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Reviews For: ICOM IC-2800H

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-2800H
Reviews: 55MSRP: 500.00
Description:
VHF/UHF Mobile w/ 3" LCD Screen.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00554.4
KC7QN Rating: 2002-02-14
Great Radio-Glad I Got It Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After living with the radio in the car for 2 months, I have found a good friend both day and night. The ease of use is great, once you read the manual-previous Yeasu owner. I very much like the band search and spectrum analyzer capability. The ability to quickly view and use the DTMF dial up capability is very good. I have noticed nothing in the way of saturation or EMI/EMC on the road. The receiver sensitivity and out of band rejection is excellent. All in all a great choice so far.
N4DOG Rating: 2002-01-31
Pretty Good Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had the 2800H for 2 weeks. The radio has been great so far. Everyone I have talked too said it sounds great. I have talked a lot of simplex on 2 meters & 440 and got great reports. The extra's for this radio are a bit expensive. I did have a Mic extension made out of CAT 5 network cable and it works great for $5.00 compared to $85.00 from HRO. I also bought the computer program and cable. It is a must if you buy this radio it make it programing this radio so simple. Although like the rest of the items for this radio it cost WAY TO MUCH, but what dosent now days. The programming is not as easy for this radio as my Yeasu radio was, but it does have seperate speaker out puts for the 2 & 440.
The Display is AWESOME. I have not had a problem with it during the day. Although at night the display is very bright. It is a lot easier to read than any other display out there.
I wish it was easier to modify for us not so good technicians.
But All and All this radio is outstanding and I would suggest it to anyone.
K9FTB Rating: 2002-01-27
RX intermod - Everything Else Great Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had the 2880H for almost a year and drive through intermod alley on the way to work daily. Intermod is much worse on 440 Mhz and only sometimes on 2m. I tried a DCI bandpass filter for 440-450 - that resolved the problem on RX. The trouble is you can't leave the bandpass filter in the line since it wipes out 2m completely - then you don't have a dual band radio. On the way to Dayton last year, the rig performed without any problem on the road (2m & 440).

Consistently excellent audio reports. I like the physcial size and power out (although mine doesn't output full advertised power, it's not a big deal). I switch between cars and sometimes use this little guy in the shack as well. It's easy to remove and install, minus the interconnecting cables.

I like the display and especially the options for memories and direct keypad entry. The bandscope is a neat feature when traveling out of town and repeater hunting - I wish you could sweep a wider freq. range though.

I mounted my rig in the trunk. I stupidly purchased the Icom extentions for the control head and mic. After doing the install in my car, I had to add my own extentions to the factory extentions. The experience taught me that CAT5 cable works fine for the control head and mic. even unshieled. Build your own extentions instead and save lots of $.

There are lots of bells & whistles. I find I have to have the book with me in the car to remember the key sequences for functions I don't use regularly - menu's are not terribly intuitive for infrequently used functions. But I'm old, maybe that's the problem!

The display is great at night - except that I can't make it dim enough when driving in the country where it's really dark - city night driving is not an issue. During the day it's fine unless sunlight hits the control head directly, then the display washes out. A typical LCD display would be better, functionaly, but not as pretty.

Would I buy again - well probably not for the price I paid. For ~$100 less - yes I'd buy again for sure. The cost of the 2800H with extention cables is almost equal to the IC-207 - hence my decision to buy the 2800 and not the 207.
KG6JCO Rating: 2002-01-12
Very Good radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The radio is a performer. The front end receive is fairly sensitive and I haven't experienced the dreaded (and oft mistaken for repeater interference)intermod.

Setting up ctcss tones could be a little more intuitive, but once you've done it, it comes quite easily. Cross band repeat is possible; however, the manual lacks any documentation on the subject.

If you can overlook the poor documentation, the radio is probably one of the best dual bands on the market. I regularly hit repeaters from 50 miles away (in San Jose, CA area) and transmit and receive are of very good quality. (using Diamond NM770HA antenna w/SWR <1.2 on all usable frequencies.) The remote head makes installations in a compact car a reality, and the microphone is able to run a majority of radio functions, a plus for mobile installs.

Icom would have served everyone better by placing the mic jack on the control head. If your installation requires the mic to be further than 3' away from the transmitter, you will have to buy the mic extender cable --which is not cheap.
KC5PGM Rating: 2001-12-12
Could be better Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had my 2800 for over two months now. I like the large colorful display. I have a mini TV tuner attached that plays video through the 2800 and audio through my am/fm car stereo. I bought the tuner from MCM Electronics. It worked great. Now that the novelty has sorta worn off it is no longer used much. A few things that could be improved are: 1.) V/V and U/U. Can you believe Icom didn't add this feature. I guess nobody at icom is a ham operator. 2.)FASTER scan rate. 8 ch per second? What good is that? 3.) A dimmer for the backlight. At night it is a little bright even with brightness and contrast turned down. 4.) I find the controls a little awkward compared to Yaesus that I have owned.
Other than that is ok I guess but I will research more next time I buy.

