It does twice as much and (if rumors are true) costs half what I would have guessed. I'm downsizing from a house to a very small condo and will primarily be operating at local parks and transport gear via bicycle trailer or car. The IC-905 will fit perfectly in this arrangement. As a new ham, this kit and accessories definitely makes bands 2400MHz and up much more accessible. Well done, Icom. Exciting.
The rumored pricing is incorrect I believe, therefore I have removed it from the video. You’re right about access to the bands. To put together a transverter system similar to this would be several thousands of dollars
As an owner of the IC-7300, IC-9700, & IC-705, this goes on my shopping list IMMEDIATELY! 😎 Like others have commented, I wish ICOM had included 222 MHz.: fortunately, I still have my old IC-375A 220 MHz. All - mode! 😊
This certainly is a game changer, no other amateur radio manufacturer has ever put so much varied technology into a transceiver. Depending on the ATV FM bandwidth the picture quality can be remarkably good. I have had many years of ATV experience and when we went from AM to FM ATV the difference was amazing. Yes digital is better but FM and standard definition digital ATV are close in quality. GO ICOM!!
Ohh man, way cooler than I thought it would be.. I cant wait to start seeing people getting their hands on this radio.. ATV? Very cool ! Very cool to see the new tech and see how the hobby is constantly changing !
I have been struggling with getting started with microwave. I really am interested in those bands for contesting purposes and just general contacts that not a lot of people are doing. Icom knocked it out of the park and I'm left with my jaw on the floor. This is truly innovative. I thought it would have 1 or 2 microwave bands on it but never dreamed it would have as many as it does. Guessing this is going to be an expensive one. Thanks Hayden for the video on this. I know you have a lot of experience with microwaves.
Excellent update Haydon, as opposed to just reading the spec, you're adding in the additional information that most folk want to hear, as you've got experience in the microwave bands...looking forward to price and availability, who knows I might be interested in one..
Great review Hayden! This certainly is going to get the GigHam's excited. As for "more power" (if it's allowed), someone will come along and make a post power transistor amplifier just like they have to the LAB599 and IC-705, although it's going to be tricky at the 5 & 10 Gig frequencies. Likewise, they will likely specify CAT7 cable due to its extreme shielding, or create something new (M&P?). The input to the RF module has to be super clean. Also, I think they're going to specify that the higher the tower with *absolutely no obstructions" is the order of the day. Good catch on the 3.4G omission. It's a shame but maybe the 905 will help us in the "use it or lose it" equation.
You read as if you have already been QRV on these bands, so you may agree with me that this ODU is an (expensive) toy. Technically sweet, but not a very useful concept. 2 W / 0.5 W - this is state of the art 30 years ago. Ridiculous. And if you add PAs for decent power, let's say 100-250 W on 1200 and 2400 and 20-50 W on 5600 and 10G (state of the art since 10 years at least) you need a big case, heatsink, PSU, and power line for it. And you would need a PA interface - where is it? - all advantages of the concept are gone, any mast-mounted transverter would do the same or better. They have a GPSDO - good, maybe new for ICOM, but SHF amateurs use this since a decade. You can connect an _analog_ camera - maybe even difficult to find one today? I am sure it will find its customers, old hams with too much money which will set up the 10 GHz unit and the ICOM omni antenna, and then complain that it works so badly, as they had known before. With 20 dB less antenna gain and 15 dB less power than a real station, it is like using 100 mW on shortwave.
@@Henning_Rech Unfortunately you are likely correct in how this will turn out. The post transmitter Amp could be simply attached like a 35w vhf/uhf car booster but in the higher frequency, that gets real messy. There is a reason that wave guides are made of metal and BOLTED together - to reduce any possibility of stray signals either in ot out of the transmission "line". 10 Gig is a whole other world where things we fussed at as Ham's become extremely serious. When you have a 10 GHz signal, even wire length becomes super important. Might was well have a fiber optic converter on the mast and a another in the shack. Talk about no line loss! Anyway, it's going to be real interesting where this goes.
This is Why I like the Japanese Brands Radios! They are very Creative! And the Quality is very good! And Yes I'm getting one for these, this is also go for Us Ham Who live on High Rise Apartment Buildings, also You can use a tri-banda antenna to the 2 Meter and 70,23 Center Meters!
I truly love the innovative way they avoid line loss on the super high frequencies by putting the transmitter on the top and communicating via Ethernet with power that's a great idea! I can't wait to get one of these and call out on 5Ghz CQ CQ CQ..... Hello CQ CQ.... Hello anyone? Bueller?....aw rats! If this were 30 years ago I've been incredibly excited! I'm lucky if I can find anybody on 146.52 in my same county. I hate to be cynical but I'm really happy icom is making new equipment and hoping this does pick up the upper bands traffic. I just can't quit ham radio ❤️
Actually back in the 80's both Yaesu and ICOM came out with rigs that had optional ATV (FT-736R and IC-970), but the IC-905 is definitely a big move forward. The IC-905 should increase VHF/UHF/SHF contest activity for sure!
