| KZ4ZK |
Rating:   |
2020-12-15 | |
| A much better alternative |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased one of these and sold it a month later. Before you make the same mistake research and consider the Alinco DR-735...it does everything better and the brackets are enclosed..... |
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| KENWOODUSER |
Rating:     |
2020-10-30 | |
| Outstanding radio [updated] |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Update Oct 2020
This is an update to the previous review, which was posted over 6 months ago.
I've placed the radio in a closet and have remotely mounted the control head on a countertop. The remote control cable passes through conduit in the wall into the closet. The roof antenna cable enters the closet to connect to the radio.
I constructed my own mounting bracket and the control head rests on it at a 45 degree viewing angle just fine but I'd still prefer to have a professional mount and will probably pony up and get one.
I've also connected external speakers to the radio as well, so the only thing on the counter is the control head, bracket, and speakers.
In this way, I've solved the non-performance nitpicks I mentioned previously. The annoying fan can turn on and off all day long without annoying anyone (yes, it does this when not transmitting) because it's in a closet area.
I've also decided the display is fine, although I still use it on the dim setting.
Still love the conventional knobs and use them all the time. The design of the divided display with the individual knobs is just an outstanding design.
RX and TX is great as well. It's just a great radio. It happens to be the perfect choice for me for a UHF/VHF base radio.
Original review:
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Prior to recently purchasing the IC-2730a, I had 7 radios capable of TX and RX on UHF, VHF, and/or both. The count of 7 radios is mostly due to the natural progression of matching a particular radio to a particular need, in addition to choosing among what is on the market at the time.
In my opinion, a radio should be easy to use, easy to program, ergonomically sensible, and a good performer. All 7 other radios possess one or more of these attributes but not all.
For example, the UV-5r is a great little Swiss Army Knife-type radio and is wonderfully simple to work with, program, etc. But its receiver is woefully deaf. Its replacement, the Quansheng is equally useful and has a much more sensitive receiver (A/B testing reveals the Baofeng is profoundly deaf compared to Quansheng) but is not easy to use and is more difficult to program. The list goes on, for example, and one of the worst problems with the Chinese SDR-type radios is their inability properly scan channels (squelch briefly pops open when no signal is present / intermod issues).
Which brings us to the Big Three: Kenwood / Icom / Yaesu. I've always been favorable to Kenwood (main HF rig is a 570) but have had a lot of experience with Yaesu as well and now I've used 2 really good Icom rigs, the IC-9100 and now the IC-2730a. None of my "Big Three" radios have the scanning/squelch/intermod issues. All of my Big Three radios have outstanding receivers (excellent sensitivity and selectivity); all have easy enough to use menu systems that I've almost entirely programmed them all by hand and can remember the process for each radio. I can go on and on but you get the idea.
Which brings us to the Icom IC-2730a, which I am using as a base radio, so take this review accordingly. However, the IC-2730a is an *outstanding* radio and fits all of my criteria.
After a 10 minute review of the online manual, I programmed by hand about 30 channels in about 40 minutes. I've tested the radio features, the menu system, etc. It is a joy to use and does well what it should do well.
Yet I can only give it 4 stars out of 5 for the following reasons (none of which have to do with performance, so take with a grain of salt):
CONS
1. Accessories: Nearly everyone is complaining about Icom not including by default with the radio a simple plastic adapter so you can mount the control head to the base radio unit. From a consumer perspective, this is very cheap and aggravating, even worse when considering Icom's asking prices for accessories!
2. Fan: To some, the fan noise may be akin to nails on a chalkboard. On high power setting, a simple 1 second transmission will, by default, turn on a 60 second run of the fan, even when the radio isn't even perceptibly warm. I'm trying to stay on low / mid power as a result. Fan settings are programmable via menu control but are not flexible enough. Many generic 10-30w Chinese rigs can be found without a fan or this problem. I have a 45w Radio Shack rig over 20 years old that, while it does get hot, has lasted for decades without a fan, and especially, without an annoying one.
