[Icom] Re. PIEXX ICOMPROM board vs Willco Electronics No-Fail Memory

[Thomas A. Adams]

Hello Jim.

I can't comment on the PIEXX,, but about 3 years ago I installed the
Willco board in my R71A.

As a result of the experience since, I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend it =

to ANYONE who has the need for it.

The board is VERY well made; I was impressed by the PC layout &
etching quality.

The instructions are quite clear, and depending on user expertise level
and needs, it gives you two installations, "simple" and "more involved".

The simple version is just a board swap, after presetting a few variables=

on the board re. model of radio it's going in. After that, you're firmwar=
e =

protected forever, and in an HF radio it extends frequency coverage down
to roughly 10 KHz (a big consideration for me; LF / VLF DXer).

The more involved version is quite clearly described, but it CAN  get sor=
t
of touchy. That one involves tapping into the radio's logic circuits to a=
dd
more memory channels, about 1024 total, to be exact. They are accessed
thru the speech synth button on the R71A. BTW, you DON'T lose use of the
speech synthesizer if it's installed; I do, and it still works as
advertised.

It takes a steady hand to install this version, and a good soldering
station. It
took me about an hour to put it in; my level of expertise can be inferred=

from =

the fact that I my living as a broadcast engineer.

If you don't need 1024 memories, installation is a piece of cake.

When ordering, I thought the price a bit steep, but considering the quali=
ty
of
the product and the results I'd have to say the price is about right.

Hope this helps.

73's,

Tom, W9LBB