From: aga@mandalay.corp.sun.com (Tony Angerame - Sun SE)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.equipment
Subject: Carrier Osc Adjustment
Date: 6 Oct 1995 16:39:45 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc.
Lines: 11
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <453m4h$iug@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM>
Reply-To: aga@mandalay.corp.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: mandalay.corp.sun.com
I have a 70's vintage ssb transceiver (Atlas 210) that I suspect has drifted out of its filter passband by a few hundred hertz. My question is what is the
I have access to a 2-30mhz receiver a 20 mhz scope but not any generators or counters,
other than another ssb transceiver with a digital readout. My gut feeling is to mon-
itor it in the second tranceiver while transmitting into a dummy load and adjusting the
carrier oscilator "pull" capacitor until it sounds good. Good idea? Disaster pending?
I am looking to buy the computer interface and software for an older Yaesu handheld--the FT-727R. Even if you have only a copy of the software it would be
It seems the response on the NEW IC-706 HF/50MHz/144Mhz rig is
great. A dealer in Los Angeles has about 50 hams on a waiting
list for this rig. About half the hams surveyed had or were
considering the the Kenwood TS-50.
Now that I have played with one, I am happy I made the choice
for the IC-706. I had a Kenwood TS-50 and TS-60 and sold (dumped) them
at a loss in order for my wife(XYL) to allow me to buy a new HF rig.
To get all HF bands, 6meters, and 2 meters all mode in about the
same price as a TS-50 seemed to good to be true.
Well gang, it is true, for ~$1250 you get a neat little radio which
is smaller than the TS-50. Also you get a Spectrum Scope which is great
for checking out band activity.
I plan to use the IC-706 with my 10GHz SSB Microwave station,
144Mhz to 10GHz,with a Parabolic Dish. At 10GHz, it's hard to find everyone
in a Contest due to there not all on frequency, some 50KC below, some 70KHz
high, well the Spectrum Scope will be great and will allow to watch for Beacons
and one to point the antenna when sitting on top of a 10,000 foot mountain
which can see 500 to 1000 miles around you.
All I can say is for the price, you can't beat it, all you will have to
beat is all the hams running to their local ham stores for this rig.
You could easily pay $2750 for a TS50/TS60 and an all mode SSB 2 meter box.
Plus you get a Spectrum scope, I know it does not work like a $40,000 HP
Spectrum Analyzer, but for the price, this is fantasic rig!!
Also, for those of you asking, how did it compare to the TS-50, about the
same with signals,etc.
Will keep you posted on how this is working!! I believe there will be a run on the stores for the Rigs and Icom may not be able to keep up with the deman
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA
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Ray Fennessey (medlas@mle.ultranet.com) wrote:
: My TS-520SE has dropped to half power output. I,m still able to make DX
: contacts, though. Is it possible that one final is no good or do they have to
: work as a pair?
They work as a pair and probably are now unbalanced. Better to change tubes now.It doesn't really cost that much. you can get matched pair tubes if you re
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550 <n4lq@iglou.2.iglou.com>... Host unknown
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Date: Sun, 22 Oct 95 13:19:14 PDT
From: aust@gandalf.sp.trw.com (Mike Aust)
Message-Id: <9510222019.AA19998@haldir>
To: n4lq@iglou.2.iglou.com
Subject: IC-706
Yes,
The rig does QSK, break-in CW, 250, 500hz cw and narrow SSB filters
for the IC-706 are available from Icom.
The rig works comparible to the Kenwood TS-50, it's no
FT-1000 from the standpoint of IP3 intercept point, but neiher
was the TS-50.
It a great rig for mobile, instalattion's with verticals and dipoles,
If you put it behind a 5/6 element 20meter beam in a contest, you may feel
you need a better SSB filter, but the TS-50 was the same way.
It has an RF and IF attenuator to keep the IF from getting saturated
in a strong signal band.
