Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Icom IC-2200H

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Icom IC-2200H
Reviews: 100MSRP: 230.00
Description:
2 meter mobile.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001004.5
WD4PEL Rating: 2013-08-21
not happy with the difficulty programing it. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The programing instructions for the IC2200H SUCK!!!I have been a ham for over 25yrs with a general class license. I tried for over 3 hours to program my new IC220h. I took it to an extra class VEC retired from the Army Signal Corps friend of mine. He worked on it for over one hour with no results. After calling on several local repeaters I finally got a ham that said he had a similar radio and would try. He succeded! ICOM needs to write some plain simple step by step programing instructions! I wish I had bought another ALINCO instead!
WP4OEK Rating: 2013-02-18
It's OK Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Good radio but if you wanna fry an egg, buy this one. It gets HOT !!
K3KTK Rating: 2012-04-07
Great Simple 2M radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Simple unit that works well. I feel it's well built and have had no problems with it for 18 months now. Menu system takes some getting used to but is pretty easy. Programming is also fairly easy to do. Sounds great and no trouble with transmit quality and range.

Things I like:
- 2 Color display choice
- Fast freq scanning (about 18 to 20 Ch sec)
- Good display with large numbers
- Useful Mic
- 200 Alpha memories
- 10 Memory banks (Very nice)
- Memory bank and banks scan
- Wx alert and pre programmed 10 stations
- Aviation frequencies (118 to 136 or so)
- Programmable Function buttons (sort of)
- Digital capable (I gather)
- Pager type function
- 4 power levels up to 65 W

Could be improved:
- Programmable function buttons on mic do not function fully as described in the manual. They memorize power and frequency only and recall them.
- Wish it had a channel skip button instead of menu and an option for temporary skip (reset at power off)
- Faster scanning
- I would like to see the Alpha name and freq on the display at the same time
- I would like to be able to assign each Mem CH to more than one Mem Bank at a time.

Happy with the unit.
John


KM0PT Rating: 2012-04-01
Hard to go wrong. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well I'll just say that these rigs do everything ICOM designed them to do without the D-STAR module without a hesitation.

It's only designed to run about 30% duty cycle or less on full power. This came from a technician with Icom.

I have yet to blow one up! I've done some silly things along the lines of attempting to transmit with nothing hooked up and transmitting on 10M off the shield of the coax with a switch in line. Looking back the latter could have been quite catastrophic.

If you are looking for a rugged, nearly oops proof 2 meter only rig, this is it. I own..... SIX OF THEM!
AD5MT Rating: 2012-01-16
Great mobile radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I sold a 2200H several years ago because of the microphone issue. I just couldn't fix the occasional PTT non-transmit problem. After purchasing several other radios, including the Yeasu 2900 and 7900, and the Kenwood TM-281 (which is actually a pretty good radio), I never felt the receive quality was as good as the 2200H. So I purchased a new 2200H, along with Icom's HM-148G commercial microphone. I like the combination and have not experienced any issues.

The only thing I noticed with this radio is the whine noise as the engine rpm increases. To fix the problem, I simply installed a Powerwerx LF-1-OEM inline DC filter with T connectors. Problem solved.
N3PZT Rating: 2011-12-27
I Love It Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.


I found an Icom 2200H with the D-Star board on EBay
for a little over $330 including shipping. The 2200H is only 2m. Advantages - It does 65W and can
hit tons of 2m repeaters in the Mid Atlantic region.
Disadvantages - Since it's an older generation D-Star rig
it only has 6 digital menories. Just about all Gateway repeaters allow you to Link and Unlink
to the reflectors. They just ask you to put it back on the reflector when you started when you're
done. So, I created about 10 cloning software files for the 2200H to bounce around the various
reflectors. I got the DVAP, and using the WinDV program, I can leave the 2200H on the
CQCQCQ digital memory channel and Connect and Disconnect to the various reflectors via the WinDV program.
It does get hot when using 65W. Since I use it as a base rig I mounted a 1.5" cooling fan behind it and now it only gets warm.
KD0JWY Rating: 2011-07-20
Great HOT radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I owned this for a little while and it's great that it has the option to use 75 watts on VHF. It's easy to use and works great. Only problems I ever had was the PTT button going bad, and also the radio gets to HOT even while talking on 5 watts which is the lowest power setting on the radio. If it had a built in fan I would probably buy one again.
AC9HE Rating: 2011-06-07
Reliable and Easy to Program Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I also have a Icom 2100 and have been very satisfied with the reliability and ease of programming. When I read the reviews on how difficult it is to program I remember when I first purchased it and tried to do the programming without first fully studying the program manual. After becoming familiar with the unit the programming is simple and utilizing the different options also very easy. I see and read reviews that are 2’s and 3’s because of the difficulties in programming and can’t help but believe that after studying the instructions more carefully programming would be easier for those individuals. This Icom 2200h is used every day on repeaters as well as simplex frequencies. I have installed a fan on the top from a computer tower and power it from the same power supply that lights my Diamond SX-240 meter so that when I intend to be involved in a lengthy QSO I turn light and fan on together. I generally get unsolicited compliments on the audio quality although I do not have what I would call a “radio voice” as I have heard from other operators. If you run this unit on high it will get hot without a fan, so a fan would be something I would recommend when operating this unit. It doesn’t come with one, but we are amateur radio operators, put one on it. Both my Icom 2100 & 2200 have run flawlessly since I have had them and I would not hesitate to purchase another. The knobs being loose I believe is an intentional manufacturing issue to lessen the vibration in mobile applications. This is my very first review although I owned several other pieces of radio equipment, but feel strongly about this unit being a superb piece of radio equipment regardless of owners bias. If it were not a quality product I would not be posting and putting my call toward that fact.
73
RLOOSE Rating: 2011-02-19
So far so good. This is my first ham radio. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I give it a 4 because of the man-machine interface and the way the manual is written. I found the manual made a lot of assumptions about my depth of knowledge, especially how repeaters operate. The manual led me to believe that the radio would automatically set the offset and it's sign and automatically set the PL tone. After a frustrating couple of hours, I discovered that both the sign and PL tone frequency were set incorrectly. Once this was fixed I made my first ham radio contact! The design and technical quality of the radio are excellent for a $200 purchase price. One of my main problems with the interface is a lack of confirmation/feedback about changes you think you might have made. Did you really accomplish what you set out to do? How do you know if you actually stored a new frequency in memory? Turn the radio off, then turn it back on. Set another frequency and then see if the stored frequency can be recalled. Once I get familiar and more proficient, I think I will really like this transceiver.

K4WDD Rating: 2010-11-21
Solid, powerful and versatile Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Considerably lucky in picking up this transeiver for $100. Perhaps the best $100 I've spent on anything in the last year or two. After using a Yaesu VX-3 HT for a while I was becoming used to lost transmissions and regular interference as expected with 1.5-3 Watts. I set up the 2200H in the shack for a test drive on the Astron RS-20A and couldn't believe my ears. The 65w muscle blasted through my apartment walls and hit the club repeater for contacts 45+ miles away. When I ran it mobile on the way to work I was receiving comms from 90+ on a 20" Diamond dual band antenna! My son (KJ4ZED) and I set up a J-pole antenna that we built together and picked up the ISS like it was in our back yard. Any downside to this transeiver would be nitpicking but if I could request improvements they would be: 1)make the volume and squelch knobs a little bit more rugged and 2)simplify the menu functions.
The options and features for this unit have exceeded my expectations. If you're going to be sticking to the 2 meter band and you need good power, certainly consider the IC-2200H.