Considering the radio already puts out 100 watts on 2M, using 160 watts will do very little. To increase your signal just 1 s-unit you'd have to increase your power by 6 dB which is doubling your power twice: 100 + 100 = 200 + 200 = 400 watts just for 1 s-unit which will not really make or break a contact. I'm willing to bet you could have turned the amp off and he wouldn't have noticed the difference. Looking forward to getting my beam up so I can take advantage of any 2M openings.
thumbs up!!! I had TS-570 with a transverter, a 746 and just got a 9700. Finally more VHF ssb rigs on the market. Let's see more 2 meter ssb activity. Not only is it fun but great in emergencies. Long range without a repeater and the operator base is bigger because tech's can use 2 meters (I'm emcomm for EMA) I monitor 144.200 73 W9DLP
I LOVE LOVE LOVE 2m. Playing with tropospheric ducting is great. Got into a San Antonio repeater from Oklahoma City at over 400 miles once. Made a simplex (FM) QSO at about 160 miles from OKC to northeast of Tulsa. IMO, 2m is less of “look at all of my expensive gear” band than the HF bands.
Great to see you on 2 meter SSB bro! It's my favorite form of ham radio, SO awesome! I regularly get about 250 miles of coverage in the mornings with a 4 element M-Squared beam only about 30 feet off the ground and of course horizontally polarized which is the way to go. I saw that band opening and wished it would have extended to my area in Kentucky but I regularly talk to our brothers in Georgia without tropo so hopefully will be able to talk to you someday on 144.200 in the morning. -73 from KJ4JAE!
fantastic video, and thanks for the link to the propergation map - what an awesome tool ! I'm planning to get the 9700 to accompany the 7300 for QTH use. I have the 705 for QRP operation in the field and really loving these radios Icom are producing.
Driving a brick amp with a 100 w transceiver can easily turn it into a splattering machine. Several people have commented on this below. 160 watt amps typically require a max of 30 watts drive and usually splatter all over the band, whereas your 9700 should be very clean.
LOL watching video and hear W4ICU. I am WD9ICU. Really getting my itch back for some 2 meter again with the release of this new 9700. 2 meter activity dropped off here and has never recovered. Enjoy your videos.
I am up here in Cleveland OH and I have been picking up all kinds of broadcast FM stations. FM DX is one of my summertime hobbies. Crazy when the Class A station I am at (WCSB) gets heard across the lake into southern Ontario. I am on air friday mornings and I got a caller from a listener the other morning from Wheatley, Ontario something about 60 miles from the transmitter.
Haven’t turned a radio on in a couple of years, need ant. work. Great to hear vhf up and running. To many people listening a no one keying up. For grins one night I put out a CQ on 6, worked every grid square in FL but 2. Crazy how things like that can happen.
Florida, the land of no mountains. Most of these contacts are impossible in areas of the west with 10,000 foot(+!) bumps in the way. ! still have had a bunch of fun doing SSB weak signal operations by going mountain topping.
Why were you using the amplifier when the radio should put out 100 watts PEP? The difference between 100 & 115 watts would be unnoticeable.I hope to be getting my new 2 meter Cubex Scorpion II 8 element quad & the PAR OA-144 & PAR OA-432 up soon so I can get the ICOM 910H up & running on SSB very soon here in EM80.I love working VHF/UHF SSB.I have only ever made one contact on 432 so looking forward to doing more of that band very soon. 73 de W4KVW EM80
That is just a setting. I hated this kind of view in my 7300, but you can change it in the settings... to see it in the right way. (this way is just fake!!)
I,m a bit confused on how you have spectrum set? I can see you must have it on the centre position so the audio fall should just be on the plus side? and not on both sides, as you are on USB, Hmm, am I missing something here.
@@JDDupuy I have the ICOM 910H & ICOM 821H & as with all of my radios I run them thru a ClearSpeech DSP base module & noise is NOT an issue.I do not have the optional DSP units installed in the 910H but again noise is NOT an issue because the ClearSpeech unit kills the noise.I paid less than $1000 for the 910H & 821H combined so I use the 821H on the Satellites & the 910H on VHF/UHF SSB Only.
Better wire the transceiver to the amplifier via PTT signal and you get rid of delays. The automatic switching is problematic and it's not used anymore
Manuel Sánchez Raya very true but on the mirage amplifiers you still have to switch it to ssb for bias reasons the mirages use variable bias in ssb position. But he could hook it to the send jack on the back and then turn the delay all the way down in the amp.
