| DL4QB |
Rating:  |
2024-11-29 | |
| Very nice Icom! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Update: 11/29/2024
Still use it also for the QO-100 Geostatonary Satellite.
Works like a charm. Added GPSDO for 100% stability.
No issues so far, like that TRX very much!
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I use my Icom 9700 for 2m SSB, 70cm SSB and also for the operation of the amateur radio Satellite QO100, where I use the 23cm band to go from there to the up converter.
That works all wonderful. Also the 100W on 2m are in contest already a great thing!
Via USB you can use all digi modes very easy.
A really very modern device, which actually leaves nothing to be desired in the VHF / UHF!
Icom you have done it very well!
PS: The TCXO in the fan circuit and the minimum drift, you get this fixed for next device hopefully! |
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| AC3DB |
Rating: |
2024-08-25 | |
| Amazing and looks good next to my 7300 |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I know it was a bit of money but I'm so glad I pulled the trigger on this radio. The receiver is so good that now I need an amplifier because I when I turn the preamp on, I'm hearing stations clearly that I never even would hear on my 991A.
I'm really enjoying VHF FT8 and SSB every day.
I haven't tried UHF or 1296 yet but some day I will build an antenna for those bands when i get bored. |
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| M0ITX |
Rating: |
2024-03-29 | |
| 3 yrs and still very happy |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Owned almost 3 yrs to the day and continues to perform flawlessly. Primarily used for terrestrial SSB DX ,i have absolutely no complaints regarding sensitivity,which i find to be excellent,as is selectivity,as it handles very strong local contest signals far better than i could have hoped,even with a mast head pre-amp,very impressive,which i guess is due to the tight filtering,but does limit the receiver to ham bands only. I live in a rural spot,but do get a little noise occasionally from the farm opposite and a railway line/transformers about 1km away,when the antennas are pointing at them,but i have to say,the NB/NR do a fantastic job,leaving just a few audible artifacts and the weak signals workable.
I've tested the radio on local repeaters,including D-star and it performed very well. I've found using DV simplex quite interesting,as you can have a noise free qso with a station that may barely lift the S-meter,so good distances of 200-300km are possible under flat conditions on 2m from my QTH.
My only complaints are not being able to plug directly into an external monitor and i wish the radio was bigger,as i much prefer full sized base station radios of the past.
Apparently,the 9700 has very poor IMD performance,so are best not used with Linear Amplifiers, so not a good choice for contesters,but most serious contesters use transverters anyway.
Few radios are perfect,but this little icom is near enough for my use,but i fully understand why it's not the case for everyone ..horses for courses,as the saying going. |
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| NT4I |
Rating: |
2023-11-15 | |
| Disappointing |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
For a high dollar, top of the line radio, the radio drifts terribly. To be told I need to install a GPS board and antenna with a stable 10 MHz signal to keep the radio from drifting is an insult. I had 2 meter / 70 CM radios over 30 years ago that didn't drift like the IC-9700. Time to dump this chump.....
FYI: I also have the lower priced Yaesu FT-991a that I use for VHF/UHF SSB and it is rock steady. Nay any drift at all even after hours of use.
I know Icom can do much better that this? |
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| ZL4IV |
Rating: |
2023-08-02 | |
| Great rig after these mods |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Without these mods and extras I would have marked it as OK but now its Great.
First Mod, fitted a Leo Bodnar GPS disciplined oscillator to stop the frequency drift. Now I am with 1.37Hz on all bands but comes with the knowledge on SSB most stations are not on frequency.
Amplifier switching is badly implemented so it now has The DX Shop PTT Multiplier to switch each power amp independently. (I chat with friends on 23cm around 400km away, 250w SSB).
Made up a GPS module to take care of D-Star info etc.
Why Icom don't use BCD for band switching confounds me! The CS-9700 software is a great bonus.
As for digital modes, easy as, almost plug and play once the drivers are downloaded from Icom.
