ICOM IC-705

Apart from the price (too high), this is "my" sort of radio.

It produces 5W with the supplied battery pack and 10W with an external power supply. It covers all HF bands, 6m, 2m and 70cm with all modes. It may support 4m in a later firmware update. 5W is enough to work the world, even more true with FT8, even with simple wire antennas.

It also supports wireless LANs, D-STAR and Bluetooth. It has a built-in GPS receiver and micro SD slot. It is now on sale in Japan and soon will be across the world. Often there are a few bugs in early releases that are corrected with hardware or firmware changes. It is worth waiting for these to be corrected.

If I have missed any recent videos try searching for IC-705 on YouTube.

I am quite surprised that other manufacturers have not announced a rival. At the moment ICOM have this world beating marketing scoop all to themselves, so they set the market price. If Yaesu made their version the price would drop. It seems Yaesu have yet again missed the boat. The ICOM product was announced a year ago and Yaesu would appear to have done absolutely nothing. The FT818, when it eventually appeared, was a huge wasted marketing chance. In my view Yaesu have become followers and not the leaders they once were.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/ic705