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| Reviews Summary for ICOM ID-800 |
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Reviews: 18
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Average rating: 3.9/5
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MSRP: $629.99 USD
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Description: 2M/70CM Dual Band Mobile Transceiver. 55W VHF, 50W UHF. Receives 118-173, 230-549, 810-999 (Cell Blocked). Modes: FM(analog), AM(analog RX), and GMSK(digital). Digital Voice + up to 950bps data capability with the optional UT-118 installed.
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://www.icom.co.jp/world/products/amateur/id-800/index.html
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W0WFX
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Rating: 2/5
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Jul 31, 2011 20:49
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Needs Help
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Maybe I got one built on the end of a holiday weekend. Been back three times in three years. First time was problem with no high power on 440.
Second time was bad eternal speaker jack. Last time was audio issue with internal speaker.
I gave up.
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N9RLR
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 22, 2010 20:08
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Fantastic radio for the car
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Its a terrific radio that I enjoy having in the car. The face portion is mounted on a Lido gooseneck mount on the passenger/middle section. The radio is mounted in the trunk. I created my own cables with flat-ribbon cat5 cable and Belden 8451 for the speaker. I am using the ICOM seperation for the control cable.
Programming was done with the CS-D800 software program, I wish it was a little more Excel where cells could be modified/sopied/pasted for modification to the programming.
The radio has had a persistant signal level of 5 units or more the entire time I owned it while it the car. In the house 2 S units are always on the meter. I contacted Icom and they suggested I move the radio or antenna. The other radios I own and switched out do not have this problem.
At this point the radio will be going into Icom for service.
The biggest sticking point, I wish the *.icf files could be swapped between radios ie, the IC-91AD or other D-Star radios.
Please make all the files compatiable with all the radios for ease of programming. PLEASE!!!!
Thanks
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W2MB
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 9, 2009 20:56
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Evolving Technology
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I purchased mine on closeout at a final cost of $380 including programming software. The build quality is really no different from any other contemporary dual band transceiver. It works as well as any other dual band mobile transceiver, and it has the benefit of an additional mode, that is D-STAR. Now D-STAR is clearly a work in progress, but, at least it is an advancement over the antiquated technology that most use for FM repeater communication in our hobby. Hanging on to the old technology will just increase the speed at which this aspect of our hobby continues to die. I find D-STAR to be far from perfect but fun to use and experiment with and the ID-800H to be a more than acceptable all around dual band mobile rig. I can't imagine programming it without the software.
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N1IRL
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Rating: 0/5
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Sep 8, 2009 09:48
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Terrible!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Icom's D-Star tecnology is so bad, no wonder no other radio manufacturer wants to buy into it! The ID-800 is another example of a cheap Amateur Radio design using the terrible D-Star digital technology. When using this radio, I had people with very strong signals start breaking up and sounding like R2D2! D-Star has no error correction built in on voice mode! Plus the fact that the ID-800 is built very cheap, the PTT switch on the mic failed and the radio overall has a cheap feel to it. Very bad performance for a radio that is over $600.00!
Also, D-Star repeaters (nothing more than 2 ID-800's in an aluminum box sold as a repeater with only a 50% duty cycle, which means they burn up a lot!) can only run on digital mode only. This means whatever frequency pair they are put on, they lock out the analog FM user from that repeater.
Now look APCO 25 radios made by Icom as well in their commercial land mobile division. They are truly built like tanks and APCO 25 repeaters are dual-mode..., meaning you can use both FM & Digital on the same repeater so that people that don't want to go out and buy a digital radio don't have to!
Icom doesn't advertise to the amateur radio community about their P25 radios because if the hams knew about this choice (touted by Icom as "The North American Digital Standard, APCO 25") then they would never sell another D-Star radio again. Check out the info on the APCO 25 gear, the choice of professionals everywhere! Here is the link on Icom's site: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/landmobile/p25/p25/default.aspx
Use what the professionals use and leave "Death-Star" to Icom in Japan!
73
N1IRL
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VK3NJP
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Rating: 4/5
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May 14, 2009 19:46
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Good solid D-Star mobile rig
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently bought this rig from Strictly Ham (in Melbourne) for use in the work car travelling between Geelong and Melbourne. It's much easier to use and read whilst mobile compared to the IC-2820H's. The recovered and transmit audio in DV mode is better than the IC-2820H too. It hasn't got anywhere near the amount of functions & features of the IC-2820H but then it hasn't got the high price tag either. If you don't need the DPRS and dual mode functions and are using it mobile, then this is the rig for you to use D-Star. The CS800 software is also ok to use. The ID800H handles QRM like pager transmitters a bit better than the IC2820H. Great solid rig!
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AB8CL
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 4, 2009 07:40
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Not a bad little rig.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I can't bring myself to call this a "great" rig yet.
