All Band Transmit Modification Icom IC-7300 Full Explanation w/ Test at End!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Video Tutorial on how to perform MARS/ Cap Mod to open tx from 100 KHZ to 74.8 MHZ continuous on USA Icom IC-7300. Very easy to do with just a little patience.
Just so you know, it appears if you make the mod, you can still lock out the Out Of Band transmit in the menu by going to Set=>Function=>Band Edge Beep=> set to On(User) & TX Limit. This appears to highlight the Transmit Limit with the red dashed line around the TX symbol at top left of display and physically limit transmit just like when the Diode was there. Effectively, the radio software now appears to give you a menu option to open it up for a life or death emergency or zombie apocolypse if ever needed with the mod, but function like the hardware (diode) is stock with TX Limit selected. I'd highly recommend if you do the Mod, set the menu to limit this transmit as it is illegal anywhere outside the HAM Bands and this way you won't be able to transmit outside the HAM bands if you accidentally lean on the transmit button or etc..
BTW... thanks for taking the time to make a video. I know it takes effort to do that.
HI Donald. That's great advice. I didn't know the radio would do that from the menu. I personally never TX outside of the bands so it would be great to have a safety net there, and it could be easily defeated in a pinch if an emergency should arise!... :-)
Just to be clear here. Are you saying the company made it so it would limit transmitting power even if you do this modification you displayed in your video?. If this is true, what is the transmit power then limited too?, can you still get 100 percent power transmission with diode pull?. Just curious, I don't even have this radio but thought about getting one possibly one day.
@@mrblue2989 The radio has tuned circuits inside the radio. It depends how far away from the Ham bands you are trying to go. Say if your on the 160M band and your trying to TX on AM broadcast down around 540KHZ for example this is to far away from the 1.8 MHZ that the circuit it designed for. IF your trying to broadcast on CB at 27 You'll get full power since it's close to the 10 Meter band. The radio will still make full power, you just won't see it on the meter. I don't recommend transmitting on any of these frequencies, I'm just using them as a explanation. Hope this helps.
Or just know the band plan and work conscientiously.
Thanks for this post it helped me out greatly. There were a shortage of IC-7300 in Australia so I bought one from Japan. I began experiencing restrictions to transmit in some band ranges and I couldn't figure this out. I found out that those ranges were programmed in according to the Japan Amature radio bands parameters. Your post gave me an idea. Changing the Band Edge Beep=> to OFF. - Default is set to - On(user) & TX Limit, removed certain perameters within the band. Very happy. Thank you.
You have an awesome voice for a Radio Announcer. Thanks for the video. 73 from Australia
Wow, thank you! You're welcome.. :-). I've worked Australia a couple of times..73.. :-)
@@JLPicard440
😀
I did this, it worked, i had to use a magnifying glass to see. Thanks for the video.
You're welcome... ! Yes, I can't do anything without a magnifying glass... 😎😎. I used to be able to work on this stuff with nothing, but those days are long gone...☹️☹️
What a genius, you turned a $1,000 radio into a super-CB…
Thank you!... 😊
You call it a CB. I see one radio instead of numerous radios. It all depends on your needs. My needs are more complex than yours.
Good to know easy enough. I know you had to clean that mess up because I saw one heck of a good bridge there between the diode you took out and the next one in line with it. What a mess. That looked scary to me. I'm glad I can do much better than that here.
HI... there was no bridge, it was the way the light was hitting the board... Just so happened that that one didn't come out real nice... Didn't hurt the radio. Thanks for stopping by.
My thoughts
no need for solder there.. a little flux if anything would have been better imho. when it comes to removing SMD stuff i find just a little upward pressure via tweezers and a lil heat is all you need, one side at a time..
rob b, you're reading my mind. A little RA flux would be all you'd need.
And mine too! good call guys, worth mentioning for any one with less experience removing SMD componenets.
I dip solder wick into flux and use that. I think he used solder for the flux but with wick it draws up the solder as well. Much more fun is unsoldering a 128 pin chip , one leg at a time, heat and lift.
Yep - no need for solder - simply heat & flip lift one side. Then, optionally, tweezer component & heat other side for removal.
No need to remove the diode, just pull one leg up and leave the other side attached!
I recently saw documentation of this radio being used as an AM transmiter on pirate radio station. And not for a short time, but for years. This radio us far more capable than credit is given.
Wow! I didn't think it would hold up to continuous TX for that long. I've heard of Collins amplifiers being keyed down at full 1500 watts and leaving it like that for like 30 days with no ill effects. I think that was a sales pitch they used back in the day...
