| KC3EF |
Rating:  |
2018-09-26 | |
| Nice Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Purchased a couple of years ago to replace my IC7000. Primarily use it for mobile/portable operating. Like the front panel separation as it fits on the front cup holder of the min-van. Running mobile digital the ability to connect directly with the computer was a real plus and eliminated the need for an additional box. Receiver seems as good as my IC7410 and runs cooler than the 7000. Had no trouble setting up and operating and works with my AH-4 tuner. I found this to be a great radio for mobile/portable use. |
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| K4SRQ |
Rating: |
2018-05-01 | |
| Man, am I glad I got this rig! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
First off, what I don't like about the IC-7100 - The Knob. Aside from that it is a blast of a rig. You will not, I repeat will not need a Rigblaster or Signalink or whatever Sound Card Interface you are using or plan to buy, this radio has it built in.(-$100.00 right there) With many of the digital modes you need a .5ppm oscillator oven, guess what, built in! The rig has a RTTY Demodulator with text scrolling on the screen if you need it in a pinch. I have had no problem interfacing this rig with HRD, N1MM and FLDIGI. Voice, CW and Data all working with the function keys in these apps. The rig supports memories for voice; and good sounding voice it is, and CW. You can record QSO's as well on the rig with an optional SD card. All radio settings and frequencies can be stored on the SD Chip too so if you need to reset, you can quickly reload the radio to your spec. What about all the goofy wiring with the serial ports etc.? No worries OM, just plug in the INCLUDED USB Cable to your computer and fire up your application. Yes, the applications require some configuring, but that is not the radio's fault. Once you got it down it works great. How about that touch screen? Easy Cheesey, the menu system is about an 8 on a 1 to 10 (10 being the best) scale for new user friendliness. Once you use it a few times, fogitaboutit, it is simple. Incredible separate audio settings for tx and rx. 32 bit DSP is amazing! The 3 built in filters are quite adequate. In SSB there is a 3, 2.4 and 1.4 selectable filter. CW, 1.2K, 450 and 250, all tweakable to whatever you want from your Dual IF PB Tuning. The display? Ok, so it ain't color, so what. The performance is excellent. After all, isn't performance our true desire on a rig? No need to paint the pig on this rig. This display is easily readable by these 60 year old eyes. It is a touch screen, resistive, not capacitive. With capacitive, you need rubber or a finger. With this screen you can use a tree twig! Of course the finger works best but for those who are physically challenged you can use most any pointing device. Simply pressing the SET button opens up the Menu for global or function specific options. I love Yaesu radios but this menu has them beat by a long shot. Very, very easy to use.
What about remote? Plug it in and run the software sold separately for around 90 bux and you got it. CW is a breeze, dual vfo's all the expected things like split operation etc. A neat touch is the Auto Tune feature that uses DSP to zero beat a CW signal. Built in pre-amps help with quieter bands.
What about this angled head? It has two adjustable angles. I thought that limiting...NOT, just my prejudice against the different. Simply put, this radio is a real deal at the mid $700.00's that you can get it for at this moment in its lifecycle. There were some output/modulation issues early on that gave the rig a bad name. Looks like ICOM is trying to reboot the appeal by lowering the price with rebates. It is April, '18 and the rig is selling at Black Friday prices. All I can suggest is you talk to the XYL, tell her that this rig has features found in a 1500 dollar radio and you can get it at half price. The knob is opto so it is not a smooth analog kinda feel. If design is to infer function, then this is the perfect feel for this digital wonder. I told my wife the other day it is a computer with a radio in it. Hey what about Old School, are you an OG OM? I was on AM the other night, 25 watts and spoke to NY from Florida with the crappy Sunspot numbers we have right now. So take advantage of this rig while it is hot, you won't be sorry. It fits great in a 4u portable audio rack for EMCOMM and with the separate head (sep kit included) it will mount well in your car. What it is missing is an ATU but the built in ones only tune about 3:1 any way and a mobile mounting bracket. Check Amazon, there is a lower cost bracket from a CB manufacturer. So there you have it. I have had the rig for about 3 weeks. Run one contest and played many hours on it already, still learning it. This rig just keeps getting better with each new piece I learn. By the way, that low power issue is long gone with a firmware update. This rig rocks out at QRO of 100 on SSB/CW.
Like I said, I love Yaesu, had a 450D for a couple of years, before that the 857D. Feature wise, receiver wise and size wise, this rig has them beat by a long shot for the same money. I was considering an 857D (it would have been my 2nd) and battled between the two for about a month. I am so glad I went with this rig. Though not as rugged, once again, performance, function, versatile communications options, the IC-7100 is a very cost effective addition to your arsenal or like me, as your only HF rig. Now with my luck, the 7100-a will be out in July! Ha, in my eyes and ears, there is nothing better they could do and keep the price point. I consider this to be a future classic rig. 73!
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| W7YC |
Rating: |
2018-04-30 | |
| Great Mobile |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Installed this radio in my work van in 2015 and it has worked flawlessly so far in 75,000 miles of driving. The separate control head is exactly what I was looking for to satisfy my mobile needs. While I leave the main radio unit permanently mounted in the van, I take the control head indoors when not in use, so it doesn't see the same temperature fluctuation as the radio unit.
