meter squelch are awesome features. These features make scanning channels or frequencies such a pleasure. The heatsink only gets barely warm for me.
The only thing I wish it had was a front firing speaker. I plan on putting one in my car with an external speaker. Considering the power, features, and price it is an excellent value.
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W8NLZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 2, 2009 15:14
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Update & Useful Tip
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Now have 2 years operating two IC-2200Hs, base & mobile rigs. In the plain vanilla world of local 2 meter ops, they have worked (almost) flawlessly. And, yes, they are a pain to program.
Recently, switched my mobile unit off - changed my mind- and quickly turned it back on. Unit went dead and would not respond to on-off button. Finally figured out that internal computer program had glitched and was no longer servicing interrupts. Removed DC power from unit for one minute. Restored and "voila" unit came back to life with all memory intact.
If you just need a good reliable 2 meter transceiver for straightforward local (repeater assisted) communications, hard to beat the quality of this unit for the price.
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KI4QPU
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Rating: 0/5
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Nov 2, 2009 06:37
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Absolute Nightmare!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had this radio for two years, and cannot stand it! Programming sucks! The only reason I still have it, I would hate to give this head ache to somebody. Save your money.
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SQ3HTB
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Rating: 3/5
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Sep 23, 2009 08:02
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Shortcoming
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Everything it is possible beyond worst loudspeaker in history mobile trx. Display is fatal quality, lack of protective eraser (elastic) on plug RJ45. Who in narrow modulation very hard apprehend somebody transmit (be suitable) or who has weakest modulation. Shopping of external loudspeaker is forced. One plus is modulation - prominently good.
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KJ4MXQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 15, 2009 11:32
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Good Value
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Good performer and value for $149. Programming is simple enough if you read the manual. Running through a Larsen NMO150B (5/8) 2m antenna mounted on the top of Silverado cab. Capable of solid contact to the local repeaters at 45+ miles.
It took a bit to distinguish between quickly pressing versus holding the dual function keys (not the rig's fault). Icom answered my 1 email question within 6 hours and sent the $20 rebate check in < 90 days.
It's not quite a 5 but it's not very far from it based on price and performance - call it 4.9. Completely satisfied and would buy another.
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KC2TIR
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 7, 2009 17:23
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Outstanding
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Having owned the IC-2200H for almost two years(bought used at Ham fest) And it's big cousin the IC- 208H new from Gigaparts, Both are outstanding radios. I have read many reviews about the knobs being loose on these radios. Yes it is so but, they may have been designed to take vibration while being used mobile???
The 2200H was used as a base at the QTH with a home made copper J-pole.It will work repeaters over 80 miles from the QTH. It has since been installed in the mobile. It is a keeper. Money well spent ( $125.00)
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KC9MSG
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 4, 2009 08:21
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nice radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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this is a really nice radio. the 65 watts of power comes in handy when trying to get into repeaters that are 50-60 miles away. nice sounding audio from it too. only had it since the past weekend but always get good reports on signal quality and tx audio. i was never a big fan of icom products before due to some bad luck with icom talkies but im really impressed with the 2200h so far. like the ability to change display color too. programming was a little bit of a pain but after reading the respective pages in the manual a few times it really isnt so bad. doesnt have the d-star board yet but i may add it in the near future, have to see how active d-star is and if its worth it to me to add d-star. so far i really like this radio though reason i rate it at a 4 is the programming issues but probably should be rated at 4.5 since that is the only issue i had so far.
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K4GK
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 23, 2009 18:56
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Good Box
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have two of them, one for the house and one for the pickup truck. Love those IC-2200H's. Before I got these two I had an old IC-2100, which was similiar. The radio is easy to program and very reliable. Yes, it does get HOT after long transmissions on higher power, but no failure here after several years of use. It's a good dependable 2-meter radio.
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KD4WPC
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 23, 2009 16:17
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Hot radio
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I bought this radio to use with my echolink station. The first thing I notice is the knob shafts are plastic as are most of the new radios these days...what a shame. Allso the knobs feel as though they need to be tightened or they may fall out...LOTS of wiggle in them.
The next thing I notice is this radio will get so hot it can burn you. I have always run this rig on 5 watts and it still gets so hot I cant touch it for more that a few seconds. This radio could use a fan or at least make sure the air will run over the fins real good. Easy to operate and very easy to mod if you need it.
Just remember this thing gets very hot.
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