| AD6DR |
Rating:  |
2005-01-29 | |
| Intermod /Service |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This radio in my eye's is junk ! The reason is and there's a few and the biggest is the intermod problem the other is Icom as a hole . They make a radio with a data port thats a mini din cool but they don't have the cable for it and or the mini din . The other is the seller's of this radio don't know about this problem or they don't care this is bad . If , I was working at hro or aes , I would be up front and say there's a problem this way , Icom will see they must do something or go out of bissness . I have e-mailed , Icom countless time's and have yet seen from them . They should change there name from , Icom to get can't com .There 706 isn't any better , I give that a 0 to bad there's nothling lower . DON'T BUY ICON ! |
|
| KB9NPH |
Rating:  |
2005-01-13 | |
| Works for me |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I purchase this unit in May of 03, it has performed as expected. Some issues with the display as others stated. Unit is mounted on the wall behind my seat with the head on the dash. No room in the small pick up for a full rig up front. Using an extended speaker, I'm very happy with it's performance and no intermod. Only "after" calling Icom (12/04)did I send it un for the final upgrade. They suggested I send it in and work was done at no charge.
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by KB9NPH on 2003-05-13
I gave this unit a 5, as doing research for almost a year now, it's doing exactly what I expected. I don't seem to be bothered with intermod. We have lots of paging activity, with a tower about 2 miles away. Having the W32A I sort of know what to expect. Programing was a bit diffcult, but persistance paid off, once I caught on to what button(s) to push, I was off and running. Very easy to operate from the hand mike. Have had good reports on audio. It mounted in my truck very nicely. Really appreciate the expanded frequency coverage. With Icom's coupon, the price was right, plus I've had good luck with Icom equipment. I've only owned this one for a week now. So lets see how the real field test of time spans out. 73's..... |
|
| YEPSURE |
Rating: |
2005-01-13 | |
| Definite Shameful Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I also have to continue my position that this model is problematic and has serious issues with intermod and premature PA failure. Mine has been to Icom twice now for the same thing (popped final), and I have to believe there is a design issue with the 2720. Mine sees extremely light duty using low power 99% of the time, using an antenna system with a verified 1.2:1 SWR, which is reverified from time to time using two different meters just to make sure!
This model continues to have serious problems.
----------------------
Earlier 1-star review posted by YEPSURE on 2003-05-25
I've seen a lot of posts stating they just got a particular radio and haven't had a chance to really give it a full workout, but give it a 5 rating anyway. I don't understand this type of rating system unless your rating the fact that you received it or maybe like the way it looks.
My 2720 also has the famed intermod many have complained about. And I'm not talking a little intermod, it's a lot! I realize any amateur widebanded radio is going to have moments where it suffers a bit of intermod but this thing goes on and on with it. In fact, I can't drive anywhere without receiving intermod at least half the time the thing is on!
My opinion is such that Icom should recall this model and repair the intermod issue. I'm sure they won't though, and those of us that purchased them will remember that. The radio has some great features but you'd better beware of the SEVERE intermod problem if your considering this model.
Personally, I'd look elswhere such as the Kenwood TM-V7A or the Yaesu FT-8900R. Those are much better models that don't suffer from extreme intermod. |
|
| K4SDC |
Rating: |
2005-01-12 | |
| Another Great ICOM Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
As it is with all things, you can't please everyone. All I can say is that I'm very pleased with the performance of my 2720. My only complaint is that they changed the way it scans. I prefer the way my 2710 does that. If I'm monitoring 2m on the left side and scan, I wish it didn't scan the entire memory bank. If it only scanned the band you were set for, it would be perfect. I'll still give it a 5 though, since that's a small price to pay for a wonderful radio.
I'd buy another if I needed one.
73. de K4SDC |
|
| N7NQM |
Rating: |
2004-12-12 | |
| Shame on Icom |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I had terrible intermod and only 25% audio on transmit. I returned it to my dealer and for a few $$$ more I got the Yaesu FT-8900. WOW what a difference. I cannot understand why Icom would released this radio with so many problems. |
|
| KC7EKK |
Rating: |
2004-12-12 | |
| Great remote mobil rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
A buddy of mine showed me his ICOM 2720. I fell in love with it and bought my own in spite of the few negative reviews.
I absolutely love this radio as a remote rig in my car. I mounted the main body 1 foot away from the antenna. No feed line loss for me. When you remote mount, you have to run speaker wires in addition to the mounting head. This was a smart design choice from Icom. It allows the user to choose better speaker wire. It also prevents data noise coupling to the audio lines on the long run to the remote head. I wired mine to the car speakers (last year, someone eased my burden of owning a car stereo, hi hi).
The mic is full of useful buttons and is easy to hold in one hand while driving. The mic gain is a bit low so you have to get friendly with the mic (even with setting mic gain to high).
The attenuator function is one of my favorites. Why didn’t anyone think of this earlier? In town when intermod is a problem, I just turn up the attenuation. The local repeaters still come booming in but intermod is totally gone. Wow, good job Icom.
I was told to plug an empty CAT 5 plug end into the unused mic jack on the main rig. The pins are still active and can short out if debris gets into them. As mine is mounted in the trunk, it’s good advice.
If you do trunk mount your rig, remember to use extra heavy wire from the battery.
No problems with blown finals. I made sure I had a good match to the antenna before I did any transmitting. The base part of this rig is large and allows for lots of heat dissipation; unlike the ultra tiny mobile rigs that other companies are creating.