Great job, Hayden. Interesting product that may change the game on the microwave bands, if it's reasonably affordable. I enjoy your videos--no sensationalistic crap for clicks. Right to the point--FB.--73, K2UA
Thanks for posting this video. Icom has definately got a seller. I would love to purchase this but i think i will wait to see if Yaesu and Kenwood will do the same thing and sell similar radios. I will defiantely get a radio like this....eventually , as long as they are not too expensive. Should be a very cool QRP radio for sure. Take care and 73s. VE3NCV from Ontario , Canada
I still have a pair of Icom 970 (D & H) fitted with 23cm (10watts) and 13 cm all mode. 13cm is only 1 watt compared to the new rig at 2 watts. Both of the top bands are also ATV configured through Icom TV970 module (not digital)
Fantastic .... $ 10,000 outer box, $ 25,000 a bit of electronics, for each button on the front it takes about $ 123, the display is still being built and considering that for ic5100 it was born to be a vehicular device where the bracket to fix it by car you have to buy it separately, the SHF external module will cost only $ 95,000. Greetings and have fun putting your hand to your wallet.
I hope that the PoE link is using standard ethernet frames to move the baseband/IF data over the wire. And ideally, that I could insert an ethernet switch or even a router in between. It would certainly make "plumbing" a lot more flexible! Imagine having the front panel unit plugged into your local network, with a 1G or 10G optical link to a tower a few hundred meters away. And a PoE injector at the base of your tower. Sure, I can imagine there would be some tight delay jitter bounds that you'd have to arrange for, but all this stuff is already built into Ethernet (even if the really crappy commodity unmanaged switch in *your* basement doesn't support it.) Even if this had to be bridge on it's own VLAN, you could do VLAN priority marking for that traffic. Even with 1G Ethernet links between switches, you'd only get 12 uS of jitter if the radio packet got stuck behind a 1500 byte Ethernet frame that was just starting to get serialized out the link. And heck, 10G ethernet is relatively cheap these days and you could get that down a microsecond or two of jitter.. Neat stuff; I'd been waiting for a vendor to remote the RF head for years. I can only dream that Icom would document the protocol over the wire for the baseband, and they could establish a defacto standard for this type of operation.
In 2006 IARU R1 UHF contest (the last I participated as single OP on 1200) I did 180 SSB- and CW-QSOs (180 unique stations) with an average distance >300 km (ODX >800 km). Even if now the participation is lower because ham radio is at its dusk, narrowband makes a lot of sense. Just not with such a toy. I used 500 W then. And won.
Wow so many cool concepts… but Ooof. Not having separate 140 and 430 n-type connectors might have been a mistake. Many hams would dip their toes into this from lower frequencies first with antennas they have.
@@Aimsport-video So you gained quite a bit by putting the transceiver neat the antenna, a few tenths of a db is going to make that much difference? Or to turn it the other way, it doesn't bother me when I use a tri-band antenna!
I'm curious about remotely mounting the RF unit. The video mentions it being waterproof, but with all those exposed RF connectors, I would think a waterproof enclosure will be needed. Also, while it would be nice to see 220 and 900 MHz, it's important to understand that those bands are only available in region 2, so there's no sense in Icom including it. Let's not forget Alinco came out with a short lived 220/900 HT, so it seems there isn't much of a market.
Hayden. How about doing a video about antenna and dishes for 2.4, 5.6 GHz and maybe 10 GHz in readiness for IC-905 Once the rig gets on the market there is surely going to be a rush of activity on SHF
Thanks Brian. Good idea, I need to revisit some. I have done some videos before in the past such as this one - th-cam.com/video/mSUfKTdSwM4/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HamRadioDX But time to refresh these as I've updated them :)
Well done Hayden for informative video Keep up the good work Surely Icom won’t be able to keep up with demand when 905 goes live. Whatever will the price be?
Hopefully low! But considering it’s a… 6 band radio (with 10G) it probably won’t be cheap. That said, to buy individual transverters for all those bands would cost a lot more!
My use of radio’s is communicating at distances without depending upon the infrastructure (internet, repeaters etc.). I’m not the customer ICOM is targeting but I do have decades of experience with microwave. Outside of bragging rights , I don’t see this gaining much traction to tell the truth. it’s pretty distance limited at those frequency. Perhaps a commercial microwave repeater’s are in the future. Another point about microwave…..it’s expensive to buy, to trouble shoot (test equipment etc.) and at time exhibits this phenomenon know as FM! F..n Magic! The latitude we enjoy in HF is forgiving and is relatively inexpensive. Microwave is entirely a different beast.
I would assume the vast majority of the sales of the new IC-905 will occur in the US...but still no 222MHz. Technically this is not a challenge to include. It can only be the cost of multiple inventories that Icom does not wish to incur.
One use of these radios, if an external amplifier is practical, is troposcatter. You can do that on any band, but it will take a bit of power. I know that to do that on 432 MHz, many operators will use at least 50 watts or so and at least an 8 element Yagi. On 10 GHz. I've read of several hams in the UK in decades past who used to scatter 10 GHz SSB off of thunder clouds and communicate over distances of several hundred miles. If one were to try that with a 1/2 watt unit, it MIGHT work, given a large enough dish. But if we don't have a way to interface an amplifier to these radios, the range will be fairly limited. Still, for all that this is, I think this is something I will save for.
There has got to be a 10Mhz oscillator inside that is disciplined by the GPS but the question will be: if GPS drops out, what is the free running stability of this oscillator?
Probably short term very stable. Long term not so much, but you’ll expect the GPS to not drop out for long. Depends on what OCXO they have in there if the GPS is disciplining that. Time will tell I guess
@@HamRadioDX With the solar storms coming in, this is a real possibility. You could see issues for several days. The GPSDO is used on cell sites to discipline the radio heads that we use so this is not suprising to see and the chips themselves deliver the time tick and the 1PPS. They typically do not directly produce 10Mhz. In fact, on some of ours, we boosted to 100Mhz so while there are a lot of 10Mhz pulses, it is not the only one. So internally, they are using the GPS to do what they need and at the bottom they are sending out the 10Mhz for additional devices.
