ICOM IC-718 review

CQ Reviews:

The ICOM IC-718 HF Transceiver

hat would you consider more
fun and exciting than chatting

W

DX with a room full of fancy gear? How

with good friends and working

about doing it with a brand-new, low-

costHFtransceiverthatis sma llenough

to sit on a nightstan d by your favorite

easy chair and s

rig features to boot?

po

rts a numb

er

of big-

Well, friends, that is exactly what I

BY DAVE

INGRAM:

K4TWJ

have been doing recently with IC

new IC-7

1B,

and I will bet a similar

OM

's

change of pace will add some new-

found enjoyment to your life, too. How

so? First, it is the famous old story of a

special friend or a rare OX statio n that
always hits the airwaves two minutes

after you
up trying to copy
on a well-use d and

transceive r. Second,

radio
neat little rig that must

first hand to be fully appreciated.

magic

wa

lk

out

in working the world with a

of

the shack

weak,QRMed

somew

there

hatoutdated

is unique

be

ex

per

or

signals

ienced

give

PhotoA-ICOM's
into an

operating

excep

preferences

tionally

new

small

IC-718

case. The

with

optional

tesy

packs

ICOM

a

surprising

transceiver

accessories

America, Inc.)

amou

can

as

disc

nt

of

also

be

ussed in

big-time

tailored

text.(Photo

performance

to

your

own

cour

-

Life
changeyourselfwhen
such as ICOM's IC-718 offer such high

performance
price?! The sunspot

the HF bands are betterthan they have

been in a number

air and enjoy ha

hear

the IC-7 18 and what makes it attractive

for
to

HFingT

exp

Hey,

is a o

you asking, "Wh

lain, so

Look

ne-s

Th

hot deal.

new

at

at will take a few pages

be

such an attractive

co

unt is hi

of

years.

mming

at

is specia labout

patient and read on!

Why

transceivers

gh

Get

to the

on the

max

Me Over !

short-

, and

! I

sign various other fu
tuning knob, however, pro ducing the

of

equivalent

Let's step back a minute and review
The IC­transceiver

meterswith 5to 100 wattsoutputon

and

k
and sports 101 tunable
ditional specs
shown in fig. 1. Big-rig features inclu

Hz

sse

to 30

71

(40wattson AM),includes300

a 30-

8's

cove

MHz

and

basic

nc

tions to the main

or

40-knob rig.
attractions . The

rs 160 throu

shortwave

memo

technical

reception,

de

gh

ries. Ad-

tails are

10

CW

de

mobile battery for mobiling

ing.T
dard"

soc
out heat sink

IC-

cates frequencies and modes in its up-

per area, while a ba
in its low
na
(fig. 2). The

he

transceiv

ICO

ket, a

Like otherpopular-mode

71

8's front-sc reen-type disp lay indi-

llevels

M/

Ke

nd

er

,output power,SWR, and ALC

the rear

or

area indicates received sig-

bar

er

isfitted with a "stan-

nwood-type

pa

nel is flat with-

fan protrusions.

ro

graph-type meter

graph also includes a

or

outb

6-pin DC

IICOM

ack

s,t

he

-

Right fr
4" x 9.5 " x 9" cabinet and front LCD­screen-type
favorable and "genui
ance (photo A). Indeed,

lookslikea miniature IC-7

IC-756.Onlythree"official"knobsgrace
the front
squelch, RIT and IF Shift,and main tun-

ing. Front

~4941

35

210

om

ScenicViewDrive,Birmingham,AL

the first glance, t

pa

nel:

pus

display

AF

h-buttons temporarily as-

pro duce a most

ne

ICOM" appear-

the

and RF volume!

he

IC-

71

transceiver

81

,IC-746,

8's

or

dual in
cy capabi lity, band and m
ning,

compressor, semi and full a SK (break-

in),
strikes me as a lot of rig f
a

nd

er

plus

in a
almost
on the air with an I

pho
ante

de

penden

SW

CW

its inclusionof a front-facing spea k-

compact

ne

nna

R metering,

keye r,

SWR

anyw

(a hand mic is su

, and a 13 vo

mo

here. All you nee d to

t VFOs, split-freq

emory

VOX

and

nitor and keyer results

"one box unit" that fits

noise bla nker. It

or

C-

718 is a micro-

pp

lt

DC! 20

, s

the money,

lied), key,

ue

scan-

peec

ge

amp

n-

h

peak hold fu
mum level readin gs for approximately
one second and makes them easy to
read. Nice!Whent
is punched up, the
indicate a se
and adjus
ba

r graph as you rotate

(fig. 3).

