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Reviews For: ICOM IC-7100

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-7100
Reviews: 173MSRP: 1600
Description:
A new Mobile HF,VHF and UHF Tranceiver from ICOM,.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/7100/default.aspx
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
251734.4
IK1WGZ Rating: 2014-01-21
the Killer! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Believe it or not, this is a killer for every radio in its price range (jap and american made) ;-)
W4DSL Rating: 2014-01-19
Sweet Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Okay. So I’m not a “Big Ham Radio Operator” but I know what I like. This fits the bill for me. I have this set up as a base station, in the living room, on my end table, next to my easy chair. It takes up little room and I can put the control head on the arm of my easy chair. A Heil headset plugged in and I’m set.

I used this during the NAQP along with my FT897D. I love both radios but the 7100 has great filters that allowed me to hear contacts that were very difficult on the 897.

The menu is easy to learn and very quick to use. However, I do have the Nifty Mini-manual for quick reference. The D-Star portion is just like the ID-51 radio. Very easy to set up and operate. Touch screen works great and feels good to use. Mine has no ticking noise and the time is “on time”.

I do wish it had more memory for programming frequencies. A color screen would be nice but the screen is very easy to see and read for old eyes like mine.
N6SBN Rating: 2014-01-17
A good all around Mobile/Base radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use the 7100 for digital. I'm using it with a Signalink USB. I still use the Radio's USB connection for Rig Control. This combination does a good job for my digital operations. The problem at my QTH is that I'm surrounded by plasma TVs. I needed a mobile rig to put in my truck, or use as a field day portable. I hope to do some mountain topping.

A couple of points. It takes some study to learn the touch screen controls. Once the touch screen is learned, I find that I can change settings on the radio quickly. Also, I find that I have better control of the radio through the touch screen.

For digital, I find that the 7100 is more stable during operations than my TS-590s. The TS-590's ALC will wander. Not so with the 7100. The 7100 stays cool during extended QSOs. The receivers are comparable in my noisy QTH. The Icom has better NB and NR function.

My 7100 had the problem with the clock forgetting the time when the radio was shut off. The solution was to leave the 7100 running for a few hours. This seemed to charge up the battery. Now the clock is retaining it's memory.

The manual states to put Ferites on the power, control and USB cables. So, plan on buying some of these. No clicking or noise noted with the ferites in place.

Things I miss. The 590s has a tune button which switches the radio to 10 watts and transmits a tone. This allows my remote tuner to tune up my multi-band antenna, with each frequency change. The 7100 will not do this. You have to connect the tuner to the Icom tuner jack. You could attach an LDG AT to the Icom tuner jack, but this puts the AT in the shack, not at the antenna feed where I want it. Solution? not sure yet. Some are using the "Tune" button in FLDIGI. I haven't got this sorted out yet.

Most small radios are hard to control because of the extensive menus and tiny displays. The 7100 solves this with the touch screen. I believe the combination of the touch screen and strong performance of the transceiver make this a winner in the "Small, portable radio column"

Good DX in 2014 SK SK... N6SBN
SP5SNB Rating: 2014-01-16
OK - but NOT so good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Overall - it's quite good radio. I'm interesting in DSTAR so for that price (equal to IC-7000) it is OK.
Touch screen works good, operating is simple, menu is intuitive. Saving QSo's to SD Card is a good point.
BUT... I confirm - I have "clickering" issue as many others. Its increasing if you increase MIC GAIN. Basicly I'm SWL, not contester but this is a serious Issue. Its not to be happen. This should not happen on ICOM radios. BUT - it's not first BAD "issue" radio. Do You remember IC-746 PRO and problems with displays and PA? Overheating IC-7000? ID-51 with muff modulation worse than cheap chinese radio? So this is my last ICOM radio. I have enough. I had TS-2000 4 years ago - no problems with it. I'm going to buy it again.
KK8ZZ Rating: 2014-01-15
Great Icom Update Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I sold an IC-7000 that I'd had and used under many different configurations since they first came out, and other than being spoiled by the color display, the new 7100 is a sturdy and worthy upgrade from Icom's "HF mobile" line. I've been using my 7100 strictly as a base radio since I received it several months ago, and I find that I use it far more than the IC-7600 that shares the radio desk. Quick, easy to operate, large clear display, unique touch-screen for quick "no-squint" QSY, it's easy to use every time. I have mine interfaced with an ALS-600 amp and MFJ-998 tuner, and it works first time, every time, every frequency I choose. I was an early skeptic about the shape of the remote head, but one I really played with one for a while, I relented. Now, at least as a base station radio, it's easy and fun to use. The prices have been gradually declining over the period of the past few months, much like the IC-7000 did, and I image that by the middle of the year (after Dayton) the prices will become even more reasonable. I'm very happy with this rig, and I've owned most of what has been produced by the "Big Three" over the past couple of decades. If you're thinking about this one, you'll be happy with it. Shop around on the internet for the best price.
K4HPP Rating: 2013-12-15
Perfect Portable Rig? Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After many years of trying to find the “perfect” portable rig, I do believe that the IC-7100 may just be the one. I use a beachfront cottage in Florida to which I always take a rig and antenna to do casual operating as well as the CQWW and Sweepstakes CW contests. I’ve used numerous rigs (TS50, Ten Tec Scout, IC-706 and the IC-706MK2G, IC-7000, FT-817, KX3, etc.). All of them worked OK, but each had its own set of problems. The IC-7000 was probably the best of that group, but the setup of it required a stand for the remote head, remote cables, and a long key lead. The TFT display was sensitive to RF and due to the close proximity of my portable antenna; it flickered in time with my keying. The QRP rigs were marginal at best when using a “compromise” antenna. In order to keep the cottage owners happy, all that I can get away with is a Tarheel mobile screwdriver type antenna on a tripod and a few radials. It works OK on the 20-10 meter bands, but needs a little power to make it play well on 40 and 30.