3. Display: The display was a buying factor as well. It's a big, bright, beautiful display that is easy to read. Unfortunately, Icom went overkill on this. It's so large that you only get 6 character spaces for naming a memory. This sucks. It's also so bright that I'm positive it can be seen from astronauts in space. It is so bright that I immediately dimmed it to its lowest setting and in the dark, it's like looking directly into an LED flashlight. In a vehicle, this will likely cause blinding scenarios; at home, it lights up the entire room.
4. Nitpick: The size of the control head doesn't match up nicely with the radio base unit and looks strange when docked. Icom clearly believes nobody will dock the two together considering that this unit offers remote control head capability.
By default the audio is warm and accurately reproduces the user's voice profile as opposed to the thin and tinny sound produced by some of the Chinese rigs.
TX is accurate and powerful although it would be nice to have even a Low-low power setting of say, 1 watt. It would also be nice to be able to TX on GMRS but (without modifying) this is hard-limited.
RX is outstanding. This radio has a great, sensitive and selective receiver and easily hears weak signals. The argument against this is from those who are using it for repeater work, etc. I happen to be using this more for simplex work and for that, this receiver fits the bill.
I like that it includes weather channel capability as well as air band capability. Icom however claims that they intentionally omitted wide-band scanning/receiving because they claim much in radio has gone digital so there is no further need.
I *love* having actual squelch, CH/Menu/Freq click knobs, and volume control knobs (use some of the Chinese rigs with programmed squelch levels and you'll appreciate this as much as I do) and absolutely love the simple and easy-to-use design of the screen being divided in half with separate controls assigned to each half of the radio. It's really an easy-to-use, well-designed layout.
I also looked at the Kenwood TM-V71a and a host of other generic rigs but this one beats the Kenwood due to having a better, more simple control head design in addition to a much better hand mic design.
It's a great radio and I am very happy with it for my needs. 4/5 stars and Icom could easily turn this into a 5 star radio with a simple update to the Firmware and a few changes in marketing to ship it with an MBA-4 bracket. |
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| N3ODE |
Rating:      |
2020-10-21 | |
| Amazing cross band mode |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This radio does everything I wanted it for, but beware of the weather alert function. When this is enabled the radio checks every 5 seconds for the alert tone. It affects the audio to the extent that it can be unintelligible even though the audio drop is just a fraction of a second. When it is off everything is fine. Since this is a US only function I'm guessing it doesn't get much attention in Japan. |
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| KB9KQU |
Rating:      |
2020-09-19 | |
| Top notch performance / Forget the brackets! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
1. My radio sits beside me within arm's length & I can hear the fan but it's certainly NOT objectionable.
2. Size of controller larger than body, not at all unusual! (FTM-400XDR / ID-5100A / FTM-300DR)In this case gives us space for all those separate control knobs & that large beautiful display without a larger body.
3. BRACKETS - First off, you're gonna' pay for them one way or the other, either now as extra cost options or higher radio price if included. Second off - who needs 'em?? Mine is a base radio sitting on a shelf unit with nice self stick rubber bumpers for "feet". As to that $65.00 MBA-4 bracket, my controller is mounted to the radio body with Scotch Extreme Mounting Tape & looks good! Personally, I'm glad Icom gives me the opportunity to NOT buy their brackets & "think out of the box". I've gotten many ideas just "googling" for DIY tips. |
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| G4VRR |
Rating:     |
2020-02-04 | |
| Solid Workhorse |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I was looking for an FT8900r but had no luck at a sensible price for a used example. This Icom popped up at a good price so I read the reviews on here and jumped in. I can only compare it to my broken Chinese KT8900r dual bander, and it's like night and day. I looked at an FT8900r in an emporium and I'm pleased with my decision.
I have docked a star because of the appalling fan noise and the senseless lack of fixtures and fittings, all well documented already. This should be two stars off really for those issues, but I've fixed the noise with another fan which is trivial to do. I have found it easy enough to negotiate the ubiquitous menu system, and would say that it is a very long way indeed from Icom's worst ever offering. Selectivity and sensitivity are well traded off against one another for the intended deployment scenario, and it produces nice clear audio. I love the big clear "paper white" screen and the duplicated separate band controls. I can happily do without digital acrobatics and pyrotechnics thank you very much, so this radio is working out to have been a very good choice indeed. |
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| K5KZK |
Rating:      |
2020-02-03 | |
| Great No-Nonsense Analog Radio |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
It does all the stuff I need it to do, and nothing that I don't.
