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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
WA6KHH Rating: 2000-04-21
IC-207 is a Mediocure Radio Time Owned: unknown months.
My IC-207H has proven to be just "okay". I was expecting a bit better radio from Icom, but the old adage, you get what you pay for seems to apply here. I do have probems with intermod in certain places, but my biggest commplaint is operability. Specifically, it is diffucult to program up for scanning. Plus the Aircraft band detector seems very poor. Anyway, it's worth $300 bucks, but not much more.
WA1PIX Rating: 2000-03-19
A lot of radio for the money with some small drawb Time Owned: unknown months.
The IC-207H transceiver appears to be the inexpensive cousin to the more expensive IC-2710H, which operates as a true dual-bander, with the ability to work on 2-meters and 440 at the same time and can function as a dual band repeater. The 207H works on only one band at a time.
It's a fine radio and packs a lot of wallop for the money. Here are the main things I do NOT like about it: 1)Noisy fan that comes on after every touch of the transmit button, with no options for any other type of fan control (you're stuck with the loud fan always coming on rather than responding to heat 2) Bottom-firing speaker 3)All frequencies below 145.200 are regarded as simplex by the Automatic Repeater Shift (??) 4)When the remote head is removed, the mike stays on the body of the radio.
Things I liked a lot about the 207: 1) A lot of radio for the money. (Covers AM aircraft and is modifiable for 800 MHz receive!) 2)A lot of memories 3)Icom's attenuator on the squelch knob feature 4)Icom quality.
I would recommend this radio as a great value and good performer, but it might be tough for a newbee, mainly because of the failure of the Auto Repeater Shift to recognize some valid repeater frequencies and the extra programming it therefore requires for said frequencies. It's immunity to intermod problems seemed a bit weak to me, under my own particular conditions, but still within the range of acceptability. As I write this, it sells for $80 to $100 more than a single band 2-meter rig, and therefore an outstanding bargain. You get a lot of radio for the money here. Don't expect "top of the line" performance, expect a lot of radio for the money. If the first three things I listed didn't bother me so much, I would be raving about this radio. If operated as a remote rig, my first two complaints disappear, but you would still need a microphone extender. If those things don't bother you, you'll be EXTREMELY happy with this rig.
W2ROW Rating: 2000-02-10
Can't be used in cold weather Time Owned: unknown months.
Featues etc seem fine, but I have a big problem with the rig:


I bought the IC-207H dual band "mobile" for the XYL for Christmas. Shortly after installing the rig in her car, we noticed no receive audio (the strongest signals were down in the noise and the squelch would not open even though the S meter was pegged). Transmit was fine. I took the rig into the house and tried it - same symptoms until it warmed up - then everything worked!


It turns out that the cold here in upstate NY was causing the receiver to fail. I took the rig back to the dealer who reproduced the symptoms and sent it to Icom for repair. Icom REFUSED TO FIX THE RIG! It turns out that the fine print says that the specs are only gauranteed to 14 degrees F (the rig fails very near this temp).


During the winter up here - most nights are under 14F so the bottom line is that the rig is USELESS for mobile. I recommend Kenwood or Standard - they make the other two rigs I have in my cars and all work well in cold (below 0) weather.


I am not happy. I can see the receiver losing some sensitivity or the transmitter putting out less power in cold weather, but for the receiver to fail hard at a degree or two below spec. and Icom not be willing to fix it is ridiculous. I will never buy another Icom rig (and I use to be a big Icom fan).


I hope this keeps other Northerners from making the same mistake I did (buying an Icom).


Lou Voerman W2ROW
KB7VE Rating: 2000-01-20
Nice compact inexpensive dual band rig Time Owned: unknown months.
I've had this rig in my sedan for a little over 2 years now. I bought it so I could have a nice mobile rig that can easily be removed for emergency communications situations such as a base station in the EOC. Mounted the radio in the trunk for security and have the control head mounted just above the rear view mirror. Takes up no room in the passenger compartment. Operation is fairly straight forward (considering the flexibility and features) though it is certainly best to have memories set up for mobile operation. Hard to see some of the indicators while the vehicle is moving (although this is probably more of an operator aging problem than the fault of the radio). I really like the operation of the microphone controls, although using DTMF tones is not intuitive.

I found the cost of extender cables for the remote and for the microphone to be a bit on the pricey side. I bought the shortest remote cable and extended it myself. I used an ethernet cable for a microphone extension with a line coupler at the mic end to plug the mic into. For those considering the same, when using an RJ45 type of coupler such as the Radio Shack RS 279-423 in the microphone line, the coupler will probably reverse the order of the wires. While this is not a problem in a telephone system (tip and ring can be reversed), it will make your microphone inoperative. I had to disassemble the coupler and re-wire it. Better yet, find a non-reversing coupler (they are out there but hard to find).


The power connector is a bit non standard, so I replaced with with the Radio Shack molex connectors recommended by the ARRL for compatibility in emergency communications situations.

I also like the aircraft band monitoring, although the volume is quite low.
VE6SZR Rating: 1999-11-27
Icom IC-207, good radio but could be better. Time Owned: unknown months.
For a dual-band mobile thats easy to operate its a good performer. A very size efficient package that allows you 4 RF power settings instead of the usual 3 found in many other mobiles. Attentuator/squelch control is a definate plus, operation is fairly straight forward. Unfortunately, I feel I have to deduct some marks for the following reasons: (1) Receiver is way too hot, my radio picked up pager tones where no other radio had ever heard them before. (2) The buttons on the front panel (and mic) are on the smallish side, those of you with big fingers will have some difficulty. Especially the ON/OFF button on the faceplate stuck between 2 knobs, not good. (3) I had to have the radio modified to activate the 430-440MHz region in the UHF band (for Canadian operation). (4) Could not get radio to operate reliably in 9600 packet mode, deviation is very sensitive.

A radio with potential, but its falling short of the mark.
FORMER_WA_4RX_ROB Rating: 1999-11-26
Revision from my last comment Time Owned: unknown months.
I've mentioned my concern with the wireless microphone--now it works like a charm. The key is to continually keep it in its holder when not in use. So, now, the holder is positioned conveniently in the mobile and when not speaking on the mic it's cradled in the holder for repeat charges. Now I can control all functions of the radio.. i.e. memory changing, scanning, settings with a corless mic.

Again, I love this little simple radio!
I considered buying a 2800H but the remote faceplate is just too big and wide..hands down, the 207H remote face is just so small and portable it's hard to beat!

----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by FORMER_WA_4RX_ROB on 1999-11-11

I really like this rig! The seperation head allows you to install in anywhere in the car. I use velcro and attach in the slot where the ashtray used to be..
Extremely easy to use and nice display.
One drawback: seems prone to some intermod.
Also, save your money on the remote control microphone. It runs out of battery power fast! But..it does work and is kind of neat.

Overall, I like this little rig alot.

N.A. Rating: 1999-11-26
Good dual band radio for someone who only uses 1 b Time Owned: unknown months.
I bought one for my wife's car. She hadn't wanted one since she considered the dual banders I had in my car as too much of a good thing. She likes the simplicity of only one band at a time. We've had no problems with it. I like the fact that it's accessories (mounting kits, programming cable, etc) are compatible with my 2710H. It really helped in diagnosing a microphone problem with my rig. I wouldn't want this for my primary rig, as I find the multi-band/Freq monitoring capability and cross-band repeat features handy in ARES and public service work. But for someone like my wife who isn't interested in and never uses these features, it's perfect.