Ham Nation Reviews the Icom 7300

EA4GLI

I think Icom is selling in large part thanks to Flex bringing SDR to amateur radio.

SteveJ

Got to give Anan credit too.

EA4GLI

True too. There are many hams itching to try sdr and can't bring themselves to use a networked transceiver such as the 6xxx. It is interesting seeing negative posts about touch screen on the 7100 become praise on the 7300. At the very least ,it is very odd that so many jumped on buying an unproven radio. But it proves that sdr is the future...

Duane N9DG

Would need to include 222 and 902/3 as well. It is arguable if  902/1.2G should even be in the shack. A fiber connected remote transceiver at the tower base or on the tower would be better. Truthfully, you could make that case for 144/222/432 as well.

Also such a radio MUST support running a panadapter waterfall on each of those bands all simultaneously.  And it should also be able to cover big chunks of those bands and multiple different modes simultaneously as well. So basically it could be monitoring the weak signal parts of the bands while simultaneously handling some 'N" number of addition frequencies / modes for packet and FM etc. comms.

Whenever people start describing the dream multi-band V/UHF radio in discussion threads like this, they inevitably think way too small. The world does not need a one band, one mode, one RX at a time FT-736R replacement. It needs a "Roger's dream station" (which is a lot like mine) total rethink of multi-band multi-mode V/UHF system..

Doug -- K0DXV

I think the comments on the IC-7300 are interesting.  I just sold mine.  I thought it performed very well.  And, indeed, the 7300 did open the SDR door for me.  I probably wouldn't have considered the Flex until experiencing the 7300.

Performance was not the issue for me.  It is usability.  It only took an hour for me to realize that a 20" monitor beat a tiny 4.8" display packed tightly with so much information.  Icom ought to seriously consider a networked box with a good client program.

I might reconsider Icom when their next transceiver comes out.  IC-7500? An 8" touch-enabled TFT would really set the market on fire.

For now I am very pleased with the 6300.  No more eye strain.  I can sit back and see everything in great detail.  Even activity on two bands.

I don't think there can be any doubt that direct-sampling DSP is the future; along with large, touch-enabled color displays.

EA4GLI

I think we need to start a thread about this new dream vhf+ transceiver

Varistor

Just curious, did you try the remote access software that lets you get your 20" panadapter in addition to controlling the radio remotely?

W9OY

what's the pixel bandwidth of panadapter display in the Icom?

73  W9OY

W9OY

How about an iPAD  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUlVJ7G4Z68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5qc_Hc9vio

this exists today not in the future

W9OY

Here is a little video of me running remote from the other end of the house

http://sdr-w9oy.blogspot.com/2015/06/cw-remote-lan.html

My radio is set up so my antennas and amplifier automatically band follow my radio, so I run 1.2 KW remote.  No extra $100 software required.  Net investment to run remote $0, because it's already baked in.  Not 2/3 baked but all baked  This video was created nearly a year ago.  By the way my receiver NEVER  overloads

73  W9OY 

W9OY

Here is a little video of my remote using a paddle for CW

http://sdr-w9oy.blogspot.com/2015/09/remote-cw-part-due.html

I like a paddle better than a keyboard.  Cost $10 to build the arduino board.  Cheap.  Does that $100 Icom software allow you to use a paddle?  My radio is displayed on a 24" 1080p TV not some **** $3 cell phone screen.  My remote radio can run DXLab suite, N1MM+, Writelog, PSK, RTTY, SDR-Bridge and skimmer as well as 4 panadapters on my 6500 or 2 on my 6300.  I can run full duplex from my remote radio and I have run 2 DX pileups at once on different bands.  The radio is pretty well baked.  I have NR, 2 NB's, ANF, TNF, APF and I can run full duplex and QSK remoting from across the house.  Oh and neither my 6300 nor my 6500 EVER overload.  They just work and work and work.  By the way note the remoted FlexControl, aka the Knob.  The way I have that setup I can control the frequency on 2 panadapters and RIT, XIT, volume and AGC-T on each panadapter, because I like me some knob once in a while.

73  W9OY

EA4GLI

I would love to see a video of the full screen panadapter of the 7300 in a 20" monitor. Care to share that N2WQ?

Varistor

http://youtu.be/iKjNklhewuM http://youtu.be/rP076eK_Qyo

Varistor

Using VPN for remote access is not the same as having WAN capabilities. Such capabilities include jitter and unreliable link optimization, data compression, security, etc. There is a good reason Flex hasn't introduced it yet, it's not trivial. For the 7300, use the Icom RS-BA1 software. It offers a PC control plus re-display of the 7300 spectrum scope to a new, larger window on the PC. With mouse click tuning access. The pixel resolution remains relatively low, the same as the 7300 touch screen. This also allows quite low bandwidth remote operation via the Internet, including the spectrum scope.

