One of the best rigs ever?

Some years ago, I sold my IC-703 to a local friend. He used it mainly on 20m. Looking back, it was one of the best radios I have ever owned. It covered 160m to 6m with 10W,  auto ATU, speech processing and DSP. 

I managed to blow my PAs which were easily fixed. Otherwise it was faultless. These are hard to find these days, but for a multi-band, multi-mode QRP radio it is hard to beat.

These days it is replaced by the IC-705. This covers more bands and has a few extras, but does not have an auto-ATU.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/commercial-rigs/icom-ic-703 .

ICOM IC703

Until I sold mine to a local fellow ham several years ago, I used this rig most days. They are hard to find now, and I am not surprised. In many ways I regret selling mine, but it went to good home and is well used.

Sadly, there is no real equivalent QRP rig outside of Japan. The IC7300 is probably the nearest, modern rig, but the 10W version is only available in Japan. If the 10W version was available in the UK, I would buy one, as I suspect would many.

The IC703 is a 10W 160m-6m multi-mode transceiver with an auto-ATU. It has a good DSP filter. Altogether a good, solid radio.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ic703

Icom IC703

One of the best rigs I once owned was the 10W Icom IC703. This was a well equipped QRP radio with a decent receiver, DSP and auto ATU. I sold it to a local amateur who was a poor pensioner but I regret selling it now! No fan needed at 10W.  Just a first class rig.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ic703 .

IC703 and FT817 Mk II

Some years ago I sold my mint 10W IC703 (with 50MHz and auto ATU) to a local ham at well below market price. Without doubt, the IC703 is an excellent radio and an ideal main station rig for QRPers and Foundation licence holders. Power can be turned down to 500mW or up to 10W. There was a PA design fault that was corrected on my radio.  The DSP does a credible job as does the TX RF based speech processor. The IC703 is no longer being made.

I sold it as I have an FT817 that gets well used and basically does all I want, but I do regret selling then IC703 really. If I had my time again I would still be owning the unit, but it IS getting well used with the fellow ham locally. Before he was stuck with just 1-2W on 20m.

http://www.mclnet.org/on3zl/images/ic703_front_big.jpg

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/ic703 for more about this rig. In my view, the internal ATU matches lots of different antennas. It really is a pretty well self-contained radio apart from the external battery or PSU.

All I want is for Yaesu to do an FT817 Mk II with a similar spec and internal battery pack but this now seems unlikely any time soon.

Best value new QRP transenceivers

At  the moment the running order, ignoring wSDR designs, is:

• Elecraft KX3  - best RX, expensive with all options in the UK. n ternal auto-ATU option
• Ten-Tec Argonaut VI - excellent RX and ideal base station but no  5,24 or 50MHz coverage.Expensive.
• Yaesu FT817ND - excellent base/portable unit up to 432MHz,but RX not as good as KX3 or Argonaut VI. 13-14 year old design.
• Icom IC703 - excellent base transceiver,but no longer available new. Internal auto-ATU.

Overall, the FT817ND represents best value for money all things considered, in my view. It may be an old design but I can buy 2 FT817ND with plenty of change for the price of the KX3. And I get a better design for home station digital (WSPR) use with botj 144 + 432MHz bands. Even adding a Z817 or T1 auto-ATU to the price of the FT817ND units there is still change when compared with the fully loaded KX3.

Reviews on www.eham.net are similar for all radios listed.

IC703 Sold

For around 6-7 years I've owned and used an IC703 10W QRP radio as part of my station. Although I have worked all over the planet with it on SSB and CW, it had not been used anything like as much as the FT817, so I decided to "de-clutter"and sell it.  It was bought by a local friend who hasn't got any HF SSB/CW gear apart from a homebrew rig for 20m.  I had thought of trading it in, so offered him the rig at the trade-in value. If he doesn't get hours of fun and enjoyment from it, especially on 10m at the moment, I'd be very surprised. You see very few of these transceivers available on the second hand market, I guess because owners hang on to them.

IC703 TX failure

After many years of excellent service my IC703 decided to expire on TX last night: power started to drop when running 5W on 30m then 80m (good matched load), then nothing, although I could detect a signal on the FT817, probably at mW levels.

I believe this is a common IC703 issue. Does anyone have data on how to fix this and where I get the spare parts? I believe it is either a driver or PA failure.

Incidentally Martyn Lynch quoted £45/hr plus parts and shipping to do a repair. I don't expect I'd see any change from £100.

This is the first time in 42 years of operating that I have had ANY piece of amateur gear fail, confirming that generally equipment is reliable if used carefully, so I cannot complain.