Someone has already started a Yahoo Group for the IC-9100, so I expect we'll
hear more about this rig on that group soon. I'm a member of Yahoo Groups for
each of the radios that I own, and have found them to be very helpful.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ic9100/
It terms of the Flexradio VHF/UHF effort, I was disappointed on what I could
hear from the representatives at the Huntsville Hamfest. Hard to be critical of
an upgrade that is still literally "vaporware" at this point, but some of the
disappointments for me were:
1.) No 222 MHz. Flexradio is aware enough of the VHF/UHF weak signal community
market to offer a low priced transverter version of their radio, but not aware
enough to offer 222 on their VHF/UHF converter?
2.) It's only available for their highest priced radio, the Flex 5000. This
unit is large, bulky, and really won't work well for rovers.
3.) By their own admission, it will be expensive.
4.) Limited output power on both bands (though enough to drive amps). It would
have been great to see 100 watts on all bands.
Having used the SDR-IQ receiver during the UHF Contest in August, it's easy to
see the advantage of the large bandscopes, and I imagine that they'd be useful
in other ways on 6 Meters. It sure made finding the "DEMI Drifters" a lot
easier on 222, and 902. My plan was to wait to purchase a new rig until someone
offered a true VHF/UHF SDR that offered 6 Meters thru 432, but the Icom may
change my mind.
The military is already using SDR's that cover all of the VHF range from 40mhz
to over 500mhz. I've seen prototypes of public service SDR's that offer
basically the same coverage. I wish that one of the Big Three would embrace
this technology and start offering something other than big boxes with lots of
knobs. But based on what I saw at Huntsville, they all seem content to continue
to turn those out...complete with Hi-Fi microphones, lots of buttons to tailor
your transmit audio, and big screen TV's to display your bandscope. They remind
me of the "tweak" audiophile products of the 1980's.
I'm excited about the IC-9100 because I've owned the IC-746 and Pro model for
over a decade. Above average performance in an affordable, "do it all" box. If
Icom continues that tradition, it's hard to see how you could go wrong buying
one.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
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