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Reviews For: ICOM IC-736

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

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Review Summary For : ICOM IC-736
Reviews: 53MSRP: 1600 - 1800
Description:
160-6Meter Transceiver w/built-in tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/support/archive/amateur/ic-736.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00534.9
M3AIN Rating: 2023-02-10
No bells & whistles, but very good. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a really good entry level radio that's now stood the test of time. I've been using mine for over 10 years now & it's never let me down.

Does anyone know if the Icom SM-30 or SM-50 desk mic is plug n play with this radio?
KA1JFB Rating: 2021-06-29
Its alright? I guess Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I gave it the rating i did because i traded my (ROCK RADIO) the Icom 7200 for it! Its the first 736 ive ever had! And when i talked to the guy i swaped it for first thing he said it was broken!! (oh oh)? and that he fixed it! Comes to find out it wasnt hardly anything at all? a 5 or 10k ohm resistor blew on the power supply! So now that ive worked 22 states and 2 in Canada on FIELD DAY! I guess ill keep it for a while! What i love the most and always will is it has a READ analog meter!! I just cant get enough of analog meter radios! I think they still should put them in! Ive had 2 Yaesu 3000 and nice radio but you can tell the so call analog meter is digital! By the way everything on this old classic works! Dosent even heat up! and its got a nice built in PS and the ant tuner does well! Well thats my take on the 736 and im sticking with it! As far as getting one ! Sure if you can find the right price? This guy wanted $600+30 for shipping so we both made out! But i have one more thing the 7200 dosent have! FM! And finally im not a ICOM guy at all! Ive just been playing with these rigs to see how they stand up ! and so far as they say Good Job Icom But im a YAESU man any day and Kenwood comes in last ! Just my thoughts! 73 Joe KA1JFB
VK2XQ Rating: 2018-10-14
Great value... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second IC-736, the first served me well for many years and was used in around six DXCC countries in that time, what was appealing I could hand carry it on to the aircraft and not as check-in luggage.

Only problem I seem to have with this second unit purchased secondhand is that the receiver seems down on NDB and VLF band, signal meter also down around four to five 'S' points compared to IC-R75 and FT-2000D.

Tried changing antenna from 1 to 2 connector and no change, works very well otherwise, any one suggest anything for NDB/VLF section low performance? Good all round base radio and simple to use without confusing multi function buttons.
KU2US Rating: 2018-09-23
Has Everything! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
YES it is an older radio, but if you find one in great condition, GET IT! HF+6M at 100 watts. Has all the bells and whistles. A noise blanker that works, RF Attenuater, Freq.shift, pre-amp, AGC, Adjustable power 5 watts to 100 watts, Mic gain, Voice compressor, notch filter, built in antenna tuner, Built in AC power supply, Two separate antenna connectors-6m + HF, RF gain, frequency lock, and mccuh more. All that you would need. A joy to operate. The 736 holds it's value. Selling now for $650-$700..This thing KILLS the IC-718 which is a good little rig W/DSP. (Which I have) Glad I got this.
G7NKS Rating: 2018-01-13
Excellent radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just bought off an amateur friend. Always fancied having a 736. Not disappointed. Lovely Rx, fuss free tuner, well specified but no overly complex controls/menus. Clean 100w out. Simple, effective and does what it says on the tin. Paid £400 for it. Well pleased. If you want a fuss free well performing HF/6m rig then you can't go wrong with the 736.
N0FPE Rating: 2016-02-07
geeze Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one..and I am still kicking myself for selling it. what a great rig. I should have sold something else when I needed the money..learned a hard lesson.


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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0FPE on 2008-07-12

I have owned one of these fine radios for 2 years now. Picked it up from an estate sale. I can not think of a bad thing to say abt it! Shortly after I received the radio I called Malcholm at MIT and asked abt known problems with the radio. There are no major problems! The only thing he related to me was that SOMETIMES the nylon adapters on the shafts dry out and crack. A easy fix. The radio preforms day in and day out with no glitches. Sell it? Nope. Buy another one, yes is a heartbeat. Preforms as good or better than the $2K TS-2000X sitting next to it.
W0LD Rating: 2016-02-07
Very good 6 meter radio. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned one of these in the 90's and just bought one as a back-up for my K3. The audio is easier to listen to than the K3. The selectivity is down from the K3, but not by much. The sensitivity is far better than the K3 without the K3's preamp. Transmit audio is excellent, I use a Heil mic. If you can find one, you will love it.
MM0XXW Rating: 2016-02-02
Solid as a rock .... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
If it's lots of bells 'n' whistles you're looking for don't buy this however if you want a rock steady performer grab it with both hands.
The large display screen is easy to read and not cluttered so you can see what's going on at a glance, internal psu is quiet as a mouse and the internal atu is quick and efficient in it's performance.
PBT and Notch filter works flawlessly.
If I had an issue it would be the colour of the writing on the pad/buttons but this has been mentioned already but on a well lit desk it isn't that much of an issue as to reduce points here.
I've had excellent 'on-air' reports regarding the audio, I use an aviation headset, with quite moderate settings and even using the hand mic the audio is very acceptable.
HF-6m with built-in psu and atu ..... what's not to like!
Good examples don't come along to often and when they do they are not expensive to buy, in todays DSP world, however if you come across one you will not regret your purchase one little bit!
G0WHY Rating: 2015-09-14
Welcome back to an old friend Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had one of these when they first came out in the 90's. Terrific radio, which I sold when I acquired an Icom 781. I regretted that and have now managed to source one again for £400 in very good condition. Very happy.
KA1WI Rating: 2015-07-19
Fundamentals at work Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought it because I lost patience with MENUE(s), I love menus in good restaurants, not in radios. Second reason DSP radios can't handle noise, they just amplify it. not the good old analog 736, smooth receiver and simple access to the fundamental parameters of ham operation.

I did notice the audio response of the RX was too wide and low audio frequencies were swamping the speech. I found the main selectivity SSB filter FL-30 had been replaced by a much broader filter. I retrofitted it and selectivity is now sharp with enhanced audio.

Another observation, a hardly noticeable hiss is there on receive. This time the problem seems to be more complex. With radio disconnected from the antenna I terminated the antenna radio input with a 50 ohms resistor. The hiss dropped almost gone. The lower bands more prone to
it. This will indicate that an active device is acting as a noise source in the front end of the receiver. When the port is terminated with a 50 ohms resistor the noise energy drops. I suspect one of the switching diodes or perhaps all of them.

Has anyone experienced this problem, I wonder. If I can cure this hiss it will be a fine radio indeed. Other rigs have similar problems traceable to the choice of wrong PIN diodes switching the receiver front end BPFs.

I like the fact the radio has its own power supply. It is very well shielded and causes no detectable noise. I had to replace the AC input filter. Power supply noise was radiating from there, luckily I had a better filter than the original which I assume is defective.

best 73's to all

Jac
KA 1 WI