[CQ-Contest] IC7800 -

[Ed Parish K1EP]

At 3/11/04 08:39 AM, Ragnar Otterstad wrote:

>I called ICOM technical support to ask if the IC7800's two
>receivers could be simultaneously controlled by one knob,
>for physical diversity reception.  Tech support said they
>would have to get back to me.  No reply in a week.
>
>Left same question in the voice mail for the Product Manager
>of the IC7800, no reply in the second week.
>
>I assume the absence of a reply is NO, so I'm ordering an
>Orion, as those specs clearly state that it does support
>physical antenna diversity reception.

Icom radios using the CI-V bus in the past could always be linked.  I wonder if that could be done through the CI-V?  Probably not, as the individual receivers don't have separate addresses and there is only one CI-V per 7800.  Too bad.  I also wonder what the RJ-45 on the back panel is for.  Nothing in the literature or marketing hype documents show its use.  If it is for Ethernet and the ability to download new firmware, then a change like that might be field upgradable.  That is the way the Orion works, seems reasonable for future radios to be firmware upgradable, especially in this class, complexity and price.  I would hate to have spent $10K USD for a radio, only to find out that a factory firmware upgrade improved some functionality and in order to get that new firmware, I would have to ship my radio out for several weeks at my expense.