| KG6KGP |
Rating:  |
2018-05-21 | |
| 7610 on 6m review - no issues here |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just got done testing my 7610. Not too scientific as I wanted to see if there were issues first. So I just draped a 75ohm cable from my HP 8648C signal generator over the back of the radio, specifically ant 1. I then put a signal in a 10.030Mhz to avoid any 10Mhz around my lab and the signal was S7 on my meter jumping to S9 with PA1 on and maybe a notch higher with PA2 on. Remember, no direct connection as I didn't want to mess with attenuators.
I then changed the signal to 24Mhz and it jumped to S9 in CW increasing with each press of the PA1 to PA2. I then went to 50.1Mhz and again the signal was S9 increasing with PA1 and PA2 pressed. I switched to FM with 1Khz modulation. Again the signal was S9 increasing with the PA1 and PA2 pressed.
At this point I have tested all I need to confirm my 7610 is working as expected and the reviewer below has an issue with his radio, antenna, test methodology or some other factor.
Also, with regards to the buttons, I've worked off and on in human factors and there is no issue with the buttons, knobs, etc. b Yes, the AF/RF knobs are a little loose but they do three functions. If you want to see a poorly designed interface, look at the some of the competing SDR where someone without human factor experience designed the radio interface.
Jerry, NK6P |
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| DJ0ABR |
Rating: |
2018-05-16 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I owned many Icom radios since 30 years, and also a couple of Kenwood's and Yaesu's.
Regarding the IC-7610 I can say only one thing: This is the best radio I've ever used.
I am currently programming an interface between my home brew antenna tuner and the IC7610 and everything works flawless with this radio. Congrats Icom ! |
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| K6RIM |
Rating: |
2018-05-12 | |
| A Great Choice! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Currently, there are dozens of technical reviews of the IC-7610 on eHam and elsewhere. My review, below, is not intended to be a technical review; rather, it shares the impressions of a long time avid DXer and sometimes contester. Most of my operating is spent chasing DX on HF, usually weak CW stations. I operate other modes, even FT8, but CW is and has been my passion for decades.
When the Icom IC-7300 burst upon the scene, I joined the curious crowds and bought one to see why this relatively inexpensive SDR radio with knobs was creating so much interest and enthusiasm. In short order, I was favorably comparing the RX in the IC-7300 to the RX in my far more costly Kenwood TS-990, a radio with a terrific RX. In short order, my take of the IC-7300 was that it was a “game changer,” and, indeed, the 7300 became a huge success for Icom.
Icom followed the IC-7300 with the IC-7610. But there was a longer than normal length of time from the initial announcement of the IC-7610 and its availability in NA. I was so impressed with the performance of the IC-7300 that I read and viewed everything I could about the IC-7610. It first became available outside NA, and the reports and videos started appearing. When the IC-7610 finally became available in NA, I placed my order.
Now that I have been operating the IC-7610 for almost five months, I am ready to share my impressions:
Initially, I found that the radio had two intermittent RX anomalies: (1) a mysterious and unwanted tone and (2) the RX simply died. I’m unclear how Icom’s beta testing failed to reveal these issues, but many users experienced them. And, obviously, they were quite disturbing, to say the least.
To make a long story short, in March, 2018, Icom updated the firmware (1.06) and the two RX anomalies were squashed. Hallelujah!
From my perspective as a weak signal CW op, the IC-7610 has the best RX I have ever operated. Reasons: the RX is quiet, really quiet! How quiet is it? Sometimes I still check to make sure that the antenna is connected. Seriously!
Also, the APF is nothing short of fantastic. Somehow it magically brings a weak CW signal out of the mud and makes it copy able. I’m talking about signals that I could not copy without the APF.
The foregoing reasons, alone, make the IC-7610 the right radio for me.
The Spectrum Scope and waterfall is excellent. Much better than those functions in the IC-7800 or the TS-990, both of which I owned and operated for a number of years. And there is mouse control of the Spectrum Scope, which is quite useful.
The IC-7610 interfaces to your computer with a single USB cable, thus eliminating a rat’s nest of cables and the necessity for external interfaces or boxes to control RTTY, etc.
