Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Icom IC-703

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

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-703
Reviews: 181MSRP: 400.00
Description:
QRP HF and 6 Meter all mode radio. Comes standard with Antenna Tuner, DSP, Keyer, Memory Keyer, Power Conservasion system.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/703/default.a
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001814.3
K7MXG Rating: 2006-04-23
When it works, it works great Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Have had it less than a year. Was working great...then one day output disappeared. Was using a properly tuned antenna (1.1:1) working fine. Picked it up a week later...nothing. Output was in the milliwatt range. I've heard numerous reports of this happening to other 703s. Darn shame. When it was working, the reports were great. ICOM knows this little rig has issues. They should have recalled them all and taken care of things.
W8ZNX Rating: 2006-04-13
fb when it works Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
liked my IC-703-
bought a repack B
with Icom 90 day Warranty
from Burghart

so it had all ready been back to Icom

when i got the radio it
WOULD NOT WORK
lowpass filter switching was not right

got it fixed

then got it fixed agn

so now that's 3 times back for repairs

ran fb for about 7 months

now she is out of warranty
IT STOPED WORKING LAST WEEK

so far this rig has cost me
over $500 and it will not work

man alive
i have never
had so many probs with a rig
in over 40 years of ham radio

a big fat ZERO

Mac w8znx



W5GW Rating: 2006-03-29
Great Value & Lots of Capability Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Receiver:

I ran my new 703 Plus next to my 756 Pro 2 and have to say the sensitivity is just as good and the audio quality maybe even a tad better. Certainly selectivity is a bit limited as compared to the 756, but since I am going to use this on CW almost 100%, the FL52A is a good selective filter and handles rejection of close-by signals very nice. This filter actually has a nicer audio sound on CW than the DSP 500 Hz setting I use in the 756 P2. I wish the RIT didn't have detents and was a smooth control.

Transmitter:

In the first few days of use I have worked several countries on CW and I have received very good signal reports. For stateside CW on 20 and 40 other stations are amazed that 5 watts (my typical setting) can deliver such a robust signal. I made a few contacts on 20 and 40 SSB (10 Watts) and until I mentioned I was running QRP was getting signal reports of S-7 to S-9. I notice if I tell someone I am running QRP the reports always seem to be a tad lower in the S-4 to S-6 range.

System:

The 'soft' interface displays and settings takes some getting used to, but once you do it becomes second nature to get from one menu to another. It would have been nice to have had a built in clock. Computer interface is very nice - I have interfaced to the HamRadio s/w app to save memories, etc. I plan to have it interfaced soon to do some QRP PSK31.

Keyer:

While I am not a 'speed demon' the somewhat minimalistic built-in keyer works very well.

Antenna Tuner:

Works just as good as my Pro 2 antenna tuner does.

Filter Installation:

Scary, but doable - take your time and read the instructions in the manual a few times before you open the case, then be very, very cautious 'unfolding' the circuit board from the case - don't disconnect the ribbon cables, only disconnect the coax cables and note the one with the red band so as to reinstall it correctly...If you are not handy with working in confined space, handling small screws, soldering, and taking anti-static precautions, I'd farm this out to someone who is. Takes about 1-2 hours, including the reprogramming so the radio senses the filter.

Looks:

'Just as cute as a button!'
AK0M Rating: 2006-03-15
Excellent value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I recently used my IC-703 for a week in the Bahamas as C6ASB (see www.ak0m.com). Performance was great. During the ARRL DX CW contest the receiver performed very well, with only a few instances of some minor filter blowby. At 10w while using a PAR Electronics EF-10/20/40 antenna or my homebrew 17ft center loaded vertical, I was able to run EU and US/VE stations on 40m at night outside of the contest.
I have used this radio in many portable operations and contests in the past year, making hundreds of QSOs and generally being very competitive in the QRP category. In those situations it has become my radio of choice compared to my FT-817 unless weight/size or need for VHF/UHF becomes a serious factor. I had the mods done at the factory, and have installed a 400Hz INRAD CW filter.
LU1EJT Rating: 2006-03-05
un chiche Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
realmente no podia creer el increible equipo que hay dentro de esa caja yo realize la reforma indicada por icom ya que mi numero de serie asi lo requeria y los mosfet con 8 vots funcionan frios .. el at funciona de maravilla con un rango mas amplio de lo que indican y la recepcion es muy buena ..el compresor esta muy estudiado porque realmente los 10 watts se hacen sentir ..
el mio no tiene 6 mts es de los primeros pero es una maravilla ..
seguramente comprare el plus pero este quedara igual en la estacion gracias ICOM
K7VO Rating: 2006-02-08
Great little radio with outstanding receiver Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Icom IC-703 is a wonderful little radio with an outstanding receiver. It is most definitely not an IC-706MkIIG with a 10W PA. The receiver, which completely redesigned, has a much quieter front end. It's extremely sensitive and the receive audio quality is excellent for SSB, CW, and also for AM SWLing. You can definitely pull out the weak ones with this radio.

