| KA6IDE |
Rating:      |
2000-12-28 | |
| Great rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| About 3 years ago my HW-101 caught fire and left me. I used it for many years. I began looking for a new radio immediately and found an ICOM 735 at HRO in Anahiem in mint!!! condition. It looked like it had never been taken out of the box - $599. What a deal....a good friend of mine, W6DCC, had bought one new and raved about it. I fell in love with the 735 during my first CW qso. It worked and still works perfectly. I have it connected up to YPlog on my computer and couldn't ask for a better radio. I doubt that I'll ever buy another. Puts out a solid 100 watts or more on every band. |
|
| KD5IVP |
Rating:      |
2000-12-12 | |
| Wonderful first rig! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| This is my 1st and will remain my main HF radio for a long time to come. Mine is an early serial number, has the 500Hz CW filter, and has been a joy to use. Everything needed is on this radio, except an internal keyer (optional). I use a Vibroplex Bug anyway..hi! I've used newer rigs and for the life of me, can't see why I'd be in a hurry to replace this one. |
|
| WW2W |
Rating:      |
2000-11-18 | |
| My |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I am rough on rigs. I never borrow rigs from other hams because they always demand compensation for the laying of my hands on it afterwoulds. I bought my 735 as a first rig in the fall of 1987.
I tried to kill it many times. I keyed into a "ooops no coax", a dead shorted tuner and a naughty antenna. I applied a lousy power supply to it
I use it for mobiling, throwing it in and out of the trunk a zillion times. I left it alone for days there in the ice/hell of NYC.
I, confess that I too lost the little green door within two weeks of purchase. I replaced it and lost it again within month. I never had problems with the unprotected slider pots. The original PBT in the early models [mine] is not the same as in later models. Kenwood sued Icom for it's design and forced them to change it. If you have one or plan to buy one you will enjoy it to the fullest. I HAVe used it in all it's pushbutton modes and many digital modes w/o a hitch.
Sorry [not really] it is not for sale! |
|
| N3ELM |
Rating:      |
2000-11-18 | |
| A real keeper |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| My IC-735 is about 15 years old. No problems and sent it to Icom once about 10 years ago for an alignment just for the heck of it. A solid radio. No DSP (I use an outboard AF DSP unit), but the Notch and PBT work great. The 500Hz CW filter and built in keyer are wonderful. I still don't see a fair replacement model. Icom should have kept building these units as an "entry unit" that has bells. |
|
| AH8I |
Rating:      |
2000-10-29 | |
| 735 Lovers only - Super IF filtering |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have three IC735's. Two of them look like brand new. All three are super radios.
Installed in the 9 MHz IF are INRAD 1.8 KHz and 400 Hz filters. In the 455 KHz IF are 1.8 KHz in the SSB/CW position, and diode-switched is a 400 Hz CW Narrow filter. The receiver with cascaded 400 Hz filters is unbelievable.
Transmit audio brings excellent comments. 735's forever! (details of diode-switched filter mod available to anyone interested). |
|
| 18436572 |
Rating:     |
2000-06-20 | |
| It can be better too, |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have had mine for several yrs and never thought
of selling it.It is in 9 out of 10 condx with door and all!I have not rr the VCO caps yet but I
have rr the 1n60 prod det diodes with 1n5711 hot
carrier types along with both am mode det diodes.
This makes less diode noise and you will hear it.
Its also easy to rr all rf and if switching diodes
with PIN types and it really woke it up,the depth
of audio and rx sig clarity is much better now.
Oh yeah,replace the cfw-455ht 6kc filter with an
cfw-455it (from a 751 rig=order from icom}and enjoy am sans 5kc tones wilst swling.
It may pay to adj pass band tune osc in to match up tone on usb and lsb rx as it is usually offset.
Set your disp lamp and audio tone to suit.
Enjoy. |
|
| VE7CRA |
Rating:      |
2000-05-07 | |
| as the DC-3 is to aviation........... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Hurrah! A group of current(former) owners are reviewing what I consider to be one of the best general purpose amateur hf rigs ever built. I bought mine in 89, & will NEVER sell it! My plastic door is in place & unscathed! My 735 travelled over 350,000 miles mobile, & developped only one problem. There are , if memory serves, 4 separate vco's that allow the transceiver to cover the wide frequency range it does. These vco's are switched in & out according to the band you are working. The vco's each have a "range" capacitor, that is adjusted during vco alignment, to establish the operating range of that particular vco. Instead of using a standard air variable trimmer capacitor, Icom used plastic dielectric trimmer caps on at least some of their 735's.
