I posted this on alt.radio.amateur (looks dead)...

I recently lost a TS-870S to a lightning strike (tower, rotor and coax as
well). Anyway, does anyone have experience with both radios that can offer
some opinions of which they would buy? I know it's a Lincoln vs Cadillac
comparison, but I'd appreciate comments.

Jim

In article t,
"Jim" wrote:

I posted this on alt.radio.amateur (looks dead)...

I recently lost a TS-870S to a lightning strike (tower, rotor and coax as
well). Anyway, does anyone have experience with both radios that can offer
some opinions of which they would buy? I know it's a Lincoln vs Cadillac
comparison, but I'd appreciate comments.

Jim



I'll pass along your posting to someone who has had both. I don't know
if he will respond but I'll give it a go.

By the way he still has the 870, but not the proII. I don't know what
the reason is. The PROII looks to me as a fine radio, in fact if I
dident own my great 775 I'd have a PROII sitting here.

73
Dale, K9VUJ

--
E-mail:

In article t,
"Jim" wrote:

I posted this on alt.radio.amateur (looks dead)...

I recently lost a TS-870S to a lightning strike (tower, rotor and coax as
well). Anyway, does anyone have experience with both radios that can offer
some opinions of which they would buy? I know it's a Lincoln vs Cadillac
comparison, but I'd appreciate comments.

Jim



I'll pass along your posting to someone who has had both. I don't know
if he will respond but I'll give it a go.

By the way he still has the 870, but not the proII. I don't know what
the reason is. The PROII looks to me as a fine radio, in fact if I
dident own my great 775 I'd have a PROII sitting here.

73
Dale, K9VUJ

--
E-mail:

Hi, What I've heard is that the newer ICOM's are very susceptible to ESD,
let along a direct lighning strike. Not much can survive that. While
searching for a radio, I checked the specs as published by ARRL and both are
comparable. The interesting thing is that you see very, very few used
TS-870s floating around and the amount that they have depreciated versus an
ICOM, is less. That doesn't mean it's a better radio but it seems the radio
is kept by the owners. I have also heard that the more sophisticated ICOM's
aren't all that reliable. Having said that, I owned a 756 (not a pro) and
liked the performance. The cost of long term ownership troubled me when the
display failed and found out that Sanyo (the display manufacturer) no longer
had these or the display driver chips available and that ICOM had only 3
left in stock. Being that this was a chronic problem, I would have expected
ICOM to take care of this issue but they don't. It is therefore possible
that in the next few months, there will be a lot of 756's floating around
with bad displays. Enough said there. I still use my 735 and have failed
to note much difference in quality between it and potential replacements.
In side by side comparisons made during the recent CW contest, every station
I heard on my 756 (with dual CW filters) was copied on my 735. I attribute
that to having full manual control over PBT and NOTCH controls. Are the
newer radios better? Spec wise they should be but in real world operating
conditions, I have questions.

In any case, I'm sure both the Kenwood and ICOM radios will be good choices.

Mike, WA1SEO
Jim wrote in message
k.net...
I posted this on alt.radio.amateur (looks dead)...

I recently lost a TS-870S to a lightning strike (tower, rotor and coax as
well). Anyway, does anyone have experience with both radios that can offer
some opinions of which they would buy? I know it's a Lincoln vs Cadillac
comparison, but I'd appreciate comments.

Jim

Hi, What I've heard is that the newer ICOM's are very susceptible to ESD,
let along a direct lighning strike. Not much can survive that. While
searching for a radio, I checked the specs as published by ARRL and both are
comparable. The interesting thing is that you see very, very few used
TS-870s floating around and the amount that they have depreciated versus an
ICOM, is less. That doesn't mean it's a better radio but it seems the radio
is kept by the owners. I have also heard that the more sophisticated ICOM's
aren't all that reliable. Having said that, I owned a 756 (not a pro) and
liked the performance. The cost of long term ownership troubled me when the
display failed and found out that Sanyo (the display manufacturer) no longer
had these or the display driver chips available and that ICOM had only 3
left in stock. Being that this was a chronic problem, I would have expected
ICOM to take care of this issue but they don't. It is therefore possible
that in the next few months, there will be a lot of 756's floating around
with bad displays. Enough said there. I still use my 735 and have failed
to note much difference in quality between it and potential replacements.
In side by side comparisons made during the recent CW contest, every station
I heard on my 756 (with dual CW filters) was copied on my 735. I attribute
that to having full manual control over PBT and NOTCH controls. Are the
newer radios better? Spec wise they should be but in real world operating
conditions, I have questions.

In any case, I'm sure both the Kenwood and ICOM radios will be good choices.

Mike, WA1SEO
Jim wrote in message
k.net...
I posted this on alt.radio.amateur (looks dead)...

I recently lost a TS-870S to a lightning strike (tower, rotor and coax as
well). Anyway, does anyone have experience with both radios that can offer
some opinions of which they would buy? I know it's a Lincoln vs Cadillac
comparison, but I'd appreciate comments.

Jim