At the 2024 Dayton Hamvention in the USA in May, ICOM gave away some details about a new product called the 'X-60'. I covered this in an earlier post HERE
In late August 2024, it was finally revealed by ICOM that the new product was the IC-7760, a fully featured HF & 6m transceiver with a 200-watt output power.
As can be seen above, the radio comes in two parts... a control head and a RF deck. These are the dimensions...
Control Head - 340 × 118 × 103.5 mm(13.4 × 4.6 × 4.1 in)
The radio has two receivers which allows for the monitoring of one band while tuning another. The two receivers can also be locked to each other allowing diversity reception. It's possible say to listen to one receiver with a horizontal antenna and the other receiver to a vertical antenna. You can listen with headphones and hear the received signal with one polarization in one ear and the other polarized signal in the other ear.
The rear of the Control Head has a number of connections including a RJ-45 socket to connect a LAN cable to the RF Deck. This could be a few metres or up to 100 metres. The obvious attraction here is that the RF deck could be placed at the bottom of a mast and doesn't need to be inside the house. This obviously reduces the need to run coax cables into the house.
There is also provision for an external monitor to show the displays in more detail if required.
The front of the RF Deck is pretty bland while the rear panel has a host of connections.
The unit is mains powered which eliminates the need for a high power 13.8 volt supply. There are multiple RF sockets as well as multiple other connections.
There's no doubt that it's a superb looking radio with a lot of features but what about the price?
The current guideline seems to be around the $6,000 mark. In the UK, it seems to be about £5,700. WIMO in Germany are saying €6,600.
I suspect for most, this is an eye-watering price that is just way too expensive. After all, it is at the end of the day just a HF & 6m transceiver and any good operator could work 99% of the stations with a radio costing a quarter of the price.
I'm sure there are a minority though that could justify the price for a fully featured radio with a fully rated 200-watt output.
Over the weekend, WIMO Germany released this video previewing the new radio.
Remote Operation... One thing that is not totally clear is whether remote operation is possible?
The one obvious thought is that someone might want to say put the RF Deck in a holiday home while keeping the Control Head at home and connecting the two over the internet. Apparently this is not possible due to latency issues.
ICOM's solution is to use their Dualwatch compatible IP remote control software to control the remote radio. As the chart shows below, the IC-7760 is a supported radio.
I would assume that this has more limited functionality as compared to a direct connection from the Control Head to the RF Deck.
ICOM launched their IC-7300 transceiver covering the HF bands & 6m back in 2016 and it certainly caused a stir at the time. ICOM have announced that as of the 1st of May 2024, global sales have passed the 100,000 mark!
They also mention that more than half of the sales have been in the USA.
ICOM is well known as one of the key manufacturers of high quality transceivers for the amateur radio market. In May of 2023, they released a document titled 'Medium Term Business Plan 2026' which outlined the company's plans for the financial year March 2024 to March 2026.
As the graphic above shows, ICOM are involved in several radio and communication sectors but I think most people would be surprised to learn that amateur radio only accounts for 17% of ICOM's business.
In terms of future plans and growth for the future, they had this for the section about amateur radio...
It's a bit like saying something without actually saying anything. It's well known that the amateur radio community is getting older and it's not a growth market. As long as ICOM can make money selling equipment to radio amateurs, they'll stay in the market.
The original document is pretty bland and if you want to read it, you can find it HERE
On Sunday the 18th of December 2022, ICOM Japan held their own exhibition at their Narayama Research Institute to display some of their new projects. This included the upcoming IC-905 transceiver which will cover 144 MHz, 432 MHz, 1296 MHz, 2.4 GHz & 5.6 GHz. They also have an optional 2.4 GHz to 10 GHz transverter.
I won't go into the full details of the radio here but you can read about it in my previous post HERE
The big question is what is the price going to be and when will it be released? In my earlier post, I guessed that it might be in the $2000 to $2800 price range.
HAMLIFE . JP reports on Twitter from the exhibition that the guide price for the IC-905 will be 400,000 Yen. This is around $2930 or €2760.
The optional 10 GHz transverter will be 150,000 Yen which is about $1100 or €1040.
The release date is expected to be the Spring of 2023 which is a bit earlier than I was expecting.
Now the unknowns are... Will it be too expensive??? What will the demand be like??? Will the demand be different in the various markets... Japan / North America / Europe / Australia ???
On the 17th of November 2022, ICOM staff in Japan conducted some experiments over a 25km obstructed path on the 5.6 GHz and 10 GHz microwave bands with the company's new IC-905 transceiver.
