[ICOM] IC-7800

[Bill Tippett]

K4SX wrote:
 >Does anyone know the latest information regarding the IC-7800 and 
problems and/or suspected problems?

         Ron, looking at slides 19 & 20 of Sherwood Engineering's
presentation during the Contest Forum at Dayton here,

http://www.sherweng.com/Dayton_2004/Dayton_2004-Sherwood_files/frame.htm

there is an apparent inconsistency between Icom's advertising claims of
"+40 dBm IP3 and 110 dB dynamic range" with preliminary measurements
by ARRL.  ARRL's actual measurements were as follows:

Dynamic Range at 20 kHz: 98 dB
Dynamic Range at 5 kHz: 87 dB
Dynamic Range at 1 or 2 kHz: 78 dB

Sherwood's summary comment:  "One would expect a dynamic
range closer to 110 dB with an IP3 greater than +40 dBm."

Possible conclusions:

1.  Icom's claims may be more hype than substance, and there
could be some specsmanship games being played.
2.  ARRL's measurements were bad.
3.  The unit under test was bad.

         Take your pick but you might want to wait for ARRL's full
report which should be out by late summer.  I suspect ARRL will
be in contact with Icom to resolve which of the above conclusions
is true.  Also RSGB's RadCom should be testing the IC-7800 soon
which will give us another excellent data point.

                                 73,  Bill  W4ZV