F80DT Opinions?

[stevez97]

Hi all!

I am currently considering the purchase of a F80DT 21 to cover both 440 and digital public safety receive. Have not read any later reviews on the quality of the digital receive. The radio being considered as a analog firmware of 3.0 and a digital firmware of 2.6. My understanding is that this radio WILL do MDC de-coding also.

Any comments on audio quality, durability, build quality etc would be MOST appreciated. I have considered at XTS5000 but it appears the availability and cost of programming software is very much in favor of the ICOM. Bendix King and Kenwood seem to be almost double the cost.

Thanks for any and all comments.


Steve
KB2EFK

 

[mrsvensven]

I have the Icom f80ds but have not had the chance to play with it as much as I would like. It feems a bit less hefty than the XTS radios, but it still feels very durable. I have only used it in digital mdoe once, but I was told that I sounded much better than most motorola users. No problem receiving a little out of band, but I have not really tried it more than a couple MHz off. No problem with MDC encode/decode in the ham bands, have not tried decoding MDC from the public safety users although I imagine it would work fine.

One con, it has less programmable buttons than the motorolas. The icom has 4 front buttons, three on the side, and one on the top. Two of the side buttons must be programmed for "up" and "down" if you plan on switching zones at all. You also can't program two functions for each button (for example, on my moto I have a button for high/low power, and if you hold the button down it switches repeat/simplex. The icom cannot do this)

 

[12dbsinad]

I currently use the F80DT. Its a great radio. Audio quality on both analog and digital are great with no problems and sound as good as a motorola in my opinion. I have had this radio for about 5 years and still works great, and i beat the crap out of it! One thing i would suggest is getting the battery upgrade to the 3040 mah battery... its well work the little extra cost. I had to upgrade my firmware for MDC1200 capability but it works fine. No issues on decoding. One thing i do if you dont have alot of zones is to program only the "up" zone button. It will scroll 1 direction but it will revert back to zone 1 when you reach the last zone, freeing up an extra programable button. Just a thought. Also, the 3.0 and 2.6 is the latest firmware. I wouldnt be scared to recommend this radio what so ever.

 

[stevez97]

Sounds great!

Being that the military is using Icoms in Iraq, they are probably giving it a tougher workout in a week than I would in a lifetime! <grin> Good tip on the "Program UP" button. I'm going to reprogram my Kenwood Tk-290 like that to free up another button. Thanks for that little tip!

One other question - the dealer wants $80 for a programming cable, while I've seen them on eBay for even less than ten bucks. I've used these off-brand cables for my Kenwood and Motorola gear with NO problems at all. I haven't read that the Icoms are OEM-picky like some of the Motorola gear.

Anybody using after-market cables? If so, any problems?

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I hope to hear from some more Icom users also!

 

[Jandreoli2]

Great radio

So first- I have used this radio in both analog and digital, and the comments i get- my volunteer squad are typical moto users, is that my radio actually sounds better in both digital and analog. Second- This radio has taken a beating, and still functions great/looks great.

As to the off-brand, i have programmed the F80DT with offbrand and never had an issue what so ever. Just actually purchased the mobile version of the f80dt, the F2821D. Will be using the same type of off-brand cable for this programming as well.

Let me know if you need any help figuring out the programming stuff, I have picked up on a few things programming mine...

Cheers