@@JLPicard440 ya, I was pretty surprised when I heard what was being used for the transmitter. I wouldn't think that it could hold up.
Maybe they improved the heat sink and added a fan too... Or they could have been using it on a lower power setting. If I remember right this radio will dead key 25 Watts and from there modulate the carrier...
@@JLPicard440 ya, I think there were some mods made.
How about lifting one lead of diode instead of removing it?
correct, you do not have to remove it at all. This is good if you decide to put that diode back in place for some reason down the road.
Yes that would work too...
yes tony i always do this
That's actually the proper way to do this mod. You use the tip of a pin to lift one end of the diode while heating the other end up with a hot-air rework station pen
Of course, you're going to want to use a little bit of desoldering Wick first.
Unless you have a high-end. Soldering iron such as a hakko 951 with the proper tip then I really don't recommend using a soldering iron On boards like this. If you're just lifting one corner, be careful not to Lift a pad on the opposite side.
I thought about the same thing. Maybe even putting in a on off switch in case you want to turn the mod on an off.
Thanks for sharing. I want one of these like everything else.😎
I have also found a rework station to be excellent for this.. I made sure to check for any solder bridges before turning on power. Thanks for the input.. 🙂
@@JLPicard440 Do these radios really work on all frequencies including 11 meter?
@@RC-Heli835 Yes
These are a great radio - got to experience one last night. Its amazing the number of people who buy Amateur sets and freeband - just set your radio to the audio analyzer and spectrum scope split screen, tune to an active frequency on 11m and watch - the legit CB radios have awful signals, and the modified amateur sets have awesome signals. Of course the set my mate brought over has not been modified as he has a normal CB to talk on if he wants to play on 11m - he has only just brought it, and is apprehensive of voiding his warranty on a brand new set.
Watching you run this radio shows me how very little I still know.
It's just a matter of practice... 😊
Those Icoms are beautiful radios.
I like them... I like kenwoods too, but they are the ugly ducklings of ham radio!...
@@JLPicard440 - You mean like the TS-2000 that looks like a brick fell right in the middle of it?
WhatsaScrewdriver? Yep
Wonder how many folks follow his recommendations to NOT GO TO THE CRIMINAL BAND (CB) ? On another note, this guy could narrate for Nova films or any other scientific program on television 😎
Thanks for the vote for the voice over! I recommend not to go to the CB band because I follow those recommendations myself!
There are mods for the iC-7100 (which I have as well. The main valid reason I might want to do this is to get 630 meters. Operating the 7100 on 630 requires a fairly elaborate diplexor which splits the low pass to the antenna and the high pass (harmonic spurs) to a dummy load.
630 Meters? I didn't know there was a ham band below 160.
@@JLPicard440 160 is just above the top end of the AM broadcast band, 630 meters is just below the bottom.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/630-meter_band
Yes, I know that. I didn't think there was Ham use down there... But looking at the band plan I see there's a 630M band and a 2,200 M band! It's right in front of me! LOL..
Great knowledge ... might want the option in a SHTF sitch ....
Yes true...
How about a solder sucker and leave one side of the diode connected - slip a little bit of electric tape in if the diode wont lift off the board.
ime glad its his rig and not mine!
It happens
Useful information and good to know.
So nice of you! Thank you... 😀
No power @ 100kHz because your meter is 1.8MHz - 200MHz
Steve Brown I’m sure that will affect it too, and the tuned circuits in the radio aren’t made for those frequencies either
It was reading on the 200 watt scale also, maybe it would have read a little on the 5 watt scale at min power on the rig.
@@trippledee351 It probably would. Im not sure what freq youre trying to tx on, but if it's to far out of the range the radio is made for, it'll probably have a high internal SWR.
@@JLPicard440 I would agree, outside the normal frequency ranges the meters accuracy will likely take quite a dive, but they will give some readings.
I think he had the radio on minimal TX power at the frequency it was on and he had the Power meter set to the 200 watt scale, so Id say that is why it didn't register.
@@trippledee351 Yep, that'll do it too..
Chuck Norris could do this modification without a magnifying glass and butter his toast at the same time.
I'm suffering from O.L.D.... 😂
Thank you so much for the video.
I just did the mod to my 7300 and it works great.
So 60m and (theoretically) 630 m band is possible now.
I used two soldering irons at the same time and a buddy with tweezers lifted the diode up.