Under mobile vibration environment, the plastic insulators would crack, & the radio would "fm" quite badly. The cure was to order a kit from Icom that contained 4 ceramic & metal air variables, desolder a shield can, & the heavy cast aluminum vco/vfo housing, & change the caps & re-align the vco's. I am informed that it is the WORST job to do on an IC-735! I have repaired several with that problem, & they all had a history of extensive mobile operation.
My 735 has been a dream to operate, & has provided some thousands of pleasurable operating hours on the road. I don't believe a finer general purpose hf radio exists. The International Radio gang sells aftermarket crystal filters for the 735, that greatly helps the receiver & eliminates the "filter blow-by" effect, present in the radio. A pristine used 735 is worth every penny you will pay for it. Well done Icom! |
|
| BDKING |
Rating:     |
2000-04-02 | |
| A great perfromer,when it worked! |
Time Owned: unknown months. |
I kind of had a love/hate thing going with this radio.I bought it new,and had no problems until a month after the warranty expired,then I lost all output power on SSB,it put out maybe 100mw or so,and then would suddenly come back to full power.I figured it was a bad solder joint or something like that,so I opened it up.I was pretty impressed with the construction,it seemed very well made,until I too the top PC board out,and saw it had more bad looking solder joints than good ones!I redid about a hundred joints,and it solved the problem.A few months later,I was talking to a friend on 10M,he was about 25 miles away in his car,and all of a sudden he tells me I'm really distorted.The PA's hot as fire,the fan died!He we go with the iron again,and after hitting a lot of joints,it worked ok,and it seemed to be ok.Then,it happened again,and I ended up after a third go round wiring the fan motor directly to 12volts,and that solved it once and for all.I had other incidents with it over the seven years I had my 735,ALL solder joint related.I reheated EVERY solder joint on all boards after I lost almost all receive,and it behaved for a year.The last straw was when it started tripping my power supply short protection when it was keyed,regardless of power.Another thing it did was when it was keyed,it wold make two of our hardwired phones disconnect!I got it fixed,and sold it.
I relly liked the radio other than that,and from what I've seen and read,it's a very reliable radio,and I just got a lemon.I live in a high RF
area with 2 AM radio stations and a major highway
nearby(actually 3),and various pagers,etc.Most other radios I had tried before,a Kenwood 430,an Icom 720A,and a couple of 10m glorified CB radios,were a disaster,and were nearly unusable due to intermod or image problems.The 735 was immune to that stuff,and did a great job on 10 and 75 meters,the bands most affected on any radio I have used at home.Probably my only real complaints about the 735,except for the solder problems were the sliders and little door bugged me,and it was just a little small for use as a base radio.But it did a fine job for me,when it worked.The bad experience with it didn't turn me off Icom stuff at all.I just got a dud... |
|
| VE7BGP |
Rating:      |
2000-02-18 | |
| A classic solid little performer ! |
Time Owned: unknown months. |
| I have had my Icom 735 for nine years It has racked up a lot of Field Day points for VE7NA over the years. I still like CW a lot and added the FL 32 cw filter that is the only time I have had it apart. The rig is the right size not too small not too big. I find it a very easy rig to use and great receiver even by todays standards. The only thing I do not like is the receiving current drain is way too high at 1.2 amps. If it was a lot lower you could use the rig on a 7.2 amp hour gel lead acid battery in an emergency. |
|
| VA3FX |
Rating:      |
2000-02-10 | |
| Addendum To My Review (re. Plastic Door)! |
Time Owned: unknown months. |
It's Good To See Some Current (And Former!) Owners Of IC735's Out Of The Wood Work!!
I Ended Up Taking The Door Off (It Comes Off Easy Enough) As I Always Seem To be Playing With The RF Power, Mike Gain and NB Level.
I'm Leaving It Off But I WON'T SELL IT (Hi Hi!)
Also,I am rediscovering CW and would LOVE to get a hold of the optional keyer unit for it (The optional narrow 500Hz. CW Filter I Have In It Now Works REALLY Well!)
73!
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by VA3FX on 2000-02-09
I Purchased A Used (But Mint Condition) IC735 About 8 Months Ago And Will Never Get Rid Of It!
The Receive Audio Is Great And Transmits Wherever I Point My A3S At.
I'm Starting On DXCC (Again!) And Am Confident I'll Have No Problem Reaching 100 + Countries!
73
|
|