t

justments

ad
friendl y, and it sure
memb
it up in t

Th

er

the rig's full menu set or look

he

nc

tion that freezes maxi-

he

IC-

71

disp

lec

ted feature

tmen

is direct readout

ma

ts

are

is

qu

ite handy

nu

al during a

lay

disp

the

be

ats trying to re-

8'smenuset

cha
or

layed on the

tuning knob

of

nges to

function,

selected

and

aso

. That

user

e-mail: <k4twj@

52

. CO •

Janu

cq

-amateuN adio.com

ary 2001

(peak current) pow

er

supply

or

auto-

is not criticizing the manual; it is very

Vi

sit

Our Web Site

Spe

cific

at

io

ns of

th

e IC

OM

IC·7

18 HF

Transcei

ve

r

GENERAL

Frequen

./ Guarant

'2 Vanes according to version.

M

od

e: USB,
Number
Frequ

Power supply

cy

eed

of

ency

co

verage : Receive

range:0.

memory

stability

requirement

5-2

9.999999 MHz

channels: 101 (99 regUlar. 2 scan edges)

:

Modulation

0.03--29.999999 MHz·l
Transmit

1

.800-

3.500-3.999999 MHz'z

7.000-7

10.1

14.

000-14.3 5

18.06

21.000--21.450000 MHz

24.890--24.990000 MHz

28.000--29.700000 MHz

less

60

rate
at +25°C (+

fluctuations O°C to

+122°F) tess than

:

13.8

t .999999 MHz'z

.300000 MHz

00-10.15ססOO

ססOO

8-

18.168000 MHz

lSB

than :t:200 Hz from 1 min. to

min. after power on. After that.

01 stability lessthan:t:30 Hzlhr.

, CW,

7r

F). Temperature

MHz
MHz

RnY

, AM

-so-c (+32"F to

:t:3S0

VDC :t15% (negative

Hz.

gr

ound)

Spurious

'

Spu

rious

Carrier
Unwanted

Mic

rop

Key
SEND/A

RE

CEI

Receive

Sensitivity

Sque

(threshold)

suppressi

hone

co

nnector: a-ccnooctor 6.5 (d) mm

le

VE

lch

system

emissions

tree.:

below

sideband

connec

connector: Phono (RCA)

: SSB - balanced modulatiOn

AM - Low-level modulation

:

30

MHz. -

on: More than 40 dB

: More than
tor

: 8-pin (600 ohms)

le

ss than -

output power

SO

dB;

abo

ve

R

system

:

sens

itiv

:

ity:

Double conversion superheterodyne

system
SSB. CW. RTTY

0

.161JV

AM

13IJV (0.5--1.799999 MHz)

2IJV (1.8-29.999999 MHz)

SSB, CW, RTTY - less than 5.6

SO

30

41Hz

SO

(1.8-29

dB

. --60

dB

belOw

dB

.999999 MHz)

peak

(1

/4 in.)

IJ

V

Current

Oper
Antenna
Dimensions:

(projections not included)

We

ight

ACC
REMOTE

TRANSMITI

Output

drain

atable

connector

(approx.):

connector:

connector

(at 13.8 VDC):

temp.range

ER

power:

:

:

Receive standby 1.3 A
Receive max. audio 2.0 A
Transmit max. power 20.0 A

D

OC

:

- 1
50

240 (W))(95 (H) x 239 (D) mm

97/16

3.8 kg (8 lb. 6 oz.)
13-pin

2-oonductor 3.5 (d) mm (1/8 in.)

SSB,

AM-2-40W

10 +60"C; +14°F to +140"F

-239

(SO

(W

) x 33/4 (H) x 913/32

CW

ohms)

oRTTY - 5--100 W

(D

) in.

