[Icom] Extensive 756 Pro II Review

[VE6JY Don Moman]

George, I must agree with your comments. I do only have the PRO (but I
have 2 of them which indicates my regard for the unit).

My primary interest is tropical band  DX/SWL and audio recovery/low
distortion are critically important to me.  With other SWL's we have done
several blind listening tests  for audio recovery on weak 60 mb signals
(using a audio mixer and splitting RF through high quality multicouplers)
and the PRO comes out as one of the top. Tested radios included the ICOM
8500 YAESU FT-1000mp and Collins HF-2050 (several of them).  To our ears the
2050s and the PRO are very close.  The 1000mp 3rd and the 8500 a distant
4th.   The Collins HF-2050 is very highly regarded for audio recovery, and
not just by me.  Interestingly these are both full DSP radios. The 1000mp is
fine on SSB (but not as good on weak stuff as the PRO) but decidedly
mediocre on AM and ECSSB stuff.  I do not have, nor have I used  the JRC
545, HF-1000, RX 340 radios so can't comment on that.   I have 2 of the
PRO's and several of the 2050's and they all sound very similar - DSP seems
to leave less up to alignment differences. I can't imagine that my PRO's and
George's sound much  different that any of the ones around.

We use the PRO in multi multi contests as well and the operators, when given
a choice, seem to prefer it (and ask for it) over the various flavours of
FT-1000's around.  They prefer the clean sounding receive audio.

CW is less free from artifacts IF you use the headphone jack.  However the
rear ACC line audio doesn't show most of these and is judged excellent  by
several competent CW contestors that have used the PRO out here.

I am in a usually quiet rural location and even receiving on the HF 4-30 mhz
log periodic I often use preamp 2 and the background noise is still very
low.  The scope shows overloading (a different "rcvr" is used in the PRO to
feed the scope) but that overloading isn't included in the audio.

Without any preamp below 1600 khz (and an "extra" attenuator built in too)
the PRO is very insensitive for MW DX.

None of the features in the PROII are enough to warrant the price difference
for my situation, and I remain very pleased with the PRO.

73 Don
VE6JY
ve6jy@rac.ca
http://www.andor.net/ve6jy

----- Original Message -----
From: "George, W5YR" <w5yr@att.net>
To: <icom@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 20:44
Subject: Re: [Icom] Extensive 756 Pro II Review


> Andy, I just finished the review and am, to put it mildly, astounded at
the
> guy's "findings" re the PRO II.
>
> Now, I have used only the "old PRO" but I find none of the gripes he
> mentions. The most glaring discrepancy that I find has to do with his
> perception of audio receive distortion. I do not know what he listens with
> or how or what condition his hearing is in, but I do not share his
> conclusions at all. The PRO has probably the best SSB and AM receive audio