It will overload , my TS-50 also did overload, i.e. 80 and 160 meters, but
when I used the Kenwood AT50 Antenna Tuner with the Kenwood TS-50, it was pretty
good.
When I tried the Icom 706 HF rig with my extenal Kenwood AT-50, It remained
about the same as the TS-50, no real complaints,
These small radio's have a lot of IF gain to remain sensitive for mobile,
small antenna situations. If you put the Kenwood TS-50,IC-706, and Alinco
DX-60 on Antenna's with about 10dB gain, they start to saturate the IF, and
that's were the 10dB are need Attenuators come in.
If you saturate the IF on any of these Radio's, the Noise Blankers
act differently.
If your after a high level intercept radio, for a low price, the Yaesu FT-900,
seems great, I have one. If you have more money, a FT-1000 is better.
It really depends on you activities, if your a DX chaser, the TS-50,IC-706,
and Alinco DX-70 may disapoint you. But if you the average ham with a diople,
mobile antenna, or plain vertical, It seems to be a good radio.
Only real thought is the audio is not that great thru the tiny Speaker, but neither was my Kenwood TS-50.
If your looking for an FT-1000 , 130dB Dynamic range with a $30,000 Spectrum
Analyzer similar to Hewlett Packard, then I suggest you buy an FT-1000 and a
$30,000 Spectrum Analyzer.
For the Price ~$1250, for the average ham in portable, small Antenna operation,
its good, if your expectations are of a $2500 -$4000 DX rig with Spectrum Analyzer, then look elsewhere!
I would recommend the external Tuner AT-180 with the IC-706, but so far I have not seen one out yet in the stores!
Also the General coverage is 30Khz to 120Mhz. Icom has got alot of heat about
its initial statement of 30KHz to 200MHz. The Permance above 120MHz is lacking, untill you reach the 144-148MHz ham band, If your expecting a Police Scann
response Image = 2(LO)-RF.good small SSB all mode for 2 meters/6meters as extra's withe the normal HF bands.
I would say the IC-706 works like the Kenwood TS-50 , but has extra's like 6meters, 2meters, hears 88-108 FM broadcast, aircraft AM 108-125 OK, and that
I;e: Like when I go on vacation to remote area's, Alaska, the Yukon, mobile,
its size is nice and I don't need to decide between the VHF radio vs HF, now
I can carry both in this small package.
If you drive next to a 50Kw Am braodcast the TS-50, DX-70, and IC706, all went crazy with no external tuner, when we put on the AT-50 external tuner with
I would imagine, If I bypassed the front end filter, it would be intermod/image city. But I wanted a d listen to 160meters, you will get overload(using no
Switching the TS-50 with the IC-706 , but keeping the Kenwood Tuner AT-50 In,
the was no overload.
Using the IC-706, Kenwood TS-50, and Alinco DX-70 next to AM KFI 0.640
ooverloaded all three radio's (No Antenna Tuner). So it depends on what
you want!!!!!!!!!!!! So for all you cheap hams, want a $5000 HF DX rig with a $30000 Spectrum Analyzer all for the LOW price of $1250, you will be not be
BBS's to other hams. I got mine and I am happy with it so that all that counts for me. For the others that want everything for nothing, then your search c
Well gang, I have played with my NEW Icom IC-706 HF Rig HF/6meter and 2 meters
rig and I can so it is awesome, neat, keen, etc.
I used it on Break-in CW QsSK on 20 meters and it was fun. The rig has an
internal electronic keyer, vox, and a far better menu(pull down) that the
Kenwood TS-50.(TS-50 lacked in this area) In the Menu, you do not have to guess (Memory 33, what is that, and grap the manual). At first, its seemed a lit
WOW, what a radio. This radio has a Spectrum Scope, which is super, I was
on 20 meters last night, and thought the band was dead, I could look over a
15KHz, 30KHz, 60KHz, 150KHz, 300KHz, and I believe in 1MHZ bandwdths around
my center frequency and could see signals above and below me at 11:00pm at
night, when I thought the band was dead. By seeing the vertical traces(Spectrum Scope Feature) on the LCD screen, I pressed the Spectrum Scope marker and
Out of Band the General Coverage reciver 30Khz - 120Mhz worked grat with all
modes, even hearing CW beacons in the Aircraft band, 124.3 aircraft approach on AM,etc.
