| K7FD |
Rating:      |
2018-12-24 | |
| Radio as it was meant to be |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Recently acquired a museum quality IC-R70 from what appears an immaculate environment. It's beautiful to look at as much as it is to listen to! Its primary use will be for shortwave listening; the deep lows, rich mids, and articulate highs are a treat to the ears. AM BCB reception is also excellent, very sensitive. If you find one, grab yourself a slice of radio history.
73 John K7FD
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| SHORTWIRE |
Rating:      |
2014-02-27 | |
| One of the Best |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This must be one of the best receivers ever, outside of very expensive commercial ones. the sound is more pleasing than my new TS-590, which is not bad as such. large signal performance is very good. the tuning is certainly much more convenient than the kenwood, three buttons for step size, located right next to the vfo, and only 100 steps around the dial, as opposed to the kenwood which needs surgean's fingers to tune in exactly, and where you need to enter the bloody MENU to change it. yes, i know, there is the FINE button, but it changes the step size so much that what you really get there is only the choice of Too Fast and Too Slow.
It's the very fine grained dial that spoils it for me. it's too hard to tune exactly. but i guess i should save that for a review of the TS-590..
The R70 has no such problem..
It once survived a ligthning strike nearby, even the onboard fuse turned into two metal cups and a pile of what looked like gravel, presume it was the basic elements calcium sand and soda. the glass was reduced to that, no splinters of glass to be found anywhere.
Now THAT'S what I call blowing a fuse.. :-/
I put in a new fuse, and it worked as good as new..
The dont build them like that any more!
@SteveQ
Somewhere inside, possibly top side upper right(dont remember any more, did this mod 20 years ago) there is a three or five pin regulator that supplies most of the radio. It is known to be badly soldered. fix this and it'l keep going many years still. mine is from midt 80'es and still going strong, allthough it might need a bit of contact cleaner soon. |
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| TURBO68 |
Rating:      |
2014-02-11 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I bought a second hand Icom-R70 hf receiver in pristine condition original owner used it for a few hours then it went in storage for a long time performance monitoring hf aero is excellent hooked up to a Wellbrook-ALA1530 active loop very easy to use and the audio from the internal speaker is really good also have the R71A,R75.. |
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| STEVEQ |
Rating:  |
2013-09-20 | |
| Dead |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I could die of old age before I find info from Icom on how to repair/replace the power supply. Once the power supply goes, and from what I hear it goes far too often, the unit is dead........worked ok while alive, audio was average but had fun with it until last month |
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| KC0KEK |
Rating:      |
2013-06-05 | |
| A Solid Performer Three Decades Later |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I wanted an R70 when they came out, but as a teenager, I couldn't afford one. I finally bought one in 2010, and it's everything everyone praised back in the day: sensitive and selective, with great sound. I also have a Drake R8, which is a fine receiver, but the R70 is my go-to rig for MW and SW, both DX and casual listening.
The lack of direct entry is a drawback, and the noise blanker has little effect. But I quickly learned to live with those two shortcomings. I considered an R71 to get direct entry, but I'd heard so much about reliability issues with that model that I decided to stick with the R70.
I don't know how many other owners this R70 has had, but it's in fantastic condition cosmetically and operationally. In fact, the build quality, along with performance, were two major reasons why I decided to switch to Icom for my next ham rig: a 7700. |
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| N1VW |
Rating:      |
2011-05-06 | |
| Great, SOLID rig |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had a number of popular receivers, and the R-70 is one of the best. I like to DX low-frequency beacons and listen to shortwave broadcasts. Plug in an external speaker, and this rig sounds great. The internal speaker is ok, but a little inadequate. Nothing new there, most rigs are that way. The R-70 has a very solid look and feel. The controls are substantial, nothing flimsy on this radio.
I've compared the R-70 to my Icom R-75, which has the Kiwa mods. I find very little difference in the two radios. I'd give the R-75 a very, very slight edge in terms of sensitivity on some of the shortwave bands, but take that statement with a grain of salt. Anytime somebody makes a statement like that, you must realize that comparing two radios can be a very subjective thing, and can vary a lot depending on the listener, the frequencies, antenna, conditions, etc. Generally though, the R-70 performs about the same as the R-75, in my opinion.
I really like my R-75...it is the "standard" in my ham shack, a better receiver than even my 746Pro. The R-70 is a fine rig also, very solidly built, fine performance, no volatile memory to fail, no internal batteries to run down, and no stinking menus!
All-in-all, a good, solid and as they say, "lab-quality" receiver. If you find a good one, hang on to it, it will probably be working many years from now. 73. |
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| KC0KEK |
Rating:      |
2011-01-08 | |
| Still a solid performer |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I lusted after the R70 when it came out, but it was beyond my teenage budget. Now 40, I finally bought one, and it's everything I hoped it would be. The sensitivity is fantastic, particularly on MW.
Over the years, most reviews have knocked two aspects: the quirky way of stepping through bands and so-so audio when using the built-in speaker. Audio is always a matter of taste, of course, and I find the R70's just fine for extended listening and second only to the Drake R8. As for changing bands, I agree that the design is not ideal—perhaps that's partly why Icom replaced the R70 with the R71 relatively quickly—but I've gotten used to it.
I've also heard, including from dealers, that the R70 has fewer failures than the R71.
All in all, a solid DXing rig. |
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| F6GGR |
Rating:      |
2011-01-08 | |
| A very good one |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| It has no memories, but we can do without them. And it does NOT have these bloody menus. All is under your finger! The commands are like these of a classical transceiver. As a receiver, it works well, standing strong signals very well. Just add a good external speaker and you will enjoy both SSB and broadcasts. |
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| F6GGR |
Rating:      |
2010-10-02 | |
| A nice little thing ! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This receiver is a nice one. It is sensitive and do support strongs signals. It is not far behind a Kenwood TS850... I use it to listen from VLF beacons to 30 Mhz. The differents commands are of the same kind of these of my IC-730 so it is easy to learn how to use it and then you have all commands "under the fingers" and in your mind. I just don't like the "pre/off/att" switch which is uneasy to use. With an well choosen external speaker, it sound great on broadcast and SSB. I think that the internal speaker can be changed and/or improved. And it does not have any of these bloody menus i hate and always forget ! A good purchase !
73 from Alan |
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| FPX77 |
Rating:      |
2009-03-09 | |
| Excellent recever |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have bought an used R70 on 1986 to replace my FRG7700 ,and I was surprised by the very good performances;very sensitive,strong front end,good stability,good audio.Even with long antennas no overloading occur,even on 49m band on evening!All I can heard on my SP600 was heard on the R70,on weak stations the FRG7700 gave only noise.I had the opportunity to compare it with a JRC NRD 515 on the same antennas,there was no noticable difference.Since more than 20 years no problem occured with this set,it is a last production (1984).Now I have fitted a Kiwa filter on AM,and the famous FL44 on SSB,the results are very good.I have put an external speaker and the sound is very good.I keep preciously this receiver with my 2 FROGS (FRG7).
This set is a very good value,however avoid early production (1982) and prefer last (1984). |
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