| K0VH |
Rating:  |
2003-09-12 | |
| Lots in small package |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Well right off the bat I am biased towards this rig since we (specifically my son Drew KC0CJP) won it as the grand prize last Spring at the St Paul Hamfest. Hard to complain about that. Since Drew just got his drivers license and theoretically at least is not supposed to ham or cell phone mobile in motion, Dad K0VH has had more experience with the rig for the past 6 months. With two 2m HTs, 2m in our Icom746 and a Yaseu FT1500 in our road car I was not really in the market for another 2m rig but I told my tech plus son is was his to keep for the rest of HS and college to hopefully keep him active in the hobby with the HF 10m band sinking fast.
What is good: power levels, audio (we have not had noticable mic problems although have heard locally from others using these for our ARES work in Rochester MN they have "opened the hole" more in the mic for better audio), dual band, lots of outside the ham band receive capabilities (it has a HOT receiver, I regularly pickup repeaters from 50+mi away in flat MN).
What could be better: read all the other reviews but the lack of Alpha display seems nuts. However it's in our 2nd car a 94 Gran Prix and the display head literally snaps into the slot above the radio and middle A/C vents - NO GLARE -we got lucky thanks to our old Pontiac's dash design! I have no problems with intermod even near our government center and Mayo paging downtown mess. I give it no awards for user interface: the manual is fine but to be honest my 1500 mini-rig UI and functions are easier to figure out on the road (but 50W in that 1500 is a "knee burner", the 2720 w/fan is cool to the touch).
Anyway, I will give it a 4 and like I say it was free. |
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| KD5RHR |
Rating: |
2003-08-27 | |
| works for me |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Was skeptical at first about this radio based on reviews here. Paid $329 at hamfest 1 week ago. Also purchased new a Comet GP-6 dual band antenna to go with radio to use as a base. Easy to program for me. I live in an urban area. Did the first 2 config changes recommended by others... changed local oscillator frequency, and upped mic gain. Some intermod when scanning whole bands, but not that bad. Last night I came across a repeater I'd never contacted before, was solid into repeater over 140 miles away and across a 9-10,000 ft mountain chain and got good signal report (and I'm positive that's really the repeater). I think I may be hitting repeaters better than they are coming back to me. MAJOR BUMMER... now I have to go through the whole New Mexico section of the repeater directory seeing if I can hit all the distant repeaters (hi-hi). Only 2 big gripes for Icom... Would it cost that much more to put alphanumerics on display? Are there REALLY more of these radios sold in right-hand drive countries than left hand drive countries?? I seriously doubt it. Why can't they compromise and make the display readable from straight in front? Must be an anti-American engineer working for Icom. I don't really understand the complaints about having to buy a bracket to attach to main unit. Just stick the main unit on the back of the desk or under the seat or in the trunk. If the cord is not long enough to go from the trunk, buy some cat-5 computer network cable that's longer, as I've heard that works fine and is cheap... and you can buy it already terminated. A new complaint... you cannot turn the right side volume all the way down, some sound still comes through. Overall I'm glad I bought this radio, just hope it does not need repairs. '73 |
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| AJ3X |
Rating: |
2003-08-26 | |
| Realigned and it's Great! |
Time Owned: N.A. |
| When I first installed this rig the intermod was unbeliveable and I live in a farm community. I returned the unit to ICOM and after a minor upgrade (replaced a few diodes) and realingment the intermod is gone. It is now my primary rig and has replaced the FT-8900R in my car. |
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| KB4POA |
Rating: |
2003-08-24 | |
| great radio for $ |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This is a replacement for a FT8100r. When compared to the FT8100R, This is a great radio.
I have owned this radio for 4 weeks and hope I do not have the final problem noted on other reviews.I checked the receiver and transmitter for for claimed specs. in the ham bands. According to my IFR 1200s it is very close on power output just a little low on high power. The receiver meet specs.
I programed the unit on the bench and tested it for problems before taking the time to install it in my wife's Saturn. The radio is much easier to understand and operate than the FT Series. I spent a lot of time in front of this radio and the new FT. before chosing ICOM. My main concern was the ability to operate the radio. This radio is much easier to operate than the FT series. The Front end is typical of every wide band receiver, unless you go to commerical gear.
The there are two draw backs. Frist the seperation cable supplied was not long enough to reach from the trunk to the front dash of the Saturn. This was an easy fix, a standard 6 wire phone extension cable and coupler gave me more than enough to reach anywere in the car.
The second problem for some is that if you plan to us the radio as single box you must purchase a bracket and short cable.
Over all job well done. Just keeping my fingers cross hoping the dreaded frying final won't find me. |
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| NS3L |
Rating: |
2003-08-19 | |
| Nice Rig, complex setup |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Gread rig for the value. A little complex and confusing on the setup. This is why the manual could use a re-write. Maybe even a quick start/user laminated card would be nice. Otherwise the rig operates as I expected. Many have been wondering about the Cross-Band setup and use. It's real simple. Icom used the KISS factor in setting up this mode. Set up the frequencies on each band, push and hold the dup/moni & low/prio buttons at the same time. While holding those two, push and hold the set button quickly thereafter and it will then beep and show a pair of "L's" and they will start flashing. Remember, push and hold the dup/low buttons, and while holding them, push and hold the set button. The unit will respond with two flashing L's and a beep. Simple as K-I-S-S. To deactivate the Cross-Band mode, just press and hold the set button and wait for the beep. The L's will go away and you will now be in normal mode.