I am wondering how the connections to the RF unit will be protected from the weather. Also, is the protocol and communications with the RF unit publicly available?
This is awesome, but I worry about the market demand keeping stuff like this in production, and other companies making similar products. Around here, people hardly even use UHF. It's all VHF and below.
If you think about it. whit the RF unit remote from and being powered from the radio via PoE, I doubt there is much power left over to send down the coax line but I’m just guessing.
It would be EXTREMELY useful if Icom shipped you a unit to do a detailed run-up and review. Seeing a 'real world' operator install and setup one of these would be great - especially given the amount of external equipment and the challenges in getting it correctly setup and weatherproofed. Also, there is a lot packed into this unit and I can see it taking a fair amount of time to work through and get into the feature set this unit provides. As a potential customer, I would like to see an experienced operator work through this unit in detail before I buy one. Thanks ! 73, VK7WTF
Curious the choice of SMA. I would think the N-type as it covers the frequency range and would be more durable and have a longer reconnect lifecycle (there's a word for that that I forgot).
If the transverter takes its input from the 2.4GHz band then working QO-100 gets complicated because there is no where left to plug in the 2.4GHz uplink antenna.
I hope they didn't just make a mistake there, because they don't have access to QO-100... They did remove the 70 MHz band from the IC-705 in the last moment (it's mentioned in the service manual).
I suspect the price mentioned in the video would be wildly inaccurate. I reckon it will be significantly more expensive than the 705 ... but I'll likely still buy it anyway! :) It's all very exciting. Kudos to Icom!
Yes, it is and have subsequently removed the rumored pricing from the video so as not to mislead any. That said, I think in comparison to the costs of buying a transverter for every one of those bands costs, it will be cheaper in comparison
@@HamRadioDX Yes. If it was sub $2K I reckon Icom would be struggling to meet demand. I think this is going to be popular anyway. It’s really a bit of a game changer for the higher bands. Exciting!
@@Henning_Rech Power isn’t the answer. With experience you’ll understand it’s as much about technique. You don’t need a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. I can happily make long distance contacts at 10 GHz using my existing setup which produces around 200 milliwatts. My IC-9700 produces 10 Watts on 23cm and that’s perfectly adequate.
@@VK2AAK To each one his own. 10 W on 1296 is not adequate for me, 800 km everyday DX via airplane scatter would not work at this power level. What is long distance on 10G for you? - RS can work with 200 mW and a 2ft dish, but it is painstaking. QRV on 10G in SSB since 1986.
Lightning arrestors on the feedline... everything is bolted to the metal pole which can be bonded to ground? There's literally millions of these units already up towers all around the world - except they are used for wireless carriers and cell phone companies... same sort of tech ;)
1.25m is only available in ITU Region 2, so a very niched down market. Perhaps in time they'll release a separate 220 MHz module but it makes no commercial sense at the moment.
@@HamRadioDX and the Americas market, the FCC only allows a tiny sliver now. Hard to convince myself that getting into that 1.25m band range is economical either.
I didn’t see any mention of full duplex operation like on the 9700. It appears to be one band at a time. Of course it should still have split operation
power level of IC-905 seems like made for Japanese allowable power such as 2 watts in 2.4GHz, 5GHz. I think IC-905 is pretty much made for Japanese domestic market, where they actually can talk to someone with such high frequencies and power level. one thing I like is actual Radio hardware are on tower top, which are connected through Ethernet cable, and power is also supplied by Ethernet. AG6JU
Exactly what I thought. The Japanese have/had 10 W licenses. - For any serious operation (airplane scatter, rain scatter) you need 10-20 dB more power. And then the beauty of the concept is gone, you cannot supply a 100 W PA (250 W in) via Ethernet. And need a big box with big heatsink anyway. No problem to have a 5 mm double shielded coax running down for a 2m IF with transverters up. The concept is technically sweet, but if you want to leave the small ICOM sandbox, it does not work anymore.
@@Henning_Rech anything more than 50 watts on 30 MHz and up. more than 2 watts 2 GHz and up, require special station license. there in Japan. it require contour study, and first licensed as temporary license, and licensee must prove if there are no interference within so many KM radius. I understand it is about same process as if you are establishing broadcast station. so practically impossible. I think IC-905 are mostly intended for those just want to try out 5, 10 GHz at 2 watts or less.
@@Porco_Utah Thank you for information about the Japanese licensing system. In Germany we also need to make a EMC study before we are allowed to use full power (while we just have to have it ready in case of a investigation), and it is not impossible ;) - But we all agree that ICOM has designed this radio for their domestic market.
Pro: lot of microwave bands ... and has legit GPS trained reference osc Con: not designed for EME or weak signal work ... TX and RX are not split - for preamp, etc. Single RF connector for three bands :( PoE Lightning Protection included? What does the tower module have for lightning protection? Tower module - keying lines and voltage for preamp(s)? de W1QA
Agree 100%. It is a toy for hams with money but no skills. They will put a vertically polarized omni antenna to the unit (triband 144-1200, and each one for 2400 and 5600) and complain how bad it works.
I have to laugh at all the complaints about "no 220 MHz". Seriously, why would Icom go to all the trouble and cost of extra hardware (bandpass filters and so on), special firmware, special versions involving a whole separate inventory? ... and all to service a niche market which is irrelevant to most of the world.