Selectivi

Spurious

rejection

RIT
Audio

PHONES
External SP

variab

(at 13.8 VDC)

ty:

and

ratio

le

output

connector

image

:

range

power

connector:

:

:

:

SSB, CWoRTTY

More than 2.1
l ess than 4.5

AM

More than 6 k
less

More than 70 dB

(1

.8-29

:t:

1200 Hz

More than 2.0 W at 10%

distortion with an 8
3-conductor 6.35 (d) mm
2-conductor 3.5 (d) mm (

8 ohm

than 20

.999999 MHz)

kHzJ-6

kHzI

HzI-6

kHzI-40

-6

ohm load

dB

0 dB

dB

(1/4

1/8

dB

in.)

in.]

Fig. 1-

General

technical specifications

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IC-7

18.

table tones

plus shifts of 850, 425 , and 170 Hz is
also included for R
erations. Extemal
switching has also been streamlined to

an

R

CA
relay directly switching
DC

interf
necti

t

at2amps.An

on

A choice of five optional 455 k

er

s lets you tailor the IC-718 to

phone

ace

to

of

2125, 1615, and 1275 Hz

TT
linear amplif

sock

thus is not

mos

t line

et

ex

ar

Y/data mode op-

ier

with the

up

temal

needed

amplifiers.

switchbox

IC·7

to 16 volts

for con-

Hz

IF fil-

T/R

18

's

or

your

Fig.

showsselect

easy
guidance is just m
time-effective .

2-

10

A "show

ed

und

erstand and use.On-screen

air

fre

qu

oreco

analysis of the IC

encies,m

function bar-graph-type me

nvenient and

emor

Speci al Features

Dueto its small sizeand lowcost, ma

ies,

ny

-718's

andall

rat

close r, however, and

it sports some rather
and
The

ple, is fully adjustableto fit varying
conditio

front-screen

operati

ter

her

"plain J

op

tions for a rig

IC·

718

ns

ratherthan justbeing preset.

displ

ng

parame

.

an

e"

's

noise blanker, for

ay. The screen

ter

s,plus amulti-

transceiver

yo

u will discove r

elabo

of

its price range .

rate features

. Look

exam-

band

oper
your main interest,for example, you can

add a 500 H

inthe rig's optional crys tal slot. A 250 Hz
filte r
hand for tuning in signals and also has
slightlymoreinsertionloss.somostfolks

choose a 500 Hz filter. If SSB is your
favored mode, you can add a wide 2.8

k

Hz!
or an ultra-wide and great-sounding 3.3
kHzlFL257in the IC­al filter slot. The tactory-mstalled/stan-

ating prefere

z!

FL52A or a250 H

us

ually requires an extra-steady

FL96,averynarrow1.8kHzlFL222,

nc

es. If CW or RTTY is

z!

FL53A

71

8's singleoption-

folks tend to visualize the IC-718 as a

www

.cq-amateur-radic.cc

m

An

FS

K generator

comp

lete with seiec-

dard FL65 filter, incidentally, is 2.4 kHz

J

anuary

2001

• CO • 53

LAST

MINUTE

,

..

Gift

Ideas!

200112002

Fifteen

Janu

(Specify A

ary

maleur

200

mon

1

through

Calendars

th

calendar$

Mar<:h

Rad

io

Of

CI.nk

2002

Redi D)

RF

..,

.. -

.........

11III

..

Fig.

wide. An optional filter must be soldered

3-

Here you see two examples

,.

II!!

. . -

menu-selected function

POwEr

..

•., .

!!I!

UI!

!Ill!!

!!!!!

I! II

is "called

MTr

'-f'T '

,

..

......

&0

!Il!

11..

L

. -

................

!!!l!!I!!.!

lJ·1J.."

..- .

I!

1111111111111

sa

of

how the IC-71B's display looks when a

up~

driver

for adjustment.

dr

opped b

ac

k fender to fender

,

......

.

-,

'-'

,

Keys, Keys,

by

Dave

1.

You'll enjoy nostalgia \\lith

Ingr

I

this visual celebration of ama-

•

,

teur radio's favori te

This

and

~

boo

his

Order

k is full

torical insight.