The photo above shows the view from the roof top of the six story building at ICOM's headquarters in Osaka. The two parabolic dishes for 5.6 GHz and 10 GHz are beaming towards the Ikoma mountains. The RF module of the IC-905 and the 2.4 GHz to 10 GHz transverter are also shown. The station at ICOM HQ was JK3AZL.
The second portable station JL3ZAB with a similar setup was operating from a hill near Kizugawa City which was about 25kms away on the other side of the Ikoma mountains. The map below below shows the path in Blue. The important point here is that both stations were blocked from each other by the mountains but both were line of sight to Mt Ikoma.
Both stations started early in the morning, setting up their radio equipment and antenna systems. By 9am, both stations were able to easily catch each other's signals by pointing their parabolic antennas at the summit of Mt Ikoma using a map and compass and were able to communicate by voice on both the 5.6 GHz and 10 GHz bands.
It is believed that the propagation mode was knife-edge diffraction from the mountain peaks.
The power of the IC-905 is 2-watts at 5.6 GHz while the output power of the 10 GHz transverter is 1-watt.
The test was repeated later with JL3ZAB now operating from the ICOM Narayama Laboratory. From this lower location, the summit of Mt. Ikoma was now longer visible. They were barely able to communicate on 5.6 GHz with CW while communication at 10 GHz was not successful.
The path from ICOM HQ to their Narayama Lab is shown above in Red. The path profile is shown below albeit with an exaggerated vertical scale.
The ICOM team concluded... "It is known that in the SHF band or even higher frequencies, radio propagation gradually becomes more linear, similar to light. The Icom team thought it would be interesting to see whether communication will be impossible under non-line-of-sight conditions as in this case, or whether communication by mountain diffraction (Knife-edge effect), known as anomalous propagation, would be possible.
The experiment revealed that mountain diffraction phenomena occur even on mountains with relatively gentle peaks such as the Ikoma Mountains. Conversely, if the peaks are not visible, communication is difficult."
Analysis... Once the ICOM IC-905 goes on sale, people that purchase it may well expect only line of sight contacts as that will be the mantra of most websites and commentators. With high gain antennas and weak signal modes, there will be many unusual paths like the example above.
In an urban environment, there may well be many reflections off objects like high buildings, water towers, masts, etc.
If you consider that tropospheric ducting often occurs more often at microwave frequencies then there are bound to be surprises for those who are interested in experimenting on these amateur bands above 1 GHz.
Back in the first half of 2022, I was following the progress of what was termed the 'ICOM SHF Project'. ICOM first announced this in December of 2021 and it suggested that they were developing a transceiver for the 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz microwave bands. See my earlier post HERE.
The blog post got a good deal of traffic and it was obvious that a lot of people were interested in this product even if was supposed to be for only two microwave bands.
I don't think many people had an idea earlier in the year just what ICOM had in the pipeline and it turned out to be pretty amazing.
In this post, I'll look at the new IC-905 in two parts. The first part is a summary and if anyone wants to look at the finer detail, that will be in the second half of this post further down.
In a future post, I'll look at the 10 GHz system.
Part 1 - The ICOM IC-905 in summary
The ICOM IC-905
At the Tokyo Hamfair in August of 2022, ICOM announced their new IC-905 radio which covers the following bands... 144 MHz (2m) 432 MHz (70cms) 1296 MHz (23cms) 2.4 GHz (13cms) 5.6 GHz (6cms)
They also have an optional transverter for 10 GHz (3cms).
As you can see from the photo above, it does have a similar appearance to the current IC-705 model which covers all of the HF, 6m, 2m & 70cms bands.
Note however that there is no RF in this part of the IC-905, it's just the control unit. The radio itself or at least the RF part of it is in the head unit which goes up next to the antenna.
This is part of the concept of putting the control unit indoors where the user is and putting the radio (RF) section up at the antenna. The 'LAN Cable' connecting the two will use PoE (Power over Ethernet) which will carry power and control signals up to the RF module as well as transferring the signals from the radio back down to the controller.
The main point here is to eliminate losses from coaxial cables running from the radio shack to the antenna. These can be really high at UHF and Microwave frequencies.
Some features of the IC-905 system...
1) The power output is 10-watts on 144 MHz, 432 MHz and 1296 MHz from a single N-Type connector. There is a separate SMA type connector for 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz and the power on those bands is 2-watts.
2) The controller has a 4.3 inch (11cm) colour display and as you might expect, a real time spectrum scope and waterfall display.
