I've gone and done it now

Managed to break my mobile phone the other day and was due an “upgrade”, so went with a phone that was a little worse than the one I broke. Having got my old phone repaired I have sold the newer one, so had a few quid to start looking on eBay for a cheap ham radio. I spotted an Icom IC-735, that seemed to have had an easy life, so pulled the trigger, even though I haven't taken my exam yet, I guess I will just be listening until I take the exam. I know it is old school, but I think it will serve me well until I can afford something a little more Gucci.

Being the resident insomniac here, have been up all night reading up, and it appears that wide banding the transceiver is quite a simple mod to do. Although saying that, I would be hesitant to mod the set as it has had one careful driver since new. I would only be modding it to transmit on 11 m, it almost seems a shame to alter anything. As I said before, it might be old school, but I am too.

Welcome to the money pit    

Hi Mark,

Well done with your recent acquisition and I hope the old girl serves you well.

I'm a fan of the older radio tech myself loving my Yaesu FT757gx, but although it was given to me in good faith from a dear friend I had to repair quite a few faults on it. (None involving replacement of 'caps' and I ain't getting into that argument again on here! )

There's definitely something to be said for a simple flick of a switch or twiddle of a physical knob than scrolling through menus on more modern radios.

Now that my very own 'old girl' is in fine fettle I have no plans of upgrading her anytime soon. I know I'd only regret it if I was ever inclined to 'trade' her in.


Enjoy the radio and more importantly enjoy yourself.

All the best,
Victor

Good luck with the exam.

apologies, commented on wrong post

Have been flicking through the online manual, it seems quite a capable radio. Some of the instructions aren't making too much sense to me now, I am sure it will all become clearer when I get it. I am really pleased it has a phono socket for push to talk, that will be useful for my MFJ 1026 noise reducer.

I should get it tomorrow or Friday and will finally be able to scratch that itch, it will be even better when and if I pass my exam.

I went and bought two baufeng 70cm hand held radios and charger there both 400 470 mhz and they work ok i say money
well spent

The Icom arrived this afternoon, was very pleased with the condition. It all came in the original box with some of the original protective plastic in place, it also has the manual, brochure and purchase receipt. Even the battery is working after all these years, so it has probably been replaced.

A quick test on 11 m shows it has been wide banded, so that saves me the faff of having to take it all apart.

Am currently listening to mid-band and am getting some Americans, I must say it sounds so much better than my CRT 9900 and much prefer the dial method of tuning in. I am very pleased that I got it and look forward to my ham exam.

Exciting stuff Mark and glad to hear you're already enjoying your new radio.

If anything it will give you the biggest onus to get that Ham ticket.

I use widebanded HF radios on 11m due to sound quality amongst many other reasons...

It's like using a Rolls Royce compared with a Reliant Regal..

Enjoy the Icom..

Fantastic stuff Cozzmik,I would and will do exactly the same thing.As the only decent filtering on my 9900 is a paper bag over your head.

Chickenfoot@1987 wrote:

Fantastic stuff Cozzmik,I would and will do exactly the same thing.As the only decent filtering on my 9900 is a paper bag over your head.

I know I shouldn't compare S meter levels, but the Icom is about 3 S points down in noise compared with my 9900. The notch setting knocks things down another couple of points not a fully featured noise reduction like the filters in modern radios, yet it does an admirable job.

I had been a little wary of using the IC-735 for transmitting on 11m, due to its age I was a little concerned the frequency had drifted.

I had a frequency meter arrive along with a 15W dummy load on Friday. Have just tested the Icom with it and frequency is bang on. I know the transceiver has been wide banded and despite being about 35 years old seems to have been really looked after, the memory functions, so battery is good.

It sadly has a big scratch down the left side, have bought some T-Cut to try to blend it in, that is unless someone here has a better idea. What would you use to blend in a scratch?

13oots2 wrote:

It sadly has a big scratch down the left side, have bought some T-Cut to try to blend it in, that is unless someone here has a better idea. What would you use to blend in a scratch?

I tried doing a scratch on my first radio, an FT 790.

Soon found out I wasn't much of a sprayer and matching that colour was another game.  

Anyway enjoy the radio the scratch doesn't stop it working.

I sprayed the top of a yeasu not long ago ??? well last summer.
Used satin black and it looked good as new didn't need to do the sides fantastic match.

I have a big ass historical scratch on the top of my Yaesu FT757gx (right through the top print!) but never once considered it to be a problem. 

Instead I spent my efforts in repairing, restoring and aligning it for proper operation that being a bigger priority for me or anyone really. (The old girl is serving me well too.   )

As Mike points out the fact that it's all working as it should is the biggest plus.....no point in a shiny good looking radio if it don't work.
(I've seen too many "restored" radios with awful respray jobs or over enthusiastic polishing and the damn things are still off-frequency!  )


Up to you though in the end.

All the best,
Victor