Well, thanks for the suggestions, guys. I already have the 245XLT and the
VX-7R and, at this point, I think I am sold on the IC-706 for the final
addition to my portable radio package. I will be selling my R75 and R71 and
my Kenwood 830 real soon and replacing them with the 706 and the backpack
rig - very nice setup. Thanks!



"LW" wrote in message
om...
"Stephen M.H. Lawrence" wrote ...

The ICOM 706 MkIIG.

Right here, dude:

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/3450.html


Excellent call, Bro. Lawrence. Fannnnn-tastic radio. There's been
rumors of a 706 PRO with color display but that was a year or 2 ago.

Add a good external speaker and the receive audio improves IMMENSELY.
Slightly increase the opening in the rubber "gasket" over the mic
element, and transmit audio gets a tremendous improvement, also.
Slightly, I said. Make it 1/16" total diameter. That's all.

And http://www.mods.dk has some .. ahem .. interesting .. ahem ..
revisions you can make to the radio. (Proceed at YOUR OWN risk.)

BDK wrote in message ...
In article ,
says...
Yes, AM/FM local radio recieve, tri-band transmit (2m, 440, hf), vhf/uhf
receive (preferably 800 mhz as well) shortwave broadcast reception, and wx
etc...I am liking the Yaesu VX-7R - it has everything except hf transmit.
The 706 looks great but does it rec local am/fm?



It gets local AM fine, and receives 88-108, but it might not sound all
that great. It gets SSB too, and pretty much blows the VX-7 out of the
water in every way but size.

BDK

I've had one for three years. I really like the MW on it. But the
filter is a bit on the wide side. But, this is why I like it. It
sounds good. Some might want it a little narrower. The audio is pretty
good and robust if run through an external speaker, or better yet, a
sound card, and or audio amp. It has a "NAR" setting, which is very
narrow. Not good for audio, but very good for culling out ID's next to
local big guns. The FM-BC is quite usable for general use, but of
course, it's not stereo, and doesn't have quite the freq range a
"stereo" would have , due to the filtering. It does have both wide and
narrow FM filtering though, and the wide is used on FM BC. It can also
get a few of the lower TV channels audio..Overall, I've been very
happy with it, considering what you get, and the size of the package.
It really is an amazing radio for it's size and the price. I know
loads of people that run tham, and the track record on breakdowns is
pretty good. Mines been like a timex so far, and it's on 24 hours a
day. I've used it on every ham band it runs, both in the house, and
mobile, and no problems so far. You can spend more and get an even
better version of an all band /all mode radio. It's the kenwood
TS-2000. It's like a 706 on steroids. It costs a good bit more than
a 706, but it's a VERY versitile radio. And it can go up to 1.2 gig
with the optional add on. Stock, it runs to 70cm same as the 706. You
can do all kinds of tricky things with a ts-2000, like using it as a
repeater link, etc. I've talked on 160m, using my 706 to work 30 miles
across town on UHF, where it's received on UHF by a ts-2000, and
re-transmitted on 160m. And visa versa back to me...Worked great. The
TS-2000 is full duplex and fully SAT capable. The 706 is not full
duplex.
You can rig it up to work some SAT's, but you have to jump between MEM
channels, or whatever for xmit/rcve..If I buy another radio for the
house, it'll probably be a TS-2000. "would make a killer mobile rig,
too"
But for what he wants in a radio, at a fairly low price, you ain't
gonna beat a 706mk2g. I give it two thumbs up...:/ BTW, it's a great
PS scanner, with 4 scan modes, and real good on aircraft too. There
are only two things about the 706 I'm not too keen on. It's prone to
AM-BC images down in the longwave section if you have a high MW signal
level, "say with big wire antennas" and overall the LW is a bit weak
compared to some other radios. It's ok if you filter the BC...A
preselector would clean that up. Or use a small loop.. Also, it reads
down to 30 kc, but the usable sensitivity drops way off below 150 kc.
Also the squelch is an "S meter" type squelch, and not the greatest
sensitivity for squelching real weak stations. But those are fairly
minor problems I suppose, considering it's really intended to be a ham
rig. As far as SWL, the 706 covers 150kc-200mc, continuous, and skips
from 200 to 400 mc, and then covers from 400-470 mc. Any mode,
anywhere...The yeasu ft-100 actually has a wider freq range for SWL as
it goes higher up into UHF. It's the yeasu equal to the 706. But....I
still think the 706 is the better overall radio of the two. I thought
long and hard comparing the two, and I went with the 706 as my ham
needs overrode my SWL needs. Fer instance...The 706 is full duty
cycle transmit. The FT-100 is 50% duty cycle in comparison. There is
also the ft-847 which is sorta like a yeasu version of the TS-2000.
But I think the TS-2000 is better of the two...BTW, all of these can
be puter controlled in various fashions. MK