It has been a year since I bought the Icom 7000 and although there are loads
of features I haven't learned yet, largely because I don't need access to
them, I have learned all the basics but that isn't the focus of this
message. It is the short wave and A M and FM capability of the radio I want
to talk about this time. I've been using the R7 vertical on my roof for
nearly a year with the radio but after getting the G5RV up a couple of
months ago, it has improved, as was expected, my FM, and especially the A M
broadcast band, and short wave frequencies, dramatically. When I turn the
radio on in the morning, I never turn it off until I go to bed at night
because, over my Icom R75 receiver, and my sony 20 10, it has become my
favorite broadcast receiver. I have been an avid A M broadcast band
listener since I was a kid and this radio takes the cake hands down. We
have two stations in Denver on 630 and 71 KHz which never created any
problem listening to a 20 over S9 station on 650 KHz out of Cheyenne Wyoming
until, dad gummit, the two stations mentioned put on those dumb digital
signals. Between those two digital signals, they completely blocked out
everything in between 630 and 710 and this was even true with my Icom R75
receiver. The station in Cheyenne simply was no longer able to be copied
due to these two local stations digital signals. This includes stations 50
miles north in Fort Collins Colorado on 700 and a station on 640 in Colorado
Springs Colorado which is 65 miles south and over a tall ridge that normally
blocks most southern Colorado signals even on 2 meters. . By the way,
Cheyenne is 100 miles, or a little more, about 110 I guess, north of Denver.
Well, I can now hear 650 20 over S9 again with the Icom 7000 and there isn't
even a hit of those digital signals coming through. Using the G5RV, I
likewise am now able to hear weaker stations 50 to 100 miles away that even
my R75 receiver couldn't copy with a 100 foot long wire. This include the
700 and 640 stations just mentioned which aren't very strong at all. So, in
short, I am delighted with the receiver capability of the IC 7000, to say
the least.
Phil.
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