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Reviews For: ICOM IC-756PRO

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-756PRO
Reviews: 146MSRP: 3500
Description:
ICOM IC-756Pro Transceiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/hf/#IC-756PRO
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001464.8
KK9H Rating: 2001-05-16
A Delight Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have a couple close friends who both own IC-756PROs and they have been extremely pleased with them. After having several chances to try their radios myself I stepped up to the plate and bought one too. I am very pleased with its capabilities and performance. I use the radio to chase DX, operate CW, rag chew and dabble in contests. In each case the 756PRO has performed beautifully. While the band scope display is a wonderful feature in its own right, especially when looking for signals on 6M, the ability to adjust the filter bandwidths to whatever you want them to be is the real joy of this rig. On SSB I generally use 2.5, 2.2 and 1.8 KHz settings and on CW I use 500, 350 and 250 Hz, but they are easily changed instantly. I have been very impressed with filter performance and have had no problems, even in crowded, contest band conditions. Getting rid of adjacent interference simply couldn't be easier to do with this radio. Transmitted and received audio is excellent, especially with the SM-20 mike and a quality external speaker. The DSP noise reduction function is easy to use and very effective. I agree with an earlier comment about the radio being quite intuitive to operate, it truly is. Lastly, I already owned a PW-1 amp and the combination of the 756PRO with this amp makes for a fabulous 1KW station.
KT8DX Rating: 2001-03-17
Rig of a lifetime Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've been licensed for 25 years, now, and I told my wife the other day that this is the rig I've been waiting for all my life. Now, to explain this melodrama:

1. Rig is extremely feature-rich. I can't think of what could possibly be added.

2. Receiver is very quiet, even in my electrically-noisy neighborhood.

3. Features are easy to use - even without reading the manual.

4. I haven't had a QSO yet that I've had to cut short because of QRM or QRN.

5. I have almost as much fun listening to shortwave stations as I do hamming.

6. Radio has been extremely reliable right out of the box. No "hiccups".

What else can I say. Is it expensive, perhaps. The competion wants you to buy close to 1K $ of filters to match the flexibility of the PRO.
N1KFC Rating: 2001-03-11
Outstanding Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The 756 pro is a very easy to use radio with intuitive controls. However, to use all of its features to best effect, some practice and a close examination of the manual is required. This will be one of the classics. Well done ICOM.
PA3GMB Rating: 2001-03-02
love it for shortwave listening Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Love the 756pro very much. Special for shortwave listening. Really love the spectrum scope where i can see a signal appearing, press the hold knob and tune into the signal. This is really nice when searching for signals in the military, air and maritime bands. Love this very much. SSB reception is great and with the digi-modes, like psk31 you can get really a very small bandwidth.

Besides the digi-mode I also love to work cw. And in comparising with my kenwood ts950sd, well i had to get used to the sound of the 756pro. I have noticed the cw-klicks and they seem to be louder with the 756pro then with the 950sd. Might be the dsp-filter is sharper our better shaped then in the 950sd. In the ts950sd I have both 500Hz as 250Hz. 500Hz on 8.83MHz as on 455kHz.
Had really get to used to the sound. But if I had to choose between them, I think i would choose the 756pro.

Sorry for the previous review. Didn't know how to delete it.
GM0FQV Rating: 2001-01-29
I will make a long story short. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After running the old 756 for a couple of years in Africa, and becoming World No1 in the 1998 CQWW-SSB/single op/10mtrs/100watts with it, on returning home I decided to buy a 756PRO, like the old one, I am delighted with it. That's all folks!!!!!
73's
John GM0FQV / 9G1BJ
XE2VOO Rating: 2001-01-02
EXELENTE RADIO Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
tengo 2 meses que compre este radio en aes y estoy muy contento con su funcionamiento,antes de este radio tenia el ts570dg pero este equipo lo supera en un 100%,su dsp algo exepcional elimina el ruido aqui en mi estacion asta en un 90%,el funcionamiento del dsp en equalizacion del microfono es exelente aun mas haora que uso el sm20,en general aprecio este equipo como el mejor o uno de los mejores radios que icom a fabricado.
K3ROJ Rating: 2001-01-02
Spectrum display and DSP a plus Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had my IC-756PRO for almost a month now and really enjoy it especially on CW where I am able to pick out the station I am talking to. The transverter connection works very well also using 50MHZ as the IF where I can see any stations within 100KHZ of my frequency on the 432 band. The sprectrum scope works out very well when receiving the RS13 satellite on 29MHZ. I am able to see my own signal plus any others in the passband of the satellite. Nice job ICOM
SM0FLY Rating: 2001-01-02
RX dynamic range problem Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Having owned the 756pro now for almost a year, I do agree with most of the other remarks in this forum saying it is a beatiful rig with probably the best SSB audio performance of all amateur rigs.
The poor RX dynamic range should be emphasized however. The 756pro is a step backwards in this respect and is a real problem here in Europe. Furtunately the AT ( acting like a high pass filter at the RX frontend ) reduces the consequences of the low dynamic range.
See : http://www.plicht.de/ekki/756pro/

