CERTAIN HF$ NEVER HEARD ON 11METERS

[Blackcat630]

The 718 down to $600 but I wonder how many they are selling? With the continued price fall of the 7300 sales have to be down. I have heard SO many 7300s on the air lately makes me wonder how Icom can build them fast enough..

 

[BJ radionut]

SO many 7300s on the air lately makes me wonder how Icom can build them fast enough..

Population in CHINA...6 BILLION+...they have plenty of labor!

 

[oldtymer]

Not hard to figure out why so many are dumping them.
They have the scope &decent tx audio but the receiver performance is lacking.

 

[Mudfoot]

Don't let the snobs poop on Alinco. The DX-70, DX-77 and SR8T are good rigs. Each of them have potent audio (even AM) PA sections are stout. I've owned several of each model over the years. Never had much bad luck with any, except the older 77 I have. SR8T stomps on the 718.

I'd like to see them come out with something similar to the DX-70TH.

 

[Mudfoot]

Not hard to figure out why so many are dumping them.
They have the scope &decent tx audio but the receiver performance is lacking.

I agree, my 7300 is packed away for next hamfest.

 

[Mudfoot]

I want to get a elecraft kx3 but I'm told theres no way to go 11 meter cb band on them

Yep, that was first on the list when the pencil pushers ordered the engineers to design it.

"none of our rigs will transmit on 11 meters" it says that right above the factory doors.

 

[oldtymer]

Elecraft, another fan boy radio that nowhere justifies cost vs. performance.
I tried the k3 7 years ago & head to head with a Icom 7200 they were about even.
The 7200 was less than one third the price- adios k3.
Also the tx imd of the k3 was horrible, never should have passed fcc certification.

 

[fourstringburn]

I guess it's safe to say that you are not a fan of the alinco

That's correct. I just was not impressed with the build quality and some of the features or ones lacking that it should have.

On air reports were good and unless I told people it was an Alinco, then most reports probably would have been biased against it. Maybe that isn't fair but that's the stigma their HF radios have.

I eventually sold it on Ebay and had a bit of a bidding war so I got more than what I expected for it.

 

[Flatop]

If you want to talk on 11m and affordably, buy a cb radio.

 

[Sonar]

http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=74163

I didn't know about the added power supply and free shipping for $900 deal. I didn't even know that the 7300's price had dropped so drastically. With the included power supply it certainly makes for an incredible offer. I'm sure the power supply being offered in this deal isn't the best but is most likely sufficient to run the 7300 with no hash.
That imo makes the 7300 a no brainier should one be in the market for a new HF.
After hearing at least a dozen (on 27 MHz only) the 7300 is certainly a tremendous sounding HF. I've yet to hear one (on ssb) that didn't sound spectacular!
Whether One is using the supplied hand (fist mic) or a studio type microphone (which was the case with most if not all of the ones I've heard) I love the perfectly balanced audio. I'm not sure but I think they designed the 7300 to make it difficult to get it to sound poorly. I can only assume that the recivre is on point. I've never heard what I assume is wonderful listening experience. The listed receive and transmit options seem impressive to say the least.
It baffles me that anyone would purchase a second hand yeasu 950 for around $500 (no power supply included (most likely.) I do understand $500 is almost half the 7300's price and some just might not be able to afford the $900. If I were in that position I'd put as much money aside every month until I could afford the 7300 and power supply $900 price tag. What baffles me is the fact that there are still people offering icom 756 pro series for $1300 or more and people still buying them. Don't get me wrong the icom 746-756 pro series are excellent HF's. But the asking prices are ridiculous When comparing the price and operating capabilities of the 7300.
A good power supply (30 amp megga watt) is gonna cost $75(?)
Bringing the cost of a second hand 950 to about $600 (give or take a few bucks.)
I haven't heard of any inherent design flaw's in the latest 7300's.
Do you think some operators have an issue with the SDR direct sampling as opposed to the traditional superheterodyne transceivers? If I were in the market for a new HF i know what I'd be purchasing. Thanks for sharing the the $900 7300 power supply free shipping combo link. I had no idea that the 7300's price had dropped so drastically. Your replies final sentance has got me thinking. Why are people still purchasing 10 year old HF's for $400 less (without power supply) over such a tremendous transceiver as the 7300. 73's ps. I hope others weigh in when it comes to my thought of why people are buying 1-10 year old second hand transceivers for the price of a brand new 7300. Sometimes paying more for an HF that doesn't come close to the tx/rx capabilities of the 7300.

 

[Sonar]

The DX70 is an HF radio. I have heard a couple of those on air on 38lsb and they didn't sound bad by any means. I don't know what others look for as far as sound goes, but I like a normal on frequency speaking person, no reverb and added bs. I want to know what you sound like if I were to meet you in person so to speak. Everyone likes a different sound from a radio I suppose. This is just what I prefer. As close to real as possible! A stock mic and the right settings are all that is needed!! JMHO.

