Icom IC-2730 Review

[Moleculo]

Would you mind posting a picture of the back of the face, without the MBA-4 bracket attached?

I plan on getting this radio and attaching the face directly to a single din blanking plate and tucking the main unit in the center console.

Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of the back of the face to plan out the install before making the purchase.

Here you go (attached)

 

[Matt Phillips]

Here you go (attached)

Awesome, thank you.

Icom really doesn't give you much to go with to mount it out of the box.

Looks like I may be able to take the back off, make new screw holes in the single din blanking plate, cutout for the board and rj11 port, and mount the face flush with the blanking plate.

We'll see how this goes.

 

[Moleculo]

Awesome, thank you.

Icom really doesn't give you much to go with to mount it out of the box.

Looks like I may be able to take the back off, make new screw holes in the single din blanking plate, cutout for the board and rj11 port, and mount the face flush with the blanking plate.

We'll see how this goes.

I'd probably just make a plate that mounts up to the rear screws or if I didn't feel like fabricating, spend the $30 for the MBA-5 plate bracket and alter that for whatever purpose I needed. That's what I ended up doing with the ID-5100, which turned out pretty good.

 

[Matt Phillips]

I'd probably just make a plate that mounts up to the rear screws or if I didn't feel like fabricating, spend the $30 for the MBA-5 plate bracket and alter that for whatever purpose I needed. That's what I ended up doing with the ID-5100, which turned out pretty good.

My issue with that route is that the back of the face has a beveled edge. I was hoping to have more of a flush look to it.

I thought about getting the MBA-5 plate and just having it magnet mount to the flat surface, but I'm not sure if that would look alright. Going with the MBA-5 will definitely make the install easier, but I suspect it may extend the face out too far.

I ordered a "1 din dash frame" for my dashboard, and the ic-2730 will fit just perfectly on the $5 blank plate, with about 20mm of space on either side, and about 5mm on top and bottom, if centered. Going with the flush look, in my opinion, may make/give it more of a "factory installed" look.

If the flush install doesn't go as planned, I'll definitely give the MBA-5 a shot. I'm okay with losing a few extra bucks to try something a bit more involved.

 

[Moleculo]

I look forward to some pics on how you install it. Did you already buy the radio?

 

[Matt Phillips]

I look forward to some pics on how you install it. Did you already buy the radio?

I did, and it's on the way. I'll definitely post some before, during, and after pictures of the install.

Unfortunately, the hold up is going to be the arrival of the 1 din dash frame. It's currently in China, and hasn't shipped yet. It may be a few, due to the Chinese New Year.

 

[Matt Phillips]

Quick update, since I made a mistake in the measurements in a previous post. I'm not sure why it won't let me edit it.

The dimensions of the controller/face is actually 150mm x 50mm. A single/1 DIN face is 180mm x 50mm.

This will leave 15mm of space on either side and 0mm above and below the controller/face.

 

[peter frassanito kk4sdr]

The IC-2730 is Icom's newest dual band (2m/440Mhz) mobile radio which features dual wide RX, 50 watt power output, large display, lots of memories, and crossband repeat. The price-point of this radio (I paid $349) demonstrates the competitive market for rigs in this category. While the price of this radio is pretty aggressive, Icom is packaging this radio in a similar manner to the ID-5100: No brackets for the body or face.

The above picture does not show the power cord, manual, or mic hanger, but it does show you basically what is included in the package. The construction of the body is typical Icom quality: sleek but tough. The mic is the same as the one included with the ID-5100; reports of audio quality have been great and it's also easy to use to control the radio.

The rear of the radio features the same aggressive fan as the ID-5100, which is both good and bad. It's good because it really does a great job keeping the radio cool, but bad because it is very noisy. You can control how often the fan is active via settings in the menu: "Auto" only keys when you TX or if the radio is very hot, while "Slow", "Mid", and "Fast" are continuously on at the rate indicated. The large rear aluminum heatsink also contributes to keeping the small chassis nice and cool. The two speaker jacks are for left and right band audio, although the inside speaker jack sends both left and right band audio out if that is the only jack in use.

As you can see from this pic, the face is actually pretty small. My first reaction was that the small size would allow me to place it just about anywhere in a mobile install simply using double-sided velcro or tape to the back, but that assumption was quickly proven wrong when I saw that the RJ-11 jack that connects the head to the body is right in the back of the head, preventing any flush mounting. If Icom had placed this jack on the side of the head (like where the mic jack is), the mounting options would be significantly increased.

