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Reviews For: Icom IC-2200H

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

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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
KG9QP Rating: 2010-08-06
not real happy Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The bottom of the display went out in less than a year...Ptt has been giving problems..Bought mine new in March of 06...I always take good care of my equipment.I wouldnt buy another one.
James H. Lincoln Rating: 2010-07-04
Not perfect but good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just recently purchased two of these mobiles. I had a 2100 but experienced some problems with it that others have mentioned, (ie: crackling on transmit and the transmitter sticking on high power.) Other than those issues, the performance of the 2100 was excellent.

I purchased the 2200h because of the features and the addition of aircraft band. In comparing two brand new radios, I found that the vhf fm receivers and transmitters were for all purposes nearly identical in performance. The differences were however dramatic when receiving on the vhf am aircraft band. One radio has a continuous higher noise level as noted on the s meter which I assume is because of a hotter diode for the am reception. On this particular radio also, the modulation factor stays constant and moves neither forward or backward when a signal is received. This radio's receiver is obviously hotter than radio # 2 but the high noise level is annoying. On the other radio, (#2), when a signal is received on am, the modulation level moves so far backwards that the squelch level takes over and you might miss some of the transmission as it clips. This is also annoying.

I also observed that the power cord for one radio was nice shinny copper when I stripped the wire and the other radio's power cord was very corroded. Icom and the dealer had no answer for this condition.

My last complaint is regarding the display. I observed on both radios that the display background is not uniform throughout the display. There are areas of the display that are darker in appearance in the amber color mode. This condition is not evident in the green color mode.

Other than the above issues, I am impressed with the radio performance, features, power and especially price. For the money, no other radio comes close. I do wish though that Icom would improve the aircraft band detector circuit.

I hope my review helps address some questions you might have about the 2200h.
KC5TDG Rating: 2010-06-10
Excellent Product Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have owned this rig between 4 and 5 years now. Bought new for $269 and would pay that price still today. Programming via Mic is very easy, without the mic is a pain. One of the reviews said it takes 4 buttons to send dtmf, he's talking about the wrong radio. You do have to press the DTMF button before PTT, but its only one key, and a very handy feature. I use mine for repeater programming, the buttons are large compared to others, and not little round dots that you need a toothpick to press.

The programming software should be free, as it sucks. But it does make things alot easier, although it lacks some basic features.

The knobs do feel like they are missing something, very loose feeling, but doesn't compromise the function of the radio in anyway.

The manual is kinda unclear about the interface port for programming. I built my own cable rather than pay $39 for one, I spent $4. Who would guess that you plug a programming cable into the speaker jack, rather than the data jack ?


Just my 2 cents.
YY1CIR Rating: 2010-05-24
100% New style with old quality Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I´m ICOM user from +7 years with almost all my rigs being oldies. In 2M i used to have 28H, 229H, 290A.

When i got the 2200H from AES Orlando i did expect full whistles with a downgrade quality.
Unpack the radio, looked for RX mod and plug into Marconi 2955 SM and Voila!!! Good sensibility and selectivity, +50 W output across all 2m band, stable, acceptable Rx audio and impressive modulation with low deviation (4 khz.
I was wrong! Despite of sometimes noisy Rcvr (because wide band RX) The 2200 performed better than specs.
The mic is a brain itself with all the functions with one push or two; full customization via soft menus, big display, large heatsink, for mobile fit same size as its grandparents. I WTB another for my car.
PROS: Air band RX, good display, enough PO, easy to understand menus. Detachable mic cord. Good manual, Impresive service manual.
CONS: Display can be more generous (only 4 chars), mic insufficient backlight and little numbers in keys (i have to memorize positions/functions to avoid push mistakes); Digital option more expensive than radio :(
KI6JPE Rating: 2010-05-22
Excellent radio - great performance for the price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been using this radio now for a short while, and I have found this to be one of the best single band radios I've owned so far. Programming is easy, once you get the hang of it and understand the menu concepts, and I have no trouble controlling the radio with the HM-133V either.

The only complaint I'd have is that the knobs do have a little bit of a wiggly feel to them, but that's all I can complain about.