I have owned this radio for about 3 weeks now. So far so good.
|
|
| KB1JCY |
Rating: |
2004-11-03 | |
| Sad but true... |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| ... the intermod makes my IC-2720 unusable in urban enviroments. It's a nice radio but I wish Icom fied the intermod before it went on the market. |
|
| KC9GLI |
Rating: |
2004-09-13 | |
| Total Disregard for the Customer |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently purchased two Icom 2720H radios and I have used them long enough to attempt contributing a review here. Unfortunately I made my purchase decision prior to consulting the reviews at eham.net; big mistake never to repeat again.
Here're my issues with this radio. Its overall engineering reflects a total disregard for the customer. What do I mean? Consider this: there is no reason for a modern radio not to have alphanumeric memory. The electronics are cheap and readily available. Surely it's all about the frequency, but the lack of alphanumeric memory is just one sign of disregard for the end user.
The user manual is poorely written. A technical document does not have to be a literary monument but it should be easy to understand and it should be free of bugs. It's as if no one bother to review the manuscript prior it went to the printer. Worst, Icom has not revised/updated the electronic copy of the manual which is available as a PDF file from their website. This, again, shows little respect or concern for the customer.
The radio comes with a permanently detached head which, I think is a great feature. The main body of the radio can go to the trunk and the control head can be anywhere on the dash. There is a microphone connection on the control head. Great. However there is no speaker connection on the control head and there is no speaker in the microphone. In other words, you have to run a second wire from the radio in the trunk to the cabin of the car to connect the external speaker. This is not good engineering because most cars do not have an abundance of conduit room for extra wiring.
So you get to keep the radio in the cabin, to minimize the cabling runs. Get used to fan noise. The fan noise level is comparable to the "medium" setting of most modern cars' air conditioning fans. Not quite the quiet fan. To make matters worst, the fan comes on whenever you transmit, even for a short time at the lowest output setting. The fan will stay on for 2 minutes!
While we are talking about cars, here's one more sign of Icom's disregard for the customers: if you want to sell a radio in the US make one that works in cars driven on US roads. Should Icom engineers had pulled their heads out of who knows what orifice they were in, they might have noticed that drivers in this country are on the left side of the car. Thus, the optimal visibility geometry for the display should be for that side of the car, not the right one.
Have you noticed that most computer and telephone keyboards have small notches or bumps of specific keys (for example on letters F and J on computer keyboards)? These are tactile hints so that users wont have to look at the keyboard all the time to tell which key they are pressing. No such facility is available on the Icom's microphone and you always have to visually find your way to which ever key you need to use. I guess the extra 0.1 gram of plastic that was required for such a tiny notch, was too much for Icom to consider adding to the design of the microphone.
The radio organizes its memory into banks. You may use one bank of memories for your favorite UHF repeaters, one for VHF, and so on. When you operate in memory mode and specifically in bank mode, all you see is the bank that you use. For example, bank A, bank B, etc. You don't get any further information as to which memory channel of the bank you are using (such as A2, A3, etc). So you cannot really organize your banks hierarchically. I guess, again, that displaying one or two more digits would have exhausted Icom's R&D resources.
The optional software that helps you proram the radio's settings and memory contents is a rather poor hack of some Access or Excel macros with an extremely low efficiency. Furthemore, if you happen to have another Icom radio and used the corresponding software to program that radio, you may not import the configuration file and save some time from typing the information all over again. I have an Icom IC-T90A and it would have been great if I could export its configuration to my 2720H. Surely they do not have the same features in terms of memory programming but the basic information is shareable: input frequeny, dup, tone, etc.
I've had several Icoms (both ham and marine bands) over the years and I developed a fondness for the brand. The 2720H is definitely a disappointment. Worst, its poor engineering is an insult to the user and the customer.
Other than that the radio is ok. I live in Chicago and have little intermod interference even when I drive through downtown (I had to chance the receiver setting to narrow).
The audio gain is set to low by the factory and you need to change it as soon as you turn this radio on for the first time. I was getting poor audio reports from everyone and eventually I realized why. Some people have suggested widening the microphone pin hole on the microphone. Try changing the mic gain to hi first before you attempt any mutilations that will void the warranty or disfigure the equipment. In my case, setting mic gain to hi did the trick.
I give this radio a 2 instead of a 1 because as far as its transceiver function is concerned, it's ok. It receives well and it transmits well. It's just a shame that a decent (for the price) transceiver was enclosed in such a poorely engineered system. |
|
| W8PTT |
Rating: |
2004-08-29 | |
| I Love It |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had this radio for about 18 months (give or take). Yes I have had the intermod issues, but they are not hard to over come. I have only experienced this intermod in one place, I learned that it I reverse the bands I can eliminate the intermod. Your experience may vary. The only other issue that I have had with this radio was, at about 5 months the main board erupted in a puff of smoke. I sent the unit to Icom and they replaced it with a remanufactured radio. Since then I havnt had a bit of problems. I still love this radio despite the smoke. |
|
| KB3JNR |
Rating: |
2004-07-12 | |
| Don't buy it new |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I had read the negative reviews with some skepticism before I bought mine. It was an open box rig with a discount and a full warranty, so I figured that there wasn't that much to lose. I wasn't going to take the rig mobile, mounted the head so I look left and not right(to deal with the view angle problem), and I don't have a lot of intermod problems at home, so that wasn't an issue.
3 weeks after purchase it failed in a puff of smoke, finals blown, shack stinky for 3 days. Sent it out to Icom. Verdict: "MAIN UNIT BURNT BEYOND REPAIR". It was replaced with new stock and life goes on.
I am not sure that I'd buy this rig new, but I do think that if you live away from intermod and you get a really sweet deal on the thing, it may still be worth the $$$
I'll be back in a few months. |
|
