[ICOM] No longer supported radios

[Mike Olbrisch]

#1 - IC-781.  Still a hard radio to beat after all these years.  The
Sherwood cooling fan is a very nice addition.  Add a Timewave DSP-599zx to
it, and there really isn't much the newest radios can hear that the 781
can't dig out too.  A former world-class radio that still packs a punch
everywhere but your wallet.  Along with the IC-2KL and IC-AT500, you have a
fully automatic 500 watt station.  They still hold their own - and way under
the $5 to $10k of the latest and greatest.

#2 - IC-740.  A fantastic receiver for its time, and the ham-band only
design allowed it to have a quieter receiver than its wide-band brother the
745.  The one flaw was the speech processor switch.  The FM and CW Keyer
boards were highly desirable options.  A fully loaded IC-740 would be a
great radio in most ham-shacks.

#3 - IC-730.  Mostly for the same reasons as the IC-740, the IC-730 was a
mighty fine radio.  It had perhaps the best receiver of the era.  Small and
compact, but with a lot of features, and no menus.  There was a knob or
button for every function.  Mobile, portable, or even in the house, the
IC-730 was a solid reliable performer.

#4 - IC-706 Mk-I.  Small, compact, and pretty much does it all.  Not in high
demand like the MK-IIG, so they are not real expensive.  This is a good
radio for emergency uses where you might need 2m too, but 80-40m EMCOM would
be the primary use.  Too much RX current drain for battery use.  I keep one
with a PS-55 and AH-3 in a box with a 33' fiberglass vertical ready to go.

#5 - IC-703/703+.  With only 10 watts out some will turn their nose up.  I
have a 703+, use it on my bicycle and as a backpack "Pedestrian Mobile"
radio.  Check out my QRZ profile for photos.  Just recently I have made
several /pm contacts on 40m in the 600-1000 mile range, and even worked
HK0NA while standing in the street with a 10 ft whip on a pack frame.  It
uses 1/4 the current on RX of the 706, so it is great for battery and small
solar panels.

The top 2 I would avoid are:

#1 - IC-701 with its SWR hang-ups.
#2 - IC-720/720A with the rotary relay.