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Reviews For: ICOM HM-151 for IC-7000/7100

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : ICOM HM-151 for IC-7000/7100
Reviews: 15MSRP: 99.00
Description:
Remote control microphone supplied with and for exclusive use with IC-7000 & 7100
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00153.5
RADIO_RANDY Rating: 2021-02-08
Great mike, but does NOT do DTMF... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First off, I would like to state that this mike does NOT do DTMF, for those users wanting that feature.

Secondly, I really like mine and would recommend it to anyone who owns one of that series of Icom radios.
VE7REN Rating: 2020-11-08
fantastic replacement on the icom 7100 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
excellent audio reports on the 151 vs the stock hm-198 that comes with the ic-7100. the 198 is a dog,muffled with low audio drive. the 151 solved this issue,along with allowing the radio to be used on 2 meter repeaters as well. i have no regrets or complaints. i now have 3 of these mics. the previous reviews i am sceptical about. how can this mic not be good?? maybe the wrong tx settings in the radio? overall, ide buy again
KD7RDZI2 Rating: 2018-02-17
For the money buy a µBITX instead Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First, this brand mic costs as much as an entire multi-band transceiver, the µBITX which includes a real electret mic element... The mic element inside the HM-151 is made to be fit in its case. So in the case you want or need to change the mic element you have to find a really small one. Standard elements are just too big. The one microF cap is just a too high value, The suggested mods to 0.22microF make more sense to cut basses. Mods suggest also to drill a larger hole or another one in line with the mic element. Maybe you may want to cut the membrane at the mic element. The rubber buttons feel really cheap. Many of the SMT parts used on the PCB are really very tiny. Why not just using easily replaceable SMT parts? What else? The cable, When I make microphones for myself I always use screened cables. Here they use a cheap 'modular plug'. More, there were quite many users having problems with this mic, that is quite surprising as an electret microphone is just an element, a cap and a resistor.
KQ4BX Rating: 2014-12-19
On IC-7100 it's Great Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I recently got the HM-151 for my IC-7100, and the feedback on my audio is fantastic. So I then took my Heil microphone and tested that, and it would be great for DX, but the HM-151 was studio quality sound, much more pleasing in the rag chew. So let's go back to when I bought an IC-7000 and had my first experience with the HM-151. The reports on my IC-7000 were bad, so that is when I got the Heil microphones. I kept the Heil microphones and sold the IC-7000.Could there be multiple versions of the HM-151? Maybe so, or maybe there was a bad run of HM-151's and Icom isn't saying anything about it. All I know is that my closest friends told me to use the HM-151 when rag chewing, but if I wanted to chase DX, use the Heil.
There are too many who had a bad experience with the HM-151, so the odds are in favor of a bad run of microphones.
G4RNI Rating: 2014-07-04
Grunty Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought an IC-7100 at the same time as a friend in June 2014. When I heard his audio, I was appalled! On with the headphones and I listened to mine, too. It was equally awful, with breath splatter and complete lack of "guts", sounding badly limited and compressed.

No matter what I did with gain, tone or bandwidth it just sounded bad. If I were to sum up the sound in just one word it would be "grunty".

So, I tried my trusty old Icom HM-36 Japanese hand mic on the 7100 – it sounds fantastic. Crystal clear, full bodied, rich tone and sibillance just right.

I don’t know why Icom have risked the reputation of the 7100 by putting in that most inferior HM151 but it has to be about the worst sounding mic I’ve heard in a long time. IMHO if people hear the radio sounding the way it does with the HM151 they’ll avoid the IC-7100 like the plague. I certainly would never have bought it had I heard it the way it sounds. A friend's, with the earlier HM198 basic mic sounds really good. What a pity to ruin a radio with a nasty microphone like the HM151.

If you're considering an IC-7100 INSIST that your dealer includes the earlier HM198 mic as a freebie.

Icom ww, take note!
AD9DX Rating: 2011-10-02
Weak link Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is truly the weak link in the exceptional Icom IC-7000. Like the radio its self, they tried to pack a ton of features in a very small package. However unlike the radio they did not succeed in making a quality well thought out product. The audio lacks a noticeable punch and is difficult to find a sweet spot without a lot of tweeking. The buttons are small and convoluted to use. Thankfully there are a lot of aftermarket microphones out there and Icom makes an adapter.
W4KVW Rating: 2011-02-12
GREAT AUDIO REPORTS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had this microphone on my ICOM 7000 & ALWAYS got GREAT audio reports.It had ZERO mods & the new owner of the same rig gets GREAT audio reports as well.I have used it & heard it & it's LOUD & CLEAR here.I have heard others who did NOT sound very loud but I had no way of seeing or checking their settings on their rig!

Clayton
W4KVW
N4FN Rating: 2010-03-31
Needed AB5N Mod Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.

I just received back from Bob Nagy the mods done to my IC-7000 HM-151 mic and that of my friend KC4CSU's HM-133 for his IC-2720. First reports on 2m indicated the audio from my HM-151 was much clearer and more natural compared to my normal speaking voice from folks that know me well. I met Lloyd to get him his HM-133, he was always plagued with very low audio output from his 2720. I could not believe the difference! His audio is clearer, LOUDER than ever before. He sounded great. I have not used my 7K on HF mobile yet but I am sure that the output will be far superior to what I had before. This was a very worthwhile mod to a great rig. Thanks to Don ZL1ATB for his post on the mod.
Neil N4FN
K2ID Rating: 2009-04-22
DId not work for me Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned three Icom 7000 radios and still own one. The first time I ever went on VHF/UHF with my 7000, every conversation started with the other ham asking me to increase my audio even though the Mic Gain was set to 100%. The mic mod fixed that problem and all the locals agreed. Same with the next two 7000s.

I also know a ham who owns two and he sounds great on the stock mic. I know others who sound low and narrow. I am convinced that your success with this mic has a lot to do with your particular voice. I have problems with all non pro Icom rigs. I always sound bad and have low audio. Give me a Yaesu and I sound great. I know that I cannot buy Icom rigs unless they are the Pro model and I have owned almost every rig that Icom had for sale up to the introduction of the 7200, including three of their HTs.

I suspect the problem is that the mic element in the microphone was designed for cell phone use by a company owned by Icom. It has two settings. The main setting is for the Japanese voice and the other setting is for "International" voices. My bassy monotone voice is just not a good fit with this rig or any rig that requires an electret mic.

I have heard enough bad sounding ones to know that it is not just a small minority who sound bad. In most cases I can guess when a ham is using a 7000 because even if their audio level is good, their transmit bandwidth sounds narrow. Although I know hams who sound great with the stock mic, I know more who do not and got the mod as I have done three times. I am constantly told how much better I sound with the mod'ed mic.
KE4ZHN Rating: 2008-05-09
Nothing wrong with this mike Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I never owned an Icom 7000 but had the chance to use one for the better part of a month. This mike worked fine. It had plenty of gain and I had no problem getting plenty of output from it. The only minor issue I noticed was "P" popping. Im sure this would be a simple fix. Other than that the mike sounded fine and worked as well as you can expect a hand mike to. This was a later production ic7000 so perhaps this is why this particular mike was fine.