[HCRA] ID 1 Review

[Daniel Sullivan]

Well I am writing an initial impressions review of the ID 1 after a few 
days. I will be updating this much later on after I really break the rig in. 
Currently it is mounted in my truck with the rig in the back and the speaker 
mounted near the ceiling of the truck in the back. The head is remotely 
mounted in the driver's area and the antenna is a Diamond NR124NMO 
monobander mounted on a mag mount until I get a new NMO installed.

As a monoband UHF radio it is not bad. It sounds nice on transmit (I have 
talked to other who have them) and on receive. The ability to remote mount 
is nice and the remote head is a pretty good size to use. Overall it is a 
decent radio.

I use the radio on 1.2 GHz FM simplex, repeaters and DStar DV simplex 
currently. I will soon begin playing with the DD function (the reason I got 
the rig) and repeaters and gateways on DStar once they are installed. It 
sounds very similar to the ID800 I reviewed elsewhere on DV. The microphone 
is a bit oddly over sized and I am not sure why to be honest. Seems almost 
like they had a bunch of old CB mics lying around. Not a complaint but the 
mic did not seem to got with the aesthetics of the rig.

I think the instruction booklet, for its faults, is a world ahead of the one 
for the ID800. While not perfect it is a bit more readable, though typos and 
grammar are not what even secondary school kids would find acceptable in 
many places. Icom please note: You have a division in America that is paid 
to do stuff for you. Please let them edit your English language manuals!

The downsides I have found thus far are not deal breakers but I found them 
disconcerting. Why is there no mobile mount? It's a mobile radio and even if 
you use it as a base you need to put it on something to get airflow over the 
entirety of the unit. I would think that for a radio as pricey as this they 
could have thrown in the mounting bracket instead of having it as an option.

The software is neat. I think they have a great idea going for those digital 
guys out there who never use the head of the radio or mic. I first saw the 
ID1 demonstrated this way and to have a virtual head for the radio is a good 
idea in this application. Just fix the software bugs. For example I could 
not program 1253.500 MHz into memory as it defaulted to 1260 MHz. Checking 
the specs the radio is ok down below 1260MHz but the software would have 
none of it. Only after I got the ID1 hooked up and set the ID1 to the 1253.5 
frequency I wanted would it let me save and manipulate the memory I 
required.

The ID800 software is a huge improvement in many ways over the ID 1 
software. Specifically the fields where you edit MYCALL (or multiple 
versions of MYCALL) for DV, and in how you can interact with the programming 
software while off line. The ID 1 has to be on line for many of the 
functions of the programming to take effect. This is a big deal as my 
installation is mobile. I have found trying to play around with the software 
while standing in near freezing weather outside the back of truck a bit 
annoying. I'd rather sit in my warm house and learn the platform a bit 
before plugging it into the rig.

I find the software not very intuitive. (My measure is the obvious how long 
must I fiddle with it before breaking out the book or finding another ham 
who already has one and can help me out.)There just did not seem to be 
functions where I thought there'd be functions. Going back to MYCALL why can 
I not view the default rig settings for MYCALL and the STATUS message unless 
I am hooked to the rig and then really search for those functions in the 
manual?

Icom did think of one good thing I failed to realize, the extension USB 
cable has a male and female USB connector on it. I think, however, maybe the 
rig should have had the female receptical and then I can run to any computer 
store and buy however long a piece of USB extension cable I need for remote 
work. Not a complaint so much as a slight improvement. The supplied cable 
serves its purpose for now. Also why is it USB 1.0 and not 2.0 or whatever 
the latest version is?

I appreciated that Icom put the drivers and operating software on one disk 
instead of 2 for the ID800. More importantly it came with the rig rather 
than buying it separately. This is a definite plus.

I very much look forward to playing with the DD features and exploring just 
what potential it has. Once I do that I will write more. I think, if I am to 
upgrade this to a 4 it will be after that based on how well I can figure it 
out and what I can do with it. I know what has been done by others (I have 
seen some pretty awesome applications already) but there are a few things I 
want to explore first, before commenting on DD.

The ID1 is a platform from which we hams will build. I can see many worlds 
of growth coming from this line of technology. The best piece of advice I 
can give is this:

1) The tinkering on this rig is for the software developers amongst us. Look 
for the new applications as the price of the technology falls. Just have the 
applications set up for those of us without computer science degrees thanks!

2) Just because 1.2 GHz is quiet don't give up on the band. I got this rig 
used and discounted because the previous owner felt the band was useless 
after 3 days! His loss, my gain. I already have a few people to talk to and 
will be jumping on at least 2 new repeaters in the coming months.

I got into DStar because nothing else exciting is going on for FM 
communications. This is exciting and new and definitely something I am going 
to enjoy exploring.


Dan S.
KO1D/4
Falls Church, VA

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