There is much more, which you can read about in other reviews.
We are fortunate to have many radio choices, and for my operating, the IC-7610 is a great choice.
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|
| AD4C2024 |
Rating: |
2018-05-12 | |
| The best radio owned |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Although I have used my 7610 in only two bands so far (40 and 20M) for not having antennas for the rest, I can tell I am very impressed with the performance of this great radio.
Been a user of high performance radios in the past as the K3, FTDX5000, IC7700, IC7300, etc I can tell that this 7610 has without a doubt a better receiver in terms of floor noise, audio quality, selectivity, NR performance,etc.
Friendly user menu allow you to set easy all the settings you want and save them in the inserted card.
My only dislike and not a reason to rate it less than a 5, is that it won't decode CW as it does on PSK31 and RTTY as well as we can not type on CW with a keyboard conected to the front panel USB port as we also can do for the two digital modes, I will like Icom to implement that in next firmware updates.
I recently updated it to latest 1.6 firmware version and it fixed some bugs like the steady 500Hz tone that sometimes had and also the band filters disconecting, now its been working with no issues for a month.
I use it daily and enjoy everytime I sit in my chair to operate it.
Once again Icom gave us an excellent piece of equipment that will remain in our shacks for long time until the next better one be in the market.
73 to all happy users as me. |
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| NC0B |
Rating: |
2018-05-11 | |
| Excellent 160 - 6 meter transceiver |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I first started using an IC-7610 during the December 2017 ARRL 10 meter contest. I have subsequently used the 7610 during contests on 160m during the December 2017 W1BB event, CQWW 160 CW in January 2018, and ARRL DX SSB in March 2018 on 20 meters.
Recently I made some A/B comparisons between the 7300 and the 7610, using a weak signal on 6 meters. The contest performance on 10m CW was a good test of weak signal reception, where the 160m CW contest was a pile-up test. I could hear very weak 6 meter signals of different types slightly better on the 7610 than on the 7300. The 7300 has one preamp with two gain settings, while the 7610 has two separate preamps.
The 7610 has an interesting feature that Icom does not leave the system gain constant as the preamps are enabled. They have chosen to keep the recovered audio level at the speaker output constant when a signal is at the receiver noise floor. Most receivers put out more and more noise as the preamps are engaged. That is what we are used to, but with DSP radios, other more sophisticated choices can be made. It should not be necessary to turn down the AF gain to keep a detected weak signal from the speaker at a constant volume as the preamps are cycled from OFF to preamp 1 and then preamp 2
Receiver noise from the 7610 goes down as the preamps are engaged, but the signal to noise ratio improves as one switches in the preamps. On 6 meters, 7610 receiver noise drops 4 dB with preamp 1 and 5.5 dB with preamp 2, all the while keeping the desired weak signal constant. This effect is less on 20m than on 6m, with the preamp 1 receiver noise dropping 1 dB and 2.5 dB with preamp 2.
Antenna noise gain is a good way to tell whether a preamp is needed on a given band. My QTH is in a quiet rural location, with a measured 6m antenna noise gain as follows.
Antenna noise gain no preamp: 0.6 dB
Antenna noise gain, 7610 preamp 1: 2.5 dB
Antenna noise gain, 7610 preamp 2: 5.5 dB
Signal and noise gain with the very weak signal tuned in on 50.149 MHz.
Signal and noise gain no preamp: 1.2 dB
Signal and noise gain preamp 1: 6 dB
Signal and noise gain preamp 2: 8 dB
Here are my noise floor measurements of the IC-7600, IC-7610 and IC-7300 on 6 meters.
Rig No preamp Preamp 1 Preamp 2
7300 -131 dBm -139 dBm -140 dBm
7600 -130 dBm -139 dBM -141 dBm
7610 -130 dBm -139 dBm -140.5 dBm
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| AF7ON |
Rating: |
2018-05-11 | |
| Updated review |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
With some good Sporadic-E openings in the past few days, I've had an opportunity to test the 7610 on ten and six meters - working stations in Mexico, South America and the Caribbean.
With its SDR architecture, Icom handles preamplifier gain on the higher bands in an innovative way. Instead of just piling on the gain, Icom does not leave system gain constant as the preamps are enabled. Instead, it is reported that they keep the audio level at the speaker output constant when a signal is at the receiver noise floor.
