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Author Topic: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?  (Read 2093 times)

N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #15 on: August 26, 2020, 05:04:08 AM »

Very true, peak power off the AC line is likely higher, but if you look at the K7DYY transmitter, its very small, generates no heat, yet puts out about a kilowatt of power.
No need for 220 in the shack.

I used to be a CW guy, and RTTY, and have done ssb, and I have no reason to disparage any other modes.

I an unsure if a great radio is needed for ssb rag chewing, or casual CW, or digital modes.
I don't think you need a really fast car to drive to work, but people do have them.
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K7JQ

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #16 on: August 26, 2020, 06:49:12 AM »

N2DTS:

You're correct...I've never built anything remotely like what your picture shows. Great looking shack, I'm impressed!

73, Bob K7JQ
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2020, 07:24:34 AM »

Tubes can be fun!



sdr can be fun:



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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #18 on: August 27, 2020, 07:33:15 PM »



Very nice in every respect.
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #19 on: August 28, 2020, 05:25:43 AM »


Its good, very good.
There is a bit of a learning curve, not really much in menu's but you have to remember different things.
Pushing the power/mic knob brings up transmit things menu and its mode dependant.
Fidelity is fantastic out the line output jack, the built in speaker not so much.
AM and ssb modulation is very good, set the TX bandwidth to 50 to 4500 on AM and there you go, no splatter.
Eq the microphone, it really works and it sounds good.
The built in monitor works fine, rx audio is great, dial the filter to whatever width the signal is on the scope.
High fidelity if you want it.

The screen is big and very high res, looks like a 4K TV.
Touch and drag the scope anyplace in the band without changing your receive frequency, listen on 7290 but look at the cw portion of the band.
Slide to expand or contract the spectrum display, its got calibrated markers on it.
You can have two receivers, on any bands and look at one, the other, or both.
I worked Tim (HLR) with it on 40 meters and he said it sounded good even using the hand mic.
He knows good audio.

Delay through the standalone radio is about 200 ms on voice, not enough to bother me, in the monitor there is no delay.
I expect less delay if you use a computer and run the software over ethernet.
It seemed fine on CW, sidetone was nice, t/r switching was fast and quiet.

You can use the standalone radio, you can buy another front panel and operate the radio over wifi, or from any internet connection, or from a tablet, or a phone.
The seperate front panel  (Maestro) has built in batteries, jacks on the back for phones, speaker, microphone and other things, and works over wifi or copper. You can have both I suppose.

AM is not an afterthought, it works great, has options you want, and does not seem fussy, you really have to crank the mic gain up to get it to sound bad.
All the other modern radios like the 7300, the 7610, the ftdx101 and the TS890 have AM limitations.
The Icom's cut the audio off at 200 Hz on rx and limit the tx to 3000 Hz.
The ftdx 101 has a 9 KHz rx bandwith only and the passband tuning does not work on AM. I am unsure the TX bandwidth.
The Kenwood has roofing filters that might limit things for AM.
Some radios have fixed filters, you can not just vary them with a knob. Some do not show the filter width on the display, so no setting the filter
to the width of the signal exactly.
Flex seems to get sdr and AM.

Seems good on CW, at least the simple slow stuff I would do.
Its very easy to vary the filter to fit any signal or space.

The 6400 series is high up on the Sherwood charts with very low phase noise and good filter performance, but it may be at the top of the chart for AM operators.
Its nice they pay attention to how the radio works on all modes.

Hard core CW or contest people may have something to beef about, I don't do that so don't know, but the 6400M seems like a well working radio to me, easy to set up and operate out of the box, no need for a manual for what I do with it (so far), seems good for the price, it has enough ins and outs to do what you want.

A very positive initial impression!

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W1JTO

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #20 on: August 28, 2020, 02:39:51 PM »

Thanks for the review ... i like it.

I had a 6300 and found it clunky (5 years ago), but a lower end radio, and without a maestro

What is the resolution of you plug in a external monitor to the maestro ?  and can you plug in two ?

