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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
PA5KM Rating: 2001-02-07
207, quite ok, but not top ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this one some 3 months ago. For use in the car it is a nice handsome little rig, feels very solid ( except perhaps for the tuning / volume / squelch dials ) power output is ok, so is the large display, sensivity, programming memories etc.

The handmike HM-98, is NOT OK, looks/feels cheap plastic and those who live in areas with lots of strong signals will not like the rather poor intermod rejection of the receiver.


73
Coen, PA5KM
MM5DOG Rating: 2000-12-19
could be better Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Ok i got this rig as it was cheap and a previous icom was great,but now i'm getting a bit annoyed at the pager breakthru.I purchased the rig new over 2 yrs ago and immediately had to open it up to turn down the vhf deviation ...not a good start,i opened up the rigs' recieve by doing the D115 mod as indicated on icoms service sheet and all was ok untill i found that all pagers and public utilities in my area were blasting thru on 2M...so a quick e-mail to icom uk to ask if there was any way i could tighten up the front end got a pretty nondescipt answer...buy a good aftermarket 2M filter....fortunately i live in a semi-rural location and can live with it but if i lived nearer or in a city it would certainly render 2M useless for anything other than local contacts with the combined squelch/attenuator up near full.Please be aware of this rigs shortcomings before buying one!!!I wish i'd got that little kenwood now:-(
K0CBA Rating: 2000-12-15
Don't buy one! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As an "Icom guy", I am truely ashamed of Icom for releasing such a crappy receiver! If you live in say Death Valley, it might be OK but if you live anywhere there's semi-strong to strong 2 meter signals, the reveiver is rendered almost useless. On the plus side, you won't have to get the scan feature working because you can hear almost everything almost everywhere on the dial. Oh yeah, lest I forget, you will be able to keep track of all the VHF paging services too....and at no additional cost!
W6EMR Rating: 2000-11-23
Good value for the price Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I am satisfied with the Icom 207H, it does have some great features, such as the detachable control head and most features are accessable with "one touch" of a function button. There are a few things that I don't like, such as the bottom mounted speaker. Audio level is acceptable if you are stationary with the windows up (I mounted the rig under the passenger seat), but as soon as you roll the window down a bit or get on the highway, the volume is too low even with the control all the way to the right. An external speaker is an absolute must! Some of the buttons on the control head are too close together , particularly the "power" button. For those of us with big hands this is inconvenient at best. Otherwise the rig was easy to install and since my dash is all plastic, the detachable control head was the main feature that attracted me. The control head is small enough that I was able to use Velcro to mount it to my dashboard. The receiver is a little too hot and tends to get clobbered with intermod when in the city or near cell/paging towers. The radio does have an attenuator built in to the squelch control, so keeping the squelch knob past the 12 o'clock position will activate it, but most times it is not enough. The extended recieve capabilities are of no real use to me. I think if the reciever front end was made to accept only Ham frequencies this would not be a problem. If you don't mind having to buy an external speaker right off the bat when you purchase the rig, then otherwise I think it's a good dual band rig at this price.
K4JAR Rating: 2000-11-23
Very Good Radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have two IC-207H radios - one in the car and one on base. I love them and find the audio quality to be excellent and radio reports support it. The display is very clear and real easy to see. I use the remote cable and just velco the display to my dash, under the speedometer so that its right in front of me. The radio has 4 power settings which is nice. The receiver seems to be very good to excellent. The Air band sucks and as a pilot, it was a main reason I got it in the first place. You can't hear AWOS further than 1/2 mile away and the signals seem to be heavily attenuated, so only really strong signals get thru. All and all it's very much worth $299 which is what it sells for nationwide. The hand mike also is very nice since it will allow you to use it for every function except to store a freq in memory - that requires a press of a button on the front display. Very Good Radio!!

Tim
K2APF Rating: 2000-11-12
Stay Away from this rig! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
-Poor receiver performance.
-No airband performance - the QST review reported this also. You just cannot hear the control tower or aircraft, from more than 1 mile away. I understand that it's a ham rig, but I bought it because they advertised "air band receive".
-Locks up in transmit sometimes.
-Reports of bad audio on transmit. Others with same rig on my local repeater told me that the microphone was too hot and needed to be sent to Icom, as did theirs.
*I called Icom
-They said that they no fix for the air band problem.
-They said that they had never heard of one of these locking up in transmit. Then, after some discussion, the technician admitted (slipped) that he had, but there is no known fix.
- They said that yes, the microphone and audio circiuts are set for Japanese voice types, and that with my voice, the microphone would run too hot. I was told that they would modify the microphone at my expense, if I would send it in. I asked to be sent a properly working mic, with a prepaid return postage label, and I would return mine when I received the new one. I figured that I should not have to pay for the fix, and that I should not be without a mic while they fixed mine.
They said no.
I will never buy an Icom again. I will not even consider them, for UHF,VHF or HF, or any frequency in between or above or below.
AB4KZ Rating: 2000-05-19
Almost all good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The 207H did everything I wanted in a duobander, but I thought the transmit audio was too bassy. Evidently, some of the units are like that. The receive (and transmit, although I didn't try that) mod is great, although sensitivity varies over such a vast range. Intermod rejection was not terrible, just poor (listen to a 706 on 2M for terrible.) I DID like the separation feature and the capability to control volume, squelch, etc. from keys on the mic. If not for the poor transmit audio, I'd still have it.
KB9VQA Rating: 2000-04-21
Nice rig, alphanumeric display would be nice. Time Owned: unknown months.
I've had the 207H since January. It's a nice little radio. I've had good luck with all of the features, and no intermod problems like others have expressed. I got mine for $299 so I'm happy with the value. I would be really interested in the 800mhz mods. If you know about these, please send any info you can to ogrre@idcnet.com
Thanks and 73's
UNDISCLOSED Rating: 2000-04-21
Not bad, but could be better.. Time Owned: unknown months.
1) Detacteable face is a useless feature. The only thing I use mine for is theft deterrent.
2) I find the memories easy to program. You see both 2-meter and 70-CM frequencies when you are scanning.
3) Very poor intermod rejection. I have to keep the squelch at full close( all the way to the right)
4) Finally, unless you find a usually great price on a used IC-207H, save a little more, and buy the IC-2710, or better.
K4SUS Rating: 2000-04-21
IC 207H NOT WHAT I THOUGHT IT WAS! Time Owned: unknown months.
I was not impressed with the new IC207H. I sold mine within 3 months at a loss. 73 Tom K4SUS