Ic-208h

[kc9fsh]

I have a 207h and I have put this radio mobile and ran it in my shack. This radio has been through some great extreme's and it is still running great after about 2 years.

 

[Whistler]

Cloning Power

When you hook the 208 up to clone it or sync it to the computer does it have to be powered? Does it need to be hooked to a power supply or will it allow to program it just using the cord? My 208 is in the car and hardwired but I don't have a laptop so I will need to take it out, bring it in the house, get another power cable and hook it to a power supply and the computer.

 

[K8PBX]

When you hook the 208 up to clone it or sync it to the computer does it have to be powered?...

Yes. The radio needs to be powered up.

 

[zurcher]

All that's required is basic soldering skills and the ability to determine cable/wiring pinouts.

Various models of Motorola hand mics I've used with Icom radios are TMN6054A, TMN6018A, TMN6102A and TMN6032A, which I picked up off eBay - along with new coiled cords that have an RJ45 style 8-pin male modular jack on one end. After removing the old Motorola coiled cord, I replaced it with the new modular type and just soldered 4 wires inside the microphone.

The actual mic element itself inside the Motorola mics has a "+" and "-" indicated on the back. Figure out the color corresponding pinout of your new 8 pin coiled cord and just be sure "+" from the mic element goes to pin 6 (mic input) and "-" to pin 5 (mic gnd) of the Icom radio female jack. Next, find which contacts on the Motorola mic give a closure when the PTT button is pressed. This contact closure needs to go to pins 4 (PTT) and 7 (GND) of the Icom jack for push-to-talk functionality (It's just a switch, so wiring polarity is not an issue for PTT).

The pinout for the IC-208H female modular mic jack on the radio is:

Am in process of trying to hookup a motorola mike : AARMN4038 to an ICOM 2720..
has same pinouts as 208.

Main concern is , no mention of the 8 volts needed to power the mike element?
seems, no connection is made..or..do the other/ older mikes not need power?
herb / N1KWV

 

[K8PBX]

For the models of Moto mics I've used, no connection to Pin 1 on my Icom 208H was needed.

 

[jonny290]

I have a 208h that I love (ebay steal at 175, though with no remote cable) and probably won't ever get rid of.

Hint: if you want to play with the rear panel mini-DIN connector for packet or external mics (my 208h had a nerdy hifi setup, condenser mic into a mixing board), go get a $2 PS/2 mouse or keyboard, and chop the cable off. Most of the pins you care about will be wired through on the cable (check for any pins shorted to ground, though).

Now to build an OPC-478 cable and program it the easy way. I have about 230 channels hand-programmed into mine, and I want to unlock the radio, so I've been worrying about having to reprogram by hand after I do the reset.

I really wish there was remote control software for the radio, as well, as it's one of the receivers for my sat station.

Anybody know a cheap source for the remote mount cable, or want to sell theirs? I'll give you a fair price for it.

 

[silverbk]

I have a 208H in my Jetta for a few years now. The radio works well and gets me on the air when traveling, has good features like tone scan etc. I find it easier to deal with than a similar Yaesu Mobile. I had the 207 before this and I find the addition of Alpha tags a big help.

My only complaint is that the radio is horrible with intermod in NYC. I installed an additional UHF commercial rig (Spectra) for my most used frequencies. This problem may be solvable by adding some kind of intermod filter, but I think I am going to add yet another VHF commercial rig (Icom F-121), and use the Icom strictly for Ham stuff when I am out of the city.

73

 

[jonny290]

I successfully built a cloning cable last night, backed up the 208's memories, reorganized them all in the program, unlocked the rig and re-cloned it to my new and improved setup

cloning is super fast (10 secs for the whole thing about), error free.

 

[rescuecomm]

Are you sure that the F121 is going to be any better because it is probably using the same technology? Most wide freq range radios only have a high pass filter in the front end and a band pass in the IF that does most of the filtering. Thats why your spectra is better than the ham rigs. It probably has passband filtering in the RF section. I have the same problem in the local city in certain areas.

