LATEST NEWS
G4JBH SELLS OUT TO ICOM!
In recent years, we have been great supporters of Yaesu transceivers for HF operating and of course, VHF via a transverter. Prior to the existence of the excellent FT-1000MP series, our favourite was the Kenwood TS-950SDX.
Being a bit of a "gear head", G4JBH has tried many of the more modern rigs - the Kenwood TS-2000 and Yaesu FT-2000 to name a couple. To use a technical term - YUK - none of them have remained in the shack for long! Certainly they may have excellent specifications, but the combination of being "menu city" and the lack of "feel" results in zero operating pleasure.
Well all that has changed a bit! We have now taken delivery of an Icom IC-7800 for the 2012 contest season. Yes it has menus, but the whole operating system is very logically laid-out, it has real knobs and its performance is stunning. Also, it interfaces with our DB6NT transverter perfectly, using the transceiver's 10MHz reference output to ensure that the transverter is spot on frequency. The mains power supply is built-in, so that saves another box on the desk.
This means that our station is now exclusively Icom-based with the IC-7800 being used as the main rig and the IC-7000 employed when we need to operate a second band simultaneously.