[ICOM] New IC-7700 announced at Dayton

[Alex]

Hi Adam,

> On the analogue meter: in a word, "Nein -
>kommt nicht in Frage." The TFT screen does a fine job of emulating an
>analogue meter, complete with ballistics and pointer shadow. There is no
>room on the panel - or in the chassis - for a traditional analogue meter. I
>do not have an issue with this - if modern airliners and military aircraft
>have "glass cockpits", why shouldn't modern radios also have them?

Well, heck, you can always point to something else this way. That's a fallacy. Modern cars come with analog meters, why shouldn't modern radios also have them? Call me nuts, but I like the analog meter better. Same goes for pinball machines. There are plenty of emulators out there, but nothing beats the look and feel of the real thing. Big deal. It's just a personal preference...

>I do not believe that Icom will undertake so major an architectural change
>as adding Dual Watch, as this would push the IC-7700 considerably above the
>intended price point. At the $6K price level, the IC-7700 will probably sell
>very well in its intended target markets.

I don't know if it's such a major architectural change. It's of the shelf technology for them for which the research already has been paid by the older rigs. I wouldn't be surprised if changes would be made before it hits the market. Same happened to the FT-2K. I think this is a bit of a market feeler. $6K with no dual watch that is available on their $2600 rig is quite a disappointing to say the least, almost an unnecessary omission.

By the time the 7700 becomes available, Yaesu has probably ironed out the problems with the FT-2000. Add a DMU and throw in in a few u-tuning units in it for good measure and you have a rig that is quite comparable with dual receive. Competition may be tough for the 7700.

73,
--Alex KR1ST
http://www.kr1st.com