2nd comment.... Anyone who drops all the cash on this thing will be sorry very quickly when they enter the world of single sideband UHF VHF microwave.... They will need to spend thousands more to actually operate on those bands.... And somehow engineer real power and real antennas....
If you scroll down the comments you'll see this answered, but... again here... 220 is only available in Region 2, which is pretty much the Americas. That's an even more niched down market that it's already trying to target. The radio would require extra power amp, preamps, receiver, transmitter, filters etc built into that already crammed RF module... It's not really viable, especially at product launch. Perhaps in time, they might release a standalone unit.
@@HamRadioDX Yeah, I seen 'em after I left my question. I believe we're legally allowed to use 216-226, if I recall frequency range right, some of which we need to be 100 miles North of the U.S. border to use. There's also a section that's sorta reserved, on a handshake seeming basis. 73s
How can you say "all vhf thru microwave" and No 220 ? And only one connector for 144, 432, 1296 ??? That's just not smart. This is more of a novelty than a real VHF thru Microwave radio. Sounds like alot of quid pro quo promotions on youtube. Alot of hype for sure. They could have really done this right but how they've done it leaves me shaking my head ... you will see these on the used market in a year or two when buyers realize they aren't gona make alot of Q's on a 2m/70cm/1296 tri band vertical . If they listened to the market (Hams) they could have had a real hit. That said, love your channel Hayden and all your great video's...less this one ...hahaha
Well, 220 is US only, as is 900 MHz… it makes no commercial sense to include those bands. I can say VHF to 10G because it includes all bands available for use in every region.
i think 144/433mhz is supported just because they can without any extra hardware. however, those are only 10W and anyone serious about those bands will have a separate radio with higher output, so they won't be using this radio for those bands. people buying ic905 will be buying it for bands higher than 1200mhz, so the port is basically dedicated to 1200mhz
What was the point of putting this into a 705 sized enclosure? Theres no battery,no direct antenna no protection to all the inputs. Id be more interested in a 705+ with usb c and the lan port, and make the rf device with a built in tuner as an option, then add dstar dv/dd and atv too.
It certainly looks like a Game Changer I suspect it is really being driven by the fact that there is very little(innovation) they can do on the HF/VHF side So they need more products for a more or less captive market
When you said “we’re going to go over the features…” I thought maybe you actually had a unit, but you’re just replaying the same video we all have access to. 🙄
Look at this then - th-cam.com/video/R05WHqnBzxw/w-d-xo.html Camera work is shaky, TH-cam livestreaming removes camera stabilization from my phone which I wasn't aware of at the time.
To GigaHertz and Beyond! 👇👇
th-cam.com/play/PLSuX83ay4Oug_qJECIs_zgeIOiEGSnsbC.html
POE and USB-C? Someone pinch me I'm dreaming.
It's great to see ham radio join modern standards.
It does twice as much and (if rumors are true) costs half what I would have guessed.
I'm downsizing from a house to a very small condo and will primarily be operating at local parks and transport gear via bicycle trailer or car. The IC-905 will fit perfectly in this arrangement.
As a new ham, this kit and accessories definitely makes bands 2400MHz and up much more accessible.
Well done, Icom. Exciting.
What is the rumored price point, out of curiosity?
redacted
@@w7don Well, I hope the rumors are true, that would be a very attractive price point.
The rumored pricing is incorrect I believe, therefore I have removed it from the video. You’re right about access to the bands. To put together a transverter system similar to this would be several thousands of dollars
As an owner of the IC-7300, IC-9700, & IC-705, this goes on my shopping list IMMEDIATELY! 😎 Like others have commented, I wish ICOM had included 222 MHz.: fortunately, I still have my old IC-375A 220 MHz. All - mode! 😊
Great work Icom and thanks to HH for bringing some good news to the hobby -4UH
Thanks Kevin 👍 hopefully we get one for November
The old Icom IC-1271 was analogue (FM) ATV capable. There was a little module which sat alongside the main unit. They're still around.
This certainly is a game changer, no other amateur radio manufacturer has ever put so much varied technology into a transceiver. Depending on the ATV FM bandwidth the picture quality can be remarkably good. I have had many years of ATV experience and when we went from AM to FM ATV the difference was amazing. Yes digital is better but FM and standard definition digital ATV are close in quality. GO ICOM!!
Ohh man, way cooler than I thought it would be.. I cant wait to start seeing people getting their hands on this radio.. ATV? Very cool ! Very cool to see the new tech and see how the hobby is constantly changing !
Looking good. Scores and participation in the vhf- uhf contests will increase.
I think it is excellent value for the ham who is only a casual enthusiast who might want to experiment with using these bands.
I have been struggling with getting started with microwave. I really am interested in those bands for contesting purposes and just general contacts that not a lot of people are doing. Icom knocked it out of the park and I'm left with my jaw on the floor. This is truly innovative. I thought it would have 1 or 2 microwave bands on it but never dreamed it would have as many as it does. Guessing this is going to be an expensive one. Thanks Hayden for the video on this. I know you have a lot of experience with microwaves.
Don't waste your money look into transverters for those bands ... This thing is poorly thought out
Cannot wait to see a demo
ICOM still investing in ham equipment - you have got to be happy with that!
It’s good to see isn’t it!
Well done for getting this out so quick. Good work. Thanks
Thanks Phil 👍
Good show. Thanks Hayden.
Thanks Cal
A very exciting development and I really want one!