I sold my 5 year old IC-7000 in order to get the IC-7100 and I am not disappointed! The slanted remote head sits perfectly on the table. The RF deck connecting cable simply plugs in, the key cable plugs directly into the head along with the headphone plug and my (homebrewed) keyer memory pad plugs next to it in the microphone connector. That’s not an issue, since I am 100% CW – no mic needed. I operated portable at the cottage for the first time during the month of October 2013. The IC-7100 performed flawlessly. The touch screen operation is a joy to use and all of the normally used functions are right where they need to be. The receive audio is as good as my IC-7600 which is about as good as it gets.

I could find no faults with the 7100 and I’m delighted with the rigs performance. It compares favorably with the 7600 in side-by-side on the air testing. The filters are not quite as sharp, but not really noticeable in casual operating. It’s probably not a “contesting” rig, but with a portable antenna in Florida, I managed 475 contacts and 120 DXCC countries worked on 40 through 10 during the CQWW contest. I was also able to achieve WAC and 43 WAS in casual operating.

I am extremely pleased with the IC-7100 as a portable rig and as a “backup” home station rig. It is a rig that I will be keeping for a long time.

The previous review by VE2DIY fully expresses my experience with this neat little portable rig.
VE2DIY Rating: 2013-12-10
Fantastic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought the radio as a possible replacement for my ic-7000 and I'm happy I did.

Many small thing have been improved over the 7000 when I compare both radio. If we put aside the d-star function (haven't use it much yet) I feel the radio is worth the price asked.

Improvement over the ic-7000 :
-white noise is gone, it was so tiring on the 7000 with headphones
-af gain is easier to adjust for low volume
-better audio in rx (so much better with external speaker) and tx (both with the original microphone and my modded hm-151)
-tone control in rx and tx
-swr meter on all band and current draw
-doesn't run hot like the 7000 and use multiple fan speed
-the screen display more informations, it's not just bigger and is also easier to read across the room
-double the alpha tags characters available
-the buttons are more robust
-improved dsp (7000 was very good already)
-easier to control and better implementation of the menus
-two preamp in hf
-built in rtty decoder is easier to adjust
-sd card for easy transfer of audio files and backup
-USB connection and no need of a rigblaster and all the wires to hook to the computer
-more reliable when interfaced with ham radio deluxe or dm780
-touch screen interface for quick access to many features (works well for a resistive touch screen)
-faster and better scan function (less buried in menus)
-lower power consumption
-dprs
-less rf sensitive in my shack with my random wire
-easy to hide the main unit and clean up the wires in the shack
-new band added
-and more

What's missing :
-color screen (not useful on the 7000 but nice to look at)
-video output (on the 7000 the video output doesn't add more informations than the radio screen and is very limited in resolution)
-simple notch filter instead of dual
-no dtmf microphone, ok it's not that useful with the touch screen but it should be included with radio of this type
-no brackets included with the radio, come on icom !

Considering I got the radio for 1500$ and the 7000 was selling close to that not long ago, i personally consider it reasonably priced and for my use( in the shack), it's a serious upgrade to an already good radio. Add to that the d-star (it's a bonus for me) and it's probably the most complete radio on the market.

That said, I wouldn't use one in my car, specially with the winter we have here, considering that many operation are conducted using the touch screen.

I recommend to purchase rt systems programming software but don't purchase the bundle with a cable, the USB one provided with the radio do the job.

I really like that radio, it's quite fun to operate.

M0WNF Rating: 2013-12-06
really nice transceiver , but read the manual Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Having read some of the reviews it seems to me that some reviewers jump to conclusions before either reading the manual or playing with the radio. If one presses on the screen in the meter area for a couple of seconds the single line meter changes to a full meter with signal/power output, vswr, alc, comp, ID, Vd, and a really important feature, Temperature of the radio. Also when powering up my radio displays my callsign on the bottom line of the startup screen, this is achieved by setting up the dstar section.
If I have a criticism it isn't of the radio but of the manual, it can be a bit vague, I have used my 7100 for many hours and am still discovering new features, some of which do not seem to be in the manual (they probably are but I haven't found them, it is a big manual) which is why I say read the manual AND play with the radio.
Overall I think this touchscreen radio is a leap forward, the filtering is good, both receive and transmitted audio is clear and the basic operation of the radio is fairly straightforward, but to get the most out of this radio it pays to put some effort in. Having 4mtrs and Dstar built in along with all the usual multimode/multiband features this radio is really good value for money.
LA1TNA Rating: 2013-11-07
Fantastic! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Fantastic little transceiver!! I got my IC-7100 on Oct 29 and I do like the radio. Easy to set up and operate. The touchscreen have good functionality and it's indeed easy to get around in the menu. I'll come back with more impressions later!
G8JIT Rating: 2013-11-01
Love it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Super bit of kit
Out of the box, powered up, no issues up to now.
Performance appears good on all the bands. Touch screen response is very positive.
The only niggle do far is if I want the multi meter function to display, there are too many pushes on th screen to get there, I wish there was a programmable button for shortcuts.