Rob Sherwood reports from tests on his 7610: "Receiver noise from the 7610 goes down as the preamps are engaged, but the signal to noise ratio improves as one switches in the preamps. On 6 meters, 7610 receiver noise drops 4 dB with preamp 1 and 5.5 dB with preamp 2, all the while keeping the desired weak signal constant."
This behavior was very noticeable in direct on-air comparisons on 6 meters, where signal to noise was noticeably better on the 7610 than on my Elecraft K3. Both have excellent receivers, but the Icom definitely had the edge in perceiving weak signals.
In this update, I've given it 5 stars, but it's still not quite perfect - my average review is now 4.5. Perhaps it deserves 4.9! |
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| KY6R |
Rating: |
2018-05-11 | |
| Excellent Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just switched from my K3 that I had - and loved for 10 years. Before that I had an Orion II, and others - all for DXing and chasing DXCC goals (all of which I have met).
If you want a rig for a DXpedition - the K3 is my favorite - but in the shack chasing the DX - the 7610 is my new favorite.
The amazing part of this radio is being able to hear pretty much anything - in spite of the noise - almost "alongside it". With all other radios I have had the signal seemed more to "bob up and down" in the noise.
All features seem well thought out - and I have mine exciting an ACOM 1010 - which is a superb all around station. |
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| W4PR |
Rating: |
2018-05-10 | |
| Among the top 5 HF transceiver available on the market today |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I have had the IC-7610 since the first week it was released in the U.S. (November). I have owned the 7600 and 756pro III previously. And, since buying the radio I have had the opportunity to compare it to a Flex 5000 and the Kenwood 990.
I have installed all the software upgrades... thanks to my friend John! Everything went flawlessly. But I must admit I did not experience the problems others have complained about.
First, it's receive functions are amazing, especially on CW. With a Hex-beam at 33 feet I am hearing Iran, Reunion Island, Mozambique all of them running 100 watts with minimal antennas. The options for setting the receivers, the transmitter, the memories are not matched by other transceivers. The voice reports I get are always excellent. I expect partly because the 7610 matches up so well with the Heil PR781 that I am using.
It was easy to integrate with my PW-1. All of the connections are straight forward and it would be just as easy hook up my old SB-220 to it.
I am not a fan of touch buttons, but with a little use they seem straight forward and intuitive. Sometimes there are too many options (for example the panadapter signal and waterfall) but with a little playing around you can get exactly what you want.
I am delighted with the radios actual performance.
I do get the users group information, some of which spills over to this sight. Much of it is useful. But some of the negative comments suggests that the reviewer hasn't read the full manual, or doesn't understand what they are reading. (e.g. when the manual states press the button for 3 seconds, it doesn't mean one second!)
Other comments seem bizarre, where individuals are taking measurements using equipment that was never meant to be used for SDR radios and then complaining that it doesn't meet the specs.
Some people have gotten equipment that needed to be fixed or replaced. But it seems that ICOM has bent over backwards to accommodate most hams. And, I believe that any new release of a radio would some of these. There is also a dedicated ham on the Users Group who has been the filter for ICOM (Adam VA7OJ/Ab4OJ) who has been incredibly useful in resolving/explaining problems. And, of course as a result, there are some that personally abuse him. There are hams that could get a new rig for free everyday and would complain that they had to go to the door too often!
Some people cannot be satisfied and you will see the venting on this site. I empathize in a weird way. I had 3 horrible experiences with Ford and I drive out of my way to avoid even seeing a Ford dealership.
OK.... enough..... my ACTUAL experience is that the 7610 lives up to its hype. Given my use of it on all its ham bands, on CW/SSB/RTTY/PSK its great. It surpasses the Kenwood 990 in actual operation and although it doesn't have the flexibility of the flex, with the APF on CW it surpasses it.
That' my two cents. |
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| K5ML |
Rating: |
2018-05-03 | |
| If You Like the IC-7300, You’ll Love the 7610 |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The IC-7610 is my 4th Icom radio. Owned an IC-756 Pro III, IC-7600 and still have my IC-7300. All were excellent in their day and the IC-7300 is a game changer as QST noted. It is one tremendous radio for the money.