This radio might be a game changer. Exactly what we need with the transmitter at the tower/antenna point plus POE? Amazing
A good and sensible talk through Haydn, thank-you. I'd love one but it will depend on the price.
Excellent update Haydon, as opposed to just reading the spec, you're adding in the additional information that most folk want to hear, as you've got experience in the microwave bands...looking forward to price and availability, who knows I might be interested in one..
Thanks Robbie. Be good to see other specs on paper like noise figure and such, but I guess we’ll just have to wait for those. Cheers!
"Analog TV"? Back to the future😊
Lonely concept radio however I have even more capabile SDR's nothing but static on those bands, so a beautiful paperweight
Thank you.
Great for large cities.
Hello Hayden. Great detailed video on the IC-905. Keep up the great job. Thumbs up. Stay Safe. 73 Ruben KD6CWI
Great review Hayden! This certainly is going to get the GigHam's excited. As for "more power" (if it's allowed), someone will come along and make a post power transistor amplifier just like they have to the LAB599 and IC-705, although it's going to be tricky at the 5 & 10 Gig frequencies. Likewise, they will likely specify CAT7 cable due to its extreme shielding, or create something new (M&P?). The input to the RF module has to be super clean. Also, I think they're going to specify that the higher the tower with *absolutely no obstructions" is the order of the day. Good catch on the 3.4G omission. It's a shame but maybe the 905 will help us in the "use it or lose it" equation.
You read as if you have already been QRV on these bands, so you may agree with me that this ODU is an (expensive) toy. Technically sweet, but not a very useful concept.
2 W / 0.5 W - this is state of the art 30 years ago. Ridiculous. And if you add PAs for decent power, let's say 100-250 W on 1200 and 2400 and 20-50 W on 5600 and 10G (state of the art since 10 years at least) you need a big case, heatsink, PSU, and power line for it. And you would need a PA interface - where is it? - all advantages of the concept are gone, any mast-mounted transverter would do the same or better. They have a GPSDO - good, maybe new for ICOM, but SHF amateurs use this since a decade. You can connect an _analog_ camera - maybe even difficult to find one today?
I am sure it will find its customers, old hams with too much money which will set up the 10 GHz unit and the ICOM omni antenna, and then complain that it works so badly, as they had known before. With 20 dB less antenna gain and 15 dB less power than a real station, it is like using 100 mW on shortwave.
@@Henning_Rech Unfortunately you are likely correct in how this will turn out. The post transmitter Amp could be simply attached like a 35w vhf/uhf car booster but in the higher frequency, that gets real messy. There is a reason that wave guides are made of metal and BOLTED together - to reduce any possibility of stray signals either in ot out of the transmission "line". 10 Gig is a whole other world where things we fussed at as Ham's become extremely serious. When you have a 10 GHz signal, even wire length becomes super important. Might was well have a fiber optic converter on the mast and a another in the shack. Talk about no line loss! Anyway, it's going to be real interesting where this goes.
This is Why I like the Japanese Brands Radios! They are very Creative! And the Quality is very good! And Yes I'm getting one for these, this is also go for Us Ham Who live on High Rise Apartment Buildings, also You can use a tri-banda antenna to the 2 Meter and 70,23 Center Meters!
Finally! A USB-C!
I truly love the innovative way they avoid line loss on the super high frequencies by putting the transmitter on the top and communicating via Ethernet with power that's a great idea! I can't wait to get one of these and call out on 5Ghz CQ CQ CQ..... Hello CQ CQ.... Hello anyone? Bueller?....aw rats! If this were 30 years ago I've been incredibly excited! I'm lucky if I can find anybody on 146.52 in my same county. I hate to be cynical but I'm really happy icom is making new equipment and hoping this does pick up the upper bands traffic. I just can't quit ham radio ❤️
Actually back in the 80's both Yaesu and ICOM came out with rigs that had optional ATV (FT-736R and IC-970), but the IC-905 is definitely a big move forward. The IC-905 should increase VHF/UHF/SHF contest activity for sure!
The Icom IC-1271 had the accompanying TV-1200 ATV unit for excellent analogue TV on 23cm.
Great job, Hayden. Interesting product that may change the game on the microwave bands, if it's reasonably affordable. I enjoy your videos--no sensationalistic crap for clicks. Right to the point--FB.--73, K2UA
Thanks Rus!
There is going to be lots of New Tech Class Hams, this Upcoming Years!
Thanks for posting this video. Icom has definately got a seller. I would love to purchase this but i think i will wait to see if Yaesu and Kenwood will do the same thing and sell similar radios. I will defiantely get a radio like this....eventually , as long as they are not too expensive. Should be a very cool QRP radio for sure. Take care and 73s. VE3NCV from Ontario , Canada
I wonder if the US version will have 1.25m (220 Mhz). Look like a fascinating radio!
I still have a pair of Icom 970 (D & H) fitted with 23cm (10watts) and 13 cm all mode. 13cm is only 1 watt compared to the new rig at 2 watts. Both of the top bands are also ATV configured through Icom TV970 module (not digital)
Can’t see many being sold
Fantastic .... $ 10,000 outer box, $ 25,000 a bit of electronics, for each button on the front it takes about $ 123, the display is still being built and considering that for ic5100 it was born to be a vehicular device where the bracket to fix it by car you have to buy it separately, the SHF external module will cost only $ 95,000. Greetings and have fun putting your hand to your wallet.
Very interesting. A lightning strike could be very expensive.