N2IM Rating: 2001-12-03
Excellent radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This was my first mobile radio. I really, really like it! It is very easy to use, very versatile, and an all-around great rig! The audio is of excellent quality. I get very good audio reports, as well. The only thing I do not like about it is the mic connector location. It kind of limits location position in a smaller vehicle. That, however, is a small inconvenience considering the great quality of this radio. I use it many applications: as a base radio, mobile radio, contest FM radio, and (soon)a BEACONet radio for contesting. For having a seemingly delicate control head, it is very rugged. This radio is definitely a keeper (until something better comes along:). Buy one, you will not regret it.
KF4TUZ Rating: 2001-08-13
Excellent sensitivity, large clear display. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After owning a Kenwood V7A for a while and the sensitivity not being what I desired (not to mention certain frequencies sounding off frequency) I decided to try/purchase the 2800. My first impression was rrr... them colors suck. Then I noticed the themes and picked the LCD screen colors that I liked the best. Whew... after that was done, I decided to test out some of the problems that others were having. I seen some postings about low power output on high power... I decided to test mine and it tx'd @ 43-45 watts. I hooked my Alinco 330MV up to a VOM meter to determine the exact voltage (even though the meter said 13.8 on the actual power supply) and it was only putting out 13 volts... it's varible and I moved it up to around 13.9-14 volts. It now outputs 50 watts... I'm not sure if this is the problem everyone else is having (low voltage on power supply... below 13.8) but it was in my case. I have PICTURES of this btw, e-mail me for them. (Radio Tx'ing at 50, Diamond power meter and VOM meter setting all side by side) Also, I had some weird interference on 2 meters... even with the squelch all the way up. It turned out to be my CTX 19" monitor running at a refresh rate that it wasn't really rated for. Moving it down to 72hz refresh SOLVED all my problems, even with OTHER radio's including the V7A and G71A. (it was picking it up, but not as bad as the Icom, but the Icom seems to have a more sensitive reciever, so that would be normal) Ah, nice silence and extremely low squelch settings. All transmissions seem excellent, and the internal speaker is surprisingly good. I didn't have any problems on 70cm also, and it seems right there with the V7A as far as sensitivity, if not a little better. I set my 2100 on same antenna while listening to dx simplex on 146.52, changing it over to the 2800 yeilded in pulling the low signals out where the 2100 or V7A couldn't. After all this was worked out, I had to give this radio a 5. I do HIGHLY recommend a programming cable and software! I like having ALL the 2 meter repeater pairs in memory and named, and it would take me forever to do that manually. I will miss VHF/VHF or UHF/UHF even though I hardly used it on the V7A... I would give the radio a 6 if I could if it had that. The crossband repeat seems to perform extremely well. (Activated by simultaneously pressing CHG/L and the two Main SCP keys, CHG/L once to disable, hold in to remove lock). I did make a extension cable (actually made it a while back for the V7A... just a straight thru patch cable with a Leviton 568 on one end and a RJ45 on the other.) Hopefully something in my review may help someone that has the same problems as other reviewers in this section. E-mail me if you have any questions or want to see a pic of my face stand (which holds the face at a angle for desktop use).
KD5PAJ Rating: 2001-08-09
Great Mobile Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this radio for one month and LOVE it. Yes, it has some issues...i.e. microphone cord too short, no VHF/VHF or UHF/UHF, but, overall the radio is great. The cable issue can easily be remedied - I used a cell phone extension that happened to work. I live in Dallas and you can just imagine all the other active frequencies in the metroplex - this radio has no intermod. poblems. I have the display mounted on a pedestal (on the floor) in my truck and have no problem with seeing the screen during the day. My brightness setting is at 35%. Everyone says the radio is full quieting the repeaters I use and some are at least 20 miles away - running at 10watts.
K5AAT Rating: 2001-06-18
Icom 2800 suits me Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
great rig, easy to use. Have had nothing but rave reviews on quality of transmit. I am going to keep it at home and dual band monitor. It's like two radios in one.
K7BSU Rating: 2001-06-15
Intermod Problem Makes it Un-usable! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned this radio for three weeks. I find that the intermod problems on UHF make it a useless radio in my book. Even though others have noted the same issue in metro areas, I have encountered it in rural areas as well. Not up to the quality of the 756Pro or the 910 I also own. EBay here we come.