It has a couple of hitches I think. But all in all it is a very good 2m/440 rig. First thing I noticed is that the knobs all feel wobbly, it's like they are loose or something (maybe the are!). The second thing is the manual programning functions of the rig are NOT intuitive at all. Though I was able to program a channel without the manual. Programming is a snap with the PC software that is available (a little pricey) but worth it. A couple of times the programing software has hung up on me and it was necessary to re-boot the PC to get rid of the dead process. I plan on making up a data cable this weekend and trying out the 9600 data mode. Would have been nice if Icom included one of the 8 pin mini din plugs with the rig like they do for the ACC plug of their other rigs. Did I mention how much I hate the programming cable plugging into the external speaker port to program the rig and you can't monitor the frequency while programming if it's plugged in. That one gets to me a bit because, I like to leave it plugged in so I can upload/download stuff to the rig while I am sitting around killing the day playing radio. Constantly plugging and un-plugging the stereo plug is going to wear the port out I'm sure. Probable after a few weeks though it won't be necessary as...most....things should be programmed. Would have been nice if the mic would plugged into the faceplate when remotted, but a CAT5 cable will take care of that. Finally figured out that to get rid of some R2D2 like when the repeaters drop was to tighten up the squelch. And I don't like the Ideal that BIG BRoTHER or who know's who can basically shut you down from ANY Gateway access if they choose to ( I hadn't really thought about that until I started playing this rig, just a thought). I am enjoying this new DV mode now and I do like it. Hopefully more repeaters are installed in the area in the future. Looking forward to trying out some of the freeware out like D-Star TV I really enjoyed running Easy-Pal on HF. This will be a nice add on when the bugs are all worked out. Ok I'm off my soap-box. In closing I give the rig a "thumbs up"!
Keith AB8CL
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W8VI
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 6, 2009 23:08
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Very Nice D-Star or Analog
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Our local and most popular Cincinnati 2 meter / 70 cm repeaters just upgraded to D-Star. To get on this new mode I purchased the ID-800H. I have not purchsed or been active on VHF or UHF in over 14 years. Just sold my Kenwood TM-733A to give you an idea of my level of inactivity.
D-Star reminds me of how much fun I used to have on VHF and UHF. The newer radios like the 800H have major improvements in reducing intermod and unwanted noise.
I believe D-Star at least here is attracting a better group of Ham's. Everyone is a lot more polite and friendly.
The 800H is an excellent rig. From the factory the FM is set for Narrow and sounds a little tinny. You can switch it to normal bandwidth and also switch mic volume from low to high.
It does get hot if you talk a lot and run high power. Keeping the power at mid range even with long QSO's will barely warm the case.
If you like linking to other repeaters or stations on the Gateway I would suggest purchasing the Icom programing software. I found an aftermarket USB programing cable on Ebay for $5.00 and it works fine.
The base unit works so well I decided to get a second 800H for the mobile. It also works great with the included remote head cable. The base of the rig is under the passanger seat with the head attached with Velcro. The very light 800 display is just below the car radio display. A CAT 5 internet cable with a male to male plug works well as a microphone extension cable.
With two ID-800H's I can easily clone the memory from one radio to another or use the laptop and upload or download as needed. Icom uses the speaker connection on the rig for programing and cloning. Any standard 1/8 inch stereo cable (Male to Male) works fine for cloning 2 ID-800's.
I was also looking at a IC-2820 and the ID-92AD and am very satisfied with my 2 ID-800H's.
The enjoyment of D-Star and how well the ID-800H converts this new mode along with ease of use is why I give this rig a 5 raiting.
73, Gary W8VI
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KB2VYZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 19, 2008 20:44
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Just Awesome
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is an awesome radio, very easy to program (I only had to look in the manual once to figure out how to turn on the Digital Voice). And like all of the ICOMs I have owned through out the years, it's very well built.
73 de Frank/KB2VYZ
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MIGUELORAMAEXK2QB
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 30, 2008 07:44
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Great Radio manual needs improvement
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a great radio, so far it works great but the manual with the d-star programming and how to use its not that clear.. everything else is working great and get good reports using my sg7500 mobile antenna and with the gp1 base antenna as well..
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VA3QF
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 25, 2008 19:38
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Good radio - bad manual
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have owned the ID-800H for only a couple of weeks, so this is a preliminary report.
I had used Yaesu for mobile and hand-held in the past, but decided to upgrade from a 2m-only mobile to dual-band and elected to add the D-STAR capability at the same time.Current pricing from Icom made the decision to get the ID-800H an easy one.
First, the manual leaves a LOT to be desired! I had to read the section on D-STAR several times to get an idea of what was being said. As a previous reviewer commented, it seems to have been proof-read by someone whose first language is NOT English. In the end I resorted to: A) buying the programming software and B) joining a Yahoo chat-group to get more information.
The software is a breeze - a bit tedious typing in all the repeater frequencies, offsets, tones, D-STAR callsigns etc but infinitely better than all the knob-twiddling on the radio.
As far as the radio itself - if you can't find room for this radio with its detachable head in even a SMART car then you've got a problem! The number of features on the microphone is impressive and means that just about every function can be controlled from there. On-air reports have been very favorable. I would have given it a 5 but the manual lets it down. Sorry, Icom!
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