Bob

 

[silverbk]

I have several Icom F-121 and 221 already. They are far superior as far as handling intermod. So much better that I use them in my GO boxes. You give up field programmability (without a laptop) but the performance gain is worth it.

The only quirk on this radio is that it will not scan unless the mic is grounded. So you can either do a mod or ground your mic hanger, if you need that feature.

73

Are you sure that the F121 is going to be any better because it is probably using the same technology? Most wide freq range radios only have a high pass filter in the front end and a band pass in the IF that does most of the filtering. Thats why your spectra is better than the ham rigs. It probably has passband filtering in the RF section. I have the same problem in the local city in certain areas.

Bob

 

[rescuecomm]

So the F series a better front end than the Ic series? That is interesting and it leads to the radios being of a totally different design. If my rescue squad ever votes to put UHF mobiles in the squad trucks, I will probably go Icom this time. Seems like every time we buy Motorola, it takes a different software from what we already have.

Bob

 

[silverbk]

So the F series a better front end than the Ic series? That is interesting and it leads to the radios being of a totally different design. If my rescue squad ever votes to put UHF mobiles in the squad trucks, I will probably go Icom this time. Seems like every time we buy Motorola, it takes a different software from what we already have.

Bob

Icom is pretty good about the software. For their latest radios it's windows based. They will sell it to anyone, although most dealers will give it to you with the radio.

If you are shopping around don't overlook Vertex either. They will actually email you the software you need. Their mobile rigs are among the toughest I've seen. Especially the vx-4000.

I went with the Icoms because of the performance and compact size. Even in the 208H they managed to get a lot of radio in a compact chassis. In a Jetta space is at a premium.

 

[photo2000a]

audio pinouts?

hi

Just got a 208h and noticed there are no pinouts of the speaker 'jack'

I need to take a single speaker that i want to use for both 2m/440 audio assume it can do that dos'tt really say in manual either perhaps i missed it can i do that? if so.....

anyway so i have bought a stereo plug and just need to know what 'pins' of it i should solder the 2 speaker wires to

thanks

 

[K8PBX]

...i have bought a stereo plug and just need to know what 'pins' of it i should solder the 2 speaker wires to?

I would think you'd be fine if you wired it to Tip and Sleeve.

 

[photo2000a]

I would think you'd be fine if you wired it to Tip and Sleeve.

ahh thanks very much for the tip is left channl for combined i would have guessed wrong


thanks very much i'll give it a go appreciate it

 

[williaty]

I successfully built a cloning cable last night, backed up the 208's memories, reorganized them all in the program, unlocked the rig and re-cloned it to my new and improved setup

cloning is super fast (10 secs for the whole thing about), error free.

Can you provide details of how you built the cloning cable?

 

[N4UMJ]

I went with the Icoms because of the performance and compact size. Even in the 208H they managed to get a lot of radio in a compact chassis. In a Jetta space is at a premium.

I recently had an opportunity to repair an IC-2720H dual band and I can say they cram alot into one box I agree. The thing that I hated was there is only one access panel(top) and that means from a service standpoint you have to yank the main board all the way out of the chassis to service it. In the old days you had a top and bottom cover. This is a manuafacturing technique also used in recent year consumer electronics as well I have noticed.

Anyway on top of being hard to access then I discovered all the shielded metal cans are soldered in place with no pop off lids. The particular 2720 I repaired had some defective solder joints under those shielded areas. Four to be exact. Very tedious repair. Anyway I have a different perspective now on the smaller transceiver designs!

A final comment and that is the plague of bad finals have seem to have centered only around the IC-2720H and not the 208H from what I can tell by the eHam reviews. Don't yet have a 208H but I do like the larger VFO knob on the 208H.

Ed
N4UMJ

 

[shillson]

I have an IC-208H that I'm trying to put into my Subaru Forester. I have an empty DIN slot, which I think the entire radio will fit into. Does anyone have any thoughts on mounting the radio into a DIN-sized opening?

Thanks!

 

[williaty]

I would be hesitant to try. Run the car for a while and then stick your hand back into the DIN slot. It get's pretty darned hot back there. I know even my car stereo sometimes complains about the heat from that location.

(fellow Subie owner)