I hope that the PoE link is using standard ethernet frames to move the baseband/IF data over the wire. And ideally, that I could insert an ethernet switch or even a router in between. It would certainly make "plumbing" a lot more flexible! Imagine having the front panel unit plugged into your local network, with a 1G or 10G optical link to a tower a few hundred meters away. And a PoE injector at the base of your tower.
Sure, I can imagine there would be some tight delay jitter bounds that you'd have to arrange for, but all this stuff is already built into Ethernet (even if the really crappy commodity unmanaged switch in *your* basement doesn't support it.) Even if this had to be bridge on it's own VLAN, you could do VLAN priority marking for that traffic. Even with 1G Ethernet links between switches, you'd only get 12 uS of jitter if the radio packet got stuck behind a 1500 byte Ethernet frame that was just starting to get serialized out the link. And heck, 10G ethernet is relatively cheap these days and you could get that down a microsecond or two of jitter..
Neat stuff; I'd been waiting for a vendor to remote the RF head for years. I can only dream that Icom would document the protocol over the wire for the baseband, and they could establish a defacto standard for this type of operation.
Nice, No more tapping the IF out put on a Communication Receiver, for Analog TV Video,
Sharing the excitement! Now to start a savings account to pay for it...
I want one!
Hopefully the price is reasonable! I look forward.
Its not
The higher bands only make sense to me for very wide bandwidth modes, satellite communication and to radio link repeaters.
In 2006 IARU R1 UHF contest (the last I participated as single OP on 1200) I did 180 SSB- and CW-QSOs (180 unique stations) with an average distance >300 km (ODX >800 km). Even if now the participation is lower because ham radio is at its dusk, narrowband makes a lot of sense. Just not with such a toy. I used 500 W then. And won.
Wow so many cool concepts… but Ooof. Not having separate 140 and 430 n-type connectors might have been a mistake. Many hams would dip their toes into this from lower frequencies first with antennas they have.
There are a number of diplexers available that will split the antennas out. The single port is ideal for the antennas that support 144,440, and 1.2.
@@edw297 if only diplexer insertion loss claims were honest. Still, this radio seems fascinating for higher frequencies.
@@Aimsport-video So you gained quite a bit by putting the transceiver neat the antenna, a few tenths of a db is going to make that much difference? Or to turn it the other way, it doesn't bother me when I use a tri-band antenna!
@@edw297 all good points.
I'm curious about remotely mounting the RF unit. The video mentions it being waterproof, but with all those exposed RF connectors, I would think a waterproof enclosure will be needed. Also, while it would be nice to see 220 and 900 MHz, it's important to understand that those bands are only available in region 2, so there's no sense in Icom including it. Let's not forget Alinco came out with a short lived 220/900 HT, so it seems there isn't much of a market.
I think they come with rubber boots to mount over the top of the connectors. You're correct about 220/900, the market is too small!
Hayden. How about doing a video about antenna and dishes for 2.4, 5.6 GHz and maybe 10 GHz in readiness for IC-905
Once the rig gets on the market there is surely going to be a rush of activity on SHF
Thanks Brian. Good idea, I need to revisit some. I have done some videos before in the past such as this one - th-cam.com/video/mSUfKTdSwM4/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HamRadioDX
But time to refresh these as I've updated them :)
Well done Hayden for informative video
Keep up the good work
Surely Icom won’t be able to keep up with demand when 905 goes live.
Whatever will the price be?
Hopefully low! But considering it’s a… 6 band radio (with 10G) it probably won’t be cheap. That said, to buy individual transverters for all those bands would cost a lot more!
My use of radio’s is communicating at distances without depending upon the infrastructure (internet, repeaters etc.). I’m not the customer ICOM is targeting but I do have decades of experience with microwave.
Outside of bragging rights , I don’t see this gaining much traction to tell the truth. it’s pretty distance limited at those frequency. Perhaps a commercial microwave repeater’s are in the future. Another point about microwave…..it’s expensive to buy, to trouble shoot (test equipment etc.) and at time exhibits this phenomenon know as FM! F..n Magic! The latitude we enjoy in HF is forgiving and is relatively inexpensive. Microwave is entirely a different beast.
I would assume the vast majority of the sales of the new IC-905 will occur in the US...but still no 222MHz. Technically this is not a challenge to include. It can only be the cost of multiple inventories that Icom does not wish to incur.
One use of these radios, if an external amplifier is practical, is troposcatter. You can do that on any band, but it will take a bit of power. I know that to do that on 432 MHz, many operators will use at least 50 watts or so and at least an 8 element Yagi.
On 10 GHz. I've read of several hams in the UK in decades past who used to scatter 10 GHz SSB off of thunder clouds and communicate over distances of several hundred miles. If one were to try that with a 1/2 watt unit, it MIGHT work, given a large enough dish.
But if we don't have a way to interface an amplifier to these radios, the range will be fairly limited. Still, for all that this is, I think this is something I will save for.
The 20m length is probably related to DC voltage drop of POE cable sufficient to power 10W at the transiever. It may even be a special ethernet cable.
There has got to be a 10Mhz oscillator inside that is disciplined by the GPS but the question will be: if GPS drops out, what is the free running stability of this oscillator?
Probably short term very stable. Long term not so much, but you’ll expect the GPS to not drop out for long. Depends on what OCXO they have in there if the GPS is disciplining that. Time will tell I guess
@@HamRadioDX With the solar storms coming in, this is a real possibility. You could see issues for several days. The GPSDO is used on cell sites to discipline the radio heads that we use so this is not suprising to see and the chips themselves deliver the time tick and the 1PPS. They typically do not directly produce 10Mhz. In fact, on some of ours, we boosted to 100Mhz so while there are a lot of 10Mhz pulses, it is not the only one. So internally, they are using the GPS to do what they need and at the bottom they are sending out the 10Mhz for additional devices.
