Hi.

For my part, the amount of control that is done through the front panel and 
the fact that Kenwood makes software readily available to set the menu 
settings makes the TS2000S the best choice for my money.  I like Icom 
receivers, but I don't like the user interface on their newer radios.  If 
it were just HF, then I think I would be ok with them, but for VHF and UHF, 
the ease with which you can set repeater offsets and PL tones made the 
choice for the TS2000S easy.

I wish I could get the ear of the guys that design this stuff at Icom, 
because, truthfully, they wouldn't really have to change their design very 
much to resolve the accessibility problems.

For example, on my 706
MkII G, the major problem with setting things like PL tones is that they do 
it through the VFO knob.  If they had done it through the detented memory 
knob, the situation would have been manageable.

I am glad that the 7000 is not just a feature rich 706, because frankly, of 
the Icom equipment I've owned, the 706 is my least favorite, mostly because 
the receiver just isn't as good as most of the other Icom gear.  My old 
Icom 735 would have floored the 706.  Wish that I still had that radio.

73, de Lou K2LKK



At 09:43 AM 3/16/2007 -0600, you wrote:
>well the 746 and the 7000 sound nearly identical on air.  I am guessing that
>they have very very similar audio circuits in them, if not identical.
>They have that particular boomy audio which has the ability to cut through
>pile ups....I believe its a low mid boost that is built into the audio
>circuit that does it.
>It doesn't seem to matter what sort of microphone is being used, it still
>has that distinct 746/756/7000 audio to it.
>That said, the ts2000 with a heil on it sounds like a studio quality set up
>by comparison.  Yes, the icoms have a good boomy audio that cuts through,
>but if you use the narrow setting on the heil with the ts2000, you can cut
>through just as well, and on wide, it sounds like a million bucks compared
>to the icoms on air.
>just my opinion.
>I haven't played very much with the 756 or 46, just briefly with a 756 of
>one series or other and I really didn't like the receive quality, however,
>that could have been a filter or band pass setting that I couldn't adjust
>from the front of the rig.  And they're huge radios as well.
>
>The ic7000 on the other hand, was pretty close to the ts2000 as far as that
>nice wide band quiet receive that you can get with the low cut and high cut
>set to the lowest and highest limits.
>So, if a person was going to look at getting a new HF radio, and didn't care
>to much about dual receive or having allot of settings right on the front of
>the rig, the 7000 is perfect....since it also has the speech synth and voice
>recorder built in.
>Its the size of a typical camercial VHF radio too.
>And, the front pannel, that can be removed if desired has the microphone and
>phones/speaker jack on it instead of that goofy setup like kenwood has.
>If i were to ever be able to afford another rig, it would be a 7000 hands
>down for so many reasons.
>A note about the 7000, many folks seem to think it is a enhanced 706, it
>really isn't.  It is very much its own animal and is, in my opinion, much
>supperior to the 706 mark II g in many ways.  So, there really is no basis
>for comparison between the two other then they are both made by icom, and
>they are both multiband radios which are small.
>
>That said, the ts2000 offers everything the 7000 does with the extra $150 or
>so for the speech chip and voice recorder, and offers all the functions that
>are necesary that the 7000 doesn't, like talking menus, dual receive, high
>power output on VHF/UHF, 1.2 gigs if you want it, more user friendly
>controls on the front which can be set manually instead of through menu
>settings, and probably a bunch more that  I can't think of right now.  And
>the price is coming way way down on the ts2000's right now as well.
>
>73
>Colin, V A6BKX
>
>
>
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Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
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