-----riii\
iiiim~.
I----
The
he
ICOM
ot-me-une
T
give
would like to say that I have been testing and
775for
n it a thorough lesting.
Before getting into the review, however, I
IC·775DSPtransceiver
lCOM product. I
qu
ite
some
timeand
have
is atop-
had
have
ICOM
the
really
IC-775DSP
Transcei
BY
LEW
McCOY',
WlICP
ver
reviewing equipment for articles
thanIii
ago when I first did reviews f
employed in the Technical Department of the
ARRL
to really wring out a piece of equipment, check-
ing charactenstcs such
marily testing the technical aspects of gear. I
notethat now
ficult for today'samateur to comprehend. Many
of us do not even understand the terms used to
describe the
ment. In plain, simple language ,
hot-shot engineer to even begin to understand
whatthe revieweristalkingabout .In
(in
ket
o think
at the time .
my
opinion) the reviewer completely misses
aOOUt
some
va
rious aspects of modern equip-
.Actually,It
Our
goat in
as
ease
reviews tend to be very dif-
lor
more years
was40years
or
051
those
01
use, bot pri-
it takes a real
manycases
. I was
days
was
The
ICOM
Ic-nSDSP
transceive
r.
the point. Numerous graphs and charts to show
a product's characteristics often will only
plete
they are unnecessary.
Simply because
point
cemed about stability,
orkey ingquality.Let's givecredit where
The manufacturers are
good
lyconfuse
the reader,and
mooem
where one ooesn't
job.
IleeI
Why
design has reached a
have
to
sometimes
unnecessary?
be
or third-order distortion,
very
capable
and
com
too con-
it is due:
do
a
The Basics
Let's try to look at the IC-
viewpoint ,
oneIhope
everyone
77
5 from a differe
understands-
nt
-
au
takes
so
manual
trations included. II's
spen
I
and
some
many
is extremely detailed with
t considerable
the transceiver to familiarize
getting
features
used
available
81/2" x 11"
time
to
studying the manual
because
. The instruction
and
there are
many
63
pages
myself
illus-
with
the
ways
that
.
they
For
ware
features. As a writer myself, I
been
the
are
example
can
irked
reader
saying.
, I find that buying and using soft-
by
trcse
automaticallyunderstands
Such
writers who assume
is not
always
be extremely frustrating. I bought a
have
the
al-
what
case
.
that is, primarily from an operating standpoint.
The
of equ ipment. Incidentally, "DS
Dig ital Signal Processing.
whistles· has
but in this case it is
unit
with a
co
addit
go
ter
tra nsceiver is 16
weighs
IC-77S0SP
is a self-contained ,
bu
ilt
·in
vers the 160 through 10 meter
ion oilers a general-coverage receiver.
Here are s
into thediscussionof performance and tea-
es
thatshould appeal to
37
pounds.
is
been
power
ome
3
an
extremely exotic piece
much
more
/4'W x 6
Us
abused
deserved
200
supply .
basics , and
powersupply
P"
stands
The
everyamateur,The
'H
term
. Basically,
watt transceiver
The
x l S
1:lells
by
reviewers ,
transmitter
bands
then
1
/2"0 and it
is self-con-
for
and
the
and in
we
'll
tained . I
uatthat
andthere
detai
the
er I tested
by
ICOM
The
"Technical
Si
lver City,
e-mail:
3
0.
have
shows
ls. I
.
IC-77SDSP is realty a
mcco
CO • MaV1997
are
met
Ed
NM
includedthe
all the specifications (fig. 1
plenty-if
also
yOzia
might
or
exceeded
itor, CO,
88061
ne
t.com
page
you would like to study
add
1500
tnat
all
from t
tbe transceiv-
the
specs
joy
to
operate
West Idaho S
he
man-
)-
given
. It
t,
This closeup viewshows the right side
the
tenn
view shows
The one
VFO.
fi
the
~NR·
at
at
the
the
transceiver
the left
left indicates that
set
is
for the
The tuning knob for this
fter switches
just
above the Twin
up
ma
in tuning
setup
as
is the large knob below.
of
the
frontpanel
the
noise
"Dualwatch ,·
and
PST
the
tuning cont
01
reduction
whereby
one
at
the far right is the setting
rol.
the
Ic-nSDSP
of
the
DSP
both usable frequencies
Along
At
the bottom
the
.
On
the
action is operating_
far
right
is
Say
the
Y
of
RfrffX
ou
readout dial,
Thi
are
of
the
Saw
shown.
the other
panelare
cont
It
In
rol.
CO
s
.GENERAL
• RECEIVER
• Frequ ency coverage :
Receive 100kHz - 29.990 MHz
Tra nsmit 1.8
00
- 1
.999999
MHZ·
3.500 - 3.999999 MHz"
7
.000
10.100
14
.000
18
.068 -
21
.000 - 21.450
24.890 - 24.990
28.000 - 29.700
.'
, .83
1.810
1.81
- 7
-10
-14
18
0-
1.850
-1
.850
5-
1.835{1.a
.300
MHz"
.150 MHz
.350
.168
MHz
MHz
MHz
MHz
MHz
lor
Spain verllion;
lor
France version;
50-
1.890 l
'
or
• Receive s
SSB,CW,
ystem
AM
FM
•
Intermed
MODE SSB
I.
