[CQ-Contest] Icom 746 as contesting rig

[Mark Beckwith]

> I'm not totally against a 746 Pro, but I saw all the 
> reviews on EHam and the biggest complaint was 
> transmitter failures. Did Icom get that fixed?


No, I have consecutive serial numbers later than the trouble period, yet both of mine still failed 3 days apart about 2 months after purchasing them new (June 2004).  The factory repaired them at no cost with less than 24 hours turnaround and they have not failed in over 2 years of regular use and hard contesting, including three DXpeditions (main SO2R radios at N5OT and main M2 radios at PJ4R and TI5N).

Nevertheless it does leave one with that uneasy feeling.  Icom says "they have the failure rate down to an acceptable level" - I am thinking my two radios got the bad chips when they were manufactured and got the good chips when they were repaired.

The get an A for customer service.  I love these radios.

http://www.n5ot.com/bonairepix/746PROx2.jpg

Mark, N5OT