All in all, it's a great rig, I use it both mobile and at home for my base station - will be adding the D-Star option soon.
VE1JS Rating: 2010-05-16
Great rig, BUT Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this rig in October 2009 and sold it May 15, 2010. As far as output, receiver, scanning, etc. it is a great rig. Programming memories is relatively easy and very easy if you have the software, as I did.

My 2/5 rating comes from the microphone supplied with the rig, the HM-133V. To send DTMF (touch) tones one does NOT just hold down the PTT and fire away as is the case with every other rig I've had anything to do with in 35 years of hamming.

With this mic, you must NOT press the PTT; and, you must first press a sequence of 4 keys before you can get any tone out of the rig.

This is just plane ridiculous! ICOM needs to rethink this mic! Yes, you can store tone sequences in memory and send them from there, but that too, is more than one key to get it going and does not address the original complaint!

I sold this rig strictly because of the microphone and will not buy another ICOM rig that uses this mic...EVER.
K5HNK Rating: 2010-04-30
One of my favorites! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a great overall Radio. I go over some pros and some cons. I give solutions to most of the cons as well.

Pros:
I recommended this radio as a base station setup. When I first used this radio it was in the house. I received constant audio reports stating things like "It sounds like your right in the room with me!"

The 2200 is also VERY rugged and quite invincible. I have dropped it several times on concrete and other hard surfaces and it still works like new!
It is not rated as waterproof or even water resistant, however, when I had this in my vehicle I accidentally left the windows down when it rained. The whole interior of my truck was soaked including the radio. There was a visible water line inside the radio's display. I took the radio apart set it out on the table and left it there for about 24 hours. THE WATER DID NOT EFFECT THE RADIO AT ALL! (The water line even came out of the display) VERY RUGGED!

Some other nice features of this radio include:
A Large VFO
A Tough Bracket with many mounting options
A strong signal due to the 65 watt power output.
Positive AND negative fused.
Detailed instruction manual.

Cons:
In the mobile I have engine noise through the speaker when the squelch is opened.

The PTT button on the mic has started to fail in doing its job. occasionally I will have to press the PTT very hard and it eventually becomes a hit and miss every time I key up. I have discovered that the problem lies in an internal rubber piece that falls out of the bracket it sits in. taking the mic apart and seating the rubber piece is a trivial task and only takes about 2 minutes.

The speaker on the radio is high pitched and should have lower frequencies. I recommended an external speaker.

The Volume and Squelch knobs are very wobbly, like a joy stick, but I have not had any problems with their functions.

The case will get hot during extended 65 watt use. When I used this as a base radio a simple homemade external cooling fan worked well to cool it down while using full power.
KK4AH Rating: 2010-04-21
Still working fine Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio now for over 2 years and it stills works like the day I bought it. In fact I bought another one so I don't have to take it out of my car to use it indoors. Other than a little wear on the mic the radio looks like the new one I just bought. It does get hot when I run it at 65 watts but the other settings (5,10,25) it's fine. I've read some of the other reviews on this rig and can't figure out why people have such a bad report about it? It was a little tricky at first to operate but that only took a little while overcome. Still sounds great and can report no problems after more than 2 years of everyday use!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KK4AH on 2007-10-26

If you are looking for a single band 2 meter rig this one is hard to beat. The learning curve is a bit high at first but when you get to know all the bells and whistles it's just as easy as any other rig to operate. Almost always when I get on a net the people tell me how great the audio sounds. The receive audio is very clear and crisp with no overload even when strong signal are close.The 3 power levels are nice to have. One plus is the aircraft and police frequencies and the weather channels. The only thing I can think of to say negative is that it does get quite hot when operating at the 65 watt level. I highly recommend this radio for 2 meter use! 73's KK4AH
KC9MSG Rating: 2010-04-12
update Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
this is a nice radio. wish it had a little more confusing features though.... I've had it almost a year now and it still works really good. only big issue is it can be used as a frying pan even running 10 watts if your in a long qso.
KF5DNS Rating: 2010-04-05
Great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this radio for the car because it was under 200.00, had high power 65 watts, and mil spec. I was looking at a dual band, but decided to go with just a 2m radio. Glad I did, because 70cm is not use much and here in NM we have a great 2m repeater system. I can be in El Paso, TX and talk to Hams in Northern NM. Radio was very easy to program, and the mike is great to use while driving to move around on the radio.