N

o

.

••....•....••....•..$5.

-

~

1'"

-

,"

'I

•

.,-",,

.-

NOWONLY

The NEW Shortwave

Propagation
Handbook

by

W3

AS

K,

N4XX

AoomprehensiYe source

&

K6GKU

01

Keys

am, K4TWJ

accessory.

01

pictures

K

E

Y

S

~

95

in place when installed, but "qettinq to"
solder points is fairly easy.
time and patience.

An optional

automatic noise reduction and an auto-

matic notchfilter is alsoavailable for the

IC-718. The noise-reduction section is
really helpful for pulling weak signa ls
out of the mud.but the "auto notcner"

aspecialgem.Wheneve r a tune-uphet­erodyne
push the -ANF" button and
gone. What a delight!

Some additional options and/or ac-

comes

UT-l06 D

on frequency, you just

SP

It just takes

modul e with

is

poet: It's

with the Caddy driver and yelled out
"Hey, buddy,how do yougetthiscarout
of second gear?"

Se

riously, h

nea
so
good talk
calm at full outp ut on
fun to use on

activities (FM
not
tive for minimizing adjacent frequency

aRM
and

t little

me

goodass

included).

(It works better than expected').

receiver sensitivity (which can

eco

power

ow

ev

er

, the IC-

nomy

ets to its credit. It has

for SSB, runs cool and

29.0

ope

The

IFShiftis quiteeffec-

tr

ansceiver with

CW

to

29

ration.

, and is also

.1 MHz AM
however

71

8 is a

, is

be

Hf

propaga!lOn

suospots

lions.
and

Order

......

WIth

tables gaIorel

No

...........

. ionospheric

phoIograptly. charts

. SWP

principles,

$19.

precc-

95

33

Simple

Weekend

Projects

by Dave Ingram, K4TWJ

Do-it-yoorselt electronics

projects from the most basic to

the

fairly sophisticated. You'll

find:

VHF FM,ng, working OSCAR

satellites, fun on HF,Irying

CW, buildIng simple
working HF station you can build for $100. Al

includes practical

antennas, even a comple te

tIPS

and

stat

ionaccessories for

ledlniques

on

how

so

10

cessories for the IC-718 (and other

modeilCOM

brief recognition at this point. First is

ICOM's PS-8S 13.8 volt
powersupply.
small , lightweight, and mates perfectly
with the IC-718 to produce a complete
"two box station" that fits almost any­where. Next is ICOM's new IC-PW1 , a
fully solid-state 1000 watt output linear
ampli fier

antenna tuner and detach
co

ntrol/metering unit (photo B). It con­nects to antenna and accessory sock­ets on the IC-7 18 (or other ICOM trans-

ceivers with accessory soc kets) and

transceivers)also warrant

DC/20

Th

is unit is exceptionally

co

mplete with au

ab

toma

le remote

amp

tic

varied with the panel-selectable pre­amp

is

justable ,but that "busy band"

pumping sound it
mized simp ly

contro

and, switch-selection of normal or re­verse sideband recept ion, working CW
with the IC-718 is a real pleasure. It also

makes a killer a RP rig when throttled
back to 4 or 5 watts output.

optional 3.3 k

718 could change its

or attenuator) is superb. TheAGC

sort

Thanks to

Earlier I mentioned that installing an

of

fast

l's level.

its iambic keyer, full

Hzl

and

makes

by

reducing the RF gain

Fl2S7

not

directly ad-

or

can be mini-

filter in the IC-

receive aud io

almost

aSK

oeere

Order No. 33PROJ

your

own

NOWONLY

e1eclronic

Vertical Antenna

Handbook

by

applications.

construction PfOteds.

~

~

...••...••....••...•$9.

Capt. Paul H.

learn

OnieI'"No. VAH

NOWONLY

basic theory.

~

Also

95

Lee

, N6PL
design

includes

S

~

••....•....•$6.

and

easy

95

produces a fully automatic/no-tune sta­tion . You just select a band, and mode,
dia

l up a desired

transceiver. and the amplifier (plus
tuner) "follows that lead ."

