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| Reviews Summary for ICOM IC-7000 |
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Reviews: 232
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Average rating: 4.4/5
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MSRP: $TBA
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Description: HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver.
2 × DSP
Digital voice recorder (DVR)
Improved AGC loop performance
2 × MNF (Manual Notch Filter)
2-mode band scope
2.5-inch color TFT display with TV screen receive capability
Remote control Microphone
Digital IF filters
Available mid 2006
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More info: http://www.icomamerica.com/products/amateur/7000/
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VK2VHF
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 2, 2009 13:58
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so much to offer
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The rig is a top little performer. Yes the menu system is a bit pokey but there are just so many features packed into the rig it is unbelievable.
Others have pretty much covered the good and bad points already so all I will add is one gripe....the built in VSWR meter only works on antenna 1 (HF-50Mhz). Hence you dont get a reading on 20/70 which is a pity. My IC746 pro does this across all bands no problem.
Otherwise a smashing radio for its compact size.
73 from down under.....VK2VHF
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W3VR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 21, 2009 04:18
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No problems.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've got 2 of these. Unit no. 1 I've had well over a year, unit 2 I've had for 7 mo.'s. Not one single problem with either one. I love equipment, and have lots of it. My 7000's HF sections rival my PROIII in performance. Very, close. The VHF & UHF sections are okay for me. I don't use that part of the XCVR too much, but it's nice to have when needed.
For basic HF mobile operation, I've found no better combination for myself than the HI-Q 5/160 and the IC7000.
From several years in avionics maintenance and repair, I've seen many things fail. Much of the equipment I've seen fail often times costs much more than the IC7000. However, I've never seen an aircraft owner, or operator downright condemn a particular model of aircraft or equipment just because of an equipment failure. They know maintenance has it's price, and things break. When they break, you fix them, or have them fixed, and carry on. Only after chronic failures with many events will they consider other options.
I have become amused, and astonished at times with some of the comments from amateur radio equipment users and owners, and at times, their myopic views, and unrealistic expectations of equipment performance and reliability.
But coming from many years in commercial electronics repair and maintenance where I learned the basics, and coming into amateur radio recently, I'm beginning to realize that many of the complaints I read about are coming from people that are entering what history has shown was once a very technical hobby, having very little to no technical knowledge of electronics and hands on experience with it. Therein is the problem, and the shortcomings of the "plug and play", and "gotta have it now" mindset are painfully obvious along with the propensity to place unreasonable expectations on consumer electronics.
If modern amateur radio gear was made to the same rigorous standards of performance and reliability as the commercial counterparts, ham radio operators simply could not afford the product.
There has been controversy in the past over the HM-151 mic modification. Since I have 2 IC7000's, I decided not to modify the second radios mic. I have found the stock HM-151 mic, although it has slightly less gain and slightly different dynamic response to be adequate after adjustments to the low end response from the TBW adjustments, mic gain, and compression. Each operator should use a second receiver (if available to them) as a monitor for the xmit carrier and adjust to suit their voice and operating conditions. If there is a weak part in the design of the IC7000, to me it would be the microphone preamps lack of adjustments. A parametric eq, and separate mic gain would have been nice. I have proven this to myself by bypassing it all through the accessory connector in the back, and using a separate eq circuit(mixer/eq.). Of course for mobile operation this is impractical.
The dual processing consumes a fair amount of power. If you plan operating portable, you will need a power source that will not fall below 13 VDC. The IC7000 is very sensitive to low supply power.
Overall, I have few complaints, and I'm satisfied with the IC7000.
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N2YXW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 20, 2009 21:32
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Great mobile & portable radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I had purchased this little gem to operate portable from Hawaii last summer. It worked very well. I used the small matching LDG tuner and a Par end fed antenna and made a few hundred contacts in few weeks that I was there. When I returned home to New York it was packed away since I have a Pro3 and 775DSP both feeding a Pw1 amp. I got to thinking that I would use it as a quick and dirty mobile radio. I mounted it and the auto tuner in a plastic milk crate with a small section of 1/2" copper tubing as a central ground, used hose clamps to attach the ground braid from the radio and tuner to the copper tube and from that a short 12" piece of braid to the body of my suv. My suv has 4 20amp acc outlets in various spots so that made it very easy to power the 7000. A quick tri-mag mount up top and a 40 meter hamstick and with 75 watts out I've been able to work 35 countries and hundreds of stateside stations on my way to and from my office. I have the head of the 7000 on a Lido cup holder mount. The radio is very easy to control via the multifunction mic and I have gotten great signal and audio reports. The nice thing is that I can move things in and out of the car in a few minutes and pack up the radio and tuner and take it with me when I travel. The small body makes it very easy to travel with. I also have a Kenwwod TS-480 but it is larger than the 7000 and does not have VHF. In all I've been very, very happy.