73 W1JTO
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #21 on: August 28, 2020, 08:49:37 PM »

Just one monitor, a hdmi port.
I do not have an hdmi port on my monitor.
I installed the software on my computer and hooked it up (ethernet) to the radio and it was fine.
Windows update got me with a message my windows activation key is invalid, but that is a result of connecting it to the web.
Everything still works fine and the radio works fine through the computer.
It just looks bigger (huge actually) and has buttons and sliders on the screen.
It was painless to update the radio software to the latest, and to download the same version on my computer.
Everything just worked with no fuss.
As good as the screen on the radio is, and how easy it is to operate, I am unsure I will bother with a bigger screen
or running the software on the computer.
The screen on the radio is quite large and stunning.
Exactly what I was looking for, a good standalone sdr with a good larger screen where you do not need to run a computer.
I love the filter controls on the knobs, shift and width, fantastic.
I also like the 2nd receiver at the push of a button.
I was in a qso and someone came in close up the band, so I pushed the other RX button and a 2nd slice popped up and I tuned to the other signal for a listen without missing anything of the qso I was in.
That was very cool.

One thing that might get new owners is the power button and startup of the radio.
You turn the DC power on, wait a second or two then tap the radio power button.
You do NOT want to hold the button till something happens, that does a reset or something, you just tap the button.
Same to shut it off.
If you hold the button in (it turns white), it does a factory reset.
When you turn the DC power on, the display part gets power and has to sort of wake up, so its best to give it a second or two before TAPPING the power button.

I think the radio is fantastic.
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #22 on: September 02, 2020, 04:57:15 PM »

I do not think the big screen brings much to the party, the display on the radio looks sharper and is big enough.
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #23 on: October 14, 2020, 04:52:23 PM »

After using the 6400M for a while, I still really like it.
I installed the software on my PC and connected the ethernet to the radio and it works great that way also.
And you seem to be able to use the radio itself, say on 80 meters and also use the pc as another radio on another band or two at the same time.
You can only transmit using one or the other, but you can run both at the same time...
The radio itself can be working CW on 40 meters, and monitoring 80 meters, while you jump around bands on the PC (software) listening to different things.

Besides that, which I do not really use but find interesting, the radio is simple and easy to use, and really looks and works very well.
Some things are still missing, I do not think the noise blanker works in all modes and other things, but maybe in the future...?
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #24 on: May 12, 2021, 07:38:31 PM »

I was thinking of trying a 7610 but there seems to be a shortage....
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KQ4KK

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #25 on: May 13, 2021, 05:22:50 AM »

I have a 7610 and a FLEX 6600. Both are great radios. If you are buying a radio to get SDR and a GREAT waterfall display, go with the FLEX.
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KX2T

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #26 on: May 13, 2021, 05:35:12 AM »

I don't think you did read threw this post. N2DTS owns a flex 6400 and I am assuming uses it on AM so why would he want the 7610 inless he wants a rig with the digi select filters cause of the AM station just above 7.3 just above 40 meters and the Flex band pass filters are just not cutting the mustard. I am not sure what bandwidth the 7610 transmits threw on AM either so that might be a problem if he wants AM, the Flex can go out to 10khz I think the Icom might be limited to 3khz.
I don't think any of the SDR rigs will compete with your Iron Man AM station!
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K7JQ

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #27 on: May 13, 2021, 06:14:25 AM »

I was thinking of trying a 7610 but there seems to be a shortage....

Icom radios, per DXE, aren't estimated to be back in stock until the end of June. A well publicized shortage of chips. Don't be surprised if there's as much as a 10% price increase when the shelves are re-stocked.
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N2DTS

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #28 on: May 13, 2021, 07:49:23 AM »

Just thinking of trying it to see for myself how it is.
Bored I guess, I like trying new things more then anything else.
I do not really operate much anymore but have a high interest in the hardware.

The Flex 6400M is the best so far for AM.
The 7610 will be very poor at AM I know, but its relative...
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KX2T

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Re: Icom 7610 or Flex 6400m?
« Reply #29 on: May 13, 2021, 08:27:57 AM »

on SSB unless your into ESSB the Icom is a great radio, I learned a long time ago that SSB will never be AM so why bother trying but a fair amount of ESSB guys today come from CB HF so it fills there spot for an over glorified power mic system but what you have is real AM and real fidelity. If anything I think you will find the 7610 pleasing to operate and if you cannot find new there are many I see listed weekly used with some current production so I guess many with the pandemic try buy then on to the next, playing with a new toy always is a fun thing to do. I bought the DX10 just to do that, I wanted to see what all the hub bub was about with the Hybrid design and in the end the Yaesu is still a superhet at heart not a true sdr except for its display but everything else it does is by a 24khz DSP chip set, same in the Dx101 but they are chart topers in lab numbers.
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