| KG9H |
Rating:  |
2023-08-25 | |
| Exceptional on all levels |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I have had mine now for maybe a year. The audio on receive is exceptional. Love the sound! I did not replace the 7300, I kept that as my remote radio.
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| KE6TDT |
Rating: |
2023-01-23 | |
| Very impressive radio, a +5 keeper |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Just to update, I've now had the IC-7600 for about 7 years now, and not a single problem or issue!
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After taking about a year reading about and researching a new transceivers I opted for the 7600 for a couple of reasons. One of which was I had bought new an ICOM 746 (non-pro) I believe in the year 2000. The older 746 in my opinion is a great radio and in 16 years of service I had not one single issue and it never had to be sent in for repair. That kind of durability goes a long goes a long way in my book.
One of the drawbacks for me regarding the 7600 was no 2-meters. But then again I thought about it and I have several hand held two meter radios. And since I have never used the band much except for traveling, or going camping that was something I could overlook since I could already access the band if needed.
Moving from the non-pro 746 to the 7600 was an eye opener for me. As others have mentioned, the technology is so advanced it made me smile.
I do not live far from an HRO and I was able to go down and sit in front of and use all the display radios. From the beginning I noted the IC-7600 controls, knobs, sound and general feel of the radio seemed to exhibit better, tighter and more durable quality.
And to me, the overall appearance of the radio seemed superior. One on air operator I heard recently describe the 7600 as the corvette of HF base radios. I did not want something so big it looked like something from the 1950s or something so small it appeared to be made for mobile operation. Once I set it up I found it fit my desk perfect. I wanted a full sized HF radio, but without taking up half the desk. Not too big and not too small. It was perfect for what I wanted.
I've never owned a radio with a scope and I won't go into the scope too much, but I will say what many others have said said, WOW! I find my myself using the scope constantly for many things. It's just amazing and comes with a screen saver! The screen is very clear and significantly larger than my older 746 screen and I can see it clearly without issue.
Audio receive? It's top shelf and much better than the 746 which is still very good to this day. Transmission audio? The very first contact I received an *unsolicited* commented that my audio was very good. I am using a Heil ICM microphone with the 7600. That was all I needed to hear.
Having only owned this radio for a few weeks, some years from now I will hopefully do a followup review of this fantastic radio.
At this point and I am genuinely impressed and would recommend this product without hesitation.
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| K3RW |
Rating: |
2022-05-07 | |
| Good rig, needs a better manual |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The 7600 provides a multitude of options to keep the user happy. How well that works for you depends on your tolerance for learning through the manual.
Compared to the IC-7200, the easiest rig I have ever used, and the IC-7100, a complex rig with both a user and advanced manual, the 7600 has many features to unlock. It suffers from a lack of Advanced Manual to give actual step-by-step directions of the more complex features.
Its nearly a 5 star rig, with a couple of gripes. For one, it uses a small pop-out knob for adjusting RF output. The position of the knob is low on the left panel, and there is no indication of its level. This is a problem in particular when running TRV mode.
The TRV mode runs the transverter port. With considerable headache in the manual you will find it is adjustable. To what level, that is the problem. Unlike a menu where you can set a certain level, percentage, etc., this is a twisty knob. If you have a transverter needing a max drive of say 10mW, you need some drive level but not too much. I'd argue this is not a good rig for driving transverters at the mW level for this reason in particular.
Another gripe is the TRV mode allows a VFO offset, to adjust for the IF to transverter display. Sounds reasonable, but ICOM only allows up to a max of 99.999MHz offset. This would only then allow something like a 4m or 2m transverter, and nothing else. The TS-2000 gets this right. You will just know you are on 222.260MHz because your 28-222 transverter is on 28.260. If you run a split IF transverter, you'll have to build a DIN cable by cutting it off, shorting two pins, and running this as well.
I found also that in TRV mode I did not display signals on the panadapter. This makes it difficult to locate weak signals. I also needed to use Preamp 1 and 2 together. Using transverter in AUTO did not seem to work predictably. As always, your mileage may vary.
I liked that the rig has FM mode. If you have the time and energy to set up 10 and 6m repeaters, you can also do this with 2 and 1.25m as well. It also means that you can key a repeater to ensure your transverter works, before switching over to SSB to find weak signals.
I would beware running a transverter off the rig without using the transverter jack. Some have complained that full power spikes have occurred in nearly all the newer ICOM rigs. Assume that even on low power they could produce a full 100w or greater fast RF spike, and protect your transverter accordingly. This seems to be an ICOM problem in particular but I was unable to confirm it. In other words, I would not use a transverter except through the XVRT port, and I mentioned the headaches of even doing that much.
Some frequencies that are 'out of band' may not display on the panadapter.
The panadapter is average at best, and I would overlook this as a positive of the rig. Many have now added SDRs through the IF-tap, something like a RSPlay or other type.
If you use the internal tuner, expect around 85w max output. The internal tuner does well, overall, though I am not pushing major mismatches.
I made numerous DX SSB contacts with it and it takes a bit of finesse to adjust mic gain levels. The knob is the same story as the RF output.
It performs very well on digital modes. I recommend running USB-D instead of USB, and running wide open filters. On CW you can drop down and make your own filters, nothing to buy, and you can tailor them to your exact needs. That is, if you have the patience to figure them out.