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KF6NTE
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 3, 2009 12:29
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Excellent Value
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Time owned: months
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I've had this radio in my car for several months and have had solid contacts on HF over several thousand miles across the various bands. One thing that goes without saying is no matter how much radio you have, it's ultimately your antenna that will make the most difference !. Also 100 Watts seems to be just enough power to cover great distances. Due to the internal size constraints there is limited cooling and therefore power dissipation ability so keeping an eye out for high return loss in the feedline is key to reliable operation. Always monitor the SWR meter when transmitting and ALWAYS retune even if you change the frequency slightly ALWAYS !. The SWR fold-back circuitry is there only to let you know the radio is in a high mismatch situation and it's not designed for long term operation with anything higher than 1.5:1 mismatch because the final stage power amplifiers cannot dissipate too much heat. The AH-4 automatic coupler works very well with it in a mobile environment insertion losses notwithstanding. But it helps to keep the radio transmitting into a safe load. Any mismatch over 3:1 and the AH-4 will not come up with an optimal conjugate pair solution. It's amazing how much it really costs in terms of time and money to get this radio in the proper operating environment. The $1200 or so for its price tag is only the beginning. Once you add all of the supporting equipment, couplers, antennas, instruments, cables you're easily in over $2000. There is very little not to like with this radio though from a user perspective. The remote head can be mounted out of the way (and removed) and in a convenient place in the car. The display is bright, clear and easy to read. This radio has mobile-operation written all over it. One thing that would be neat is to be able to arrange the menus according to the user's needs. Being able to monitor power level, ALC and SWR is very useful but in addition it would be nice to be able to manipulate the IF notch filters or use the automatic recorded message tranmission without having to menu out of the Po/ALC/SWR monitoring screen and be missing the SWR status on the line when transmitting a recorded message. The microphone has just the right heft the lighted pad is key when operating in the dark while parked. I do very little, if at all, HF operation while mobile because the efficiency of my antenna suffers with the shorter whips so I haven't had to deal with the EMI issues associated with a running vehicle. Having said that this radio really likes to have solid grounding. Common mode RF is easy to pick up on the coax lines and have it interfere with normal operation. Proper vehicle bonding and RF grounding is another very underestimated aspect of mobile operation. Another advantage to mobile stationary HF operation is that it's the perfect answer to living with restricted antenna situations even better yet you can drive your station to the top of a mountain and gain a directional advantage !. All in all this is a great first radio for me. It's been fun setting it up and operating it and it seems ICOM has been a good pick. I look forward to a lifetime of great contacts !.
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TI2TL
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Rating: 5/5
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May 27, 2009 10:20
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Incredible for the price
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Let me start by saying I bought this radio for mobile use, but before I installed it on my mobile station I decided to put it on my desk and make some A/B comparisons with my radio a TT Orion II. I have to say that I dislike small radios for a shack but this one is really nice.
The LCD display is very good and it holds tons of info on it.
As any small radio the hidden functions are many, and to be capable of using the radio with no problems you have to read the manual at least 3 times to remember everything.
The radio performance is superb. I can`t classify it in any other way. It compares to the Orion in most cases and keeps up with the performance. The audio output is very good if hooked up to an external speaker (i never use internal ones). The transmit audio is very good despite what people say about the original mic. witch works perfectly just as it should.
What more could you ask from a small portable rig? I frankly don`t know this one does it all. I also did the TV mod and it works very good. I highly recommend this radio to everyone, not just the mobile operator but also the person that wants a good performance radio on all bands at home.
One accessory I did buy for it was the AT-180 witch I consider very useful and has a great performance. I have a lousy 80 meter dipole installed in my QTH that has high SWR, well let me tell you that the tuner managed to tune the antenna with SWR of 10:1
If you are looking for performance and price this is the one for you, unless you dislike small radios than you have to search for something else.