That's a great idea, with the two irons. I have found that Amazon has a cheap hot air station and it works great for this sort of thing.. 60M will definitely work. 630 might work, but i'd be a little skeptical to use it much since it's so far out of the design range of the radio. It might cause a high internal SWR.
hot air station is the proper way to remove SMD parts
My IC7300 works fine on 60M from factory, I just programmed the freqs in memory.
These are not diodes, they are "zero Ohm" resistors for pull up operation to the IC array ...
Sometimes they're diodes, sometimes they're resistors... (Depending on the radio) Thanks for the info... 😊
Got it and i can now transmit to freq i want. Thank you
Excellent!
I noticed that a bridge was made after the Diode was removed from #1 to #2, was that superposed to happen ???
JAMES VENTURA it only just looks like a bridge, but it’s not
I wondered the same thing.
There is already a trace there, he just left extra solder on an existing trace. The same trace connects all the diodes in that whole row.
My 757 yaesu has a switch inside the radio lol they made it real easy
IKR.. I wish they were all like that! Good ole Yaesu... :-)
Does this mod allow transmitting on 11 meters CB freq's?
Yes
I don't see an issue using the 7300 on CB if you're within the CB channels. Yes, technically, it's not correct, but I highly doubt anyone will care. I imagine the 7300 will have less bleed-off out of the intended frequency, unlike those guys running cheap CB radios with juice shooting spurious emissions out each side of the sideband by 4 or 5kh. I'm sure the FCC guy, who is likely a ham himself looking on his SDR receiver, will be more worried about the cowboys running PAs on their modded $200 CB radios.
I agree... I doubt if anyone would notice if the person isn't using crazy amounts of power...but technically it isn't legal except during emergency use.
if you accidentally cook the diode under, for RX, what is the type of diode? i need to find one with the same value and symbols on it from another radio
HI, finding an SMD diode isn't the problem. It's finding one with the same characteristics as the original. You might be able to download a service manual for the 7300 and identify your component... D1115 for example... With that board identification that will lead you to a part number somewhere in the manual... With the part number you can do a google search to see if anyone has it other than ICOM themselves.. If no one has it you may have to call them and see.
@@JLPicard440 thank you for that advice. i didnt see it until today unfortunately, but i have already sent off my 7300 to be repaired through icom yesterday. thank you for the free knowledge buddy!!
No problem... Hopefully won't cost to much for them to fix it... 😀
@@JLPicard440 i know ray novak, was covered for free 😉
I have a Japanese IC-9100 that is closed to a large part of the US VHF/UHF frequencies. Wish I could do a mod like this to get on the US authorized frequencies.
HI, you might check mods.dk and see if they have a mod listed for the 9100...
The mod will be useful for MARS operation (assuming that by default the rig did not operate outside the ham bands at all).
Very cool. Subscribed.
Thank You!
fantastic radio thanks to terrific video 73 from kb2uew
Thank you so much! 😀
Solder wick works wonders!!
It does, but might be a little big to use in this type of application.
@@JLPicard440 No way. They make it in widths as narrow as the tip of your iron.
Oh nice... I might need to get some of that. Haven't seen any that small. Thanks for the tip.. :-)
@@JLPicard440 .025" width.
www.amazon.com/Quick-Braid-Solder-Silver-Standard/dp/B072XWKL7F/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=.025%22+solder+braid&qid=1587644970&sr=8-5
Thanks, I'll check it out.. :-)
I removed the Zero-Ohm resistor in my TS-590 by Bridging, from both ends, with solder and picking it up with Solder-Whick.
After cleaning up the excess solder, I soldered the resistor, Tomb-Stone Style, to one pad of its original location.
I learned this removal method by watching the Rework-Girls at a Contract Assembly/Test Facility.
You can also remove small Surface Mount ICs using this Solder-Bridging method. If too many legs, Hot-Air is required.
Yes that's a very interesting technique.. Ill have to check them out. I've seen the tombstone method, but never tried it. Thanks for the great info.
Rather than removing the diode completely, Just tombstone it. It wont need to be taped down somewhere to save it. It will be stuck right in place with one lead disconnected.
Yes, that's a fine idea!😊
Liquid Flux is your Friend...
Louis Rossman! :-)
Why not tiny nips on diodes both sides?
That might work, but those diodes don't have any legs to nip like a regular diode. The nips will crush instead of cut.
Or once in the middle.
Nextime use solder wick, you will have a cleaner job, and it Will absorb a lot of the heat, whick could damage the pcb lan as well as the diode.
Myself I wouldn't take a perfectly good working radio and risk a butcher job, and for what, but that's just me.
