I am glad to see a review of this radio!
Thanks!
(1) ICOM IC-705 like you have here
(2) ICOM IC-7300 higher powered sibling of the 705, but without 2m and 70cm
(3) Yaesu FT-991A direct competitor to ICOM's IC-7300
The FT-991A is very highly regarded, as is the IC-7300. Without having tried either, I’d be more inclined to the IC-7300, with a separate rig (connected to a separate antenna) for 2M/70cm.
Does your IC-705 have a built-in antenna tuner? I know the IC-7300 has that, but I don't know about the IC-705.
The 705 does not have an ATU, which is a big negative for a lot of people. I bought a manual ATU, the Emtech ZM-2. It’s ridiculously easy and quick to use. I chose this over the Elecraft T1 for cost and because I’ve read that the ZM-2 can find a match to a wider range of antennas (and objects being used like an antenna) than the T1.
How do you find the touchscreen? That is a little bit of a worry for me. As I get older and my eyesight and hand/eye coordination gets worse, I wonder about these things. But everything seems to be going touchscreen these days.
The touchscreen is a big strength in my opinion. It has a sensor that automatically adjusts brightness based on ambient light conditions. I have had zero inclination to mess with the default visibility settings. There are two major flaws, in my opinion. The first is that the UI designers took some functions that I would have wanted a button for, and put them in not-intuitive parts of the touchscreen. Second, the UI designers didn’t make it easy to identify areas of interactivity and what they do. You’ll need to read the manuals. On the plus side, the manuals are very well written.
While I’m on the subject of manuals, if you’re planning a purchase of an expensive ham radio rig, find the manuals online and read them first. It will give you a huge leg up in your purchase decision.
If I were planning to operate CW primarily, I’d almost certainly have bought a different radio.
In my ham class, we got lots of hands on experience with equipment. One of those things was setting up a portable antenna and then using an IC-7300 with that. We had a few exercises to complete for class. I don't remember liking or hating the touchscreen. Probably because I was so new to the radio I wasn't thinking about evaluating the user interface, just getting the assignment done. I do remember that VFO tuning knob was butter smooth though. Spinning that thing just exuded quality.
The 705’s tuning knob feels that way to me.
If one ends up doing any amount of remote transmitting, the IC-705 seems like a dream radio. It pretty much has it all, except for transmitting power. But that's not what it was designed for. For a stay-at-home rig I might be tempted with the IC-7300 with it's 100 watts of transmitting power and then a separate 2m/70cm radio to supplement it. What would be ideal is an IC-705 with external power amp for home use. To go out in the field, you just grab the IC-705 with its battery and leave the power amp behind.
100% agreed, with every word. I already have an HF rig with 100W of power (an FT-857D) and wanted something portable.
I wonder if anybody does remote transmitting on 160M though. Sure, you'd have this little bitty radio. But the antenna requirements wouldn't be so little bitty...
I think it’s becoming a lot more common.
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