At the moment I am looking for a new rig, but I am prepared to wait some time. I have never been keen on running high power and 5-10W would serve me well. I like that the new IC7300 is SDR based, but I like that the FT991 includes 2m and 70cm.
At the moment I think I'll just wait for the FT817 replacement. I hope this includes 4m, but it sounds like it uses the same IF as the FT991, so I guess 4m is unlikely. Ideally I think the IC7300s (10W version) would be a good bet, especially if this comes out with 4m too.
I dislike fans, so I assume the IC7300S and FT817 replacement will not have these? Lets hope ICOM market the IC7300S as a QRP radio in Europe. 10W pep is a decent power. Certainly enough power for most occasions.
UPDATE 0934z: It would not surprise me if the FT817 replacement stayed at 5W but they also had a companion booster amplifier, maybe 20-50W. As we will be on the way down in the solar cycle next year (2016) this may be a reasonable compromise. What would they do about the auto ATU? I guess any bolt-on amp would have to have its own. I still think Yaesu seriously misjudged the market for this rig and the timing. There are so many FT817s out there and people have been gagging for a replacement/enhanced version for years. Now Yaesu is playing catch-up rather than leading. As I said yesterday, this new radio will need some seriously good features if it is to sell as well as the FT817 has done. Oh, expect some very good deals on the FT817ND early next year. The dealers will want to clear shelves in readiness of the new one.
25 Aug 2015
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3 comments:
I don't like separate amplifiers I prefer the next 817 with power 10W (ssb qrp limit), compressor and atu. I fear that the successor will be more fragile. 73 de SV1GRN
I think 10W is unlikely in a true portable because of batteries and heatsinking. I agree 10W pep SSB would be more useful, but I bet it will be 5W again. I cannot believe they would launch it without a speech processor and auto-ATU. Without these it just will not sell.
10W ssb /p isn't difficult with Lipo batteries except cost hihi otherwise we can reduce pwr. 73 de SV1GRN
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