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K9PU
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Rating: 4/5
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May 14, 2009 13:46
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good choice
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I got the 7000 because everything cheaper required optional "extras" that ran the lesser rigs cost up to the 7000 price.
Good things: spectrum scope, HF through UHF with one radio, RTTY FSK, break-in CW, color display, DSP bandwidth filters, tuning knob features switch from smooth to "click," 1/4 tuning speed feature, wide receiver range.
Needs improvement things: speaker (it sucks, must use an outboard speaker), tuning CW (why not a display like the RTTY uses?, can't match the TX frequency with the one received, what happened to "zero beat" tuning), only 50 Watts out (not 100 Watts), too sensitive to local power house stations off frequency.
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K2ID
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Rating: 5/5
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May 14, 2009 09:43
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Simpl the best
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned three of these little wonders and for some reason I always end up buying a new one after selling one. Why do I sell? Well, I have a nice big base rig and have no need for a mobile rig so when I need cash for a new toy I sell my 7000. Why do I buy the again? Because the radio is fun to use and I can work VHF/UHF/HF with just one rig.
I did not fully appreciate this rig until I sold my first one which was mobile and replaced it with an Icom 706. I never heard intermod before but without the 7000 I did and my receiver was noisey. The 7000 was so quiet that I often checked to make sure it was on or that the squelch was set correctly.
My only complaint was the transmit audio on VHF/UHF. People kept telling me to turn up my mic gain when it was at 100%. A quick and cheap AB5N modification to the hand mic fixed that and produced some great audio reports from overseas.
I cannot think of any other rig in its class that is as advanced as the 7000. As far as I am concerned, if you like the best, this is the best mobile rig you can buy.
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K3EY
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 8, 2009 06:38
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Sleeper
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This radio is a true sleeper. I say this because I have owned many HF radios including the ones costing three times what this 7200 does. I work mostly CW and a few digital modes and seldom get on SSB. For my operating needs this is more than enough radio and as good as the PROIII and K2 FT950 FT2000 and yes even the sacred TS830 along with many others I have owned. It hears the weak down in the mud stations extremely well especially since it’s filtering is identical to the PROIII. What more could you want and why spend thousands more is beyond me. I also listen to beacons below 500 Hz where it hears extremely well down there too especially since the preamp actually functions that low where on the higher priced radios the preamp is inoperative. After spending too much money on too many radios this rugged simple to operate user friendly radio-- which happens to be the perfect size--- will be with me for a very long time. I purchased mine in Dec 08 and never worried about the upgrades some say are a --must-- since it works perfect for my needs. The display screen is not big but not too small. The front panel layout was well thought out and easy to use even with my big fingers, the push buttons have a nice tactile feel, it has four concentric easy to access knobs two of which have indents. Nice touch. No need to study the manual for hours before operating this radio. I can’t say that with the Yaesu radios where an eight hour course is required to turn on the radio. I have no reason to go out and spend thousands more on another HF radio when this radio works and functions about the same to my ears and dollars, been thee done that and IMO it was stupid on my part.
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N6BOB
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 7, 2009 18:55
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Great HF/VHF/UHF
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Have owned the IC-7000 for 3 years and have found it a great radio. All modes and all bands have worked well. As a 2 meter mobile loading the memories has made it easy to use and the band scope is nice to look at band activity.
I did have one problem a few months ago ... the 2 meter transmit function died but all other bands worked fine. (the SWR may have been too high at the bottom of the 2 meter band).Looked at the schematic and inside and decided to ship it off to Icom Washington for repair. Repair was done quickly and satisfactorly. It was a mosfet driver to the 2 meter finals. Now works great.
Receiver works great for 2 meter SSB or CW HF and SSB. Pass band tuning helps cut out interference on contest days.
The IC-7000 is the best compact all around portable rig out there in my book. The new HF IC 7200 receiver is larger and is much easier to use and has better receiver so consider that one too if small size is not the most important feature.
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NO9E
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 7, 2009 17:00
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Good but smoked twice
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is the second review.
In general it is quite a good radio for its size with a number of interesting features. Just forget about busting pileups or copying in static.
Anyway, the driver smoked twice. Once connected to a dummy load, the other time just turned on. Luckily repaired promptly under warranty by Southeastern Icom.
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