In doing A/B comparisons between the 7300 and 7600, I detect no differences in basic sensitivity or selectivity. Both are very sensitive and can copy CW signals fine with the selectivity turned down to 50 Hz. As someone first licensed in 1957, it seems like a miracle. I also get outstanding transmit audio reports with both radios using an Icom SM-30 microphone with no outboard audio processing. Both radios have excellent speech processors.
If you own a 7300 you may be wondering if you should spend all that extra money for a 7610. I can’t answer that question for you but I can give you a good idea of what you will get if you buy a 7610 that sets it apart from the 7300. First there are the obvious features. It’s a bigger radio, with a larger, nicer display, 2 independent receivers with independent RF/AF gain and selectivity controls, 2 S-meters, dual watch, 2 antenna inputs, a separate receive antenna input and output, separate audio outputs for each receiver, a port for a large video display and more features that I have not mentioned. The larger size coupled with more ports and controls on the front panel make for more comfortable and convenient operating.
The biggest qualitative differences between the 2 radios I detect are in the noise blanker and noise reducer. The noise reducer on the 7610 seems to degrade phone signals less when you turn it up than it does on the 7300. And the noise blanker on the 7610 is fantastic. It makes local S-9 QRN vanish at the push of a button. You have to see and hear it to believe it. Thanks to, K0PIR for posting this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nISZioAjG88&feature=youtu.be
On CW the 7610 has a peak audio filter with adjustments for position, type, width and AF Level on the multi-button. That gives it an edge over the 7300 when it comes to pulling very weak signals out of the noise. Another feature I find useful is the ability to mute either receiver by pushing-in the AF gain controls. It comes in handy when working dual watch and I want to silence one receiver. While the touch screen on both radios is nice, I find it more convenient to use the band buttons on the 7610 to change bands.
Having a 24-inch external display is nice, but I find myself watching it less than I thought would. The internal display is more than adequate and gets most of my attention.
For about a month after I received the IC-7610 it had one glitch. Without touching the radio, the band scope would suddenly go black and only faint white noise came out of the speaker. It was as if the antenna had been disconnected from the radio. A simple push of any band button immediately restored the radio to normal. That happened on 3 or 4 occasions. One of the firmware updates likely solved the problem because it hasn’t happened in quite a while. I’m now using version 1.06.
One minus I find in both the 7300 and 7610: The automatic antenna tuner in both is inferior to the tuners in the IC-756 Pro III and IC-7600. The two earlier radios tuned my non-resonant Zero Five vertical to a 1:1 SWR on all bands with no problem. The new radios do not. They do have an emergency provision for tuning high SWR antennae but power output is cut to 50 watts. Disappointing.
Very early one Sunday morning, I called a JA on 40 SSB. He came back, said I sounded like a local FM broadcast station and wanted to know what kind of transmitter I was using. After we signed, 2 US hams called me. Both were using new IC-7610’s. We are all very happy with our new radios and one said his 7610 is better than his IC-7800.
In summing up the difference between the 2 radios, if the IC-7300 were a Camry, the IC-7610 would be a big Lexus. Both are state-of-the-art and will take you where you want to go. The more expensive one gives you a more comfortable ride.
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|
| Done |
Rating: |
2018-04-27 | |
| 6 Meter Performance |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After an interesting review by KC7UI on the 6 meter issue I decided to run FT8 last night and did a "listening" session with a horizontal and vertical antenna. I never worked 6 meters so It peaked my interest.
The results were a dozen contacts logged from a path to Texas from my QTH in Wisconsin. The end-fed wire antenna definitely was hearing better than my ground mounted vertical. Using pre-amp 1 for each antenna. There was significant QSB.
I did notice the "digi-select" pre-selector was not available on 6 meters.
The audio scope showed traces down to -20db decoded FT8 contacts. Some were as strong as -4 db. Nice opening to Texas. I could hear the tones through my speakers at times with no visible traces.
So in conclusion, I am very pleased with the results on 6 meters- I can say the rig is definitely not defective as previously reviewed.
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