W9OY

Of course a low res low bandwidth scope means low information.  The Flex scope has a 1.5hz/pixel resolution, which means you can see under the noise you hear in your headphones.  The resolution is maintained whether local or remote.  The signals you see are contained in the waterfall and provide a memory of what happened up to minutes ago.  It provides a dimension of history that is completely addressable.  So when it comes to the 7300 color me NOT amazed.  

73  W9OY

Varistor

When Flex is ready with a WAN solution, you can be sure that you won't see the same resolution as for local use. The reality of the internet is such that developers have to assume high jitter, high latency, and constrained bandwidth. In fact, there are plenty of posts as is on inconsistent performance over local Wi-Fi networks; going WAN will most definitely require trade offs.

Take a look at https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/203469425-Reasons-for-Wireless-Network-Performance-...

This is a good overview of network considerations. WAN challenges are 10x greater.

Walt - KZ1F

Everybody had stipulated the 7300 and 6700 are not in the same class, not performance wise...or price wise. Me thinks there is way too much hand wringing going on here.

Ya know what has a great graphics display, the ts-990s. My ts-530sp never overloaded either, but I never lived next to an am radio station.

Steve-N5AC

Rudy, I've not tried the PC software for the 7300.  Is the panadapter refresh rate fixed at what you show in the video (about 3 frames-per-second) or will it run faster?

Varistor

The PC software mirrors the on-device screen where you would change the speed of the waterfall and the panadapter. Ironically, to demonstrate the unreliable nature of the internet, my remote site's connection went down (4G cellular) so I can't test it.

EA4GLI

Thanks for the video, what about Full Screen, because that one is about 6-7 inches across at most....

W9OY

KY6LA. Do you notice a decrease inpanadapter resolution when you run your 6700 remote WAN from France?

Steve W6SDM

Agreed that the ICOM 7300 isn't close to the performance of even a Flex 6300.   In fact, I believe the similarities stop with the direct conversion receiver.  However, from the reviews it appears to be a great radio with some specific applications.  If I can figure out how to sneak one into the house without being caught, I am strongly considering buying it as a go-box and something to use at Field Day.

• It's small and light enough to fit into a medium-sized Pelican case.
• It's self-contained, with voice recorder and keyer built in.  No computer needed.
• It can be interfaced to a lower-end lap control for use of third party programs - the laptop doesn't have to do anything but display. 
• It has a built-in tuner.

With the price being $1,000 less than the 6300, it looks like a good choice for a Field Day radio.  I see a lot of clubs latching on to these and giving up their Yaesu FT897s.

Steve-N5AC

SmartSDR always sends full resolution when operating in a LAN/WAN environment.  If you want to lower the bandwidth, lower the frame rate using the controls for the display.

Varistor

Steve, can you please elaborate on the WAN roadmap? Specifically, considering today there is no official WAN solution other than VPN, what WAN optimization solutions are you considering for the future? Again, this is not just about bandwidth, but about all challenges related to WAN connectivity over varying, unpredictable, and unreliable links.

KY6LA_Howard

@Lee Full resolution but then I have a 200/200 Mb/s in Paris and 300/50Mb/s lines in California A better test is over 4G phones. Again full resolution.

Steve-N5AC

About all I can say at this point is that we will be working on it.  On things like this we do JIT design with the whole team when it is time to do the work.  If we spend time designing it in advance, everyone forgets the design and what it's supposed to do and how it works when the time comes to implement.  So we avoid that problem by discussing options as time permits, convincing ourselves we can solve it and then putting off the design until it's required.  When we do the work we will have several engineers working on it that have extensive networking experience.  Some even know how to command a Hayes modem. ;-)

Ken - NM9P

Hayes modem? That brings back memories... I once wrote a GW-BASIC routine to program an S-COM 7K repeater controller via the landline. It translated macro codes into strings of DTMF tones and sent them up to the controller. I had to include a routine to chop long strings into smaller ones on order to get around a string-length limit on my modem that I couldn't solve. (32 characters if I remember). It was probably the last thing I did in GW-BASIC back in the 90's. It worked better in my situation than the program I got from S-COM.

Ken - NM9P

A friend of mine lost a FTDX-1200 to lightning last month and has asked my advice and opinion. The 6000 series is way above his budget for replacement. I have suggested a used Flex-3000, or new TS-590SG or IC-7300. He has seen my 6500 but has only been playing ham radio for a couple of years. He feels it might be overwhelming, even if it were in his budget to get a 6300.

Knowing him, and his operating style and interests, I would not have any concerns if he stepped up to SDR via the 7300. My guess is that he would have fun with it and may even some day step up to a flex.

Just as the Flex-1500 has been called a "gateway drug" rig, I think the if-7300 will also be an introductory rig for many people who will develop a thirst for higher performance. And many others will find it to be all that they ever need.

Variety and choice are wonderful things. The competition is going to drive even more innovation. The next ten years are going to be fun to watch.

W9OY

I'll be very interested to see how the radio performs in a multi transmitter multi band environment.  If a station a thousand miles away can make it overload I wonder what a station 100 feet away will do.

W9OY

At least as fun as the past ten