I suspect the problem is in the first mixer circuit and I really hope that Icom comes with a modification-set.

W3QK Rating: 2000-12-17
From someone who has owned them all ! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Hello and as I have said in my summary statement," I have owned them all ! " I must say uncategorically that I think that the Pro is the absolute best that Icom has ever made, but also the best that I have seen. The DSP is wonderful in reducing all types of noise, and if used correctly, will not manifest the DSP " underwater " sounds that the 870s had. Plus, the processing speed is faster than all the others. When someone is 2kc's away running 5/9+20 ( running a clean signal ), you can comfortably work someone who is S1. I am visually impaired, so I don't know about all the capabilities of the spectrum scope. On the digital modes, it is great and on cw, I have not heard the clicking that has been manifest in some of the reviews. My recomendation is to learn how to properly use the filters, afterwhich you can do wondrous things. The nb doesn't work that well, but that is why the DSP is so great. Comparing it to my 1000D, and 1000mp with all the filters..along with the 950sdx and all the filters, it is a hand's down decision to me that the 756Pro is the only way to go. Audition one at your local candy store and see. 73 and g.b....if you have any questions, or I can be of assistance, feel free to contact me at marty@kiski.net..73 and g.b....Martin, W3QK
PA5EA Rating: 2000-11-30
Fine radio, but high price/performance ratio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was fortunate to be allowed and try out the new IC-756PRO for about 10 days. I have used it in a side-by-side comparison with my IC-765 (aimed at HF) and IC-736 (aimed at 50 MHz).
In general the 756PRO is a great radio from a user interface point of view. All function, menus etc. work very intuitively, which is for a big part the result of the neat color TFT display and the well-thought-over menu structure.
The DSP implementation is impressive. In particular I liked the adjustable DSP-IF filters and AGC time constants. Also the PBT implementation within the DSP is really working superbly. The mentioned key click problem is there, but I found it not very annoying. According to a recent review on this page, ICOM has developed new firmware which tackles this problem. A pity the ROM is not made in Flash technology like the BIOS-ROMs of computers. It would made things really easy if one could download the latest version firmware and upgrade your radio via the CI-V computer interface.
So far for the digital part of the radio. Let's have a look to the analog part, i.e. the basic receiver. In comparison, the new 756PRO does not seem to show the same kind of "transparency" as the 765. Being mainly a CW man, I focused on weak CW signals and these are just not received as easily. I believe this is due to the lack of IF band filtering. I am really missing the proven ICOM 455 kHz crystal filters (FL52/53). Maybe the DSP also adds to the somewhat "clouded" CW reception characteristics. In SSB this drawback is much less apparent and I could not find much difference between the 765 and the 756. In SSB the DSP really shines by the way ...
As far as 50 MHz is concerned I can be short. In view of its heavy price tag I would expect a state-of-the-art receiver front-end with a high sensitivity. However, in weak signal reception my trusty IC-736 just did better. It seems that the 756PRO (as well as the 'plain' 756) have a different 50 MHz pre-amp design as the 736. The 756(PRO) is about 2 - 4 dB less sensitive (according to measurements of PA2VST). That does not seem to be a lot, but with marginal TEP propagation it can just mean the difference !
All in all I think the IC756PRO is a beautiful radio, but just too expensive for its performance. Despite the DSP, old-fashioned crystal IF filters would certainly mean an improvement.