I think the solder wick might be to big for the size of those tiny little components. Usually there’s other components in close proximity and the heat from the solder wick would spread to them. I do use the wick a lot, but on bigger parts... I tried one of those cheap hot air stations from amazon and I’ve had really good luck removing SMDs with that... the parts come off pretty clean with no damage to the board.
@@JLPicard440
I was a tv repair tech for over 25 years and have done it all, hot air, oven flow, etc. But the best buy far for small smd's was solder whick for me, it comes in different sizes, the size i used the most for smd component was 1/8 inch, and get real solder whick not radio shack junk, and no i don't have stock in solder whick, just want to help you.
On big ic's hot air works great if have the right attachment (jig) for the ic, and quick chip is not bad, but for small smd's I use solder whick
Eugene Erickson interesting, I’ll have to give it a try...thanks for the tip🤓🤓
@@JLPicard440then use a solder sucker… that solder job was cringe😬
Where did the waterfall go???
Depending on the mode the water fall isn't visible...
@@JLPicard440 Thanks!! Another question, do I have to reset the radio after removing the diodes??
If you read the mod is says to, but I actually never do a reset and it still works! So I would try it without the reset and see if it works. It always has for me... 😀
Why do you stress not to go to 27.185? I am a trucker and using a 2970N4. Bought that radio because I thought thought it would be what I needed when I got my General Class. I know now I was wrong but don’t have anyone guiding me.
It's not that I'm stressing it.... It's not really legal to use the 7300 on 11 Meters. That's why i'm transmitting into a dummy load so nobody can say that I am. A lot of hams would be appalled at using a Ham radio on the 11 Meter band... I have nothing against 11 meters. especially if you're a over the road trucker. It's a useful tool to keep from going crazy when there's nobody to talk to!
So what the fuck, why would it be so bad to use it on CB, with lowest tx power? Nobody would know.
He's a ham; a lot of his audience are hams; he doesn't want to advise them to break the law. Even though it's hard to get in trouble for it, it is still illegal for hams to operate their ham equipment on the CB freqs. So you'll see him in all
his videos advising hams not to do something they all know that they shouldn't do.
Hieno Kaveri - Would it be so bad to use it at 100 watts? That's 13 dB higher than 5 watts. Figure 6 dB per S-unit, so 100 watts will give you an additional 2 S-units, like going from S-5 to S-7. By itself, it's not enough to assure you're going to hell.
There's also the issue that CB is channelized. If you want to talk to most people, you'll need to keep a chart nearby so you know what frequency to tune the radio to for what channel. That can be inconvenient compared to a channel selector every time you want to change channels.
Personally, I wouldn't put in the energy doing this conversion "just" to put the 7300 on CB. Out of the box, it works on the Ham bands that are hundreds of times more interesting than CB. If you're considering doing surgery on this radio, then you're already demonstrating an interest is radio-electronics. If that's the case, I'd recommend putting your energy into getting a Ham license (which is not difficult, arrl.org) and be really free to explore operating the Ham bands that are all over the Shortwave spectrum, and worldwide... a lot of the time... sometimes not...
A lot of high-power CB operation is testosterone-driven vulgarity, seeing who is able to step on who, indulging in power-wars so you won't be able to step on me anymore, ohhh the vulgarity, and the end result is a constant noise level of S-9 so you can't hardly talk further than an FRS walkie-talkie, even if you are running power.
Radio can be more fun than that. And a lot more family friendly. After the incessant noise levels, my next problem with CB is the vulgarity. I'm no prude, but it gets pretty one-dimensional and tedious after a while. And God forbid you want to introduce your radio to a kid, but half of what you hear on the CB is stuff the kid would have gotten their mouth washed out with soap for. Granted, some of that stuff leaks through on Ham radio -- and sometimes in the worst places like 80 Meter AM, but it's still 99.99% less than on CB.
And finally, of course, one has to mention that ALL Morse code requirements were eliminated from ALL grades of Ham licenses in February of 2007. So you can go all the way to Amateur Extra without doing a single dit, if you don't wanna. Today, the only people doing Morse code are the people that love it.
Otherwise, the latest attraction is digital communications, hooking your computer up to your radio. You can contact people whose signals are so weak you can't even hear them in the loudspeaker, but your computer can pull out their signals, anyway. That opens the door to low power communications and/or inefficient antennas, and still being able to communicate around the world, sometimes.
But don't get me started.