Is it common to have to use a clarifier on 2 meter ssb? I worked a guy and he had to tune low, I had to tune up about 80 cycles to get it to sound right . Thats my only 2 ssb contact ever. Maybe my radio, or his is off a little. 991a here, his was an 897.
I have an 897D that is also a bit off frequency compared to my FT-991 on 2 meter SSB. It's probably just the radio. I own both and have compared them and my 897D is defo the one that is off.
The higher the band, the more off frequency your radio will be because any frequency error in the master oscillator gets multiplied. All oscillators drift with age and temperature. On HF with a modern radio, this drift is barely noticeable and everyone appears to be on frequency, but on VHF/UHF it will be 50-500 times worse. This particular radio will adjust itself on frequency if you have an external reference like a GPSDO.
Where can I go to find out more about Ham Radio? I've got a Heathkit Apache that I inherited from my Father in law, but I don't want to have to learn Morse Code. So I'm trying to figure out what kind of radio I can use to reach long range and what kind of antenna will work in my attic, (my HOA is a pain in the ....)!
Morse code proficiency is no longer a licensing requirement. Although....you would do well to learn it. Learning CW will do more for you than a $6k amplifier.
Save yourself some money & buy an ICOM 910H.I love mine & my ICOM 821H which is my Satellite only rig.The 910H is my VHF/UHF SSB only radio.I have less than $1000 in the two radios combined & you will not buy the 991 or 9700 for anywhere near that price.
Seeing that your post is a year old, you may have made your decision already. The 991A is a great rig, the only advantage the 9700 has is that it is full duplex, meaning you can work satellites a lot easier. The purpose of my 9700 is strictly for working the birds. If you don't work satellites, the 991A is a great "shack in the box" covering 160 m to 70 cm.
@@K4MJV It would make a lot more sense if he were driving a legal limit amplifier or even a 300 to 400 watt amplifier but using a 150 watt amplifier makes Zero sense.If he's worried about blowing up the radio using it at full output then he should have purchased a radio that he had confidence that it can handle full output being used? It says that he was only getting 115 to 120 watts out of the amplifier also.
@@1OFGODSOWN Maybe it's not about being afraid of blowing up the radio, but instead about prolonging the life of the radio. Why put continuous stress on the radio that could be shifted to an amp instead? It's just about taking advantage of alternative choices that can add extra life to an expensive radio. From cars to sewing machines, nothing seems to last as long when it's ran at it's peak output regardless of how much confidence you have in it. Running a 150 watt amp at 115 watts is not only not only going easy on the amp, but is also saving a lot of wear and tear on the radio,
Doesn’t the 9700 put out 100 watts on two meters? The amp at 120 watts makes no meaningful difference. 1 dB gain is additional 30% power, so 120 watts is less than 1 dB more than 100 watts.
@@roadsidediner-video2792 If it can't handle what it was designed to do then it's not worth the price they charge for it.My ICOM 910H is still going strong & I'm not going to use my amps with it.
Internal pre-amps on many modern shack in the box VHF/UHF radios are generally not as sensitive as using an outboard RF amplifier with a hot GASFET pre-amp , for some hams just makes it simpler to incorporate as the pre-amp switching is built in to the amp and still allows options for use with other lower power all mode transceivers they may own presently and in the future, the outboard amp also allows an option of not stressing the finals in the 100 watt transceiver models to full output, All mode VHF and UHF radios that can push 100 watts tend to be pricey so not a bad option if you have a couple low drive amps on the shelf that are Gasfet equipped, , especially if using older used 70's to 90's vintage gear with typical 10 to 25 watts out, Icom IC-275A and RF concepts 160 watt amp with Gas Fet pre-amp and a 8 element yagi at 40 feet was an awesome combo for me for several years, really miss it, 73- J
VA3DLO HEAR..... Does th icom 9700 have SPEACH for the blind.. im part blind... i have RP & ASTEGMATISM,,, THANKS... if so can you do a review on the speech,.. id like to hear how it sounds and works from VA3DLO
If you haven't already joined the Florida Weak Signal Society's mailing list at www.flwss.net/ you'll want to do so to network with other VHF/UHF ops in the area. Hopefully you'll be among the contacts in the upcoming VHF+ contest the team I'm on makes. 73
I'd say because it's Overpriced & overrated from what I have seen & heard from them.A whole lot of Hype & I Love ICOM but would never own any radio with a touch screen even if it were FREE.NOT for ME!