Yeah there are "better" radios out there, but I did not need APRS or digital modes built in.
I went with this radio over the V71a or 8800 frankly because I preferred the look and layout of the Icom in a few different ways.
The industrial design is aesthetically pleasing to me and I found it more "nice to look at" than the comparable Kenwoods or Yaesus. The display is larger and white, which is a lot better than the oldschool-looking amber or green of the other brands. There are also discrete knobs for frequency, volume and squelch for both sides of the radio. It's just a joy to use - there are three separate knobs per side. Nothing is buried in a menu or shared with another knob, and the band, VFO/MR/scan buttons are duplicated on both sides as well. Can't get much better than that for ease of use.
Menus are pretty easy to navigate even without reading the manual, but you'll probably end up referencing it once or twice when you first get started with this radio, then it's smooth sailing.
No complaints at all except for the lack of a more "elegant" way to toggle between channel names and frequencies. The workaround if you have the names displayed and want to see the frequency is to just hit the MW (memory write) button, which takes you into channel editing mode where you will see the frequency, then just back out of memory write mode. It also doesn't have an auto CW ID feature when cross-band repeating, if that's important to you.
I would highly recommend this as a first radio to any new operator.
People like to complain that you have to buy all the accessories separately, but I think this radio has been on the market long enough now that you can find package deals with all the mounting stuff you'll need at a good price on the used market.
To put this review in perspective, I was born in 1983 and could be considered a "millennial" by some definitions. |
|
| KA4AQM |
Rating:     |
2019-07-30 | |
| Great radio |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Like all the features. Recommend you do complete research before you buy any radio/radio accessories. I mark the radio down one notch because the fan is very noisy. I replaced mine with quieter after market fan that still responds to the radio’s internal instructions that can be set up via the menu. If you will remote the head from the body, then you probably won’t hear the fan. But if you attach the head with the optional attachment, it will be noisy in the shack. No excuse for Icom not supplying some type of body mounting bracket. Hope it does not start a trend with radio manufacturers. |
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| N3ETA |
Rating:  |
2018-08-04 | |
| New low for Icom |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
As a long time Icom man, It pains me to say, This radio is an altogether new LOW for Icom. This is without a doubt one of the worse implemented, unthough out radio I have ever owned. Starting with the fact that almost everything is an option and expensive options at that. The documentation has sunk to an all time low. Even for Icom who has never been know for good manuals. The controls are absolutly the worst I've ever seen. The most used controls are the smallest and in the most inconvenient positions. the mounting system is awful. (Even after you spend an extra $200 to buy the brackets! None of which are included. You actually need a special accessory to attach the faceplate directly to the radio! So obviously it was designed to be used separately and yet you have to run a separate line from the main unit to the operating area just to plug a speaker in. This isn't bad if your putting it under one of the front seats but a pain if you plan to install it anywhere else. the separation cable isn't long enough to reach anywhere except under one of front seat and the only option is a RJ45 coupler and another piece of separation cable. To say that menu system is overly complex is an understatement This menu makes the old Yaesu menu system look great.
I have a earlier version of this radio and it was a pretty well thought out. Well....they threw all that out the window on this implementation.
If your looking for a dual band, dual VFO radio. I strongly suggest you look else where. If you can't find something better than this radio. DON'T BUY ANYTHING! It is that bad! Ive written my share of reviews on Eham and I do believe this is the first time I've checked "Awful!
As I said "A new LOW for the group at Icom": |
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| WB3DYE |
Rating:      |
2018-07-12 | |
| QUESTION |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have an Icom 2730---duel band---50 watts.
I have looked at the Manuel but can't determine when listening to a repeater---how do I search for the correct pl tone?
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|
| VK2FZR |
Rating:     |
2018-07-07 | |
| pretty good |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have only had the radio for a couple of months and I really like it. its fairly easy to set up and use. I like that you can change pretty much every setting including mic gain. like other operators I don't like the fan, it runs full at speed when TXing no matter what power level and is very noisy, its more annoying than a dislike but otherwise I'm very happy with it. |
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