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Reviews For: ICOM IC-207H

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

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-207H
Reviews: 46MSRP: 299.99
Description:
mobile dual band radio
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00464
2E1VAR Rating: 2003-07-22
Not happy ! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Not at all happy with this radio. Was having trouble accessing 2m repeaters so queried it with Icom, they stated a mod needed to be done to the mic, this had no effect, neither did trying other mics. Then they figured out that UK 2m repeaters are on a 12.5 k split and the deviation is set for 25k and not user adjustable so asked me to send it back for adjustment. Why the hell do they send out UK models, with 12.5k splits in, for use on a 12.5k system with an unsuitable deviation setting ? On every other radio i own its user adjustable (without removing the top). On top of that audio is way way too high, again not adjustable. AM airband recieve is absolutely useless, anything below S9+30 is unaudiable. Give it a miss.
IW2CLM Rating: 2003-07-22
Intermod is a problem Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My 207H with good roof vertical v2000 from diamond gets very high intermodulation on all VHF and AirBand frequency. I cannot listen signals unless I set maximum squelch level (attenuator). I've also a ft90 and doesn't show similar problem. Also IC706 MKII works fine with same antenna. Anybody experiences similar issue ?
M3TRJ Rating: 2003-07-15
Great Radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a good radio. I reccomend it to anyone. There are some downsides howver. The tuning, volume, and squelch knobs feel a bit loose and cheap, and the noise of the fan which comes on when you transmit. Overall I think it's a great radio.
VE3SWF Rating: 2003-06-12
:/ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Sorry, I sort of jumped the gun on my first review. I just hooked it up from base to mobile and went for a ride around our suburban area and picked up alot of intermod. It was even breaking in occassionally too. Still a good radio, but intermod is a serious issue with it. I think im going to exchange it for a Yaesu FT-8900R (which there is a big price difference, but the yaesu has 4 bands). Good Luck!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by VE3SWF on 2003-06-07

I love my new rig. I brought it out for the Camp X special event station we were working, and it ran great. No problems whatsoever, except that when i run mid-hi or hi the display will flicker. Im running a 12A cont. 14A surge power supply, so im not sure if thats the problem...
KK7AC Rating: 2003-04-21
Good Value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used this radio on nearly a daily basis ever since I installed it in my truck 5 years ago. It worked great until about 6 months ago when I noticed that I was not being heard. Testing indicated about 1/2 watt output all bands/levels. So back to the factory it went. After only about 2 weeks, I received the radio to find the audio was very hot. I had not had this problem before and went to some mod sites to see what pot to adjust in the radio to turn down the hot audio. After finding none, I wrote Icom to ask them what pot I need to adjust. The tech said that there is no pot in the 207 to adjust!!! Unreal. A radio without an audio adjustment? Anyway the fix is to change the value of a resistor in the mic.

Anyway I really have enjoyed this "no flills" radio despite the resend to the factory. It is very easy to use and the display is easy to read. I like the fact that the mic is on the radio. I have the head mounted on the overhead console and the RF deck under my seat. So the mic comes up from under and this provides me a clean installation. Icom service was great. I really wish I could turn down the audio.

I find the attenuator/squelch ajustment a bit of a nusance. Other then that, I like it OK. It's a $250 radio, what do you expect.
LU1DAW Rating: 2003-04-21
Good Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have one from many years ago and only have one problem, the mic, because breack one part of ptt, but I repare this and good again.
Now I will buy another because the price is so good, and the radio is very easy to use and the mic is really good to use many funtions of the rig.
I recomend it to all of my friends.
Sorry for my english.
KE4IZA Rating: 2003-04-19
Almost a 5/5 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.

I find the audio perfect. Loud and clear. Radio is easy to use once you learn it. Bright clear amber display. Most radio features are on the mic so you do not have to fiddle with the radio. Even volume and sequelch are on the mic. My only complaint is the power button is squeezed between the 2 control knobs and hard to get to, at least for me and my big fingers. All in all I would rate it a 9.5/10. The power switch could have been placed in the open thus making the radio a 10/10.
W4MCQ Rating: 2003-03-22
One Complaint Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
So far, this is a very good radio. I like the fact that you can mix 2 meters & 440 into the memory; nice feature.My only complaint: the fan is noisy; it doesn't have to run that fast !! By the way, if you're going to use it as a base radio; the SM-8 desk mic sounds excellent.
KD3V Rating: 2003-03-22
4.3 so far Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A nice sized radio. Not too smal that you can't read all the displayed info and the backlighting works great.
Good performance in tx/rx.
BUT, The volume and squelch knobs feel cheap and are 'wiggly',
AND the S-meter is almost useless! Use the 10db attenuator part of the squelch and see that the 10db will take you from full scale to 0 on the smeter.. THIS IS BAD!
WAKE UP ICOM and gives us useful s-meters. PLEASE

ALSO, Please get the SCAN features correct! When I am in VFO mode on the aircraft band and press scan... do NOT start scanning in the 440 band!
Please scan the current VFO range! Thank you!

With these EITHER-band rigs we need a Priority Scan working for both bands! Not just one channel! Since you give us 2 Call channels.. and 2 VFOs and one current memory channel ... Give us at least the ability to scan ONE frequency PER BAND... at least! Or better yet.. let us choose to scan both the call channels and the VFOs in a 'Priority Scan'.
These scan modes should be better thought out and the comments go for many other radios also.

The 207H is a great little radio and the above comments do not detract from its performance as a radio.

I made the mod to ope the RX up, although I have heard of a further modification for TX which I do not need. It took 2 minutes and works great.

BUT another complaint, WHY force the mic to plug into the radio and not the front panel??? Icom got it right on the 706 models why not the 207H?? IF I ever remote the radio, this makes for a real hassle to run an extended mic cord! DUMB!

Here in Los Angeles I could use another 50 memories at least but the 150 normal memories works OK... but I do miss the alpha-labels since we have so many usable repeaters out here that they are needed!

Overall it is a very fine radio that gives me a great apartment vhf/uhf capability.

It is a keeper! Especially at the Icom Day prices!
NE2I Rating: 2002-12-09
mike problems Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Good on all acounts so far only complaint is the mic cable pulls out of the radio kinda fits loose
and i have to jam a toothpic in it to stay in.
This is on a radio thats a week old!
Gonna try redoing the connector with lan cable stuff. Id send it back but i need the rig and it
works otherwise....

George