| EA8AY |
Rating:  |
2012-01-17 | |
| Very good RX. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I´m very happy with my new Icom 7410. I´m 100% cw operator and dsp is awesome. Also filters for cw and I add optional 6khz and 3khz roof.filters. I like very much, sound much better than my last rig FT950. |
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| PE1RTC |
Rating: |
2011-12-17 | |
| Good transceiver with nice audio TX/RX and superb dsp. |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Before i've used a Kenwood TS-870, Icom 756 pro and Icom 7000. Compared with these transceivers i have to say that the 7410 feels like an new generation transceiver. Of course the dsp on the 7000 is great, but when for example there's a big 9++ signal for several mseconds it takes to much time before the receiver is back and you will lose a little part of the qso. On the 7410, 756pro, 870 i don't have that problem.
The audio quality is really good in combination with my SP-23 speaker. I'm using an Icom SM-20 micro and get very good reports on my tx audio.
Where the 7000 is running hot, even on RX, the 7410 stay's cool. You have to lay an ear on the radio if you want to hear the fan. After some qso's you will here it a little more, but still not too much.
The knobs on the 7410 are very smooth and do not feal "cheap". The noise reduction and noise blanker are excellent, compared to the other transceivers. All in all I think the 7410 is one of the best transceivers at this moment in the price range if you aren't a fast CW man (poor QSK). For SSB and AM its excellent.
About the ALC problem: it's not a problem with every amplifier, but shure it is bad when you need 20 watts for a kilowatt or something like that. In that case i would built an attenuator in the amp. With my 2x813 amp with 40 watts drive i have no problems. |
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| WB5JJJ |
Rating: |
2011-11-17 | |
| Best Ever Audio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had my IC-7410 for about two weeks now and have had nothing but "outstanding" and "awesome" reports on my TX audio. I have not touched any of the default transmit menu settings as anything I might change would probably degrade the audio. I'm using my 30+ year old ICOM SM-6 microphone that has had so many hours of use with my IC-745.
Now that 10m is open, I'm having a ball. I've always had good results in pile-ups, but now with the 7410, I seem to get through on the first call once the other station is about 5-7. I seldom use the pre-amp.
I think my results are two-fold. 1) the quality/clearity of the 7410 audio and 2) my easy-to-remember call (WB5JJJ). The "JJJ" or "triple J" seems to make it through pile-ups.
Overall, this radio has far exceeded my expectations. BTW, I have installed both filters and find them OK, but had about the same results without them in rejecting side splatter. Although the 3Khz does seem to be a bit better than the 6Khz.
Also, I'm running the IC-7410 and my IC-718 on a 30A switching power supply, but not transmitting at the same time of course. purchased from a USA seller on eBay at a price point between $32 and $45, including USPS Priority shipping. No problems with "birdies" that I've found. They are small, about the side of a brick. |
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| N9GUU |
Rating: |
2011-11-03 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Just got my 7410 a week before the CQ WWDX contest so I only had 2 days to figure it out. I think for the most part the radio and it's menus are fairly intuitive and the menus are really nat that bad once you understand how the menus work. This is the 1st ne radio I;ve had in 28 years as my other radio is a Kenwood TS-530S. Bottom line...I like the 7410. |
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| N6TEA |
Rating: |
2011-10-30 | |
| Great Receiver - Limited Transmitter |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After four months on the air, I replaced my IC-7410 with a new IC-7600. I got back into ham radio to work high speed CW which I copied in the USAF as a manual morse intercept operator. My greatest fear in having purchased a new model radio, only to discover flaws later, came true. I cannot be happy with the lack of full break-in QSK beyond about 12 WPM at best nor is the ALC overshoot in the realm of 6dB vs. a safer <1dB a tolerable weakness since I just bought an Ameritron AL-811HD amplifier to reliably reach the UK and CE from CA. The IC-7410 is a wonderful radio with a marvelous receiver, especially when equipped with both of the optional roofing filters, as I did. The transmitter routinely earns excellent audio reports when easily adjusted to one's voice and modulated with either a Heil PR-781 or the Pro Set Plus iC headset/mic. It can function fine for casual CW or even drive a tube type linear controlled by a careful (or perhaps more experienced) operator but only if the ALC is managed diligently between 50-75% by sensitive adjustment of the mic gain and compression, in the absence of an oscilloscope to adjust output to avoid spikes which when bad enough are said to be able to damage some amplifiers. The radio's firmware cannot be upgraded by connecting to the Icom website. Many experienced hams do quite well driving their 811 amps with the 7410, working SSB voice but I am not yet that experienced. I expect, following the habit of their culture, that the good people at Icom in Japan will quietly redesign the QSK and ALC circuits to eliminate those issues in future production of the IC-7410. At the price point of the 7410, perhaps Icom did not expect buyers to use it primarily for CW or to excite a linear amp but that's pure supposition on my part. For a higher level entry point radio for someone who can live with semi break-in QSK and does not plan to run an amplifier with it, the 7410 is easily as capable as some of Icom's newer but higher priced radios per independent test results performed by recognized parties apart from Icom. When dealing with rapidly evolving technology, such as that of today's DSP radios, one long experienced ham told me to think of a DSP radio as a computer with a radio attached. I will be sad to see my 7410 go but grateful for the start that it gave me, knowing that it will perform admirably for someone who can live with its transmitter's limitations. Thank you for allowing me to express my personal opinions. You may freely express a different view point. Regardless, you may wish to join the user's group for the 7410 on Yahoo to optimize its many other sound features.
