Icom IC-208H...looks good so far

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Icom IC-208H...looks good so far

Post by 007 »

I got one very slightly used from a straight-shooter over on RRdC and so far, it's a sweetheart.

Good RX selectivity and sensitivity, even out of band. AM air is hot, 800 conventional is hot and hammy is super hot. TX power out is right on the money as spec'd.

I like it and dare I say it out loud - I like having a dual band freq agile radio again.
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jonny290
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Post by jonny290 »

I grabbed one as well. My thoughts:

I originally hated the modular mic cable, till I realized that the mic itself also has a jack on it. The cable is actually just an 8pin-8pin RJ45 straight through cable. You can mount the radio anywhere, and use a standard Ethernet patch cable with a ferrite bead as a long mic cable.

I am a big fan of chassis-mounted output jacks, too many ham rigs have that pigtail.

TX audio was reported low till I went in and turned it to the HI setting, and also opened the mic and ran a 3/32" drill bit through the microphone port. Used an X-acto blade to cut the rubber spit guard thing out of the way, too. Audio is way better now.

Attenuator function is super-nice and I constantly use it.

I 'make do' when I'm too lazy to bring out my 396 by keeping the local Motorola trunk PD system in a bank. I just switch to that bank and lock out CC, it works fine. Keep all my hammy stuff in another bank and just switch between banks when I get bored with it.

You can choose to use alpha tags per channel, which rules.

I wish the "yellow" interface color was more distinct from the "amber". Yeah, whining, i know. That's about the only thing I can say that's remotely negative.
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bradlington
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Post by bradlington »

I run a 208 in my work vehicle and it has been great for all round.

What I did due to the roadnoise and the speaker was mounted behind the seat was to swap the standard speaker for a Motorola 12W powered speaker and it has made a world of difference and the audio quality is pleasant to the ears.

Brad
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Post by jonny290 »

Random update: I built an OPC-478 cloning cable - pair of 2N's, zener and a couple resistors - cloned it, reorganized the memories (the icom software is shit but what can you do), unlocked the rig and restored it to my new memory scheme.

god, even with the gimpy software, it's so much faster to program this way

Also the func+f1/func+f2 settings are nice (programmed through the software - through the rig, it's confusing), because they have independent bank lock settings - organize your banks, set one preset to scan ham stuff or whatever, set the other to switch to 'scanner mode'. you can even set tx lock independently so you don't accidentally TX while scanning - a risk when the rig's unlocked.

for mobile install, just run a 1/8" _stereo_ extension cable to a convenient location by your seat, plug your speaker in there. Left channel is audio, right channel is your clone port.
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Post by Chad »

jonny290 wrote:Random update: I built an OPC-478 cloning cable - pair of 2N's, zener and a couple resistors - cloned it, reorganized the memories (the icom software is shit but what can you do), unlocked the rig and restored it to my new memory scheme.

god, even with the gimpy software, it's so much faster to program this way

Also the func+f1/func+f2 settings are nice (programmed through the software - through the rig, it's confusing), because they have independent bank lock settings - organize your banks, set one preset to scan ham stuff or whatever, set the other to switch to 'scanner mode'. you can even set tx lock independently so you don't accidentally TX while scanning - a risk when the rig's unlocked.

for mobile install, just run a 1/8" _stereo_ extension cable to a convenient location by your seat, plug your speaker in there. Left channel is audio, right channel is your clone port.
I'm liking mine thus far, Still haven't bothered to figure out the F1 F2 thing but will soon, time to bust out the manual.

The only thing I would like is the ability to assign a freq to more than one bank, oh well.

The software blows balls, if say, you want to copy a PL for the next 4 cells it will copy the whole damn row! you cannot copy from a spreadsheet like you can with CHEAP ASS scanner software, and you cannot open a text file no matter what dilenation into the CS208 software. You HAVE to do it the hard way!

I don't get it, I use ScanCat with my RS scanner and it could not be easier, highlight, copy, paste, wola! Way to go icom, killer radio shite software :anus:

Chad
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