3) All the usual analogue modes like FM, SSB & CW as well as the D-Star digital mode which is standard for an ICOM radio.
4) One nice feature is ATV (Amateur TV) in FM mode.
5) One feature of huge importance is that the RF module will be frequency locked by GPS. This is a major shortcoming in several of the existing ICOM rigs on the market in that frequency drift on some digital modes on the UHF bands is a major problem. The GPS locking should help resolve this.
Price & Availability...
As of November 2022, ICOM have not announced a price for the IC-905. I suspect it will be in the $2000-$2800 price range but we'll have to wait and see.
As for availability, they haven't announced it. I suspect it will be the second half of 2023 before we see any units for sale.
Game Changer...
When ICOM released their IC-705 radio, there was huge interest in it despite it being a low power 10-watt radio. One of the key selling points is that it was a 'shack in a box' with all of the bands from 1.8 MHz to 432 MHz in one unit.
In a similar vein, the new IC-905 is very much a 'shack in a box' for the VHF bands and above. If ICOM had announced a new VHF/UHF radio with just 144 MHz, 432 MHz & 1296 MHz, there would be a lot of interest in it. The fact the IC-905 has 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz as well is pretty amazing.
I suspect the biggest change will be to the 1296 MHz or 23cms band. There is a serious lack of radios available for this microwave band and getting a separate radio for just one band is prohibitive.
Close up of the base of the Diamond X6000A
I can see a LOT of people buying Tri-Band type verticals made by the like of Diamond and Comet and using them with the new IC-905. I think it's going to generate a lot of activity on the 23cms band in urban areas in many parts of the world.
The thing about a radio like this is that it is really versatile. People may come up with new ways of using it that we haven't considered at the moment.
I can really see this radio being a game changer for the UHF and low microwave bands IF the price isn't too high.
***
Part 2 - The ICOM IC-905 in more detail
IC-905 Controller... Let's have a look at this is a bit more detail.
The image above shows the front of the IC-905 and you get some idea of the depth as well.
The photo above is of the front of the controller from the Toyko Hamfair last August.
The photo above shows the rear of the controller and again, you get some idea of the depth.
As you can see from the photo above, there is very little on the rear of the controller other than two heatsinks.
While the IC-905 uses a 12-volt supply, it seems likely that there is a much higher voltage going up the Power over Ethernet cable to the RF unit. It's likely that there is some type of switch mode power supply in the controller to generate this higher voltage and a reasonable heatsink is required for that. There are of course all of the low voltage supplies to all of the electronics in the controller as well and again, a heat sink aids in keeping things cool.
The image above shows the right hand side of the controller.
The image above shows the right hand side in more detail. The port with the Green LED and the cable in it is the Power over Ethernet cable that goes to the RF module.
The image above shows the left side of the controller with the various ports.
The photo above is an actual photo of the left side of the controller.
And now onto the RF module. This image above gives an overview of the underside of the RF module. From left to right...
a) The cable on the left is Power over Ethernet LAN cable from the controller unit.
b) The BNC socket has an RF output at 10 MHz which is controlled by a GPS unit inside the RF module. The 10 MHz signal reference from here is fed to the optional 10-GHz transverter and provides that unit with a stable frequency reference.
c) The connector on the right is for the CX-10G which is the optional 10 GHz transverter.
This image above is another view of the underside of the RF module.
The image above is the top side of the RF module. All 2m, 70cms & 23cms signals are fed out via one N-type socket. Both the 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz bands have their own individual SMA socket. There is also a SMA socket for a small whip antenna for to receive GPS signals.
The image above gives another view of the top side of the RF module.
The image above shows the top side with the GPS antenna connected.
The image above is an actual photo of the RF module on display at the Tokyo Hamfair.
If we consider that a N-type connector is about 2cms in diameter then the dimensions of the RF module above is about 18cms across and 26cms in height. The depth is perhaps in the region of 8cms.
In terms of operation, the new IC-905 is basically the same as the popular IC-705.
This image above is a screenshot from the controller showing it operating on the 5.6 GHz band with a selection of modes.
The image above is a screenshot of the 11cm display showing a selection of menu items.
One amazing feature of this radio is it's ability to use ATV (Amateur TeleVision). In the above image, you can see a received ATV signal inset in the screen.
And this is the received signal on full screen.
ICOM also intend to sell omni-directional antennas for both the 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz bands.
I suspect third party antennas for these bands will be a lot cheaper.
Video... and finally, this is the promotional video from ICOM for the IC-905
That's it. I've done my best to collate all of the information available and put it in one spot. We'll just have to wait now until ICOM announce a release date and price.