In the beginning I wasn't sure if it was for me as I loved my 1988 FT-736r but after spending a some extra dollars I am very pleased. |
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| K5CIS |
Rating: |
2023-06-23 | |
| Meh |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I held off writing this review for over a year to “get used to the rig”. I use it primarily for satellites. I previously owned a Yaesu FT847 which seemed to have a much better receiver. I really thought I was going to get a major technological upgrade from the 30 year old FT847, but it was pretty “meh”. It has some cool features, but the software was not designed well. I don’t like that you have to push 6 (yes 6) buttons to turn the keyer on and off…and several other weird quirks with the scope turning on and off when you change a random setting. Also, in satellite mode, the default spectrum scope should show the Rx frequency, but not so with the IC9700. It is very non-intuitive, and I think I am a pretty tech-savvy person. The one thing I do love about the radio is the built in spectrum scope. It is very easy to spot others (and yourself) on the satellite without having to tune around constantly. Overall, if you have an older satellite radio, then you may want to think twice before buying this one…unless you just MUST have a spectrum scope and cool modern touch screen. |
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| K3MD |
Rating: |
2023-06-21 | |
| Excellent weak signal rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
So far I have owned this radio for 4 days. I purchased it used open box from HRO. My previous VHF/UHF rigs were the IC-706, single band 100W Icoms, FT-736R, IC-1271A, IC-9000. This rig is in an entirely different category. I previously could hear 2 beacons from my remote location. Now I can hear about 12, including one 130 airline miles away on 1296! Same antennas, same mast-mounted preamps. Configuration to run sequencers for linear amps is very easy (I use an Ameritron linear control isolator, having damaged one transceiver switching transistor previously by not doing so). DVK recording very easy. Using Leo Bednar 10.000 MHz satellite source, with 10.000 MHz output, getting the unit to synch is very, very easy, even without the use of the Leo Bednar injection port board (which requires an input at about 47 MHz). Apparently this was not the case with earlier versions of transceiver control software. I read eham reviews of this unit for about 2 years prior to purchase. Use with FT8 very easy... I use the idiot proof method of audio in to computer via USB, audio out to rig via WMR RIGblaster.
I hope to re-review in a few years.
If you enjoy weak signal work, this rig is in a completely different dimension than others. I would like to thank the many members of the Mt Airy VHF Radio Club (all technical professionals) who gave me advice on this rig. |
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| G4AON |
Rating: |
2023-04-20 | |
| 3+ years and it’s still great |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
3 1/2 year update.
I have been using a Leo Bodnar board “add on” ever since I bought the 9700, and the 9700 is within +/- 1Hz on 23cm (that’s as good as my GPS locked frequency counter displays in a reasonable gate time). I am also using later firmware that features the ability to send voice (or CW) from memory 1 or 2 by tapping the up/down buttons on the microphone. I also built a 4 button memory playback box, the circuit is in the Icom manual.
The radio is in daily use on 2m SSB and is regularly used out portable on a nearby hill in contests. It is sometimes used on D-Star or FM, finding my “hotspot” or a nearby repeater is very easy as I stored the home QTH lat/long in the radio (no need to use a GPS navigation input if you just use one at home). it’s been used a few times on FT8 and meteor scatter, which work well enough, but these modes do not appeal to me.
I use Log4OM via Omnirig at home for logging and also for casual portable operating. For contests I use Minos, a log program specifically written for RSGB VHF/UHF contests.
The voice playback is excellent and a really useful SSB contest throat saver.
On 70cm I use an SSB Electronics SP70 mast head preamp and on 23cm an Icom AG1200 mast head preamp, both powered by the IC-9700.
The pointless clock battery now only retains the settings for a few days, but having the 9700 LAN connected to my router means the automatic clock setting routine sorts the time out.
I have used the radio via the Icom remote software and it works quite well over the web. I have worked a fellow 9700 owner who operates his remotely and it sounds fine.
There is a lot to this radio and it performs well and to specification.
——— original review below————
The 9700 is a complex radio with a lot of features. It takes a few days to both work out how to access various settings and to program memories/settings. There are some hard to remember settings that require a few button/screen presses, those who complain about the "tap/hold" buttons on an Elecraft K3 should try an IC-9700, it's a lot less user friendly... However, pretty much everything you need is in there.
Initially, the radio came with ver 1.06 firmware and was easy to update to 1.20. The free programming software is easy to use although there are quite a few parameters to discover, such as entering ^AR into the Morse keyer memory to send the "AR" without a gap.
It's not obvious that FM narrow is set by using the receiver filter FL2 (tap the filter on the screen to change), some radios have FMN as a mode. The memory programming has provision to set these to suit various analogue repeaters.
Speech quality on receive on D-Star is often excellent, equal to FM, although a lot depends on the sending station. There are two vocoders, so you can listen on 2m and 70cms at the same time on D-Star, even listening to your own transmission on another repeater as it operates full duplex.
CW on reduced power levels gives a perfect wave shape, there are no "spikes" or overshoot, and the rise and fall edges of the waveform are smooth and around the rise/fall times set in the menu.
I have only found one "birdie" and that is on 1249 MHz. Receive sensitivity is good, MDS is at the limit of my signal generator (-140dBm) and at that level a signal is easily seen on the spectrum scope. It is slightly more sensitive on 23cms. S9 signals reach the top of the 'scope display. Incidentally, setting a green trace with the "fill" black, gives a pleasing trace on the 'scope which resembles a spectrum analyser display. Power output as measured on a Bird Thruline is as per specification and tracks the percentage output indication fairly well.
Using an external 10 MHz reference puts the 9700 within one or two Hz of the correct frequency, although unless you use digital modes, or have long 23cms SSB QSOs, it's probably not an issue.
Many log programs currently lack a setting for the IC-9700, those that use Omni-Rig can edit the IC-7300 ini file to change the CI-V address entries from 94 to A2 and rename the file to 9700.ini, there might be some subtle differences to the 7300, but it works OK for basic frequency/mode logging. Equally, you could change the radio to 94, although search and replace with the ini file is easy enough.
