The Icom IC-7200 HF+6m amateur radio transceiver.
The Icom IC-7200 HF amateur radio transceiver is a sensitive ham rig that is just as at home on a desk in the home shack as it is for for portable, DXpedition and emcomms use.
The ic-7200 is a no-nonsense transceiver built for the Amateur bands between 160m and 6m, and works in SSB, AM, CW (morse code) and digital modes such as PSK, RTTY, WSPR and others. Unlike most other amateur radios, the IC-7200 does not give you the option of using FM mode on the 10m and 6m bands, but it has many good things going for it, and it is a real contender in its price range.
Power output is up to 100 watts in single sideband and CW mode. For AM voice it is 25 watts max. And you can turn the power down to if you are running on batteries and need to conserve power.
A lot of hams like the tough, military-looking style of the Icom ic 7200, but that is a facade only.
The macho pair of handles you will have noticed in the photo are an optional extra. It looks tough, but it is a long way from being mil-spec! So if you drop this radio, it will break just like most ordinary amateur radio sets; and although it has some slight water protection in its design, you had better keep it out of the rain as well.
That said, I can tell you that this rig has thousands of very happy owners who believe it is the best value ham radio transceiver for their hard-earned money. And this is why…
Sensitivity: You only have to read through the pages of rave reviews to be told again and again that this rig has a very quiet noise floor; and that means it can help you pull in weak signals that would be drowned out in the base noise from other similarly-priced HF radios. The radio has a built-in front-facing loudspeaker that is small and convenient. It isn’t hi-fidelity, but it sounds adequate for most radio communications.
Selectivity: Like many modern amateur radios today, the ic-7200 has IF DSP – an intermediate-frequency-based digital signal processor to help you block out nearby signals that you don’t want to hear, so you can concentrate on the station that you want to work with and get that QSO. It has a control knob marked Twin PBT (Pass-Band Tuning) that moves the band-pass filters closer to (or further from) your operating frequency until you are happy with the sound received. These are advanced digital features that are normally only found in much more expensive ham transceivers.
USB Connectivity: This radio has a built-in USB port for connection to your computer both for rig control, using programs such as HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe). The same USB connection also ports audio signals between the radio and a computer or other data interface (such as the NUE-PSK digital modem). This makes working digital modes very painless, and is far better than all those other radios that only have an obsolete RS-232 connection. Having to use an RS-232 serial port with a modern computer usually means buying a separate interface cable and loading drivers onto your laptop.
It’s Great for Morse Code, too: The IC-7200 has full break-in or QSK, something that is important to hardened CW enthusiasts, because it allows them to receive signals in between their words or character groups in morse code. This means they can hear the other guy, or a breaker, if they are trying to get your attention before you have planned to finish sending.
The Icom IC-7200 radio has a manual notch filter, digital noise reduction, a digital noise blanker and a very stable transmitter with ±0.5ppm frequency stability. That means it stays on frequency until you want to move it. The rig also has built-in speech compression to help you transmit voice signals that sound great at the other end. It has 201 memory channels (two are used for scanning boundaries) and a built-in voice synthesizer, making it great for blind or sight-impaired radio operators.
Now watch this video to be taken on a quick tour of the radio in less than 10 minutes…
References:
Icom’s own page on the IC-7200
User Reviews of the Icom IC-7200 on eHam.net
Icom IC-7200 user group in Yahoo Groups
If you have found this article entertaining or useful, please click the Google +1 button below and recommend it to your ham radio friends. Thanks.
73 de David, vk2dmh.
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