I even tried this rig on 6 meters SSB and talked to New Mexico from California.Heared some meter CW beacons on the Band also. Next I went to 2 meters use
This rig worked as good as my Kenwood TS-50, but even better. It looks like
Icom did a great job with this one, took all the headaches about the TS-50 and
made sure that the NEW Icom-706 HF/6m/@m mobile rig out did the TS-50, and I
agree that Icom did their homework on this new rig.
After chasing DX, I listened the FM broadcast band 88-108MHz with its Wide Band FM detector, and its not bad at all.
I think a lot of HAMS(Radio Amateurs) out there will agree that this Rig will
set a new presidence for the the next generation of HF rigs for the HAM market.
One HAM came over to my QTH and his comment, how did Icom do it, put so many
featues, frequencies into that tiny box. The rig is actually smaller than the
Kenwood TS-50. He has a TS-50 , TS-60, and a Kenwood 9130 @ meter all mode. At
the end of the evening, he was going down to the nearest ham store and get one
of the New Ic-706's HF/6m/2m alll mode rig's. He also wants to sell his TS-50,
TS-60, and 9130, anyone interested???
I believe Kenwood will have some trouble in pushing their TS-50/TS-60 rigs now,
and all I can say, if you don't quite believe this, go to your nearest Icom
dealer and check this rig out. Most dealers can't keep them on the shelf, and only get a few at a time, having prepaid for one put you on a higher list to
All HF bands/6meters/2meters, all mode for ~$1250, a lot less than a TS-50,
TS-60, and 9130 combination.
So far I would say the front runner is the Icom-IC-706, followed by the
Alinco DX-70, then the Kenwood TS-50. I believe Kenwood may have to rethink
about the TS-50. the Icom IC-706 leaves this rig it the dust!!
Congratulations to the folks at Icom, WOW what a neat little rig!!!!
73
Mike
W6TRW
P.S. Would like to hear from other New Icom-706 HF/6m/2m users out there.
Subject: IC-706 Rig Performance vs TS-50, and Alinco DX-70
Date: 22 Oct 95 20:54:03 GMT
Organization: ucsd usenet gateway
Lines: 53
Message-ID: <9510222054.AA20006@haldir>
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucsd.edu
Originator: daemon@ucsd.edu
Yes,
The rig does QSK, break-in CW, 250, 500hz cw and narrow SSB filters
for the IC-706 are available from Icom.
The rig works comparible to the Kenwood TS-50, it's no
FT-1000 from the standpoint of IP3 intercept point, but neiher
was the TS-50.
It a great rig for mobile, installation's with verticals and dipoles,
If you put it behind a 5 or 6 element 20meter beam in a contest, you may feel
you need a better SSB filter, but the TS-50 was the same way.
It has an RF and IF attenuator to keep the IF from getting saturated
in a strong signal band.
It will overload to a 50KW 0.640Khz Am broadcast station next to me, my TS-50 also did overload, i.e. 80 and 160 meters, but
when I used the Kenwood AT50 Antenna Tuner with the Kenwood TS-50, it was pretty
good.
When I tried the Icom 706 HF rig with my extenal Kenwood AT-50, It remained
about the same as the TS-50, no real complaints,
These small radio's have a lot of IF gain to remain sensitive for mobile,
small antenna situations. If you put the Kenwood TS-50,IC-706, and Alinco
DX-60 on Antenna's with about 10dB gain, they start to saturate the IF, and
that's were the 10dB are need Attenuators come in.
If you saturate the IF on any of these Radio's, the Noise Blankers
act differently.
