R7100 IC-R7100 manufacturing question

[N1SQB]

I just picked up a near mint r7100 dirt cheap. LCD is clean and lights up well. My question is this, is there a way to tell when it was manufactured by looking at the serial number? I know production was limited to 1991 through 1994..
But as has been discussed here before, depending on when it was manufactured, it could have the full 800 MHz. I have no interest in that area of the spectrum, but I know that it makes the radio worth a little bit more to collectors for whatever reason.. I have not received it yet, so I can’t physically check to see if it is pre or Post 800 MHz band.
The serial # is 01817 if that helps at all.

 

[kc2asb]

I'm not aware of any easy way of determining the manufacturing date from Icom's serial numbers. You could try contacting Icom tech support and see if they can give you any information.

It's unfortunate that Icom had to block the entire 800MHz band to comply with the law. Certainly, an unblocked model would be more desirable, especially if someone lives in an area where there are more analog conventional frequencies in the 800MHz range. Otherwise, it's mostly digital and trunked comms. Nothing can be monitored in the former analog cellphone ranges.

I have an R7000. The 7100's specs are pretty much the same as the 7000. It's a very sensitive receiver

 

[N1SQB]

I'm not aware of any easy way of determining the manufacturing date from Icom's serial numbers. You could try contacting Icom tech support and see if they can give you any information.

It's unfortunate that Icom had to block the entire 800MHz band to comply with the law. Certainly, an unblocked model would be more desirable, especially if someone lives in an area where there are more analog conventional frequencies in the 800MHz range. Otherwise, it's mostly digital and trunked comms. Nothing can be monitored in the former analog cellphone ranges.

I have an R7000. The 7100's specs are pretty much the same as the 7000. It's a very sensitive receiver

Thank you for your reply. I received the radio this afternoon. Purchased from Japan Tuesday and arrived today. I paid less than $300 for the mint radio and it included DHL Express shipping with tracking. I have never seen something shipped that fast from Japan. Once I fired it up, I almost fell off my desk chair. FULL 800Mhz. I have no need for that band as I stated before, as my 2 SDS200s do an excellent job. But for civil and milair monitoring, this baby will do just fine. It’s receiving fine all around. NOAA, Civil Air, Public Safety all coming in well. All I did was replace the 2 clock/memory 2032 batteries and that’s it.

 

[kc2asb]

Congrats! Looks great, a really clean radio.

I could be wrong, but I doubt a radio sold new in Japan would have ever had the 800MHz band omitted. It would only have been omitted on models to be sold in the US due to the ban on radios capable of receiving cellphone signals.

 

[N1SQB]

Congrats! Looks great, a really clean radio.

I could be wrong, but I doubt a radio sold new in Japan would have ever had the 800MHz band omitted. It would only have been omitted on models to be sold in the US due to the ban on radios capable of receiving cellphone signals.

I do believe you’re right. Exported radios never had any blocks.

 

[N1SQB]

The only thing I needed to do is replace the 2 internal memory/clock 2032 batteries. That’s it.
Speaking of which, under normal use, how often do these need replacing? Anybody know?

 

[G8OEO]

This is just a guess as I am not familiar with the radio but it may simply depend how much of its life the radio spends with no power connected, when the clock is relying solely on the battery.
In normal use it could be many years before they need replacing.