Maybe because of the frequency stability problems this rig came out of the gate with. It makes digital operation with WSJT-X difficult or impossible. It also won't do 9600 bps packet. Icom really screwed the pooch with this rig. It has an external 10 MHz reference input, but it doesn't lock to it. Really, really, really stupid design. They've improved some of the stability problems with software updates, but this rig should have been so much better. People are avoiding it. Price is down $700 in a year.
only benefit to having that brick amp is that you can save radio life by turning power down (e.g. 20 watts in etc can give you 100+ out). Other then that, useless.
Super cool to see a 2 meter rig with a waterfall. Mike N6IMY
Considering the radio already puts out 100 watts on 2M, using 160 watts will do very little. To increase your signal just 1 s-unit you'd have to increase your power by 6 dB which is doubling your power twice: 100 + 100 = 200 + 200 = 400 watts just for 1 s-unit which will not really make or break a contact. I'm willing to bet you could have turned the amp off and he wouldn't have noticed the difference. Looking forward to getting my beam up so I can take advantage of any 2M openings.
thumbs up!!! I had TS-570 with a transverter, a 746 and just got a 9700. Finally more VHF ssb rigs on the market. Let's see more 2 meter ssb activity. Not only is it fun but great in emergencies. Long range without a repeater and the operator base is bigger because tech's can use 2 meters (I'm emcomm for EMA)
I monitor 144.200
73 W9DLP
Great video. Good to see some openings over there for your summer too! Keep up the good work and awesome videos. 73
I noticed your clock on the rig is off too ;)
I LOVE LOVE LOVE 2m. Playing with tropospheric ducting is great. Got into a San Antonio repeater from Oklahoma City at over 400 miles once. Made a simplex (FM) QSO at about 160 miles from OKC to northeast of Tulsa. IMO, 2m is less of “look at all of my expensive gear” band than the HF bands.
Didnt even realise there was a bit of an opening in minnesota, im gounna get out on the radio rn
Great to see you on 2 meter SSB bro! It's my favorite form of ham radio, SO awesome! I regularly get about 250 miles of coverage in the mornings with a 4 element M-Squared beam only about 30 feet off the ground and of course horizontally polarized which is the way to go. I saw that band opening and wished it would have extended to my area in Kentucky but I regularly talk to our brothers in Georgia without tropo so hopefully will be able to talk to you someday on 144.200 in the morning. -73 from KJ4JAE!
fantastic video, and thanks for the link to the propergation map - what an awesome tool ! I'm planning to get the 9700 to accompany the 7300 for QTH use. I have the 705 for QRP operation in the field and really loving these radios Icom are producing.
Nice tropo opening!
Driving a brick amp with a 100 w transceiver can easily turn it into a splattering machine. Several people have commented on this below. 160 watt amps typically require a max of 30 watts drive and usually splatter all over the band, whereas your 9700 should be very clean.
LOL watching video and hear W4ICU. I am WD9ICU. Really getting my itch back for some 2 meter again with the release of this new 9700. 2 meter activity dropped off here and has never recovered. Enjoy your videos.
I used to hear the sidewinders net on 2 meters usb 144.200 mc near lake Michigan
I am up here in Cleveland OH and I have been picking up all kinds of broadcast FM stations. FM DX is one of my summertime hobbies. Crazy when the Class A station I am at (WCSB) gets heard across the lake into southern Ontario. I am on air friday mornings and I got a caller from a listener the other morning from Wheatley, Ontario something about 60 miles from the transmitter.
That is a beautiful radio!
Haven’t turned a radio on in a couple of years, need ant. work. Great to hear vhf up and running. To many people listening a no one keying up. For grins one night I put out a CQ on 6, worked every grid square in FL but 2. Crazy how things like that can happen.
Plenty of us over here in EM80 on the Magic Band. de W4KVW {:>)
KE8IDN, How cool is that!
Florida, the land of no mountains. Most of these contacts are impossible in areas of the west with 10,000 foot(+!) bumps in the way. ! still have
had a bunch of fun doing SSB weak signal operations by going mountain topping.
Nice hop for 2M
Goodwork
Don't forget there's a VHF contest coming in a couple of weeks...
I know :)
Good stuff I really enjoyed listening to you work those stations. I've got this rig on my short list !