I agree 100%. Reverb, noise toys, talk back ect ect makes me wanna pull the hair (if I had any) out of my head. Especially the operators that use every single toy imaginable. And doing so all at once. UGH!!!

 

[Sonar]

Lets see, the 7300 originally sold for about $1600, now it is less than $900 new, yep, just about 50%.

BTW, even ICOM calls the 7300 an entry level radio.

I've no idea why icom would refer to the 7300 as a entry level transceiver. In my opinion it's so far above and entry level HF transceiver that it's not even funny. It's astronomically better then any entry-level transceiver I've ever heard (or seen on youtYou.)
UPDATE. As opposed to deleting this reply I'm going to leave it posted. I did not read all of the replies before I myself replied. But it seems that the 7300 has some serious receive issues. If not issues it certainly seems like the 7300's receive doesn't deliver up to its transmitting capabilities. It truly must be a very bad receiving experience. I am very surprised. They are such a wonderful sounding transceivers. I don't understand why any company would make such a terrific sounding transmitter and design the receive as a afterthought. That's what It seems is the case with the 7300. That's truly sad.

 

[Sonar]

Not hard to figure out why so many are dumping them.
They have the scope &decent tx audio but the receiver performance is lacking.

I'm very surprised to hear that the receive of the 7300 is lacking. I what a vend always did assume the total opposite. Listening to a 7300 is so pleasurable that I would have thought the receive would have been just as enjoyable to listen to. I guess that answers the question to one of my replies. I replied before reading this particular reply. It's really shocking to hear that the receive could be that poor. Poor enough for people who purchased them to be dumping them so quickly. Learn something new everyday. 73

 

[Sonar]

If you want to talk on 11m and affordably, buy a cb radio.

I agree. If one doesn't have a ticket buying an hf specifically for 11 meter's might be overkill.
Some might argue that using an hf strictly on 11 meter's gives one all the terrific options like DSP, parametric equalizer, passband filtering, 100 Watts clean ssb audio, ect ect ect ect.
And I get that. It's definitely a huyers market when purchasing a used (almost new) hf s the one single reason I can see for buying an hf specifically for use on 11. And although I've heard a few hf's that sound good on AM I've still haven't heard one that sounds as good as a correctly set up cobra 2000, Washington, madison, Uniden 980 ect ect. I don't think it's because hf's don't inherently sound good on AM. I think unlike the ease of getting an HF to sound excellent on SSB most HF owners that want to occasionally switch from SSB too AM (on an hf) just don't want to take the few minutes it might take to get an HF to sound excellent on AM, or don't want to have to change their SSB settings going from one mode to another. Then having to switch those settings back when they go back to ssb. Just a thought. I don't know if thats what needs to be done when getting an HF to sound good on AM. Even though I own an ft950 I've never used it for more than an hour and mostly listened to ham bands for almost the whole hour.

 

[oldtymer]

I agree. If one doesn't have a ticket buying an hf specifically for 11 meter's might be overkill.
Some might argue that using an hf strictly on 11 meter's gives one all the terrific options like DSP, parametric equalizer, passband filtering, 100 Watts clean ssb audio, ect ect ect ect.
And I get that. It's definitely a huyers market when purchasing a used (almost new) hf s the one single reason I can see for buying an hf specifically for use on 11. And although I've heard a few hf's that sound good on AM I've still haven't heard one that sounds as good as a correctly set up cobra 2000, Washington, madison, Uniden 980 ect ect. I don't think it's because hf's don't inherently sound good on AM. I think unlike the ease of getting an HF to sound excellent on SSB most HF owners that want to occasionally switch from SSB too AM (on an hf) just don't want to take the few minutes it might take to get an HF to sound excellent on AM, or don't want to have to change their SSB settings going from one mode to another. Then having to switch those settings back when they go back to ssb. Just a thought. I don't know if thats what needs to be done when getting an HF to sound good on AM. Even though I own an ft950 I've never used it for more than an hour and mostly listened to ham bands for almost the whole hour.

Icom wanted to get in the SDR game so they came out with the 7300.
Saved a bunch of money by not having to use all the components in the IF circuit of a
superhet receiver.
Where they screwed the pooch was not using better A/D converters to process the
signal(read ie. Cheap).
If they would have used the more expensive & better performing ones like used in the
newest Flex radios it would have made a huge difference in performance.
As far as HF radios on AM some sound better than others -Kenwood TS-570
uses audio from both sidebands in AM mode, also the TS-480.
Don't know about Icom, they may still only use the audio from one sideband like they
all did in the older HF radios.
Am mode is a fully modulated carrier, not 1 watt swinging to?
If you stop trying to get any HF rig to sound like a CB & use a 10-15 watt carrier
and adjust your mic gain properly most newer HF rigs sound pretty good on AM.
Listen on 7.190 or 3.890 to the AM guys with their old AM gear, no big swing just
a solid carrier with solid steady modulation.