I've had a love affair with my old Kenwood TS-450sat since I bought my
first one in the early 90's, but with Dayton looming, finally I got the go
ahead from the XYL to upgrade. I've narrowed my choice down to a new Kenwood
TS-2000 or a new IC-746 Pro. I know the features of both quite well, but I
have read and heard a lot about the IC-746's problems with the IC-151
protection diodes and ESD (electro static discharge). I've seen what Icom
has on their website about this problem, but wonder what current users think
about it. I know there are a lot of IC-746 Pro owners out there, as well as
TS-2000 owners, but I really would like to hear some HONEST opinions on this
particular problem with the 746. Do many/any of you have repeat problems
with the infamous 'no transmit' on the IC-746 due to the ESD issue? Has this
problem been over blown? Is it still a problem, even though Icom claims they
will repair it and already have it solved on the newer models?
I recently had the opportunity to play with an IC-746 and I was impressed.
A good friend has a TS-2000 and I will get to play with it this week. But I
am now looking for HONEST opinions on both units, especially the 746.
Thanks!


--

***** Jim Leder *****
IBM retiree since 1999
http://home.fuse.net/k8cxm

I researched for many months before making my decision to go with the
IC746Pro over the TS2000. I certainly haven't regreted it this past 18
months. One thing that I certainly find superior in the ICom is the DSP
unit. It makes digging signals out of severe noise a dream.


Ed K7AAT

In article , "Jim Leder"
wrote:

I've narrowed my choice down to a new Kenwood
TS-2000 or a new IC-746 Pro.

Jim-

I went through the comparison bit a couple of years ago, only between the
TS-2000 and the IC-756 Pro II. I chose the Icom primarily because of the
impressive spectrum display.

Just playing with the radio may not be enough. The IC-756 works fairly
well in most respects, but when I went to program its memories, I found
that it did not have the capability of storing repeater frequency pairs.
Since my intended use includes several local 6 Meter repeaters including
two different splits, this shortcoming makes it impossible to quickly
switch between repeaters.

I had never encountered a recent model radio that had this shortcoming.
Even my old IC-706 (original) could store all the necessary frequency and
tone data in each memory location. If this matters to you, be sure to
check the 746 to see if it has the same problem.

73, Fred, K4DII

Jim Leder wrote:
I've had a love affair with my old Kenwood TS-450sat since I bought
my
first one in the early 90's, but with Dayton looming, finally I got
the go
ahead from the XYL to upgrade. I've narrowed my choice down to a new
Kenwood
TS-2000 or a new IC-746 Pro. I know the features of both quite well,
but I
have read and heard a lot about the IC-746's problems with the IC-151

protection diodes and ESD (electro static discharge). I've seen what
Icom
has on their website about this problem, but wonder what current
users think
about it. I know there are a lot of IC-746 Pro owners out there, as
well as
TS-2000 owners, but I really would like to hear some HONEST opinions
on this
particular problem with the 746. Do many/any of you have repeat
problems
with the infamous 'no transmit' on the IC-746 due to the ESD issue?
Has this
problem been over blown? Is it still a problem, even though Icom
claims they
will repair it and already have it solved on the newer models?
I recently had the opportunity to play with an IC-746 and I was
impressed.
A good friend has a TS-2000 and I will get to play with it this week.
But I
am now looking for HONEST opinions on both units, especially the 746.
Thanks!

The 746 Pro certainly has some issues but the TS-2000 has one of the
worst front ends you can stick yourself with.

See http://www.sherweng.com/presentation.html


***** Jim Leder *****
IBM retiree since 1999
http://home.fuse.net/k8cxm

w3rv