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Reviews For: ICOM IC-7610

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

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-7610
Reviews: 117MSRP: 3300. USD
Description:
NEW ICOM HF Radio IC-7610
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/7610/default.aspx
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
44.51174.5
VK4YS Rating: 2018-01-25
Excellent Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Did I want one?
Sure, wouldn’t most of us?!
But, would it be of benefit?

I have owned an IC-7300 for a couple of years now and it is the radio that I would use mostly. I think the little 7300 a great all-rounder, representing good performance and bang for bucks. However, living in a fairly densely populated area near the city of Brisbane, man-made noise is a never ending battle for me – especially on the 40 & 20m bands that I mostly work. I recently tried out the IC-7610 at my local dealers QTH just after the release - immediately noticed there was much more to this radio than just a bigger box, bigger screen and two receivers!

I bit the bullet and purchased the 7610 about a month later, putting it into service (alongside the IC-7300) about a week ago.
Immediately I noticed the ability to significantly lower the man-made noise that I experience in one specific direction on 20m. It allowed stations previously buried in noise to emerge and be readable. For sure, a step in the right direction!

I appear to be getting similarly good TX audio reports to the IC-7300. Quality of construction is typical Icom - high grade. The larger screen is much easier to read for older eyes. The two receivers can be switched to feed left and right channels of a pair of stereo headphones.
A great suite of features in the IC-7610 and all is laid out in the usual Icom intuitive manner.
By the way, the optional RC-28 encoder, plugged into one of the USB ports makes split operation almost too easy!
A most enjoyable radio....
73 Bruce VK4YS
KA1IS Rating: 2018-01-17
Outstanding CW rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Upgrading from an IC-7300, I was able remove from the desk: an external APF, an RX antenna switch, and a relay box that prevented amp hot switching. And a ton of wires. No more annoying fan noise on every dit. Quiet full break in relays. Flexible and effective APF. Adjustable step attenuator. Individual antenna settings for each band. CW pitch dial on front panel. Band scope is hypnotic - and clickable. Band stacking registers. Excellent 'split' implementation with sub receiver using dual scope and stereo. Rx sounds similar to 7300, but nicer. Also, its a great SWL radio with better audio fidelity than IC-7300. Extensive CAT (ci-v) command implementation and remote capabilities if you're into that. I am.

No idea whether it works on SSB because CW is so awesome I have not plugged in a mic. Its still in the box.

A flaw: the mute button feature on the AF gain knob is useless and gives the knob too much play.

The radio sounds good enough that it will get you off this Internet and back on the air.
N1UZ Rating: 2018-01-03
Outstanding Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned a lot of Icoms,706,706 Mark 2, 7000, 746, 756, 756pro2,7600,7700 and now the IC-7610. This is a outstanding radio, better than the 7600 by far. The scope is fantastic along with the receive, You can not compare this radio to a IC-7300 here on Eham. Yes it's more money, it's also a lot more radio.
N6KZB Rating: 2018-01-01
To date very pleased Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been putting the radio through its paces. It replaced my Icom 7300 and my Kenwood 590. In the week I have had it, I have found the radio to be superior to previous HF radios I have owned.

It is not 2 7300's radios in one box, so kill that myth. You do get what you pay for and Icom did very well on this model.

- The tuner is fast and handles my End Fed and vertical quickly.

- The dual receiver is great as I can monitor at all times for a 6 meter opening and with a push of a button change from 40 to 6.

- The RTTY and PSK31 with correct settings and a little use turned out to be a nice addition, though I use software mostly.

- Please spend time looking at the advanced user manual, well worth the read.

- Remote control via the internet with the Icom software only needed at one end works well. Did take a bit to get going, but I really do not plan to use it, just wanted to verify it worked.

- The receiver is tight and I have less noise than I did with my 7600 I sold last year.

- The DVI to a monitor works well, just need to find an adapter to RGB or HDMI to use a different monitor. I had a Dell brand 14" that uses DVI of the same pin out, so I was OK.

- A wireless mouse and keyboard is working. The mouse on the external monitor is for the SCOPE and DECODE on RTTY and PSK31, not the rest of the controls.

- USB memory in addition to SD card is useful for me.

