I have had a Baofeng UV5R for about a couple of years and I am thinking of getting a new or different radio. I've been looking at the discontinued Icom IC-V82. It's not a dual band radio with it being VHF/2m capable only but in my area UHF/20cm is pretty much dead except for the FRS/GMRS transceivers in use by families or businesses. It apparently can transmit up to 7 watts. Has anyone else used this radio?
Icom: Icom IC-V82
- Thread starter VA3TFC
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There was a counterfeit version of this radio which I happened to get when I ordered one several years ago. I don't remember the exact way I figured it out, but it had something to do with key functions in the real version being different in the fake. It is a much older design and replaced by the IC-V86. The 86 is ok and higher output like the 82, but has the worst display of any radio I have owned (over 40). 7 watts in output is not a 40% increase over 5 watts as the easy math would suggest. It is very little when measured in dBm. 5 watts = 36.99 dBm, 7 watts =38.45 dBm.
Fast1eddie
Member
I have one. I'm not as active in the hobby anymore, but from time to time I dust it off and make simplex contacts. A very well built radio.
Counterfeit? The one I am looking at on eBay is apparently "new" and the seller in China is asking $60 for it with free shipping. Thanks for the heads up I think I will pass on it.
k6cpo
Member
Good thinking...
Sites like DX Engineering are showing the radio as "Discontinued" and no longer available, yet there are sites like AliExpress showing new ones for under $100. (The original MSRP was over $200.)
rescuecomm
Member
I've still got one. It has a BNC connector which I feel works better with extended antennas. At one time, you could get a 6 AA cell battery case for it along with the usual battery packs.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Guaranteed to be a counterfeit.
Beware of Counterfeit Icom Products - General Radio Articles - Icom UK
We have recently seen some counterfeit copies of Icom radios available online with some also arriving in the UK to unsuspecting buyers. These copies look like ...
icomuk.co.uk
rescuecomm
Member
Counterfeiting something with a low profit margin? Those radios are counterfeit only in that they weren't sold through Icom's business channels. The circuit boards,parts were made in the same factories, just put together somewhere else. My experience in the injection molding business is that just the molds for the upper and lower case halves would be more than $20,000 USD. Those are grey market radios, so no service or returns. It's not like a Rolex doppelganger, where it worth it to set up a watch line that a lot of people will pay something for a look a like. The internals are totally different, but what wealthy socialite is going to open it up?
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
The radios are very different internally. The copy uses inferior parts, completely different (and poorly written) firmware. Nothing about them are "built in the same factories". The Icom's are made in their factory in Osaka, Japan. The knock offs are Chinese turds made in China. No different than fake iPhones, the popular products are copied bu these scumbag intellectual property thieves and passed off as legitimate.
rescuecomm
Member
Could you please point to someone doing the comparison? I can understand the iphones being counterfeited. There's lots of money to be made on major amounts of sales. I might have seen a handful if V82 HTs over a lot of years at hamfests. Maybe everyone in Asia has one?
rescuecomm
Member
I looked in the battery compartment of my V82 and it shows Icom, Inc. Also made in Japan on the label. Maybe the circuit board has different markings. I can't remember if this radio was an internet or a hamfest buy.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
I have had one of the fakes in hand 7 years ago. No, I didn't take pictures. Yes, it is 100 percent different inside. You'll have to take my word on it. Or not.
rescuecomm
Member
I was going to open this one up to compare. No problem.
rescuecomm
Member
After conversing to friends in the business, it seems that a lot of expensive injection molding dies are sold after the OEM ceases production. So someone in China buys the tooling, reverse engineers the main board, and simply buys the other parts from the original or new suppliers. So calling it a counterfeit is like calling a 9 inch Ford rear end bought from Summit a counterfeit. Ford hasn't made one in 35 years and everything listed as such is afternarket. An aftermarket V82?
If these radios are being sold as Icom radios, then they are counterfeits.
Looking at the Summit Racing listings of complete 3rd member assemblies, I see Currie, Moser, Speedmaster, and Strange 9-inch assemblies, but nothing sold as being a Ford product or using the Ford logo.
Looking at the Summit Racing listings of complete 3rd member assemblies, I see Currie, Moser, Speedmaster, and Strange 9-inch assemblies, but nothing sold as being a Ford product or using the Ford logo.
I never opened mine up to check the board.. When it didn't work like the Icom manual instructions I had previously downloaded, I didn't take very long to request a refund. The seller refused to pay for postage, so the payment system I used sent me a check and told me to keep the radio. Never used it on the air and gave it to a friend
rescuecomm
Member
I guess mine must be the real thing.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
A simple email or call to Icom in Washington state will solve the mystery.
rescuecomm
Member
According to you guys, the fact that I could program it using the CS-82 software and key frequencies from the front using the manual would indicate it was Icom OEM. The two U-82 radios came from the bay and they also could be programmed with the CS-82. Everything except the V-82 was taken in a burglary.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Icom who makes the product can easily determine by the serial number if it's their product or fake. Does it have the hologram label?
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