This is a perfect way of not doing it correctly. You don't need the heat and you're never going to put the diode back on this board. Get a small pair of tweezers and grab the diode. Now a slight twist and then the other way and its out. Clean out the remains by turning the rig upside down and dumping any pieces out. Now reset. Don't put all of that heat on your board. You cant undo that kind of damage.
Thanks for the info!
Are you saying the diode shatters and both ends stay on the pads? Or are you saying rip the pads clean off the PCB?
HI, no it doesn't or shouldn't rip the pad off the PCB. I've used an exacto knife to pop those components off the board. That works well too. If you have some junk electronics laying around that has those SMD components on there, it would be good to practice with that first... 😀
That is EXACTLY how I do all mine. No mess. I will never limit a radio. No need to replace it later.
tk u a lot bro !!!!! 73s it works fine in mine !!!!!!
You're welcome! 🙂
Why not just lift one edge of the diode much easier, and can resolder back if you want.
Yes that is one way to do it, and it'll work fine.. 😀
Does this mod make the radio equal to the FT991A far as bands are concerned?
No. This radio was never designed to RX or TX on VHF/ UHF.... This mod only opens the TX up to TX most places the radio can RX... Thanks for the comment.. 😀
Hi friend, what size screwdriver did you use to remove the screws?good video
HI, not sure which screws you mean. Probably a Philips #2 would be most of them..
Would LOVE to see this modded radio put on a spectrum analyzer in order to see how it responds in out-of-ham-band frequencies, with regard to spectral purity, etc.
I don't have one handy!
@@JLPicard440 I do.
It's probably good!! Lol
@@dxfordummies I never had any trouble, but I still only used it for in band frequencies. Regrettably I sold this radio! I should have kept it, it was a good one. ☹️
Well I know a few guys running these radios on 11 meters and I can tell you they are super clean. I don’t see any harmonics or out of band emissions when they are transmitting. I’d say these things are far far cleaner then any of the CB or export radios on the market. Honestly if everyone was running proper HF radios on 11 meters I might spend more time on it. I quickly get frustrated with 11 meters due to the large percentage of the operators lack of basic radio knowledge. Don’t get me wrong there are a few ham operators on 11 meters and they try to educate others but unfortunately there are way too many people who have the IQ of a fence post on 11 meters, you can’t fix stupid. I’d also love to see one on a spectrum analyzer as well but I don’t have one yet.
So, in doing this, you would be able to transmit on CB frequencies?
Yes, but I don't recommend it
Thanks for the video, interesting but is there a point of making it Tx out of band? Rx out of band I understand.
Yes some people use it for MARS operation. I don't think this will TX on 60M without the mod while others can use it incase of an emergency, you know like a zombie apocalypse!
@@JLPicard440 some of us would like to use it on the 4M band. in the UK. What are the differences between the UK version and the American/Australian rig?
@@VK7AM I think the TX/RX might be a little different. Other than that, I'm not sure..
Looks like all that solder you added formed a bridge?
Nevermind. I see there is a common trace on all diodes
HI! Yes it looked that way, but it didn't bridge. I don't remember what side the apparent bridge was on, but you're right.. one side of those diodes is common anyways. 😀
It looks like you deleted the diode, but you bridged two traces. Why please..?
It only looks like that on the camera, there was no actual solder bridge.. you would want to leave it open
thanks for the idea! legals aside, wonder how safe in terms of the unit longevity.. with such a low output far outside of the bands, where the power is actually going? will it overheat the final stage badly? need some additional mods to the filtering circuitry?
Yes I'd be very leery of using it at the far outskirts of it's normal intended frequency range. (A little bit should be ok) I believe the unit will develop a high internal SWR. This might cause the SWR protection circuits to kick in and hold back the power. At least I hope so.
why do say do not transmit on 27185 am will it hurt the icom 7300.?
No it won't hurt it as long as your antenna has a low SWR.. OR the antenna tuner can compensate.
Chicken Band, Rudy says 'don't do it!' I agree :-)
Do it! Its your right.
I’ve met hams that had fun playing with truckers on the “chicken band “. They couldn’t believe the really strong and clear signal.
I purchased an Icom 9700 made for Japan's market. Can you modify the radio to be an all-band US Icom 9700? I bought the radio and can't return it. The radio is new and has never been opened. Icom says it can't be done, that I essentially purchased a scanner.
I don't know the answer to that! If you go to mods.dk there's a mod there for a European version which was originally 144-146 and 430-440. After the mod it was 144-148 and 430-450. Not much of a difference I know. I'm not sure what the JA version is locked to out of the box. You can go over there and check it out and see if it looks like it might help. Of course at your own risk if you decide to mod the radio! Not sure why Icom would say it can't be done..