'
2nd 9.01
3r
d
••
h
•
Sensitivity
iate
RTTY,
frequen
69
.01
15
15
0.455
10.6950
(Preamp 1 ON):
Quadruple-con
superhete
Trip
cies
CW
69.0106
10
ve
rsion
rodyne
le-<:
: (U
,
9.0106
0.455
.6950
onversionsuperheter
RnY
69
9
0
10
AM
.0100
.0100
.455
.69
50
nit
FM
69
.0100
9
.0100
0.455
odyne
MHz)
German
..3.500
Germa
·' 7.
000-7.100
Germa
• Mode : sse.
• N
um
ber
of
me
mo
ry
: 101 (99 regular, 2 scan edges)
channels
• Antenna impedance :
50
Q nominal
• Usable temperature : - 10
range +
• Frequency stabili
ty
:
less
60
14"F
min. after power ON.
y version
-3.800
ny
ve
ny
veB
CWo
-c
10+60"C:
to +
lor
rsions
lor S
ions
ATTY
140"F
Spa
in, France
pa
in. Fra
, AM, FM
than ±200 Hz from 1
nce
mn
and
and
.to
SSB,CW,
(10 dB
AM (10 ae
FM
•
Squelch
SSB.CW,RTTY
(12 dBSINAD)
sensitivity (Preamp
RTTY
SIN
) 1.8 - 29
SIN
) 0.5
100
1.8 28
.
-1
-
less
-
500
29
29
tha
.99
.8
MHz
.99
.99
ION
n
AM
FM
• Selectivity (Normalfiller saleclion):
SSB
CW,RTTY
lessthan
More
Less
Mote
than
than
than
kHz
MHz
MHz
MHz
):
3.211
0.32
2.4 kH
4.0
500
ess
l
less
les
l ess
le
V at
uv
at
Z/-6
kHz
/-
HZ/- 6
than 2
than0.16
s th
an
th
an
ss
than
thre
sho
threshold
dB
60
dB
dB
.0
uV
uV
13.0 uV
2.0 uV
0.5
ld
ov
• Po
•
• D
wer
1
230
Power
Transm
Rece
imension
supply req u
20
V ty
V
pe
type
consu
it
ive
iremen
mp
tion :
max
sque
max.aud
s :
. p
lched
AMer
thaI.,
rate 01stability change is less
than 1: 30 Hz/llr. at +2S"C: +771= .
Temperature fluctuations lO"C
+
50"C
±
350
l
00
220
owe
424(W)
io
t:
- 1
-
r
ou
: +
Hz.
2OVA
240
tput
)( 1
32
V
50(H
"F
10
C
AC
760
140VA
150
VA
VA
) x
+122"F1
390
(0)mm
kt$$
lna
10
n
AM
FM
•
Spurious
rejection
Aud"1O
•
•
AITILJTX
variab le
and
ratio
output
range
Less
More
less
Mo
lessthan
image:Mo
power
: M
with
: ± 9.999 kHz
than
than
than
rethan
re
than
ore
than
an
1.0
kHZ/-60
6.0 kHZ/- 6
8 Q
20.0
15
30
70
2.6 W
load
.0
.0
dB
kHZ! -
kHzl-
60
kHZ/- 6
60
at
10% distorti
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
on
1611
(projeclions nol included)
Weigh
•
t :
16
16
• TRANSMITTER
•
Output
• S
puriousemissions
•
Ca
rrier suppression : M
• U
nwanted
pow
er
sideband
:
:
: M
.5 kg;
.7 kg;
SSB,
/n(W}
C
x 5
21
f32(H) x
36.4
36
W,
Ib (withoul OSPunit)
.8 Ib (withOSP unit)
ATTY,FM
AM
(continuously adjuslable)
le
ss
ore
ore
than
than
than
40
55
60
dB
dB
dB
15
11/:)2(0)"
5-200W
5-SOW
•
ANTENNA
• Matching Impedance
• M
•
• Insertion loss
inimum
In
put
Tuning
(anetluning)
power
opera
accuracy
TUNER
ting
range
16
(Less than VSWR 3:1)
:
.7
-150Q
unbalanced
: 8 W
: VSWR 1.5
:
Le
ss
than
:1
1
.0
or l
dB
ess
• Microph one
impedan
Fig.
tuner
verylarge
ating system). When I installed DOS into a
computer, I found
pacted and had to
could
by page and
1-
The specifications for the transceiver as published
specs
. In
book
be
used. I went through thai book page
ce
my
tests I used a multiba
that describesDOS (disk oper-
that all the files were com -
be
expanded before they
searched the index, but mere
:
600
Q
nd
by
ICOM.
antenna that was less than 3 to 1 impedance match f
antenna extremely
wasn't a single
friend told me to use the "
word
Th
e unit met or exceeded
well.
about
hOw
EXP
to
do
this. A
AND" command,
all
exactly what
excellent manual and a
but there wasn't a word aboul that command
the
in
doesn't have
radio
book!
abb
reviations are spelledout soyou know
The
this problem. Common amateur
manual for
the
IC-nSDS
P
Features
Let's discuss some of
found on most
these specs in
or
50 ohms. The bum-tn tu
mytest
is
being described. This is an
transceivers these days before
s. Note the antenna
ne
r handled fhis
credit to ICOM.
the
common features
32
. CO • May 1997
say
You
Saw
It
In CO
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