[ICOM] IC-7100 User Review & Test Report now released

[Adam Farson]

Hi Ron,

Glad you enjoyed the report. The IC-7100 was announced last year. It is
interesting that the EU version covers the 4m (70 MHz) band as well.

There is a market demand for small, compact HF/VHF/UHF radios for mobile and
portable operation. The people who buy larger-format fixed-station radios
such as the 7600, 7700, 7800 etc. purchase them mainly if not exclusively
for HF, with some 6m operation included. The choice of 1st IF in a small,
compact radio such as the 7100 is a compromise to accommodate all the
supported frequency ranges. In an HF transceiver, the 1st IF is selected for
optimum HF or HF/6m performance. This is usually not the best choice for a
VHF/UHF radio. Also, the added complexity, cost and potential for internal
EMC issues militates against a big "jack-of-all-trades" radio.

The IC-9100 supports HF, 6m, 2m, 70cm and optionally 23cm, but it is very
complex and quite expensive. I ran a comprehensive test suite on it (my
report is on my IC-9100 page.) For a "Swiss Army knife" radio, the 9100 is
remarkably free of spurs, birdies etc.

No, there is not going to be a PRO model. The manufacturers do not have R&D
funds to sling around nowadays.


73, Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ

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Adam, excellent work, as usual!

Thank you so much!

I was kind of surprised to see this new model, but knew Icom was working on
something.

Having been to Japan many times, I understand (kind of) the JA philosophy of
small, multi-band radios. But, I can never figger out why they can't put all
these frequencies in a larger format like the 7800, etc....

Also, how long will it be before the 7100 PRO comes out? ha ha

tnx agn

ron
N4UE