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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: 67MSRP: 299.95
Description:
Dual Band (2M/70CM) Transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00673.9
WI0T Rating: 2001-12-26
There are better rigs out there Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned one for about a year and a half...until I sold it. Radio worked as advertised. Okay for the price, but next time I'll pay extra to avoid the negatives I found.

Negatives:

1) Seems too susceptible to intermod. This was the
primary reason I sold the radio. Could not have the radio monitoring a repeater without pagers breaking in...
2) The cooling fan runs while transmitting - all the time. Irritating.

Positives:
1) Wide receive...however in light of the intermod, I'd pass on that next time.
2) SO-239 connector - no pigtail.
3) Multiple power levels, good scan capability.

All in all, only an "okay" rig for the price (< 300.00). However I think you would be better off
with another dual bander, even if it cost more.

73, Rod
KC2HUX Rating: 2001-12-25
Works like a charm! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio is not for every user. The reason I gave it a 4/5 is because it lacks a few nice features that would make it an all around great radio for the avid ham. With no cross band repeat, or UHF/UHF VHF/VHF ability it is limited in its usage as a dual bad. But For use on either 2M or 440 it works great. I have little to no problem with the receive end... on Long Island, as well as in Syracuse, NY. The compact size makes it a wonderful radio for my Jeep Cherokee. Easy To use, straight forward. Cooling fan makes it mountable in areas with little or no air circulation normally. I am Very pleased with this rig and would gladly suggest it to those looking for a reasonably priced and compact mobile unit.
GW1MCD Rating: 2001-09-02
**** FRONT END. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having previously owned models , 290D ,IC271e (with Mutek Front End), IC28E , IC211E , I decided to buy the 207H. WEll!!! , What a **** front end. It received every and any RF signal being transmitted .I contacted the supplying dealer , who could only suggest that I purchased VHF and UHF after filters. No chance. The Rig went back in the packaging , was posted back and a Rig with a front end purchased, Yaesu 8500. BRILLIANT!!!!.
N2ARB Rating: 2001-09-02
PA's - Expensive !!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Used in a very rual area of NW SC USA ... the receiver is so poor it should be considered to be a line of sight rig

Keep an SWR meter hooked up. PA's are proprietary ICOM and run around $160 each for VHF and UHF (parts cost ... does not include repair labor & shipping).

While attempting to determine if I could handle the repair myself (before I found out the cost of the PA's) I discovered that the PA's only have a screw attaching each PA to the heatsink (case) without the benefit of a thermal pad or thermal grease. When I asked the ICOM factory rep at a Ham Feast about the thermal packaging I was told that was not a factory error.

If anyone knows of a third party for the PA's I sure would like to hear from you otherwise I now have a scanner.

N2ARB@arrl.net
KC8RMQ Rating: 2001-06-14
Almost perfect Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is one beautiful rig. Provides a wide variety of needed features(CTCSS encode/decode, 150+ memory channels, priority watch channel, selectable power output, etc.) along with some rather useless ones (demo mode [which really just shows off the display]).

The main problem with the rig is the fan (amazingly enough, I have had no issues with intermod and there are two cellular towers across the street from me). The fan is absolutely annoying and is automatically turned on while transmitting. The fan practically makes it impossible to hear the receiver unless the volume is nearly maxed. The detachable face (with optional piece) is a must if you are operating this as a base rig.

If you're debating whether or not to go with this rig or another, I'd strongly suggest this one. Definitely worth the fairly cheap price.
N6VTX Rating: 2001-06-08
Good radio, we have 4 of them... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used the ICOM 207 H since it first came on the market. I have 2 of them in my
GMC Yukon, one in my son's car and one in the kitchen. Never have had any problems
at all. We have experienced no intermod problems in the receiver and we live in the
Los Angeles area.

The handmike HM-98 is bad, looks and feels like the cheap plastic it is. I have replaced
3 of the mikes with ICOM's HM-118 mike. This mike is used on the ICOM Land Mobile units and works & looks great.
AD5CN Rating: 2001-06-06
Great radio, good price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I gave the IC-207H a great rating because of the sensitive, expandable receiver and awesome mods for T/R modes. I agree, the receiver does fall prey to intermod in city/downtown areas with pager systems. However, I find the squelch antenuator adequately eliminates the "low strength" signals and still gets the VHF/UHF voice traffic. AM air bands have reduce volume and poor range. The radio fits my needs very well for $299.00. Basically IC2100's cousin.
KC7MMI Rating: 2001-06-06
Not A Good Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I'm borrowing this radio from a club I belong to. This radio has a very poor receiver. It can be sensative at times, but only when it isn't being overloaded by intermod (which is usually the case). I can never keep this radio on monitoring a channel because I am constantly harrassed by the annoying squawks that come from the speaker. Also, its PA is inefficient. At 50 watts, this radio is supposed to draw 11A. My FT-2600M will do 60 watts at less than 10A. This radio is a very confusing radio when it comes time to programming and there is no alphanumeric display. The microphone design is the worst and I hate how the squelch control doubles as an attenuator. The only reason why I didn't give this radio a "0" is because it is a usuable radio. If you're thinking about buying this radio, buy an FT-90R instead.
N2VWF Rating: 2001-05-15
Excellent easy to use rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my 207 for 2 1/2 years and have never had a problem with it. I work in an area that is full of Pager and Cell towers and I have no problem with intermod of any kind.
N7SLC Rating: 2001-04-29
A good radio for the money... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Two years ago I traded a Yaesu FT-90(way too small for me) for a new Icom IC-207H. I must admit that it does have a small learning curve(what radio doesn't?). The radio performed flawlessly up to the day I sold it after buying a 706MKIIG. Since that time I have bought TWO more IC-207H for both of my vehicles and they work very well. In Salt Lake City, Utah we do experience some very cold temps and I haven't had any of the receiver complaints that others have had. Intermod does seem to be a problem when in an rf polluted area, but seems no worse than my Yaesu FT5100, FT90, or my Kenwood TM733(probably the worst radio ever for intermod).
In fact, I do get paging signals occasionally when downtown but use of the built-in attenuator function cuts them to almost nothing.
IMHO, most of the folks have been too harsh in their comments.

Let's beat up on Kenwood and their pathetic excuse for a dual-band radio. The TM733 is nearly impossible to program without the manual and intermod is SO bad that it's unusable on an outside antenna or high-gain mobile such as the Larsen 2/70.

I gave the IC-207H a good rating because of performance to dollar value. ALL radios coming from Japan are crappy when it comes to intermod.
At least Icom gave us an adjustable attenuator and built-in ctcss decoder to help reduce it.

If you don't require dual-receive(I don't) this radio is a good alternative to some of the higher-priced rigs available.