If your after a high level intercept radio, for a low price, the Yaesu FT-900,
seems great, I have one. If you have more money, a FT-1000 is better.
It really depends on you activities, if your a DX chaser, the TS-50,IC-706,
and Alinco DX-70 may disapoint you. But if you the average ham with a diople,
mobile antenna, or plain vertical, It seems to be a good radio.
Only real thought is the audio is not that great thru the tiny Speaker, but neither was my Kenwood TS-50.
If your looking for an FT-1000 , 130dB Dynamic range with a $30,000 Spectrum
Analyzer similar to Hewlett Packard, then I suggest you buy an FT-1000 and a
$30,000 Spectrum Analyzer.
For the Price ~$1250, for the average ham in portable, small Antenna operation,
its good, if your expectations are of a $2500 -$4000 DX rig with Spectrum Analyzer, then look elsewhere!
I would recommend the external Tuner AT-180 with the IC-706, but so far I have not seen one out yet in the stores!
Also the General coverage is 30Khz to 120Mhz. Icom has got alot of heat about
its initial statement of 30KHz to 200MHz. The Permance above 120MHz is lacking, untill you reach the 144-148MHz ham band, If your expecting a Police Scann
response Image = 2(LO)-RF.good small SSB all mode for 2 meters/6meters as extra's withe the normal HF bands.
I would say the IC-706 works like the Kenwood TS-50 , but has extra's like 6meters, 2meters, hears 88-108 FM broadcast, aircraft AM 108-125 OK, and that
I;e: Like when I go on vacation to remote area's, Alaska, the Yukon, mobile,
its size is nice and I don't need to decide between the VHF radio vs HF, now
I can carry both in this small package.
If you drive next to a 50Kw Am braodcast the TS-50, DX-70, and IC706, all went crazy with no external tuner, when we put on the AT-50 external tuner with
I would imagine, If I bypassed the front end filter, it would be intermod/image city. But I wanted a d listen to 160meters, you will get overload(using no
Switching the TS-50 with the IC-706 , but keeping the Kenwood Tuner AT-50 In,
the was no overload.
Using the IC-706, Kenwood TS-50, and Alinco DX-70 next to AM KFI 0.640
overloaded all three radio's (No Antenna Tuner). So it depends on what
you want!!!!!!!!!!!! So for all you cheap hams, want a $5000 HF DX rig with a $30000 Spectrum Analyzer all for the LOW price of $1250, you will be not be
BBS's to other hams. I got mine and I am happy with it so that all that counts for me. For the others that want everything for nothing, then your search c
Thanks a lot for the report. I broke down and ordered mine so I guess it
will be here this weekend. Sure looking forward to it and thanks for the
time to check it out. I appreciate it.
Adios and I'll send you a report on mine after I play with it a bit.
Jim
K5QQ@AOL.COM
Date: 25 Oct 95 16:21:18 GMT
From: aust@gandalf.sp.TRw.COM (Mike Aust)
Subject: IC-706 HF Rig Features
Well gang, I have played with my NEW Icom IC-706 HF Rig HF/6meter and 2 meters
rig and I can say it is awesome, neat, keen, etc.
I used it on Break-in CW QsSK on 20 meters and it was fun. The rig has an
internal electronic keyer, vox, and a far better menu(pull down) that the
Kenwood TS-50.(TS-50 lacked in this area) In the Menu, you do not have to guess (Memory 33, what is that, and grap the manual). At first, its seemed a lit
WOW, what a radio. This radio has a Spectrum Scope, which is super, I was
on 20 meters last night, and thought the band was dead, I could look (around my center freq in various bandwiths) over a 15KHz, 30KHz, 60KHz, 150KHz, 300K
and I believe in 1MHZ bandwdths around my center frequency and could see signalsabove and below me at 11:00pm at night, when I thought the band was dead.
can I say. I am quite pleased with the New IC-706.