@@JLPicard440 Thank for the info the *&(^ didn't tell me about this and I'm stuck with the radio. Thanks again
@@JeffreyPelkofer Hopefully you can get it going..
As you said "Dont Do It" :-)
I just recently discovered these Things
I want one though i would probably get my self in trouble with the fcca LoL
You definitely have to be mindful of where you're txing!
@@samenamenamesame2834 Well this is true. 😃
@@samenamenamesame2834 Absolutely! I know of a guy who was interfering with ATC from a airport with his high power CB rig.... he got busted. But like u said sloppy, aircraft band is 125 MHz!... arrrgh
Do you have one for the 746 icom???
Yes I did do one for the 746 pro model...
th-cam.com/video/f-zgMkdFdSA/w-d-xo.html
for entertainment purposes only!
Yes
That "Modern" circuit board looks exactly like the ones we removed for study, from the "Saucer" that crashed at Roswell in the 40's !
I wonder if there is a connection?
LOL... it is strange that Tech kind of exploded from that point on...!
The tech is NEVER the problem. Certain people with their will perverted towards evil always are!
@@johnjeffrey3660 Yes, that's always a problem too.
Now all the CB people can transmit on a real radio.
Not really.. most ham radios don't sound that good on AM.. It'll work great on sideband though.
@@JLPicard440 A neighbor of mine just got one of these models.Sounds phenomenal on AM once he figured it out.Thanks for posting this vid.Im currently watching the used radio market to get this exact model.
@@MINITMANRADIONETWORK Oh nice! Thanks for the info..
@@JLPicard440
The Icom 7300 sounds exceptional on 11 meters.I hear quite a few of them.
@@MINITMANRADIONETWORK I've heard that. The 706 MKii is a good one too...
You’ve had the radio three years now. Would you buy it again? Would you buy it for $1000, like HRO has it now
I wound up selling the radio a while back. I would buy it again. I miss that radio and regret selling it.. 🙂
@@JLPicard440 damn...
@@WA4TKG IKR.. 🙂. I'm using a IC-7600 now. I like it too..
It transmits on full auto now.
Gostwriterindisguise yep
Thank you
You're welcome... :-)
Does it Work on firmware 1.3? I have heated a pair of tweezers up till tops are red with a mini blow torch. Simply just grab the smd and it comes away instant
Good Tip.... My guess is that it would work... but the radio shown is on version 1.14, so I can't prove it... Thanks..
it works much better when you remove that large blocking chip altogether and you get more watts
The very few extra watts you might get only looks good on the watt meter. It won't be enough to do much good to your signal to the receiving party. It'll only make the radio run hotter and break faster. It's best just to use a amplifier for that... 😎
Why remove the diode? Leave a tomb stone - one leg soldered standing up.
No tape and diode replacement direction and handling issues minimum.
The solder iron was too hot.
In my experience it is better to add a tiny amount of solder to one side of the diode, then wick it up. Remove the solder from the easiest end, not the side with heavy track and other heat soaks. Then you dont need to reflow all the other devices or risk over heating anything.
Never use wick before adding fresh solder.
On well made pcbs the pad sizes and solder mask are designed with correct shape\size ratio to allows the solder to clear beautifully using capillary action from a good quality (clean) braid wick.
This is where the experience of 30 years working on SMD under a microscope gives me the courage to hava go. haha.
Then I would hold the diode with tweezers while very briefly applying a slightly hotter solder iron to the remaining soldered leg (the one with heat soak) and slightly kick the diode onto its end before it cools in tomb stone mode.
Leave it there. Where else?
Rewick the empty pad for OCD sufferers and clean with IPA(Iso propyyl alcohol aka best cleaner for almost everything except styrenes) .
Not a fan of contact cleaner at all in electronics, leave it for cleaning the points in your 78 distributors.
So many comments sorry if it has already been said
Nice! Thanks for the great advice and tips. I've done many of these without any issue, but this one didn't cooperate as good! I like the idea of leaving the tombstone. I'll do that next time. Lately I've been using a hot air station and I've found it works really well.
Why don't transmit on 27.mhz?
It's illegal except in the case of an emergency.
Can't we legally use the mod on the two long wave bands, assuming we get the extra licenses and turn the power way down?
BillTheSlink probably... it should be legal for mars/cap use too with the license
better that forking out mega squillions on a marine ssb of 100 watts, i knew it was common practice, but YOU DONE GOOD ME BOYO So what else is needed with a new install, that tuner?
