Honestly, if I used my 706 more than 3 or 4 times a year at special event stations and vacation, I'd upgrade to the 7000, I just can't see the reason to when I only use it that much but for what you're doing it probably is the better choice. Not to mention when I got my 706, it was about $200 cheaper than it is now and the 7000 wasn't even thought of. I could probably sell my 706 for what I paid for it if I tried but, it serves it's purpose for now. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2008 12:56 PM Subject: Comparing Icoms >I was going to buy the Icom 706 from Ham Radio Outlet here in Denver, along > with a number of other things, antennas and the like, and so I talked with > a > guy, faxed in my long list of add on CW filters, narrow SSB filters, voice > card for the 706 and the like, and the guy at the store called me back to > ask me some questions. He told me that the 706 will only handle two > filters > of your choice but the 7000 had all filters built in including the speech > card. Plus, if you go to the Icom America sight and read about both rigs, > you will see that the 7000 is a far superior receiver with filtering up > the > ying yang. Furthermore, the 7000, purchased in the store at HRO, is 1300 > dollars. The 706, with my extra filters, was going to cost me 1,350 > dollars. Plus, Icom is giving a 50 dollar rebate on the HF radios right > now. So, I emailed John, who builds the QSYers, and he confirmed he could > wire the QSYer keypad for the 7000 and strongly recommended I get the 7000 > instead. The Digital Signal Processing, adjustable crystal filtering, not > to mention the noise blanking capability, reads like a Star Wars movie. > Anyhow, if you are going to spend 1300 dollars on a new radio, it is the > better deal when you read all the filtering capability that is built in. > Plus, I am a big shortwave listener, love hunting for beacons, love tuning > the low wave bands below 500 KHz, and I have, my whole life, just about, > been a big timer A M broadcast band listener for DX. The 7000 is the CW > operators dream beyond the imagination, but all > that filtering for broadcast listening and shortwave listening is beyond > anything I can imagine. I never even looked at the IC 7000 because I > figured it was one of those 7000 dollar radios, with that big model > number, > or at least 2 grand, which I couldn't afford at the moment, but I'm glad > this salesman told me, plus I've heard others talk about the 7000 on this > list. The DSP description alone blows me away and I already have that in > my > Icom R75 receiver but have never felt it was worth bothering with after > hours of trying it. I hate learning new stuff, on the other hand, but > this > will be worth it. It took me long enough just getting used to using and > tuning the R75 receiver but I also noticed the 7000 runs 35 watts on 70 > centimeters instead of 20 with the 706. No, that isn't any big deal but > it > is just one more improvement. I like the recording ability, too, for > contesting, calling CQ, or whatever you wish to record plus other incoming > recording capability. Anyhow, I just typed in a google search for the > IC-7000 and found the full description, of course, on Icom America's site > and the features list alone read like science fiction. And to think I was > in hog Heaven, as a novice 42 years ago, with a DX20 running 10 watts > output, a 100 foot long wire and no tuner, and a BC 348 receiver with a 2 > KHz crystal filter that didn't filter anything out. Just thought some of > this might be of interest. I'll report more once the antennas are on the > tower, the amp is up and running, and the bands are opened, which could be > 11 years from now the way things are going. Besides, it may take me that > long just to learn how to switch this radio on. I hope I don't forget the > code before I learn how to use the radio. > > Phil. > K0NX