73
Mike N2NWL
Can you remove the static noise using the Adaptive Noise Filter feature of transceiver.
I was thinking the same thing, why the amp? Good Luck with the 9700!
Why were you using the amplifier when the radio should put out 100 watts PEP? The difference between 100 & 115 watts would be unnoticeable.I hope to be getting my new 2 meter Cubex Scorpion II 8 element quad & the PAR OA-144 & PAR OA-432 up soon so I can get the ICOM 910H up & running on SSB very soon here in EM80.I love working VHF/UHF SSB.I have only ever made one contact on 432 so looking forward to doing more of that band very soon. 73 de W4KVW EM80
wow what rig
Why is there a TX spectrum on both sides of the centre frequency?
That is just a setting. I hated this kind of view in my 7300, but you can change it in the settings... to see it in the right way. (this way is just fake!!)
I,m a bit confused on how you have spectrum set? I can see you must have it on the centre position so the audio fall should just be on the plus side? and not on both sides, as you are on USB, Hmm, am I missing something here.
I havent even played with the spectrum yet.. bone stock
Why yse an amp when you already have 100 watts off the radio?
Tom Scott I was thinking the same thing why not let the amp do the heavy work👍
Maybe just wants to put less strain on the radio by keeping the output low and letting the amp bring up the power
@@roadsidediner-video2792 If it can't handle it then it's a POS.
100 watts?
I have the IC-910 what is the difference between the two ?
IC-9700 is SDR and has a panadapter. It also includes D-star and 23 cm.
R C any suggestions for a mobile HF antenna for my truck
The 910 H used audio DSP which made the receiver noisy. Signal to noise ratio always requires you to pull in RF gain to quiet down the receiver.
@@JDDupuy I have the ICOM 910H & ICOM 821H & as with all of my radios I run them thru a ClearSpeech DSP base module & noise is NOT an issue.I do not have the optional DSP units installed in the 910H but again noise is NOT an issue because the ClearSpeech unit kills the noise.I paid less than $1000 for the 910H & 821H combined so I use the 821H on the Satellites & the 910H on VHF/UHF SSB Only.
There should be a hole on the side of your amplifier for ssb delay adjustment
I was just going to mention that also.
Better wire the transceiver to the amplifier via PTT signal and you get rid of delays. The automatic switching is problematic and it's not used anymore
Manuel Sánchez Raya very true but on the mirage amplifiers you still have to switch it to ssb for bias reasons the mirages use variable bias in ssb position. But he could hook it to the send jack on the back and then turn the delay all the way down in the amp.
Is it common to have to use a clarifier on 2 meter ssb? I worked a guy and he had to tune low, I had to tune up about 80 cycles to get it to sound right . Thats my only 2 ssb contact ever. Maybe my radio, or his is off a little. 991a here, his was an 897.
I have an 897D that is also a bit off frequency compared to my FT-991 on 2 meter SSB. It's probably just the radio. I own both and have compared them and my 897D is defo the one that is off.
The higher the band, the more off frequency your radio will be because any frequency error in the master oscillator gets multiplied. All oscillators drift with age and temperature. On HF with a modern radio, this drift is barely noticeable and everyone appears to be on frequency, but on VHF/UHF it will be 50-500 times worse. This particular radio will adjust itself on frequency if you have an external reference like a GPSDO.
Where can I go to find out more about Ham Radio? I've got a Heathkit Apache that I inherited from my Father in law, but I don't want to have to learn Morse Code. So I'm trying to figure out what kind of radio I can use to reach long range and what kind of antenna will work in my attic, (my HOA is a pain in the ....)!
I suggest having a look at www.arrl.org and/or contacting your local radio club.
Morse code proficiency is no longer a licensing requirement. Although....you would do well to learn it. Learning CW will do more for you than a $6k amplifier.
How are you sir
I need help, I’m looking to buy the Yaesy FT-991-A or the Icom 9700, for what is the better?
Thank you
Wagner
KC1HMJ
Save yourself some money & buy an ICOM 910H.I love mine & my ICOM 821H which is my Satellite only rig.The 910H is my VHF/UHF SSB only radio.I have less than $1000 in the two radios combined & you will not buy the 991 or 9700 for anywhere near that price.
Seeing that your post is a year old, you may have made your decision already. The 991A is a great rig, the only advantage the 9700 has is that it is full duplex, meaning you can work satellites a lot easier. The purpose of my 9700 is strictly for working the birds. If you don't work satellites, the 991A is a great "shack in the box" covering 160 m to 70 cm.
