ICOM 706MKllG compared to Yaesu 857d?

[TonyV225]

I was curious as to comments on these radios from people who own them or have owned them. I know nothing about these and have 1 Icom I received a few months back its a 2200H 2 meter that I tried out and put back in the box although it did seem to work quite well when testing it.

I own mostly Yaesu and a few Kenwoods aswell but really have no experience with Icom. I like our Yaesu 857D and was wondering how comparible the Icom 706MKllG is to that 857D. Any help or advice would be great.

 

[packrat]

Tony,

Search for the MTS website. It is run by Scott Malcom, the guru for these radios. He has a lot of info on the 706 series, as well as what to look for. Hope this helps.

PS: he is working on my 706.

 

[Simon004]

I've never used the 857, so I can't make any direct comparisons. A couple of locals here use the 857, and they sound great, they don't seem to have any complaints.

I love my MKIIG, it's true home is in the mobile where it is easy to use, has a nice big display and the separation kit makes for a nice tidy install. I have posted a video here in the installation & mobile setup section showing how mine is installed. The TX audio is great, in the years I've had it I have never received a bad audio report, whether it be on the HAM bands or on CB, in fact, most people think I'm using a base radio rather than a mobile. I just use the standard mic supplied with the radio.

Bad points imo, the selectivity isn't that great. When the band is hopping and people are working quite close together, it can be almost impossible to find a clear frequency to work on, without being splattered by signals above and below up to 10KHz away if they are S9 or stronger. I put this down to the fact that it is a mobile rig, and maybe receiver gain is increased a little bit to compensate for people using mobile antennas. I'm guessing that the 857 is also similar in this regard.

There is no SWR meter on Antenna socket 2 (VHF/UHF), not sure why, surely it can't cost much more to include one of these? It would be a handy addition.

The DSP is pretty much useless, more of a gimmick I think. It can be set from level 1 to level 15, but anything over level 2 distorts the audio so much it causes more problems than it solves

There is a well documented (if you look online) problem with the ALC circuit. No matter what power level you set the radio at, there is a 100mS 100W leading edge spike every time you TX, before the ALC comes in to reduce the power. This is only a problem if you plan to use an amplifier, as it can trip the overdrive protection on some amps, or shorten the life of the amplifiers PA if it doesn't have protection. That said though, lots of people have run a 706 into amps with no problems at all.

I don't mean to put you off with the -ve points. It really is a great little shack in a box, if you tried one I don't think you would be disappointed.

 

[TonyV225]

Very good thank you for your thoughts and opinions on this.

 

[Moleculo]

I've had both the 706mkiig and the 857d, and used them both in a mobile environment. They are both good radios and both have some things that could be better (of course). You really need the narrow SSB filter in the 706, IMO. The TX audio is really good, even with the stock mic. The display is much easier to read than the 857d, mainly because it's so much bigger. The menu system is a little odd, but once you get used to it, it's pretty easy to remember. The pass band tuning is a lot easier on the 706, which is a nice thing while mobile. There are tons of after market accessories out for it. Some things that I don't like are that it doesn't support PTT via CI-V, which can be important for some computer controlled digital modes. There are ways to get around that, but the software must support it. I don't like that you have to turn the radio off to get to some options, but that's not a big deal. The compressor adjustment is a little screw pot on the side of the radio body. That's an annoying place for it if you want to adjust it while mobile. In fact, my radio is under the seat, so I can't adjust it at all. At least you can turn it on and off from the control head.

It's a good radio that has served me well. Overall, I have a lot more likes than complaints.

 

[TonyV225]

Thanks Tim!!

 

[W5LZ]

The 'size' thingy is really more important than you might think, especially mobile. Nothing wrong with making things smaller, but there's a point where that 'smaller' will end up biting you. For me, that 'smaller point' ain't all that small!

I can just imagine the 'next' step for miniaturized radios, "Touch Screen" controls! All things considered, that's gotta be one of the dumbest ideas for a mobile radio I can think of. But you watch, somebody will come out with it...
- 'Doc