One of the best things about this new rig is the large display font. This radio is really easy to see compared to most other mobile rigs!

The menuing system is super easy, as well. You just hit the Menu button, then use the left dial to scroll through the menu categories, hit the arrows to go to the sub-menu, and then use the right dial to select the various options

This radio is definitely easy to use; the RX audio sounds great, and all of the TX reports I get are equally good.

In the next post, I'll discuss programming memories...

Would you mind posting a picture of the back of the face, without the MBA-4 bracket attached?

I plan on getting this radio and attaching the face directly to a single din blanking plate and tucking the main unit in the center console.

Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of the back of the face to plan out the install before making the purchase.

wish I could afford that radio

 

[Matt Phillips]

Finally got the radio and parts in and got the faceplate mount fabricated and in place. Here's what the faceplate looks like installed.

 

[Moleculo]

@Matt Phillips, that's a pretty cool install! Thanks for the pics!

 

[Moleculo]

My Review Summary

Here is the summary of my thoughts on this radio: I REALLY like this radio, especially at the price point. This rig is clearly targeted to compete with the Kenwood TM-V71 and the Yaesu FT-8800 while still being price competitive with the Chinese radios. I like this radio better than all of those. The display on this radio is second to none - the brightness and size of the text is the best on the market today. The audio quality of both TX and RX is stellar; the radio functions are easy to learn and intuitive. Certain memory functions require use of the manual to learn how to program, but the basics can be easily figured out without the manual.

I hate the fact that Icom is shipping brackets at very high prices for all of their mobile radios; I hope this trend comes to an end soon. Bluetooth in this radio works well unless you are duplexing (nature of the beast). Today a bind op asked me about voice prompt - this radio does not satisfy that requirement, but those that are vision impaired will like the bright, high-contrast, large character display. This radio does not have the 9600 baud port which may be needed by some (TNC or D-STAR hot-spot home-brewers), but it has everything else.

Construction of the chassis is top-notch and considerable attention has been given to heat dissipation even if the fan is a bit noisy. All in all, this might be my favorite 2m/440 rig on the market right now.

 

[Fuzzybr]

I made a L-bracket for the radio control head and placed the assembly between the two sections of the car control panel. NOT as nice as Matt's but it works for me.

Fuzzy

 

[Matt Phillips]

Looks good though, Fuzzy. Your interior is definitely cleaner than mine. I should probably detail my car at some point this spring.

 

[Matt Phillips]

How do you all connect your hand microphone?

I ended up rerouting the cabling to my center console so it's closer to me, and can be disconnected and tucked away when not in use.

 

[XMon]

Crossband Repeat

The IC-2730 supports Crossband Repeat, although there is no reference to it in the manual. I contacted Icom technical support to find out how to activate and was promptly sent an manual addendum with the procedure. Here's how you do it:

Before you activate crossband, set the frequencies you will need, including any PL Tones, DCS, etc.

Thanks for the instructions. Perhaps I'm just dense [I came from Yaesu land], but I was struggling with this last night. Since it says to "set the frequencies you will need",... I was trying to do step 1 with the radio still "On". They key is step 0.

0. Staring with the radio turned "Off"
1. Press and hold both MAIN keys, and MONI; then press power.
2. Press MENU.
3. Rotate a tuning knob and select EXMENU.
4. Press MW. Rotate a tuning knob and select OTHERS.
5. Press MW. Rotate a tuning knob and select RPT M.
6. Press MW. Rotate a tuning knob and select START.
7. Press MW. Rotate a tuning knob and select YES.
8. Press MW. The display will show both bands with rPt listed under the frequencies. The crossband feature is now activated and you may operate in crossband mode.

Note: Once you've activated the crossband repeat menu by following step 1 above, the cross-band feature will now appear in the menu unless a full reset is performed.

To Exit Crossband Repeat mode
1. Press Menu.
2. Rotate a tuning knob and select YES.
3. Press MW. To return to cross-band repeat mode, perform steps 2- 8 as above.

Really once you've enabled the cross-banding the first time, you can change to any two frequencies (VFO) or memories and turn the cross-banding back on. Thus it's not really all that critical what the radio is set to prior to enabling the cross banding via steps 0-1.