[VHFcontesting] Re: Ideal contesting rig

[caitlynmaire at earthlink.net]

Hi, John, and everyone else,

On Fri, 31 Jan 2003 07:55:09 -0800 (PST)
John Geiger <johngeig at yahoo.com> wrote:

Very interesting discussion...

> I agree that the Icom IC970H is considered the top of
> the line VHF/UHF rig, and I believe that it is, and it
> still commands a very good price.  The one shortcoming
> with it is that it is a satellite rig-that means that
> it has no 6 meters,

I believe Icom assumes that if you have an IC-970H you will also have
one of their high end HF rigs, all of which have 6 meters.  Considering
what the IC-575H is going for on the used market nowadays, having one
additional rig (instead of a shack in a box) doesn't seem like such a
bad thing to me.

> no 220

Icom has long abandoned the 222MHz band.  It isn't a ham band in Japan
and Europe, and even in the U.S. demand was minimal.  Take a look how
many FT-736Rs have the 222 module compared to the total number out
there.  Take a look at how many IC-375As they managed to sell.  I think
this was, more than anything, a marketing decision.  They certainly
could have made a 222 module for the rig.

> and the 2.4 module is for
> the wrong part of the 13cm band.

Not in Japan, it's not.  Their band is much smaller than ours.  Was the
13cm module even sold in the US?  I don't think so.

> That seems to be
> Icom's dirction today-make all of their VHF rigs
> geared only to satellite users.

Not exactly.  I think they are geared to the Japanese market, not the
U.S. market.

> Yaesu is doing the
> same thing.

Yep.

> The beauty of the FT736 was that it was a
> satellite rig that was also geared towards terrestrial
> operation-hence the 220 and 6 modules.   

It also had a mediocre receiver.  The FT-736R was simply the best
all-in-one budget solution.  Serious VHF/UHFers prefer transverters for
good reason:  they outperform the FT-736R in almost every way.  Ditto
the FT-847.  The IC-970H and IC-x75 series realy could hold their own,
performance-wise.  Pity there isn't the demand in the U.S. for the
IC-970H or an updated version.

73,
Caity
KU4QD
> 
> I am curious as to why there is this satellite focus.
> Surely there must be more hams doing terrestrial work
> than satellite work
> 
> 73s John NE0P
> 
> 
> --- caitlynmaire at earthlink.net wrote:
> > Hi, 
> > 
> > The closest thing today would be the Icom IC-970J,
> > the Japanese version
> > of the IC-970H, which is still sold in Japan.  We
> > Americans wouldn't pay
> > the big bucks so it was discontinued here.  No 6m,
> > but a fabulous
> > 2m/70cm/23cm rig.  I got to play with one and
> > decided that if I ever won
> > the lottery...  Every time I see an IC-970H with the
> > 23cm module it
> > *still* goes for a lot of green.
> > 
> > 73,
> > Caity
> > KU4QD
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