Richard,

 I originally ordered, or was planning to buy, the IC 706 but the salesman
at
HRO told me that all the filtering I ordered would not have slots for them
in the 706 so I'd have to pick out the two filters I wanted the most.
However, he said, if I got the IC 7000 instead, all the filters I wanted,
and more, plus the speech board, were standard in the radio.  In short, the
706 is a stripped down model of the 7000 and because I in fact wanted all
the crystaling I could get, I went for the 7000 and actually didn't spend
any more money.  Of course, the 706 was about 925 dollars and with two
additional crystal filters, it would have run about 200 dollars more is all
but I wanted all the extra filtering I could get.  So it cost me 1300
dollars.  I do have the manual in print but you know what happens when all
those graphics are stripped out and the text is lifted.  I mean, when they
say a picture is worth a thousand words, for the blind guy trying to read a
stripped down version of the manual, truer words have never been spoken.
I've learn a lot
on my own, a little from the manual, and every so often, my youngest son
comes over and looks something up in the manual to help me figure more out.
I haven't gotten into the menu structure yet, like with setting memories and
all, but I've read some and it won't take much to get it done.  I'm still in
the receive mode, sort of speak, and I can go any place, switch to any mode,
fine tune signals, check frequencies, signal strength, and everything one
would need to know about receiving but I'm also learning short cuts to
accomplish various functions concerning signal and band tuning and the like.
I'm getting my antenna back up this week so I'll have something better to
listen on than a long wire and I plan on learning how to scan from the panel
settings and setting memories and how to get to them.  One thing that makes
life so much easier is the Millennium QSYer that I bought for 50 dollars
from John Hansen.  That handles many front panel key commands but it
doesn't, in and of itself, let you program memories, although you can type
in a frequency and then put it into memory.  So, in short, every day, I
learn something knew.  I also bought the desk microphone so I could scan up
and down from that in 5 Hz steps so that helps, too.  The VFO knob has 4
settings.  One allows you to click unit by unit and that can be as low as 1
single Hz at a click.  It depends upon which mode you are in, sideband, CW,
and so on.  So in that manner, I'm able to scan through bands without
touching the radio keys but you can scan from there as well and that is the
part I haven't learned to do as of yet.  There is an audible beep, and an
audible click, inside the radio, at band edges, that is, at the top and
bottom of each ham band.  That actually helps more than it seems just
talking about it but it is also weird to put the VFO knob in the click mode
and the 1 Hz mode, and click it once from 7.0 and find you are up only one
single Hz.  The other three knob settings allow for smooth tuning but with
tension from high to medium to loose so you can really spin fast through the
bands or even jump to other bands with a small turn of the dial.  If you
leave it in heavy tension setting, you aren't likely to bump the knob off
frequency and fine tuning even becomes better.  So, I've just scratched the
surface and am looking forward to all the other features I haven't learned
as of yet.  If a guy is looking for something simple to use, I mean, pulling
it right out of the box and plugging it in and calling CQ, the Icom 7000 is
certainly not the radio you would want.  If I wanted that, I'd pull my Ten
Tec Omni D out of the box over here, plug it in, and fire it up.  But
digital everything has sparked my interest in recent years and if one is
patient, it is a better way to go but it does change your way of operating
and thinking before you start fiddling around with all the buttons.  I love
the crystal filter tuning and I've also had a lot of fun on the AM and FM
broadcast bands tuning around, too.

Phil.
K0NX



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Fiorello" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 7:41 PM
Subject: ic7000


> Hi;
> I have been interested in your progress with the ic7000.  I was initially
> looking at a ts480 but after adding filters and speech I don't think there
> is lots of difference in price.  How have you done navigating the menus?
> Did the radio come with a speech board?  Did you need or want to buy any
> extra filters?
> Richard
>
>
>
>
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