Tom,

In my opinion, Icom receivers perform better than Kenwood or Yaesu 
receivers, in terms of sensitivity, signal to noise,  and dynamic range. 
It's frustrating that each of the big three companies does well in different 
aspects, but none of them have radios that excell in all aspects.  You can't 
beat Kenwoods for accessibility and high quality audio.  Icoms have 
fantastic receiver specs, but don't do as well with audio quality.  Yaesu 
radios seem to have more bells and whistles than anyone else, but have the 
worst trqack record for accessibility, and don't seem to do as well 
technically as Icoms.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 15:17
Subject: Re: 746PRO


>    Keith:
>
> I have the plain IC746, but will throw my two cents in here if you'd like.
>
> The rig is somewhat accessible for a blind user, but the key word is
> "somewhat".  Fortunately, I have a sighted XYL who is also a ham, so she
> usually can get me out of trouble if I get myself into a predicament of 
> one
> kind or another.  The rig will read frequency and s-meter readings.  It 
> also
> will tell you the contents of a particular memory, and whether the memory
> itself is clear, but you have to push the frequency read-out button to get
> that info.  The voice chip also will give you basic mode information, so 
> at
> least you know what mode you're in.
>
> When it comes to getting the rig initially set up via the initial set 
> menu,
> you are likely to need sighted assistance.  Also, I have never been able 
> to
> independently program PL tones into repeater frequency pairs, simply 
> because
> that is done with the tuning knob, and you have no clue as to where you 
> are
> in the tone selections.
>
> You may ask, then, why I'm keeping the IC746. ... And, my answer is that 
> it
> has a tremendous receiver. ...  In fact, I'd say it has the best receiver 
> of
> any HF rig I have ever used, although the receiver on my new TS480 comes
> close. ...  I actually have thought seriously at times about selling my
> IC746, and going for something like the TS2000, or maybe even another 
> TS480,
> but I have not gotten serious enough yet to want to take the leap.
>
> I hope this helps at least a little.
>
> 73 from Tom Behler:  Kb8TYJ
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Keith Bucher" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 4:10 AM
> Subject: 746PRO
>
>
>> Hello,
>>
>>    I'd like to hear from anyone who has a 746PRO.  How do you like it,
>> and how accessible are the various functions?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>