You could get a tri-band mobile High gain that runs on 1.2, 70 CM, 2 m direct connected to that section duplex not needed!
I am wondering how the connections to the RF unit will be protected from the weather. Also, is the protocol and communications with the RF unit publicly available?
This is awesome, but I worry about the market demand keeping stuff like this in production, and other companies making similar products. Around here, people hardly even use UHF. It's all VHF and below.
Interesting radio. Disappointing that there’s a shared antenna connection for 144/430/1200. Will it do full duplex? Can it power a pre-amp over coax?
If you think about it. whit the RF unit remote from and being powered from the radio via PoE, I doubt there is much power left over to send down the coax line but I’m just guessing.
How about satellite working? Does the 905 have the same functionality as the 9700?
was hoping that it would have 220 sure looks cool--wonder if you use the 10g module, can you still work 2g?
I saw some images from Hamfair showing what looked to be a looped output from the 10G transverter to the 2.4 antenna, so I think it will be possible
It would be EXTREMELY useful if Icom shipped you a unit to do a detailed run-up and review. Seeing a 'real world' operator install and setup one of these would be great - especially given the amount of external equipment and the challenges in getting it correctly setup and weatherproofed. Also, there is a lot packed into this unit and I can see it taking a fair amount of time to work through and get into the feature set this unit provides.
As a potential customer, I would like to see an experienced operator work through this unit in detail before I buy one.
Thanks !
73,
VK7WTF
Thanks Sean! Hopefully we can get hold of one for the expo in November
Curious the choice of SMA. I would think the N-type as it covers the frequency range and would be more durable and have a longer reconnect lifecycle (there's a word for that that I forgot).
If the transverter takes its input from the 2.4GHz band then working QO-100 gets complicated because there is no where left to plug in the 2.4GHz uplink antenna.
The 10G transverter might have a 2.4 output? It was only speculation based on the photos. Time will tell I guess
I hope they didn't just make a mistake there, because they don't have access to QO-100... They did remove the 70 MHz band from the IC-705 in the last moment (it's mentioned in the service manual).
Thanks Hayden! No price yet?
Not yet, TBA
I WANT ONE Plan to buy one once out at dealers
I suspect the price mentioned in the video would be wildly inaccurate. I reckon it will be significantly more expensive than the 705 ... but I'll likely still buy it anyway! :)
It's all very exciting. Kudos to Icom!
Yes, it is and have subsequently removed the rumored pricing from the video so as not to mislead any.
That said, I think in comparison to the costs of buying a transverter for every one of those bands costs, it will be cheaper in comparison
@@HamRadioDX Yes. If it was sub $2K I reckon Icom would be struggling to meet demand. I think this is going to be popular anyway. It’s really a bit of a game changer for the higher bands. Exciting!
@@VK2AAK I agree that many people will buy it. And then be disappointed for the bad results at such low output power.
@@Henning_Rech Power isn’t the answer. With experience you’ll understand it’s as much about technique. You don’t need a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.
I can happily make long distance contacts at 10 GHz using my existing setup which produces around 200 milliwatts.
My IC-9700 produces 10 Watts on 23cm and that’s perfectly adequate.
@@VK2AAK To each one his own. 10 W on 1296 is not adequate for me, 800 km everyday DX via airplane scatter would not work at this power level.
What is long distance on 10G for you? - RS can work with 200 mW and a 2ft dish, but it is painstaking. QRV on 10G in SSB since 1986.
It's missing 222 Mhz, that's inexcusable
Nobody does 1.25m anymore and it is limited with competing non-amateur users.
How do you protect against lightning? How do you ground everything?
Lightning arrestors on the feedline... everything is bolted to the metal pole which can be bonded to ground? There's literally millions of these units already up towers all around the world - except they are used for wireless carriers and cell phone companies... same sort of tech ;)
Erect a lightning rod that is higher than the antenna.
1.25m? why is this not included? SDR why not include?
1.25m is only available in ITU Region 2, so a very niched down market. Perhaps in time they'll release a separate 220 MHz module but it makes no commercial sense at the moment.
@@HamRadioDX and the Americas market, the FCC only allows a tiny sliver now. Hard to convince myself that getting into that 1.25m band range is economical either.
Nice presentation, however, with a $140 home brew 10 watt rig rig on 40 meters, well ...
Hayden, is there a reason you think that you will be able to operate on multiple bands at once?
I didn’t see any mention of full duplex operation like on the 9700. It appears to be one band at a time. Of course it should still have split operation
power level of IC-905 seems like made for Japanese allowable power such as 2 watts in 2.4GHz, 5GHz. I think IC-905 is pretty much made for Japanese domestic market, where they actually can talk to someone with such high frequencies and power level. one thing I like is actual Radio hardware are on tower top, which are connected through Ethernet cable, and power is also supplied by Ethernet. AG6JU
Exactly what I thought. The Japanese have/had 10 W licenses. - For any serious operation (airplane scatter, rain scatter) you need 10-20 dB more power. And then the beauty of the concept is gone, you cannot supply a 100 W PA (250 W in) via Ethernet. And need a big box with big heatsink anyway. No problem to have a 5 mm double shielded coax running down for a 2m IF with transverters up. The concept is technically sweet, but if you want to leave the small ICOM sandbox, it does not work anymore.