Steve NS3L |
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| WA9DGM |
Rating: |
2003-08-09 | |
| UNHAPPY |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| FIRST RADIO OUT OF BOX DID NOT MEET RF POWER OUT AS PER FACTORY SPECS, VHF AND UHF XMIT FREQUENCY DRIFTED ALL OVER THE PLACE. SECOND RADIO( REPLACEMENT FOR FIRST) OUT OF BOX VHF POWER OUT DID NOT MEET FACTORY SPEC'S, VHF FREQUENCY STAYED WITH IN 3 CYCLES OF DIALED FREQUENCY, UHF TX FREQUENCY DRIFT WAS WORSE THAN THE FIRST RADIO. THESE WERE CONSECTIVE SERIAL NUMBERS. RETURNED AND GOT MONEY BACK. |
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| WA5VFA |
Rating: |
2003-08-03 | |
| Not the best! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased three of these about a month ago, one for a base, one for mobile, and one for my RACES go-kit. I wanted all my FM gear to be the same so that the learning curve would be reduced. At the time I was not aware of this website, so hadn't had any reviews to influence my decision, other than having been pleased with Icom's products in the past (IC-207H, IC-2100H). Big Mistake! One of the three was DOA, no VHF receive. The others functioned OK when installed, but have several problems which I consider to be engineering defects.
1. IMD rejection is deplorable. In my area there are numerous pager towers which rendered the unit unusable on VHF. I considered the purchase of PAR intermod filters, but decided that this filtering should have been present in the rig when designed. For the $80 needed, I could have purchased a different rig entirely.
2. The manual is very poor, confusing, and requires study. The crossband repeat feature is not covered. It is below the norm for Icom's manuals, which have always been easy to understand.
3. The front panel won't mount directly on the rig. You actually have to purchase an add-on option to be able to do so, and the bracket is butt-ugly. Icom assumes that you will be remote-mounting this radio, so provides no provisions for direct mounting of the front panel.
4. Low audio output. The audio level (deviation) is controlled via software. There are only two settings available, lo and hi. Even at hi I'm being told that my audio is low. There is no fix available, other than a different mic.
5. When the front panel is viewed from the left, as in an American car, it is totally unreadable, the characters on the faceplate fading away to invisibility. However, when viewed from the passenger side, it is easily read. What gives???
There are other minor things but the above was enough to convince me that this radio is not for me. I'm probably going with the Yaesu FT-8800 or FT-8900 since all my other gear is Yaesu. This is the first time I've ever returned radio equipment due to poor performance. |
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| WB9HEB |
Rating: |
2003-08-02 | |
| Good features, terrible manual, RF output problems |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased the Icom-2720H radio three months ago, after a horrible experience with a new Yaesu FT-9100M. I like every feature of the Icom radio. The dual in-band receivers, fast scan rate, cross-band repeat, and weather alert. This radio was installed as a base station, ran on an Astron power supply and feeding a Diamond dual-band antenna. I even managed to figure out how to separate the memory channels for VHF and UHF scan operation, no easy task ! On the 87th day of operation, I was talking on the daily noon net, on the local 440 Mhz repeater, when the dreaded smell of burning components filled the air. Inspection showed that the UHF RF power amplifier had gone up in smoke ! It has been back at the repair center in Bellevue, WA for two weeks now, and I have not heard from them. I see from the other reviews posted that the RF amplifiers seem to be a problem with this unit. Otherwise I thought I had found the best dual-bander on the market, for the price. I hope they come up with a more rugged RF amplifier module. |
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| KG4IUA |
Rating: |
2003-07-27 | |
| Other mounting brackets |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I have had a problem with some of the chicklets being darker upon power up but quickly goes away. I recently purchased a bracket from http://www.panavise.com They make them for most vehicles. No cutting or drilling. Mounting my control head, XM Radio control head and cell phone on this bracket and additional "Z" bracket. OUTSTANDING product. Tilts the 2720 control head just right. |
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| KI4ABS |
Rating: |
2003-07-27 | |
| Difficult at first, but great rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I'm a new ham and I was looking for a mobile/base rig to give me more punch than my T90a. I considered the 208h, but was weary of buying a rig that just came out and hasn't been reviewed yet (at the time, which was late June). So I decided to go with this rig, which I've heard was great. The manual is terrible. It looks like it was written by a couple of monkeys with keyboards! It barely explains anything, and you have to guess what they're talking about. Bascially you just punch the buttons they tell you and see what it does! This rig has a high learning curve, but once you figure it out, it's a powerful rig. Dialing up a frequency and talking is easy enough. It's just the extra stuff that takes a while. I did have a problem with low transmit audio, but I changed the passband width and it seemed to get louder. The radio is very stable. I LOVE the crossband repeat feature. Receive is very good. The mic (HM-133) feels kinda "cheap" and doesn't seem like it will last a long time, but I might be wrong. All in all, I give it a four. It's a solid rig, but it has it's faults. Comparitive to other stuff I've bought in the past (non-radio), it's worth the money for the features and performance. |
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