The DSP noise reduction and auto notch are effective. You do lose a little off the high end in the audio response, particularly if you set the noise reduction level above a 5. Still, the audio is not fatiguing and it's better than having lots of noise. The noise blanker works but is not spectacular. The IF shift is effective.

The internal antenna tuner works far better than I would have expected. It certainly tunes a wider range than specified by Icom. The display is large enough and easy to read.

Early teething problems on this model have basically been solved. So long as you buy new or make sure that the service bulletins have been done at the factory you should have no problems. (Yes, there are exceptions, as with every manufacturer and every radio.)

Transmitted audio reports are quite good as well. The optional BP-228 battery is fairly small and light but it will run the radio at a solid 5W out for a reasonable period of time.

I find Icom's menus less intuitive than Yaesu's (no, they are not alphabetical) and they definitely take some getting used to. Some functionality in the setup menu should have been accessible without having to power the radio down. In general I dislike the menu system but it's not bad enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of this excellent little rig.

One note: this rig uses the same 455kHz filters as Icom's big rigs and they are *expensive*. It only takes one. If you're going to run CW at all you probably do want either an FL-52A or FL-53A or the Inrad equivalents. If all you do is SSB the FL-222 makes sense. If you do both, well... W4RT does offer a dual filter board much as the do for the FT-817 but they only offer a 500Hz CW filter and I wanted 250Hz. The stock SSB filter actually isn't bad. I chose to go with the CW filter. I find it pretty much essential.

For the doubters out there: yes, you can get out with 5-10W just fine most of the time. I'd rather have this rig mobile with the built in tuner than the IC-706 without.

My overall feeling is that the IC-703/IC-703Plus is very versatile and very functional. Performance is better than any other radio this small. Power consumption is very reasonable for such a feature rich radio. (3A max for 10W out, 2A @ 9/6V for 5W out with the BP-228.) All in all I am very impressed.
K3XR Rating: 2006-02-08
NO MORE ICOMS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Owned the radio less than a year now on it's way back from Burghart with a repair bill of $207.45 for distorted receive audio. Was repaired for the same problem by Icom shortly after purchase. Radio will be on it's way to E-bay shortly.
IS0KYB Rating: 2005-12-01
Great value for the money Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this little transceiver after reading all the scaring stories about TX problems. I have the "plus" version with 50MHz and so far I have had no problems at all. I did all the modifications you can find on the net and also I changed the filter switching diodes (MA77 --> BAR64) that produce a bit of intermodulation with strong signals. Now the receiver is absolutely great to listen and compares favourably to my TS-930s.
This last mod was suggested by the great Bill K0ZL.

Transmitted audio is always good with the stock microphone and the antenna tuner is fast and capable even with random wires!

My only complaints are the noisy QSK (but there is a fix for that) and the phones connector that, when it is used, it is very difficult to use the IF-SHIFT knob.
Another bad thing is that at night with very strong 40m broadcasts in Europe you should turn off the preamp not to hear a lot of intermodulation on 20m... using an external tuner solves this problem completely. Maybe changing the diodes in the first IF stages could improve a lot!

The building quality is exemplary and the power supply flexibility is great: this summer I did some hundreds of QSOs with just a charge of a 7.2Ah battery!

The DSP works well but you can hear a tedious distortion due to low sampling rate when on headphones.

IS0KYB
marco
G7TOK Rating: 2005-11-07
unsurpassed Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I stupidly sold my 703mk1 but have now managed to get a beautiful mk2.
The receiver at this price is excellent.
Why pay for an LDG, MFJ or SGC tuner when this is excellent.
The addition of a narrow filter improves selectivity greatly.
10w is more than enough even if band conditions are poor, after all, theres always CW or PSK31.
Transmitted audio even from the standard mic is excellent, gets lots of compliments.
Compared to its nearest competitor, this radio shines.
The front panel is simple to understand, even with the menu system.
power consumption is low.
G1MMT Rating: 2005-10-12
Excellent radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio from new for 18 months. In that time it has been well used and has performed flawlessly.

In particular I've been impressed with the receiver performance and built in ATU. Having an additional 500Hz filter installed improves the selectivity quite considerably.

I would also like to put in a good word for the LC-156 backpack, much like the 703, the attention to detail is excellent.

I compared this radio with another well-known QRP rig a few weeks ago, and my opinion is that you are in a different league with the 703. The ergonomics, quality of the receiver, integral ATU, transmit power, and build quality, make the 703 a compelling HF QRP radio. It doesn't try to do 2m & 70cms, and it hasn't got internal batteries, but placing the radio in a carry case like the LC-156 gives you a huge scope for carrying different power supplies and all the other stuff you typically require. I would also say, design details such as using latching relays throughout the ATU to reduce power consumption are great. If you want 2m & 70cms portable, you'll just have to carry a handheld.

Don't be put off with the transmitter problems on radios manufactured earlier. You don't have to look far to find problems with other QRP rigs on the market at this time.

If I had to be critical, I'd have to say that ICOM tend to charge small fortunes for the accessories!