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Reviews For: ICOM IC-7000

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

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-7000
Reviews: 352MSRP: TBA
Description:
HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver.
2 × DSP
Digital voice recorder (DVR)
Improved AGC loop performance
2 × MNF (Manual Notch Filter)
2-mode band scope
2.5-inch color TFT display with TV screen receive capability
Remote control Microphone
Digital IF filters

Available mid 2006
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/products/amateur/7000/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
003524.3
VE3AQT Rating: 2023-11-17
Has a place even now Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I picked this remarkable radio up a decade ago and have put thousands of hours in front of it. It's an incredible small package that's loaded with everything most hams would ever want. All mode all band with 100 Watt power. Throw in DSP which really works well and you still have a world beater. Would I ever pass up my baby sized giant Slayer? It would take a trade for an equivalent loaded radio. Hmm. Let me see what's capable of filling the 7000 shoes. Nothing. I forgot to mention that since I started feeding my 7000 from a 50A Pyramid any sort of issues that might be attributed to voltage sags or lack of current all went away. Seeing the results I now power my second 7000 from a 40A Trip Lite (I dislike the Trip Lite greatly but what are you gonna do?) and all issues it previously had have vanished. These are hungry little beasts and mine at least, seem intolerant of lack of raw watts to run them.
VK2HEY Rating: 2023-10-14
My favorite Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I also owned a Kenwood TS-2000 and I think a lot could be learned from the IC-7000.

There are only two real issues with this rig and that is keeping it cool and giving it enough juice to run full power. It really needs a power supply. On batteries, there can be a significant drop in output power.

The only way to master the IC-7000 is to keep using it and then it will all come naturally. I have the remote head mounted just above the gear lever and I tend to rest my hand on the gear stick knob while operating the IC-7000. It is a single finger job and quite comfortable in this position.

Who needs a FUNCtion key like the one found on the Kenwood? The Icom proves you don't by instead employing press and hold to access alternate functions. So much easier than dancing all over the front panel of a TS-2000 just to find the function button.

The filters just plain work. I have never bothered trying to fix the electrical noise in my mobile installation because the NB on the Icom kills it. Then onto the notch filtering for quick easy adjustment of any whistles. Fantastic.

Band stacking memories are one button push away. Awesome.

On the transmit side of things, I am always getting unsolicited positive reports about my audio on HF SSB and I wouldn't know how hot the radio gets because it's in the boot. I have an LDG AT-100Pro tuner in line for no-brainer operation.

I don't know if it's just because the designers of the 7000 have to focus on how the radio should work as a small mobile rig over a base station. But I certainly prefer operating this one over my TS-2000. I still prefer using software (RTSystems) to program the memories but modifying them "in- radio" is much easier than the Kenwood.
SV1DPP Rating: 2023-08-05
A fantastic all-in-one Rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
A radio that does it all. Excellent DSP, delightful sound, fantastic LCD screen, pure 100Watt power and an misunderstood amazing receiver. I have made a case and I take it with me everywhere. I adore it!!!
KB1GMX Rating: 2023-06-22
does what I got it for Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I checked 4 stars as its not a 5 and there is no incrementallike 4.5.

This is an old radio 2006 to be exact and thats using 2005 and be for tech. I say that as I expect power consumption for the DSP to be high and it is better than expected and the DSP works well.

It runs warm so I did the fan mod (internal) and much better.

I use it in all modes/bands especially as a replacement for the FT817 on VHF/UHF where the higher power out is welcome.

Fuse issues, my solution was I didn't use them, cut the cable
and added my own fuses. Easy fix and easy to avoid.

User interface... I have a IC7300 and IC251A and the IC7000
is clearly not either. The menu system is workable but arcane
in its combination with lots of three letter things that you just have to learn what they mean. But the push and hold and double push stuff is clearly you must be sitting still to do it or do not get to where you want to be. ITs a small radio so small buttons.

Receiver: Sensitivity and noise floor is good but desense of FM and adjacent channel overload are typical of radios of the day.
There are enough controls and adjustments (if you can find them) to pull stuff out of the crud.

RTTY is not dead, it works well!

Transmitter seems to work well, I get rated power on all bands
and all modes. IT can get very warm in high power extended modes.

Mic, sea of buttons. Its very easy to push the wrong button at the wrong time. Otherwise it works with decent audio,

Over all I got it as back up for my TT 6n2 which is in many ways a better radio. It also replaces the FT817 for UHF work where the on air experience the receiver is decidedly better.

Best advice: read the manual and all the reviews first if your going to buy one (used). Biggest thing is its now over 15 years old and has extensive menues.