@@Henning_Rech anything more than 50 watts on 30 MHz and up. more than 2 watts 2 GHz and up, require special station license. there in Japan. it require contour study, and first licensed as temporary license, and licensee must prove if there are no interference within so many KM radius. I understand it is about same process as if you are establishing broadcast station. so practically impossible. I think IC-905 are mostly intended for those just want to try out 5, 10 GHz at 2 watts or less.
@@Porco_Utah Thank you for information about the Japanese licensing system. In Germany we also need to make a EMC study before we are allowed to use full power (while we just have to have it ready in case of a investigation), and it is not impossible ;) - But we all agree that ICOM has designed this radio for their domestic market.
I am visiting the NJ area, recommend a store where I can buy I want to take my country HC7TMS
Isn’t Ray a great guest ….great video guys de W9US
Hi Hayden,
Nice report on the IC-905. Do you know any mention was made if it is full duplex for satellites? Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
No mention of full duplex for satellites
Don that I could see
What happened to 1.25m? It's too bad they don't support it.
Pro: lot of microwave bands ... and has legit GPS trained reference osc
Con: not designed for EME or weak signal work ...
TX and RX are not split - for preamp, etc.
Single RF connector for three bands :(
PoE Lightning Protection included?
What does the tower module have for lightning protection?
Tower module - keying lines and voltage for preamp(s)?
de W1QA
Agree 100%. It is a toy for hams with money but no skills. They will put a vertically polarized omni antenna to the unit (triband 144-1200, and each one for 2400 and 5600) and complain how bad it works.
Wish they'd done 220 and 902 MHz
Does it do APRS?
Icom do APRS??? Yeah right😆
Pity they didn’t go with digital tv. Analog will be less than 576 lines no hd of course. Try and find a modern camera that will do composite out
I wonder why no 220mhz?
very nice . but the price is going to sting you at a guess
Too bad no 220mhz!
The only problem is the output power on 144/440 is really lacking 🙄
I have to laugh at all the complaints about "no 220 MHz".
Seriously, why would Icom go to all the trouble and cost of extra hardware (bandpass filters and so on), special firmware, special versions involving a whole separate inventory? ... and all to service a niche market which is irrelevant to most of the world.
9700 has 2meter 440 and 1200 just the outhers on the ic 905
2nd comment.... Anyone who drops all the cash on this thing will be sorry very quickly when they enter the world of single sideband UHF VHF microwave.... They will need to spend thousands more to actually operate on those bands.... And somehow engineer real power and real antennas....
No 1.25?
Do anyone has an idea of the price range yet?
Why was 220 left out?
If you scroll down the comments you'll see this answered, but... again here... 220 is only available in Region 2, which is pretty much the Americas. That's an even more niched down market that it's already trying to target.
The radio would require extra power amp, preamps, receiver, transmitter, filters etc built into that already crammed RF module...
It's not really viable, especially at product launch. Perhaps in time, they might release a standalone unit.
@@HamRadioDX Yeah, I seen 'em after I left my question. I believe we're legally allowed to use 216-226, if I recall frequency range right, some of which we need to be 100 miles North of the U.S. border to use. There's also a section that's sorta reserved, on a handshake seeming basis.
73s
Yeah no worries. Here in Australia that band is full of our digital TV, so not much to listen to :)
How can you say "all vhf thru microwave" and No 220 ? And only one connector for 144, 432, 1296 ??? That's just not smart. This is more of a novelty than a real VHF thru Microwave radio. Sounds like alot of quid pro quo promotions on youtube. Alot of hype for sure. They could have really done this right but how they've done it leaves me shaking my head ... you will see these on the used market in a year or two when buyers realize they aren't gona make alot of Q's on a 2m/70cm/1296 tri band vertical . If they listened to the market (Hams) they could have had a real hit. That said, love your channel Hayden and all your great video's...less this one ...hahaha
Well, 220 is US only, as is 900 MHz… it makes no commercial sense to include those bands. I can say VHF to 10G because it includes all bands available for use in every region.
i think 144/433mhz is supported just because they can without any extra hardware. however, those are only 10W and anyone serious about those bands will have a separate radio with higher output, so they won't be using this radio for those bands.
people buying ic905 will be buying it for bands higher than 1200mhz, so the port is basically dedicated to 1200mhz
Amateur television is intriguing to me... But still no 220Mhz.
The radio misses 902-928MHz (33cm). What a shame.
Wonder why it doesn’t do 220
Because 220 is basically a USA only band.
What was the point of putting this into a 705 sized enclosure? Theres no battery,no direct antenna no protection to all the inputs. Id be more interested in a 705+ with usb c and the lan port, and make the rf device with a built in tuner as an option, then add dstar dv/dd and atv too.
Seems to be missing 220 MHz.
Where is 902MHz ?? Please Icom add it in !! Same as 222Mhz. You'll have a customer here.
don't expect this used as armature equipment
Analog Video have no Latency Problem!
Who will I talk to .all these bands are mostly by apontment
It certainly looks like a Game Changer
I suspect it is really being driven by the fact that there is very little(innovation) they can do on the HF/VHF side
So they need more products for a more or less captive market
When you said “we’re going to go over the features…” I thought maybe you actually had a unit, but you’re just replaying the same video we all have access to. 🙄
Look at this then - th-cam.com/video/R05WHqnBzxw/w-d-xo.html
Camera work is shaky, TH-cam livestreaming removes camera stabilization from my phone which I wasn't aware of at the time.