On

The real fun and games began when I
connected the IC-718 to

Gain
waves. Rightoffthe
in Rio, V

The

AV640

a9V

Air

vertica l and hit the air-

K on Chagos in the Indian

power

bat

Iworked PYSBE

level on the

my

new Hy-

response from rather narrow-banded to
rich,full-bodied,and super-sounding (a
hottrendamongserious SSBers).In
December
also suggested adding a new Heil
"Goldline" microphoneto the IC-718 for
equally great sounding
Sincethat time BobHell has developed
a studio-grade condenser mic specifi­cally for ICOMs with 8-pin mic sockets ,
and it sounds absolutely phenomenal.

Add one of these new rnics to an IC­718, and you will have an awesome

"Wo

rld of Ideas" column I

transmit audio.

my

U.S. and pcseesoos-eoc $4 stIippil'lQl1landhng.

Foreign shippinglhandling

order

weight

CO

and

destination.

Communications,

25

Newbridge

Hicksville,

1-800-853-9797

54 .

co

• January 2001

charges

NY 11801

-

Fax

566-681-2926

are calculated

Inc.

Road

by

Ocean, and
could not stop the rig from working DX!

It eve n reminded me of that old-time

ab

song
Cos
Metro today) outrunning a big Cadillac.
After rat racing a few miles, the Nash

mo

out the chap in a little Nash

politan (comparable to a

UA0A

Z

near

Siberia. I

Geo

SSB

signal (Bob'stelephone number is

618-257-3000).

Fig.
For a brief technical explanation/dis -

4-

Block diagram

cussion see text.

Vis

of

the IC-7

i1Our Web Site

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January 2001 • CO

,.

• 55

If you really want blow-away sound-

sn PROUDLY ANNOUNCES

ANTENNA & TOWER

SUPPORT ROPE

NOW A

"

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m"'l.<om

ing aud io, one final

and

somewhat
"exotic" mic-eomplementing idea war­rants quick mention. Consider replac­ing the IC-718 's 2.4 kHzlFL65 filter,
which is common to transmit

c

ei

ve, with a 3.3 kHzlFL257 filter. This

is a technical enoeevor

.u

maynot be a

and

re-

quick and easy swap, and if improperly
done it may void the rig's warranty,but

it (plus a Hell microphone) should pro­duce totally exquisite audio seldom (if
evert) heard on SSB .

Photo

B-

fCOM's

op

tionallC

-PW1 alf­sofid-state, fully automa tic 1000 watt
outputlinear

amplifier

and

antenna

20,000 IN USE IN

OVER

5OCOUNTRIES

SAME DAV

SHIPPING

M

AO'E

IN U S.A

Inside Views

Ifyouhave been followingourbt-monm­Iy "How It Works"
you know that looking at a transceiver's
block diagram is one of the most effec-

tive and impart ial means of visualizing

its operation and performance . Bearing
that thought in mind, let's take a whip-

lash inside tour of the IC·718. Refer to
fig. 4 as we proceed.

Beginning at point

gram's right middle si
ceived signals are first routed from the

co

lumn here in CO,

"

A~

de

on the dia-

, incomi

ng/

re-

tuneris theperfectfinish ingtouchtothe
IC-718 (or

other

is trufy firstcl

gram)
speech
through

routes

co

mpresso

an

audio-range filter,

the balanced mo

ICOM

thr

ough

du

transceivers). It

ass

rN

!

the

mic

ampl

OX (IC2201),

and

into

lator (IC2301) . As-

suming ssemode is selected, a dou-

ble sideband and supp ressed

ca

rrier

signal is output and routed back ''the
opposite way"through

FL65

(drop

one

HV14·1 14KV-1A 250A.SURGE $15.00
HV1Q-l 10KV-1A 250A.SURGE 12.00

8-1 8KV-1A 250A.SURGE 10.00

HV

HV 6-1 6KV-1A 150A.SURGE 5.00

PU

$4

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SHlPPfNG--NY

K2AWs

175 FRIENDS LANE WESTllURV . NY11590

RESID£NTSADO A SALES

' SIUCON A

516-334-7024

LL

EY·

TAX

T/R switch throughoneof several CPU-

selected bandpass filters f

sired receive range. Signals then pro-

ceed through apanel-selectablepreamp

(0 1401 and

verted to a first IF of

mixer (0 1101 through

oscillator

01402

) and are up-con-

64

MHz by the first

01104)