For the price paid used I'm happy, If I bought it new 10 years ago I'd be less so.
AD0AR Rating: 2023-06-19
Swiss army knife of the amateur radios Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio for over 10 years and it still continues to serve me well. I cannot believe all the features that are built into this tiny radio!
I use this for both portable and base station purposes.
This radio is so far ahead of it's time and nothing has filled it's shoes all in the size of a small CB mobile radio.
While the 7100 comes close, I don't like the screen or the form factor of the 7100 as I find the 7000 much more appealing.
If Icom would release a 100 watt HF/ 35 watt vhf/uhf radio in this tiny form factor that has a full time bandscope and Dstar with a meaningful color display with an external monitor option, they'd have my money all over again.
All I have seen as being a reliability con with this radio is that it is not designed to handle long digital mode transmit cycles as it will get hot due to it's small size.
Early on I made a chassis that had 2 180mm computer fans to make a wind tunnel to keep the radio body cool and then I separated the control head and use the remote head mounted on a custom desktop holder as not to hear the fans (under the desk) and it all worked flawlessly back in the jt65 years.
Many have complained about smoking the driver stage and I can see why.
It is a 15 watt mosfet. Idle current on this stage is 1 amp. 13.8vdc x 1 amp is 13.8 watts idle. If you over volt the ic-7000, it will greatly reduce the life of the driver and other components. Yes, you will get more output from the radio, but in reality those extra 10-20 watts does very little getting your signal to propagate farther. Get an amp instead.
I paired this up with a SGC SG-500 but I wired the key line to the amp to speed up the key time/band selection.
Now I have a 500W desktop radio that takes up the space of a ink pad on my desktop.
Learning how to code macros in Ham Radio Deluxe (I use the original free version) can really make this radio's receiver come alive.
Sherwood engineering and even the ARRL give this receiver a almost mediocre rating when operated with no filtering or IF DSP.
Using Ham Radio Deluxe to narrow the bandwidth in combination with the dual manual notch proves to be a remarkable tool against QRM/QRN with weak signal on all bands.
When utilizing the narrow filtering, it is almost as good as the receiver of a ic-7600 to reduce noise on CW/Digital modes on HF.
When this radio was introduced, lead acid batteries were ubiquitous for powering portably and this was a major downfall for the 7000 because it needs about 12.6v to achieve full output. Any voltage below this, it folds back to 70W output max.
Now enter Lithium ion batteries...
I use a 28Ah LiFePO4 which comparatively is about the same size as the radio. Standby power consumption is high with the 7000 so at about 1.5a RX consumption, I have RX standby power of about 18-20 hours. Using full 100W HF SSB I can get about 3-4 hours of portable casual use which for me is just about right for my operating habits or I can dial in less power if conditions are good and get even more running time.
For portable use I team this up with either a MFJ mag loop or the AH4 feeding a counterpoised 17 foot telescoping vertical antenna and I have fun!
73 de AD0AR
KF4HR Rating: 2022-05-17
An amazing little rig. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned my IC-7000 for years. Used it mostly in my RV. It's a shame ICOM dropped this model. I'd like to see ICOM come out with an IC-7000 Pro, same features and size as the IC-7000 but add a good bandscope & DStar.
SP9HZX Rating: 2022-05-15
Great versatile radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Another great radio!
Fantastic audio, very good preamp and easy to operate.
Very reliable rig!Only to recommend.

May 2022
I have been using it a lot mobile mainly with Outbacker antennas.Still super radio ,especially in the car.
Totally no problems.
M0JFG Rating: 2022-04-20
Replaced Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I got one of these and used a digi mode 3 for both HF and VHF FT8 and it worked. What I must say is that the guy who designed the menu structure had an identic memory and loved super complexity. I've just replaced the unit after 4 months with an ic7300 and it's so much easier to use. On the really bad side, I have knocked out the HF MOSFETs twice so now consider them fragile, my hobby is antenna design. That I have replaced it after 4 months really says it all. It did seem to suffer from RF in the shack problems with it which disappeared with the ic7300. The reason I will keep it is for the VHF and UHF. The bottom line is the menu system needs desperately to be replaced, as a programmer myself I consider it appalling.
W4KVW Rating: 2021-11-06
SWEET ICOM "AGAIN" Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well I last reviewed the ICOM 7000 is 2008 & now in 2021 I have the Fourth one that I have owned.It's still in my opinion the BEST mobile Amateur Transceiver EVER produced.It's a joy to use & the only thing I see that ICOM could have done to make it better is add a True Band Scope & D-STAR & it would have been pretty much PERFECT & so much better than the excuse they now produce with that Ugly Monochrome Display. Someone at ICOM is truly out of touch & possibly visually impaired if they could not see that they took a Giant step Backwards with the Display on the ICOM 7100.It's also NOT a Useless Touch Screen & that's worth the Used market price alone.Get you one & you will never be sorry.The ICOM 7000 is still KING & it's Good to be KING!



Love my ICOM 7000 ALMOST as much as my ICOM 756 PROII.Only thing I like better about the PROII is the spectrum scope operation & the BIG rig size in the shack.The ICOM 7000 along with the LDG AT-7000 & Hustler mobile antennas area WINNER for my mobile setup & I can NOT imagine it getting any better.Keep up the GREAT work ICOM. }:>) "ICOM" as SWEET as it gets in ham radio gear.

Clayton
W4KVW
K9IK Rating: 2021-09-09
Great package Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Icom IC-7000 is a great little HF, 50MHz, 144MHz and 430/440MHz bands transceiver, good for home, mobile, and portable. it features 100 Watts HF+6M, 50 Watts 2M, 35 Watts 440.
I like the color display and the built-in Digital Voice Recorder (DVR). It works very well when I pair it with the ICOM AT-180 automatic antenna tuner. The receiver has WFM for listening to FM broadcast stations and TV (Analog). https://youtu.be/mr9FNzYaXh8 May 2006 the price was $1499, The radio is still a great buy in 2021. For more info about the Icom IC-7000 check out the Icom Website: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/7000/default.aspx