Out of Band the General Coverage reciver 30Khz - 120Mhz worked great with all
modes, even hearing CW beacons in the Aircraft band, 124.3 aircraft approach on AM,etc.
I even tried this rig on 6 meters SSB and talked to New Mexico from California.Heared some meter CW beacons on the Band also. Next I went to 2 meters use
mode, I could work them. Each memory can be tuned, have not played to much here with memories/etc, but will keep you posted. I want to program repeaters.
This rig worked as good as my Kenwood TS-50, but even better. It looks like
Icom did a great job with this one, took all the headaches about the TS-50 and
made sure that the NEW Icom-706 HF/6m/@m mobile rig out did the TS-50, and I
agree that Icom did their homework on this new rig.
After chasing DX, I listened the FM broadcast band 88-108MHz with its Wide Band FM detector, and its not bad at all.
I think a lot of HAMS(Radio Amateurs) out there will agree that this Rig will
set a new presidence for the the next generation of HF rigs for the HAM market.
One HAM came over to my QTH and his comment, how did Icom do it, put so many
featues, frequencies into that tiny box. The rig is actually smaller than the
Kenwood TS-50. He has a TS-50 , TS-60, and a Kenwood 9130 @ meter all mode. At
the end of the evening, he was going down to the nearest ham store and get one
of the New Ic-706's HF/6m/2m alll mode rig's. He also wants to sell his TS-50,
TS-60, and 9130, anyone interested???
I believe Kenwood will have some trouble in pushing their TS-50/TS-60 rigs now,
and all I can say, if you don't quite believe this, go to your nearest Icom
dealer and check this rig out. Most dealers can't keep them on the shelf, and only get a few at a time, having prepaid for one put you on a higher list to
All HF bands/6meters/2meters, all mode for ~$1250, a lot less than a TS-50,
TS-60, and 9130 combination.
So far I would say the front runner is the Icom-IC-706, followed by the
Alinco DX-70, then the Kenwood TS-50. I believe Kenwood may have to rethink
about the TS-50. the Icom IC-706 leaves this rig it the dust!!
Congratulations to the folks at Icom, WOW what a neat little rig!!!!
73
Mike
W6TRW
P.S. Would like to hear from other New Icom-706 HF/6m/2m users out there.
I have heard a couple of reports (one of them from an owner of the 706) of possible
transmit audio problems on the IC 706. I am wondering if any others who own 706's
have or had similar problems. The problem seems to revolve around constricted or
"pinched" sounding transmit audio as if the person was speaking through a tube. This
is interesting since HRO advertises the 706 as being 100% quality checked by ICOM
America (see the HRO web page under new products). I am wondering if this is a rare
problem or one which is more pervasive? Since there are many of us out here in
cyberspace who are interested in the radio, responses to this inquiry here, on this
net, would be most appreciated.
Greg KN4FR
I have a IC-706 and run it with an external tuner have no audio problems,
no rf feedeing back into audio, but I now some of these new HF rigs, need to
have them close to ground, a ground wire on them to keep RF cuurents feeding
into the audio, my Yaesu FT-900 has this problem. need a good ground. My homebrew Antenna Tuner helps out and I think this why I don't experience the Prob
Yes, I have an Icom-706, and this weekend I used it on batteries
on it worked geat. I had a TS-50 and when it got low voltage, it
started to do funny things below 11.8Volts with the car generator
not running.
So far no complaints, the amazing thing that I did was to run the IC-706
out of the cigarette lighter socket in my car(New 1995 Toyota Camry LE), and my my cars Electronic Brain did not go crazy, operated 80meters, 40meters, an
Well I coundn't do this with the TS-50, with voice peaks on SSB would drop
below 11.8volts. I also ran the IC-706 with a 4amp gel cell on SSB that on
voice peaks drew greater than 18amps, and for 10 minutes had a QSO with no
complaints on FMing, I did this with my TS-50, and had big problems!!