What 4 R U using 150W amplifier if you have 100W at trx? There shoulndt be significant benefit to get 50W more... Nice rig.. Just thinking to buy it 🤔
Not answering for him but I would rather put the load on a few hundred dollar amp over a couple thousand dollar transceiver.
@@K4MJV It would make a lot more sense if he were driving a legal limit amplifier or even a 300 to 400 watt amplifier but using a 150 watt amplifier makes Zero sense.If he's worried about blowing up the radio using it at full output then he should have purchased a radio that he had confidence that it can handle full output being used? It says that he was only getting 115 to 120 watts out of the amplifier also.
@@K4MJV Exactly
@@1OFGODSOWN Maybe it's not about being afraid of blowing up the radio, but instead about prolonging the life of the radio. Why put continuous stress on the radio that could be shifted to an amp instead? It's just about taking advantage of alternative choices that can add extra life to an expensive radio. From cars to sewing machines, nothing seems to last as long when it's ran at it's peak output regardless of how much confidence you have in it. Running a 150 watt amp at 115 watts is not only not only going easy on the amp, but is also saving a lot of wear and tear on the radio,
Doesn’t the 9700 put out 100 watts on two meters? The amp at 120 watts makes no meaningful difference. 1 dB gain is additional 30% power, so 120 watts is less than 1 dB more than 100 watts.
Maybe it's not about the extra 15 watts, but instead about prolonging the life of the radio by letting it run at lower power output.
@@roadsidediner-video2792 If it can't handle what it was designed to do then it's not worth the price they charge for it.My ICOM 910H is still going strong & I'm not going to use my amps with it.
@@roadsidediner-video2792 its ssb. Low duty cycle. A rig like that is rated for continuous use at 100w
Internal pre-amps on many modern shack in the box VHF/UHF radios are generally not as sensitive as using an outboard RF amplifier with a hot GASFET pre-amp , for some hams just makes it simpler to incorporate as the pre-amp switching is built in to the amp and still allows options for use with other lower power all mode transceivers they may own presently and in the future, the outboard amp also allows an option of not stressing the finals in the 100 watt transceiver models to full output, All mode VHF and UHF radios that can push 100 watts tend to be pricey so not a bad option if you have a couple low drive amps on the shelf that are Gasfet equipped, , especially if using older used 70's to 90's vintage gear with typical 10 to 25 watts out, Icom IC-275A and RF concepts 160 watt amp with Gas Fet pre-amp and a 8 element yagi at 40 feet was an awesome combo for me for several years, really miss it, 73- J
VA3DLO HEAR..... Does th icom 9700 have SPEACH for the blind.. im part blind... i have RP & ASTEGMATISM,,, THANKS... if so can you do a review on the speech,.. id like to hear how it sounds and works from VA3DLO
What settings?
Is it a gentleman’s agreement to use USB instead of LSB?
If you haven't already joined the Florida Weak Signal Society's mailing list at www.flwss.net/ you'll want to do so to network with other VHF/UHF ops in the area. Hopefully you'll be among the contacts in the upcoming VHF+ contest the team I'm on makes. 73
what was the map program you used in the start of the video??
Go to this link aprs.mennolink.org/, and zoom in to your location. 73
You did all that without coffee? I’m impressed
I don't drink Coffee EVER & I have no issues.That stuff is Nasty & 1/2 of a cup of it in my almost 60 years has gotten me by just fine. LOL
First comment
second :)
Can any colleague explain why this 9700 IC radio has a low eham? 73
Eham is mostly inhabited by morons. That's why!
I'd say because it's Overpriced & overrated from what I have seen & heard from them.A whole lot of Hype & I Love ICOM but would never own any radio with a touch screen even if it were FREE.NOT for ME!
Maybe because of the frequency stability problems this rig came out of the gate with. It makes digital operation with WSJT-X difficult or impossible. It also won't do 9600 bps packet. Icom really screwed the pooch with this rig. It has an external 10 MHz reference input, but it doesn't lock to it. Really, really, really stupid design. They've improved some of the stability problems with software updates, but this rig should have been so much better. People are avoiding it. Price is down $700 in a year.
only benefit to having that brick amp is that you can save radio life by turning power down (e.g. 20 watts in etc can give you 100+ out). Other then that, useless.