Depends on the antenna.. if your antenna is tuned to that marine frequency, then you don't need a tuner... or can the internal tuner in the radio work? Depending on the SWR..
Will it transmit at 630 meters?
HI, I don't remember if the lower end of the frequencies was in the 472KHZ range. What I do remember is that testing to see the TX on the AM band which is fairly close to the 630 meters band, there was much reduced power. I believe this is because it's to far from 160 meters and it's causing a high internal VSWR. So yes, it may TX there, but I don't recommend it
Hi Take a Bath Productions;
One reason to do this is you can use it as a Wide Band RF Power Generator
for experimental purposes.
To protect the transmitter stage you can put a 3db attenuator on the output.
This would guarantee the maximum SWR the radio can see is 2/1. Even if the
output is shorted or opened.
The attenuator can be made with either the Y or PI configuration. Of course
the resistors would need to be good low inductance types and of a suitable
wattage.
redrok AD0TJ
Duane C Johnson ok cool... thanks for the tip😎😎
Also my board has 2 extra diodes to the right of the top one you're taking out
HI, see my other response.. Thank you.
You loose band edge beeping after this mode, QSL?
I can't remember for sure, but I think so
Do you know wtf QSL even means?
Twi questions: q. Cab the diode simply be clipped in two? 2. If this is a yrue SDR, wy cannot software be accessed to do this mod?
Yes the diode can be clipped. Why isn't the software accessible.. I don't know, you'd have to contact Icom for that one..🙂
Spell check Dude! It's a "thing" in "effective communications" that don't require a transmitter. 🤣
@@chuckwilliams6294 *doesn’t Proper grammar is a preferred means of communications as well. j/k 😆
Because an SDR is not an SDT. it already receives on all bands.
Why didn't you use some de-soldering wick instead? takes the diode off clean
Hmmmm. I don't know that.
Greetings, do you have any mods for opening up IC-R8600?
AAR2VZ I didn't see any... I guess it's already wide band RX.... they don't want us to listen to cell frequencies and stuff like that
Can the current 2023 usa model 7300 still be modified?
Trying to decide what rig to buy.
I don't have that model in front of me, but I highly doubt they would have changed the PCB. If you go to mods.dk and plug in the 7300 you can see the mod there. I'm pretty sure it'll be the same thread that's been there for quite some time. They do make you sign up for a free account, but they've never spammed me.
Hopefully no one else is as big of a klutz as I am. While heating one lead and carefully trying to pull it away from the board, I broke the diode in two. Having burned that bridge, I guess I'm not going back. The good news is that it works great, and theoretically, if I should ever want to lock it again, I can order that diode. Man those things are small (they look way bigger on the video!) ;-)
Glad you got it going! You should never need to lock it again.. Someone said you can lock it via the menu somehow, but I never checked out how to do that..
It looks like it even opened up the transmitter to Airbands, is that correct?
No, the airbands are in the 118-137 MHZ range which would be outside of the capability of this rig....
@@JLPicard440 Thank you sir. I wish more of these have airband....
@@levyonthelaw6196 I believe the little brother of this one IC-9700 probably has airband. It's the VHF/UHF version of the 7300. You'd have to open it up to be able to TX on that one, but probably is not legal from a base station.
@@JLPicard440 I appreciate the follow-up. I will take a look. I actually just got a pretty good deal on an pre-owned 7300 ... but will upgrade to the 9700 when I want to do sat work.
@@levyonthelaw6196 Yes that 9700 is a nice rig, but I've never had the chance to play around with it...
Hi my name is tommy I wanted to know if you can open up the transmit for me on my iCom 7300
HI Tommy, I don't do this kind of work commercially. Thank you for your consideration.
I think i will leave my radio alone ,
a question does this open to wear you get 2 meter 70 cm bands looking for a all mode radio not really into the 27 mghz band i want one radio instead of different ones for different bands.?.
NO, this will not work on 2 meter or 70 cm... I think highest frequency it goes to is around 70 mhz. If you want all in one, yaesu ft-991 or Kenwood ts-2000, are good examples... or if you wait, the sister radio to this one is coming out sometime next year,... the Icom IC-9700.... they've been dragging their feet about releasing it... but I guess eventually it'll be out...
Will this work on the Japanese versions of the IC-7300? There's quite a few cheap ones coming out of Japan, but they seem to be the "Japan version" which has a few frequencies that seem different from the US version?