Per the manual, the temp specs for this product are -10C to +60C, so the -30C extreme mentioned by the previous poster could certainly put some stress on the SMT solder joints.
I'd buy another 7100 in a heartbeat if I had need of a second work van. |
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| VE3LNU |
Rating: |
2018-02-09 | |
| Warning - can't handle extreme cold! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I wrote a glowing review of this radio about 3 years ago, just after I purchased it. It has been a FABULOUS mobile radio, along with the remote control microphone that you can purchase as an option. Last month, after about 3 years of service, the radio died. I returned to my vehicle after a day's work to find that the display had lit up but with no information showing on the screen, and the radio was still powered off! It would not power on after that. My local dealer inspected the radio and reported that the "sub-CPU" appears to be damaged. They could not fix it. Icom Canada advised me that when there is CPU damage, they just replace the entire board at a cost of approximately $700. Since this is about half the purchase price I paid in Canadian dollars, I will not be fixing this radio. I have lost it after only 3 years of use!
Several of my ham friends are suggesting that the most likely cause of this failure was the extreme cold we experienced this past winter, with temperatures approaching minus 30 C at night. With the rig in the truck all the time, they surmise that the extremely dense surface-mount construction of the IC 7100 simply couldn't take the temperature extremes.
So I am throwing this out there for those of you who live in extremely cold environments: this may not be your best choice for a mobile radio!
Joe VE3LNU |
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| G4VVQ |
Rating: |
2018-01-18 | |
| Power goes off on TX |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Actually this belongs to a friend of mine, he says when he TX's after awhile the radio turns itself off, he has tried everything, Icom cant find anything wrong with it, i suggested high vswr or power supply under par, or dc lead...i dont think its the TOT as that would just take it back to RX, this actually goes off, i dont think he has the inactivity timer on, he is reluctant to do a full reset as it will delete all the D star settings, any one had this problem i wonder...seems like a radio internal fault to me..from Fred in England g4vvq. |
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| K3DBI |
Rating: |
2018-01-12 | |
| I love this radio! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This radio is likely one that will be appreciated more after it's out of production. Personally, I hope Icom continues to produce this radio for years to come and maybe even upgrade it soon with a color screen, although for me the monochrome display is fine as is. While some reviewers have bashed the form factor, I think it's brilliant and the main reason I bought it. I am no longer relegated to sitting at my shack desk to enjoy HF. With the remote control head I can sit on my sofa upstairs with the extension cable running to the radio box downstairs in the shack. Add HF/50/VHF/UHF/D-star and what's not to love? The sound quality from the speaker is great considering the small size. It is the versatility that makes this a great radio. The features and settings are very intuitive and I was able to start using this radio quickly.
I would not hesitate to recommend this radio for anyone looking for a versatile radio that takes up a small footprint with many flexible options for use. There is even an aftermarket company that allows you to go fully wireless with the control head, use it anywhere you have WiFi! Very cool!
I am considering buying a second one for use at my work QTH. |
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| NF2W |
Rating: |
2017-12-14 | |
| Great radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I settled in on this radio and now have three of them. By going with a single radio, it has made it much easier for my wife. She would rather be talking than learning yet another radio interface. So we have one in each car and one in the shack. This radio does it all. We can use one consistent radio interface to do voice and digital on HF or U/VHF. I've used the D-Star side more as my wife digs more the HF digital side. I only wish it came with the better hand mic for mobile (HM-151) and built in GPS.
Now for the only issue that I've had with any of the three. I have had issues of when the volume is all the way up that the radio would cut off in my car. Others have reported similar experiences. This problem didn't happen at the house, just my car (Wife's car just got installed this week). This issue has plagued me to the point of frustration. It turned out to be that, being a neat freak, I had coiled and zip tied the control head cable during the install. The shack radio just has the control head cable dropped behind the desk. After I cut the zip ties and uncoiled the control cable in the back seat the problem went away. Inductance I suppose.. All but about 2 feet of the control cable was coiled into a 10 inch circle and zip tied. Now I can turn the volume all the way up and it never shuts off mysteriously. Hope this helps in the future. I also want to say thanks to Steve (K1ZH) for helping while I was searching for an answer to this problem.
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| K4YRK |
Rating: |
2017-12-09 | |
| Great radio but problem |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I like the 7100 and after a year of use the touch screen would not respond. Icom suggested a reset first. Can not find out how to do that without the touch screen working. Anyone have suggestions? |
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| W2XAD |
Rating: |
2017-12-06 | |
| Some things could be better |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Why is it that they have it set up for gps but Icom did not build it in and/or does not offer their own gps unit? Radio is a great performer but for a couple hundred more I could have had 991a with the gps built in,a color screen and a built in antenna tuner. |
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| N2EHG |
Rating: |
2017-09-29 | |
| great rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Had this radio for a while, love the fact that it uses just a simple cable(rj45) to connect the head. Also works great with the Icom remote software. Had this set up at my shack, and could remote in and work both HF and 2m/440 while traveling. NB and other noise reduction works great. Touch screen is nifty and easy to learn. Seemed pretty good RX and TX wise compared to my other rigs in my side by side comparisons. |
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