or

injection signa l between

64.485and 94.455 MHz (depending on

yourdesired operating range)isderived

from oneof the two PLL(Phase Locked

Loop) units in the DDS (Direct Digital
Synthesis) to drive this mixer.The DDS

or

your de-

. A local

sideband to produce

and
The

0401.pa
co

0101

on through transmit IF

signal is then

nv

ert

ssed

ed

and

to the tran smit frequen

0102

through F11301. and

. It then
through IC1, 01. drivers Os and
power
ters,

amp

and

s

Q4

onthr

and

ough the T/R relay to

an

sse signal ),

amp

up-con

05

. transm it fil-

0502

verted by

cy

by

pr

oceeds

03,

the antenna . The previous description
should familiarize you with the IC­sufficiently for
so

I will let you t

ge

neral understand ing,

ak

e it from there and

71

8

.

CompleteFCCEle

Become

ment 1.3and8QuestionP

FCC

Ucensed

Electronic Technician

•

496·pagefuily-illus

ou

needtoknow10get

y

te

lephoneo

perato

tra

led

le~bo o

your

r l

icensewrrauarendorseme

k

FCC

covers

comm

ercialrad

eve

ryt

nt

ool

hing

io·

s

acquires its exact trequency-determin-

ing data from the CPU, which in tum
accepts inputdatafrom the 10- key pad
ormain tuning dial. Retumingto the first
mixer,
throughceramicfilter FL1301 whi

64

MHz output signal s then pass

ch

lim­its bandwidth to 15 kHz (because this
filter must pass AM plus both USB and

LSB signals). The received signal is

amplified ,

co

nverted to a 455 kHz sec­ond IF by second mixerD401 ,and rout­ed throughthe factory-installed FL65 or
an optional SSB, CW, or AM filter. (This

is the spot where I hinted at filter swaps

delve into add itional study as you like.

Conclusion

All

strikesme asavery good little HFtrans-

ceiver at afair andsquare price. Itis not

an IC-756 Pro,but Iwillbeta sharpoper­ator

couldwork with a'756Pro.Icannotnec-

essarily say the same for transceivers
from
new

as

pects

ca

n work anyt hing with it h

20

or

30

co

nsidered, the I

C-l18

e!

she

years ago, however, as

gene ration rigs really do receive

•

Containsevery

question

cnoces.

•

Complete

licefIse

•

FCC

~~

~

i3~

• •

'

.~

"'••-

56.

(inclu

and

e

xam

Commercialrad

~

CO •

pos

siblewor

ding

tM

answers1l111h

infor

ma

tion

on

inat

iOn..arid

oo

reg

•

Comrnef

availa

lilalioQI

ON

P

,O

VISa.Mastertard

ble

RildioEnmin,.

.

The

W5YI

Sox

565206.Da

January

d-lor-word e

newupdates).multi

explanationoftheanswer,

every

how

ulalioo

cial

commercialradIO

you

can

sirld

radlo

Gr

2001

opera

oup.Inc

llas.TX

.or

Discover

xam

qualify

ude4

tor

.

7~

ina

ple

'

leSt

tion

.

mg

earlier.) The signal then proceeds
through second IFs

01603

,

01602

buffer 01601.and into product detector

IC2001. Resultant audio from
then proce

ed

s through AF selector

01602

IC2102, through AF amp IC2101 and
IC2901. and on to the speaker.

During transmit.

rophone (point "8"

audiofrom

on

left si

de

the

mic-

of dia-

and transmit better than much of the

,

older gear. Viewed from those stand­points, the IC-718 gets

my

vote for

"affordab le rig of the day ."

For more information on the IC-718

and

other ICOM gear, contact ICOM

America, Inc., 2380-116th Ave. N.E.,

Bellevue,

WA

98004 {phone 425-454-

8155; web: <www.icomamenca.com».

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