To sum up, while not a great technical review, if you have the desire and the funds, go for it.
W9KFB Rating: 2017-12-30
Transverter Issues Revised Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been working with the Icom IC-7610 for one week now and have been dissapointed a few times and pleasantly surprised a few times. Overall I think it is the best HF radio I have ever owned and I am comparing it to a Kenwood TS-2000, and a second Kenwood TS-B2000, (a TS-2000 with out the front panel) and years operating PowerSDR on the original HPSDR boards from TAPR (Atlas, Mercury, etc..) and more recently the Apache Labs ANAN-10 with the original build TAPR Hermes board. I had hoped to replace most of all the equipment around the ANAN-10 with IC-7610. First problem faced is that the IC-7610 looks like it can only handle one transverter attached to it without going into a lot of system engineering. There is only one offset frequency that you can assign to one transverter. If you have one transverter, I think chances are you may own two or more, like for Satellite work. The other issue I worked on is that any transverter attached to the IC-7610 must have its IF frequency for TX to be in the HF or 6 Meter ham bands. This was aproblem for me as my two transverters are as follows: 1. a Kuhne Electronic TR 144 H +40 that I used from 144 to 148 MHz.and 2. a Kuhne Electronic TR 432H that I used from 432 to 450 MHz (yes I know that is beyond the frequency range on both units, beyond the specified limits of 146 MHz and 434 MHz, but I had no problems using the PowerSDR software and ANAN-10 hardware). Try it on the unmodified IC-7610 system and you get no TX on the IF frquencies outside the TX IF band of 14 and 28 MHz! I tried editing the band edges to allow TX in the transverter mode, but no go. I tried adding the required user bands for UHF and VHF, again - no go. My solution for this was to have the dealer install the MARS-CAP modification. Problem gone....
Also you should be aware that once in the transceiver mode, you can not use a second RX to monitor HF frequencies. -W9KFB Ron
NG0Z Rating: 2017-12-28
A worthy successor to the 7600 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My 7610 replaces my 7600 and has been in operation for ten days. I paid DX Engineering $3,900 for it and so far it has met or exceeded my overall expectations. Here are my notes and observations so far:

- The screen is large and easy to read. The resolution is dramatically improved over the 7600
- Main tuning knob is light but has a quality feel
- The fit and finish of this radio is what you would expect from Japan which is to say impeccable
- The standard meters are large and very readable
- The audio scope is useful for guiding your use of the notch filter and adjusting the passband
- There are a lot of new indicators on the screen, but some are also conspicuously absent versus the 7600
- I miss the direct input and quick split capability of the numbered band buttons on the 7600
- I switch between desk mic and headphones a lot so I miss also the monitor button and indicator
- There is no indicator that you have attenuated the scope (now called REF Level) nor is it band specific like the 7600
- No Digi-Sel Indicator (it does show up on the P-Amp touchscreen button)
- NB and NR remove neighborhood QRM like you wouldn’t believe
- The relay noise it makes when Digi-Sel is on when you tune across the band takes a little getting used to and makes you wonder about its durability
- I wish the Digi Sel was narrower
- Every signal sounds stronger and easier to listen to than the 7600
- The Notch Filter should still be a front panel button and a knob; so should Monitor
- I miss the larger TX lamp and Split should still be a lamp vs. on the screen
- Menus are very fast and easy
- Quick Menu should be customizable and default configuration doesn’t make sense especially taking up a front panel button as it largely duplicates the Multi-Control functions
- RIT is unusually heavy dial for its size and relative to the main tuning dial
- NR simply has to be heard in the radio room to be believed and a little goes a long way but it should also have its own knob
- NB is a lot less intrusive when needed heavily than the 7600
- TX Memories Require an SD Card
- RFG RF Gain reduction indicator is a nice touch
- When RF Gain is reduced, the radio could use more AF Gain than what is available at full
- Push in the AF Gain control and it mutes the audio – very nice
- Once you get used to it the Multi knob, its functions are fairly quick and intuitive
- It’s hard to complain about menu steps replacing missing front panel controls given the wide range of options and features
- The touchscreen buttons at the bottom of the screen are not very tall
- The RF Gain+Squelch setting where left of 12 O’clock is RF Gain and right of it is Squelch is a nice feature
- There is no longer an easy way to restore individual settings to factory default

In summary, I would recommend this radio and feel it is a good value given the historical pricing for a radio with this level of performance and features coupled with Icom's reputation for quality and reliability. This coupled with the recent Sherwood numbers release suggests the IC-7610 may be the best mid to upper range transceiver available today.
W3DWJ Rating: 2017-12-22
Just Amazing Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First can we STOP with those who say that this radio is nothing more than 2 IC-7300s! Those who believe that just haven't done their research!!!