A good rig, but newer full-featured SDRs now outshine them easily. Last of the good analog ones. |
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| KC8HXO |
Rating: |
2022-02-25 | |
| Great choice! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I really like mine. Icom UI fits me very well. Easy listening, and some tools to dig out some weak ones. TX audio gets great reports with my $20 Neewer condenser mic. Noise blanker takes out electric fencer tics on lowest settings with no distortion. Last of the classic mid range superhets from Icom. Not much I would change. |
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| WB0OAF |
Rating: |
2021-11-06 | |
| Comparison Tests |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The 7600 - Well, It's top shelf- I tried to compare it to the 7300 and my Old PRO-3. Very Close to the PRO-3, The PRO-3 Receive Audio is the best overall. (ANALOG)
It has a Slow SCOPE Refresh Rate- Not a problem, doesn't affect the transmit or receive. 73 |
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| ON5HB |
Rating: |
2021-10-26 | |
| Still better then a lot of modern rigs like the 7300. |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I used to have an Kenwood TS-590 and switched to Icom7300 because of the waterfall. However I was missing a lot of options the TS-590 did have. Then an 7600 was offered and I bought it.
What a great rig is this! It has everything the TS-590 has and more.
Waterfall and loads of options the 7300 lacks. Waterfall is a bit messy to read, but that is not a biggy.
I compared it to my friends TS-890 and it's on pair.
I has just 1 problem, you can't monitor 2 frequecies with different modulations, that is really silly. Other then that, great rig!
The filters are superb, the ATU tunes almost anything. Modulation-settings are easy en give you a great audio.
This is the best radio I ever owned.
Only TS-990 and Icom 7610 can probably top this.
Just a super tranceiver, hard to top. Pure SDR's are not better, sorry they are not.
These hybrid tranceivers have the best of all worlds.
If you have litte money, get the Icom7300....if you don't mind the 7600 has a worse waterfall, you definitly want the 7600 as it's simply better. |
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| WA4YBC |
Rating: |
2021-05-25 | |
| My ICOM 7600 is definitely a keeper. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had my ICOM 7600 for 6 years, and it is doing great. Given all the marketing hype, about new technology, I bought a new transceiver. After a couple of months playing with the new transceiver, I found that I strongly prefer my ICOM 7600.
I have been a ham for over 50 years, and have played with a number of different rigs and different technologies. The Noise Blanker and Noise Reduction on my ICOM 7600 works great. The ICOM 7600 is a keeper and has proven to be very reliable, and given me no problems. I will keep my ICOM 7600 for many more years. |
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| WU7X |
Rating: |
2020-09-14 | |
| So good I'm trading my IC7300 for another one |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Several months ago, a friend of mine offered to trade me his IC7300 and IC9700 (plus cash on my part) for my IC7600. I took the bait. Both radios are really really good! But...there are things that I miss on my old IC7600, especially the RX Ant capability. Since I am getting into the low bands a lot that RX Ant is a big deal. Besides, I just like the "feel" of the IC7600 versus the newer 7300. So, I just traded my 7300 for another 7600. Yes, I realize that the specs may be a bit better on the newer SDR rig. I even added a PTRX-7300 panadapter module to it. But I feel that the IC7600 just fits my operating techniques better. It is just a better DXing and low band rig than the upstart. I'm not getting rid of the IC9700 however. Time to have a really great rig on HF and a companion for satellites. |
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| W0RDX |
Rating: |
2020-08-22 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Good performance mid range or top end. Really enjoying mine. Only nit I have is the RF power control right under the AF control, easy to crank up the volume out tryng to fit my fingers in there. ICOM should have put the squelch control there and the RF power Control on the skirt know of the AF or somewhere. |
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| W4HM |
Rating: |
2019-07-27 | |
| Versatile Rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought one of the last new Icom IC-7600's back in November 2017 with v2 firmware. It's a very versatile rig with great transmit audio and a very good receiver. I've used it on SSB, CW and numerous digital modes.
In doing receive comparisons with other rigs like the IC-756 Pro 3 and IC-7410, the IC-7600 beats the Pro 3 by approximately 3 db and it is tied with the IC-7410. But the Kenwood TS-590SG beats the IC-7600 by approximately 3 db.
What I did was to pit the receivers against each other during a couple of RTTY contests to see how well the rigs compared on close in IMD. Basically I compared weak RTTY signal within 2 kHz of a strong one.
I won't be parting with my IC-7600 in lieu of the new IC-7610 but am looking to buy a second IC-7600 with v2 firmware.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by W4HM on 2017-12-18
I purchased two Icom IC-7600's new before the IC-7610 came out. The rig is very well built, the main knobs and buttons are well laid out, it's called ergonomics. The main knobs and buttons are their on the front panel for easy access, which means no deep menu searching. The menu system itself is pretty simple and understandable.
The receiver is really good. It has excellent characteristics as far as 2 kHz spacing IMD, better than any other Icom rig I've ever owned, which includes a IC-718, IC-751A, IC-746 Pro, IC-756 Pro/2/3 and IC-7300. But it does not beat out the newer designed but since discontinued IC-7410. It also falls a little short of the Kenwood TS-590/SG and Elecraft K3(S). But for day to day operations the receiver is top notch.
On transmit it produces very high quality audio that get's lot's of compliments. I use the Heil iCM and HM-12 microphones on it.
The rig is also great as an SWL'ng receiver with excellent performance on HF and MF band but falls short on LF without a preselector in front of it like a Grove TUN 3/4.
If I had one criticism it would be the ventilation fan that turns on sometimes even on receive. But there are no overheating issues with the rig on transmit and the fan is not to noisy when it kicks in.
It's a great rig and you should grab one when deeply discounted before it's discontinued due to release the new IC-7610. |
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