Addendum 25th Dec 2022... At a recent presentation, ICOM had this slide which showed the frequency stability of the new IC-905 versus the old IC-9700.
The IC-9700 which was released in 2019 and is a VHF/UHF transceiver covering 2m, 70cms and 23cms. It is not frequency disciplined by an external source and as can be seen from the chart on the left, it can drift hundreds of Hz with a change in temperature on the 23cms band.
This isn't an issue on say FM, D-Star, SSB or CW but it is on the very weak signal modes like FT8 or WSPR where a high level of frequency stability is required. This has led to some third party providers providing frequency stability solutions.
The chart on the right by contrast is that of the IC-905 at roughly four times the RF frequency. The IC-905 which is frequency stabilised by GPS only drifts a few Hz with changes in temperature.
This really is a game changer for all the VHF, UHF and SHF bands as frequency stability is now essential for very weal signal modes.
In 2021, ICOM announced that they were developing a transceiver for the microwave bands. At the time, it seemed like a highly unusual but welcome development.
See the Addendum at the bottom of the post for updates...
In April of 2022, they announced more details. They write... "Under the theme of “ICOM SHF Project – Super High Frequency Band Challenge –”, we started to develop a new amateur radio available for use in the 2.4 GHz and 5.6 GHz bands.
Icom engineers are working hard to research and develop a number of never cleared challenges within the SHF band, such as large cable loss and higher frequency stability requirements. The ultimate goal is to bring it to the market as a new radio product. Icom is striving to bring to you a new era in fun and possibilities of an SHF band amateur radio, which to date has had high technical and equipment hurdles to overcome, and we hope to make these bands more attractive and active so that anyone can easily operate on them. We are developing an epoch-making SHF band amateur radio that no one has never imagined before."
The microwave radio is essentially a box that this designed to be fitted at the top of a mast or roof of a house. This will keep any coax losses to an absolute minimum.
In 2020, ICOM introduced the IC-705 radio, a 10-watt QRP multiband multimode portable capable of operating from all bands from 160m (1.8 MHz) to 70cms (432 MHz) with the exception of the 4m (70 MHz) band.
For a low power radio, the amount of hype and buzz surrounding it has been amazing. There has been a host of online reviews, blog posts and videos about it but they tended really only to concentrate on the radios features rather than its performance.
In addition, I think it's fair to say that a lot of the reviews were done by HF operators. I saw one person doing a frequency stability test on WSPR on 20m (14 MHz) which was frankly useless as it meant nothing. Frequency tests need to be done at the highest operating frequency on the radio i.e. 432 MHz where the changes would be the biggest.
RadCom Review... In the April edition of RadCom magazine, a full review was carried out by Peter Hart, G3SJX. Peter carries out extensive performance tests of radios on his bench on a regular basis and his reviews are highly regarded as they're seen to be truthful and honest. If there is a problem or issue with a radio then he calls it out for people to see.
The review is quite extensive running to five pages but I noted that he mentioned some 'low level intermodulation products' appearing with some 'quite small input signals' on the VHF bands. Whether you'd notice these or not I guess might depend on how RF quiet your location is.
One of the big questions that VHF operators had about this radio was about its frequency stability. The previous IC-9700 was known to drift and many VHF guys had to add third-party GPS locked frequency standards to overcome this. Would the IC-705 have the same issue?
When the IC-705 was introduced, it was mentioned that it had a built in antenna for GPS and some people speculated that the frequency stability might be GPS locked as a result.
Peter confirms in his review that the IC-705 uses a high stability temperature controlled crystal oscillator to achieve a performance of 0.5 parts per million (PPM). The built in GPS is as far as I know just there primarily for D-Star operation in terms of timing and location.
I did however come across a YouTube video today from Hayden, VK7HH who did a frequency test on 432 MHz with WSPR.
While the IC-705 did drift 2Hz over the two minute transmission, it did stay within the required 4Hz window for the mode.
In Conclusion... In his final summary, Peter G3SJX concludes..."The IC-705 is a great take-anywhere QRP radio, ideal for all outdoor activities and SOTA expeditions. Covering HF through to the UHF bands with all-mode operation, a top-level performance and extensive remote connection capabilities, it is quite a remarkable piece of kit. Currently priced at £1300, it is excellent value for money."
It might be outside the price range for some but it looks that it's a great radio for those who can afford it.
RadCom...RadCom is the journal of the Radio Society of Great Britain and is posted out on a monthly basis to all members. A digital version is also available on their website for members to view and each issue stays there for 12-months.