I've only had the radio for one day and it clearly out preforms my IC-7300. The RX on the IC-7610 is nothing short of amazing! While the
7610 uses the same block functionally of the IC-7300. The ADC and DAC are not same! Which explains the quietness of this RX when comparing radios.

I haven't had time to explore all the bells and whistles of the IC-7610. However owing a 7300 makes the learning curve so much easier to operate right of the box, and it is easy to listen to for a long time.

Then there is the price issue, yes the IC-7610 is expensive. What new generation ground braking device isn't (ie iPhone X). I believe the 4K price tag while higher than the "PROJECTED" cost we have seen while waiting for the productions model. Still provides value per feature when compared to High End Radio.

It is this HAM's belief that those who are unhappy with the price aren't thinking long term! For me in my current QTH and antenna limitations the IC-7610 is all the HF radio I could ever need!

So please just STOP with the "It's just 2 7300's" CRAP!!!
AI6XN Rating: 2017-12-21
Not as amazing as 7300 but not bad Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First let me just say I was one of the first 7300 adopters and was blown away by the thought that went into its design. IC-7610 in comparison seems to be well gotta do something for replacing the 7600/7700 crowd so lets put two of the 7300s together kind of deal. Highly overpriced (yes it should have cost atleast 1-1.5k less than $4K) rig with usual ICOM oddities.

To cut the long story short, I am a little disappointed. Yes this is a quiet radio and the digital pre-selector is awesome but that’s pretty much it. The sensitivity is less than even a KX3. RMDB slightly better than 7300 but could have been a lot better. The display connection is a weird DVI port from 20th century with 800x600 (seriously?) resolution. A simple HDMI connection would have been enough.

MIssing a touch of class and its evident everywhere in this radio. For ex. It uses plastic or fiberglass feet to move up the front. As if they fired the designer of 7300 and hired a contractor who has no clue about how or why 7300 was designed the way it was.

The absolute worst being the complete inability to Transmit from the perfectly capable sub-transceiver unless you are in split. This is just nuts! I hope ICOM does a firmware update to unlock this.

Having said that its not all bad. Where this radio truly shines are the non-SSB modes. Like CW or RTTY. In both you can hear signals almost no other rigs pickup unless you have an Elecraft, even with mediocre antenna.

No permanent band to antenna assignment per receiver, no way of writing macros to do it either based on a set of parameters. Still don’t know if I’ll keep it or replace it with a 6600.
VK3BL Rating: 2017-12-18
Nice, but not a 5 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
There is no doubt the IC-7610 is a nice radio, but its not the 6/5 the IC-7300 was.

It doesn't offer the same level of value the IC-7300 did. It feels slightly more rushed than the IC-7300 (there is a current firmware bug whereby one of the receivers will randomly put out a ~500Hz tone, even on mute).

Although laid out as 'two radios, one box', you can't for instance easily monitor FT8 whilst rag chewing on another band; the CI-V commands change focus on the radio constantly.

The only way to transmit on the sub receiver is to press the split button.

Despite being technically capable of phase coherent reception and beam steering, the radio doesn't offer this feature.

No pre-distortion.

A very nice radio, and a worthy successor to the 7600, but it doesn't set a new 'value for money' benchmark like the IC-7300 did.

A lot of people will find this review overly critical I am sure, but I suspect they are the types that think everyone should get a participation award, and no one should ever get an 'F'.

Nice points:
Dual full speed scopes make choosing the right antenna for the contact a breeze.
Dynamic range increased over IC-7300.
Dual 'digi select' pre-selectors rather high Q.
Very clean for a 12V radio under 50 Watts (measured -35dBc / -41dB PEP). @ 100 Watts -30dBc.

The bottom line is unless the rest of your shack is filled with nice gear already - especially if you live in suburbia - the IC-7300 is more than enough radio.

For most people, a "black box" SDR like an Apache Labs would add more capability to the shack.
KA5ROW Rating: 2017-12-17
Great Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my retirement rig, so far, it’s great, I like routing every thing to the computer monitor. I will make a follow up report in 6 months. This early in the game I must give a 100% 5 out of 5