Overall a nice transceiver, but it would be nice to have dual receive in the same band, which should be straightforward with an SDR, maybe that will only appear in a MK2 version at an increased cost? |
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| M0TJK |
Rating: |
2023-04-20 | |
| Tested, but only for a short time |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I was allowed to borrow a 9700 for a few days. I have used a 7300 for many years and have been very pleased with it. I expected operation the 9700 to be similar and in some respects it is.
I tried to load a UK VHF repeater list, which did work. Trying to then load a UHF repeater list produced a no repeaters found message. It seems that you can only import one list.
I tried to find nearby repeaters, for which it needs GPS coordinates. I don't have a GPS which I could connect, so I tried to enter the coordinates manually. When you find the screen, there is no edit button on screen, so a visit to the manual showed to you have to press the Quick Menu (why Quick Menu?) button. You can then edit your coordinates which I did, only to find that asking for nearby repeaters produced a No GPS location message. I tried re-entering the coordinates several times to no avail.
These are an example of a couple of several usability issues that I encountered in the short (frustrating) time that the rig was with me.
The 7300 has been a superb rig, very easy to use from the outset and it is rare to need to use the manual. This was not the case with the 9700 for me.
During my time with the 9700, I could not help forming the opinion that it is in beta in many respects, but I would say that it is a substantially more complex rig than the 7300 and I would recommend borrowing one to try before you buy.
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| NR9V |
Rating: |
2022-11-16 | |
| A fine rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Quite a nice rig with color touch screen, easy-to-use menus and many options. I was previously using a TS-2000 for V/UHF which is a very solid radio with great performance, and at ~half the price of a 9700 I was good with it and wouldn't have paid full price for a 9700, but then you know how hams are they often post ads for stuff in like-new condition at a huge discount off new price & tax so what are you going to do. Had to try one out and see if the now relatively small cost difference over a TS-2000 or IC-7100 could persuade me to keep it. (I was also using a 7100 for the past 5 years but decided to upgrade to something that supports cross-band full-duplex and had only picked up the 2000 a few months ago.) Honestly the only thing I don't like about the 2000 is the slow scan speed, it will only scan about 4 mem chans/sec. Compared to the 9700 which will do more like 100 chans/sec. If it weren't for that one limitation I would just have stuck with the 2000. I'm not much into D-Star so didn't really need that and don't really need 23cm.
Was pleasantly surprised to see some pretty nice features and modern conveniences in the 9700. Some have noted it groups memories by band and will only scan by band, which is true in the normal operating mode however it also has a DR mode that solves that issue. At www.dstarinfo.com/RepeaterDownloads.aspx you can download a repeater list customized to your exact location, that has not only the full list of 1,000's of D-Star repeaters but also includes as many plain old Analog FM repeaters as you'd like, including full GPS coordinates. I went with the default option of 20% of the list being Analog repeaters and thus the list has all the main D-Star and Analog repeaters not only that are near me but within North America, which covers the majority of the regular memory channels I've maintained over time (about 80 channels I keep in a spreadsheet file and have downloaded into all my other rigs with free CHIRP or Mfr programming tools). The list you download is in CSV format so it's very easy to edit. Then just put in on an SDCard and import into the radio, enter your GPS coords (set position to Manual mode), press the DR button, then hit SCAN, select 'Near Repeater DV/FM' option and it will scan every repeater within about 100 miles. So that's a pretty cool feature, that would definitely not be easy to set up in most other rigs. This would be especially useful for a road trip with a GPS hooked up to it, it would always know what the closest repeaters are.
The other thing that surprised me on this was that D-Star actually sounds pretty good. I'm not a fan of low-bitrate digital modes, and thought D-Star (and C4FM, DMR, etc) all generally sounded pretty terrible on other radios. Well apparently Icom finally got D-Star fine-tuned a little better after all these years and it actually sounds pretty good on the 9700. It still depends a lot on how each other station is set up but just from scanning around SoCal the majority of D-Star QSOs I've heard no longer make me want to quickly turn the dial due to the glitchy robotic audio I usually get on older D-Star radios (eg. 7100, TH-74A, or Droidstar App). I still prefer Analog, but with D-Star repeaters all being interconnected it opens up some DX activity and is definitely a nice option at times when nearby FM repeaters aren't very busy. The DR/CS menus on the 9700 are also much easier to use than those on the 7100. At this point I have to say D-Star seems to be finally becoming a more 'professional'-grade system.
Some have commented that Rx sensitivity is not that great on the 9700 but in tests against my TS-2000 there was no difference. Both pull in multiple repeaters from ~100 mi. away with strong signals and almost no noise. And one last note, the radio seems to still be in active development by Icom with FW updates still coming out so this looks like a solid long-term bet and if you can pick one up used at a good price you can't go wrong.
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