73's - -M
Mike Slate
N6TEA |
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| KY2P |
Rating: |
2011-10-02 | |
| So Far, So Good |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Because I just bought it 2 weeks ago this wont be long or detailed...my previous rig is the IC-718, so the 7410 is 100% better.
Main reason for this review is to give y'all a heads up about an issue that I discovered - there is no audio signal going through the mic connector, so if you have a boomset that only connects to the mic connector it will not work...the mic will work but the headset will be "deaf".
I found out because I have the "new" Heil Traveler dual boomset that works fine with the 718. I wrote Heil Sound to ask and they were just as surprised as I was. BTW, HS said they dont expect to make a new pigtail for the Traveler unless there is popular demand for it.
73
Damian |
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| K8ZPO |
Rating: |
2011-08-26 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've always had Yaesu and are good radios. I bought a IC7000 and used it more in the house than mobile. I wanted to replace my 1000mp and got the 7410 and with the filtering and I really enjoy it more. Everyone says I sound great and natural. I'll own it a long time.
K8ZPO |
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| AF4FX |
Rating: |
2011-08-22 | |
| +A+A+A RADIO |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Nice radio, great feel. Replaced my FT 2000 which i have been using on HF.
Transmitting on this radio is great! It lets you tailor your voice characteristics in different modes. I use a boom mic setup with pre-amp that works perfect with the radio
The receiver on the 7410 is much better than the Pro 3 receiver. It is quieter on the Low Bands than the Pro 3.
The DSP NR significantly reduced the general background noise on all bands
All in all, a nice radio, with great filtering
Great rig ... absolutely love it!
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| AC5S |
Rating: |
2011-07-25 | |
| Very Nice!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Picked up the rig a about 6 weeks ago, and I am using it as my primary base radio. The first thing you notice is that this is a nice large tranceiver. The pictures in the ads don't really reflect the overall size. Having spent some time with the radio at HRO Denver, I really liked the display and the ease of viewing the screen. Having come from a IC-7200, the large screen is really excellent. First thing I noticed when got it home and put an antenna to it, was the internal speaker is very good. Although I use an external speaker most of the time, the internal would work well. Receiver is excellent and better than the 7200 on almost all counts. The DSP is very selective and easy to use. The monitor function is a nice feature which works as advertised. So far, everyone has commented about my excellent audio. Having the ability to adjust the transmit audio allows for more adjustment than I usually have had with my previous rigs. All of the buttons are layed out logically. Only thing I would change is adding a RF Power indicator on the display and a color screen. At most dealers the current price is a little high ($1,999 USD) as I bought mine with the Dayton special price of $1799 USD. It's a keeper!! |
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| AE4RV |
Rating: |
2011-07-16 | |
| A Solid HF rig with a great receiver but poor QSK performance |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Bought a month ago to replace a (still kicking) 746pro. Like the 746pro had some of the DNA of the 756proII, this radio has newer DSP and (optional) roofing filters similar to Icom's current flagship radios. The receiver, digital IF filters, and noise reduction are noticeably better than the (fairly excellent) 746pro. It is very well built and sounds great. Can listen to it for hours without fatigue. I can only hear the cooling fan in the IC-7410 when I place my ear on top of the radio, which I did just to make certain that it worked.
The USB port is a great addition allowing both rig control and digital modes without extra hardware or cables. DX Labs software will show your keyer speed and the logging program knows what frequency and mode you're in - a nice time saver. If you click on a DX spot it will tune your radio, set the mode and even the split if necessary. I haven't noticed any PC-generated QRN via the USB cable unlike when I tried using a USB serial port converter cable and a CI-V cable on other rigs. I haven't tried digimodes except to decode some PSK to test it which worked fine.
I did install the roofing filters which is about a 15 - 20 minute procedure mostly involving screws. The new filters often don't make much difference but can help the RX under noisy or difficult conditions. I would only install the 3Khz filter if I had it to do over, it's good for SSB, CW and digimodes. They certainly do make a great receiver even better but in most circumstances aren't very noticeable, to me.
One curious thing is that the DSP noise reduction goes offline when you press the XFC button. This will only affect ops who work split and it does not occur when you press the VFO A/B button, so there is a work-around. But getting treated to a blast of QRN when pressing the XFC button is unpleasant the first few times until you either expect it or use a different button to see where the pileup is. This is also a testament to how good the noise reduction is, so, there you go.
And now, the QSK report (please ignore this if you're not a full break-in CW op):
I suspected poor QSK (full break-in CW) performance from day one. Some tests and comparisons revealed just how bad it really is. You can barely hear the band in between dits sent at 10 WPM and can't hear it at all above that. I have three other Icom radios (703, 706mkII and 746pro, and also an Ellecraft K1) that can hear quite well through dits sent at 20 WPM. QSK operation is important to me and I'm tempted to give this radio three stars (or less!) based on that but I know that most ops don't care about super fast break-in CW. But for those of you who do value QSK performance, you have been warned.
I don't normally write reviews but I felt it important to let a few of you who care about QSK know the truth about this otherwise fine rig. Currently Icom is not acknowledging any issues with QSK operation but I have confirmed with a few other owners that my experience is not unique. Casual CW ops and straight key users who like a pretty fast break-in will probably not have an issue with this. There's certainly no clicking or noise artifacts when it switches back to receive, it's just not as fast as I have become used to on other Icom rigs, by a fairly large margin.
73. |
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