[Icom] Introduction of the IC-7800

[George, W5YR]

David, from my experience with the two radios, the PRO 2 and the original
PRO have essentially the same IF DSP filter capabilities, with one exception
which I'll describe later.

What you described for the process to obtain a 50 or 100 Hz passband on the
PRO works exactly the same on the PRO2. In fact, on either radio you can
select any combination of slopes, bandwidth, etc. and make that one of your
three default filter selections for each mode. No need to set it up manually
every time. I commonly use 800, 500 and 100 Hz for my CW filters, and crank
down the 100 Hz filter to 50 Hz when things get rough.

The new thing with the PRO2 filters is the ability to select either a Sharp
or Soft passband for both SSB and CW. Evidently, the very steep slopes of
the DSP filters provided a sound some felt was "harsh" so Icom now makes it
possible to select a Soft filter which has a more rounded response in the
passband and less steep sides. The filtering is almost as effective, but I
suppose that some prefer the slightly different sound. I like the old ones!
<:}

The major merit in the PRO2 is in the much improved front-end design in
which the dynamic range has been noticeably extended. A contester neighbor a
mile away used to take out half the band with the PRO when he was on at
S9+60 dB. With the PRO2, I can operate within 10 KHz or less of his
frequency and copy S2 signals.

 There are a few niceties in some of the features, but mainly the front end
is so much better. The Spectrum Scope has been improved as well and now
qualifies as a tolerable little spectrum analyzer.

Hope this gives you a better idea of the difference between the two models.
Adam Farson's website has a great deal more detailed info. His URL is

http://www.qsl.net/ab4oj/

Adam knows more about Icom radios than any other single individual I know
of - plus he is a great guy to know and correspond with.

73/72, George
Amateur Radio W5YR -  the Yellow Rose of Texas
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13QE
"In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!"
<mailto:w5yr@att.net>






----- Original Message -----
From: "David J. Ring Jr - N1EA" <n1ea@arrl.net>
To: <icom@mailman.qth.net>; "George, W5YR" <w5yr@att.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 3:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Icom] Introduction of the IC-7800


> George you said:
>
> Yes, the PRO2 is a better radio than the PRO which is a better radio than
> the 756. But, each generation provides new capabilities which could not
have
> been realized by mere software changes alone
>
> What is better?  I used the Pro2 at KM1CC, and the very very sharp filter
> for CW seemed to have no ringing in it.  What was it?  50 Hz or 100 Hz.  I
> don't remember.
>
> I don't have them side-by-side, but when I learned how to use the (I
forget
> what ICOM calls it...) i.f. passband to set myself up a narrow filter with
> wider skirts (I set the filter for 800 Hz or so, then two little passband
> markers appear in the filter setup screen, then narrowed it down to 100
Hz)
> the very narrow filter seemed to work a lot better.
>
> Do you think this is equal to the PRO2?  In other words, did ICOM figure
out
> how to do this without this "backwards" approach, or did they find a
> different way which results in an even better filter.
>
> My IMPRESSION was that the PRO2 has much nicer very narrow selectivity,
but
> ALSO the PRO (one) is much nicer using the manual setup to use the i.f.
> shift and make a narrow filter.
>
> Any comments would be appreciated.
>
> 73
> David Ring
> N1EA
>
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