HI, I've had that question before and I couldn't find any definitive answers on that... I'm sure there is a mod available, but whether or not it's the same components as the US version, I'm not sure on that...
@@JLPicard440 I did some more digging, seems that the major difference is that the Japan version has "all" the diodes installed in that D420/422/423 area and removing them can change the radio from Japanese to English, and Open up transmit. I've just been really confused because there's so many "radio fudds" out there saying zOMG DONT DO IT, YOU CANT DO THAT
Oh I know... I don't listen to those peeps!.. 😂. Thank you for that info. I suspected it was something like that. It's the same radio, but they have different diodes installed for different countries. I've sold this radio since the video, and I do miss it. It was a great radio. I'm using the 7600 now which I like too.
You do it.....come on now!
LOL... for educational purposes only... :-)
@@JLPicard440 :)
My 7300 mod was done by HRO. But it does not transmit on 30 mhz band. I have a 10 meter to 2 meter transverter. This means I cannot use it for the upper portion of the 2 meter band cause 146, 147 mhz would mean the 7300 would have to transmit on 30, 31 mhz. Is there a way to make the 7300 transmit there?
As far as I remember the mod I did here transmits through 54 MHZ. The test I did at the end shows that, but I don't remember. Maybe it's possible HRO did a different mod than I did here?
I bought a Kenwood TS 480 HX for ***.**$ it had the MARS MOD. done to it. The Radio Trans. at 50 Wates AM 200 Wates on HF. It is a better Rig. than my TS 690s and the TS 940s. full 27 Mhz. There is more Mods that can be done to the 480 but I am good.
Excellent! I used to have one of those 480 Kenwoods... good rig.. :-)
Good old James Wate.
Looked like a solder bridge.
Ok thanks.
For sbloked compressor am??
Ok thanks!
@@JLPicard440 we didn't understand each other,I ask if you can modify the compressor to make it act in the am.
Sorry for the misunderstanding! I don't know the answer to that.. I've never tried to use that radio on AM, but I imagine you can tweek it quite a bit. I know some Icom radios do perform quite good on AM...
LOOKING AGAIN, I think I'd lay alu foil over every bit of the board,'cept for the lil place I was working, these things are 2020 Au dollars, here and no advantage in importing
Yea the foil might prevent any static discharge.. There could be some voltages however from the battery that keeps the memory alive and the foil could short that out..
Does this mod allow the band scope to function on all frequencies also?? The standard IC7300 will only give you an "OUT OF RANGE" on the band scope in the
SWL general coverage freqs. It would be nice to have the band scope across the whole operating range???
I think it will work all thru, but I can't remember for sure.. I still have this radio, but I haven't had access to it for a couple of months. I hope to have it back in the coming next weeks..
@@JLPicard440 curious for this answer if you have the radio back
@@StankyDanko hi... I don't have it. I've since sold it and picked up a 7600
Mine has the MOD, but it still has places it doesn't transmit.
I think that's normal.... I'm not sure of the reason..
Places? You mean like under the davenport?
Does this mean it can transmit on the legal 2 meter ham band now?
Hi, no this mod will open the TX, but the RX will remain the same. This radio never had the capability to receive 2 meters.
Did no one notice he did make a bridge to the 2nd diode???
No there wasn't any bridge. The way the light hit it it looked like it. Thanks.
I wonder if you can expand the IC9700 for at least full receive if not full transmit to be able to listen to the public safety (police fire and weather) frequencies as well as get it to cross and repeat
I haven't had the opportunity to play with the 9700. A bit to expensive for me. I wish they hadn't included 1.2GHZ, it drove the price up and I have no use for that band...
@@JLPicard440 I hear that I have no use for that band as well 2ould rather have the abillity to receive the public service weather and Marine bands plus crossband repeat
rough job
done a bunch of these mods and never used solder..
I've since switched over to a SMD hot air station. Works great..
I noticed the soldier on the board. Did you create a connection between the first and second diode on one side? Just need some clarification on the mod so I don't destroy a $1300 radio in theory lol
NO it only looks that way on camera. You are removing the component and that's it. If you're talking about a connection on the one side, I believe those are connected anyway through the ground, but check that out before you do any soldering.
@@JLPicard440 thanks I can't wait to get one.
I can see how this will end in tragedy...……
@phục êwê Please tell me you're not a licensed ham.
why do the mod then tell everyone not to go there
No i'm telling people not to TX on CB illegally. The mod can be used legally in certain places, or in case of an emergency.. 😊😊
you kind of resemble Donnie iris 😊
A little bit! Thanks for the feedback... 😁