Question about Icom 756ProIII?

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Shortwavewave

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As you all know I own a R75, its a nice radio, but I was thinking of saving up and possibly getting the 756

How is this radio on RX?
Im not a ham, Its not illegal to own one, just to transmit, the main reason Id like the 756 is all the bells and whistles, and the Color Specrum Scope, and the RTTY with no computer is awesome, and the 32bit DSP is more that I could ask for.

My question is do you have to have the mic plugged in to be able to RX? like on some radios ive seen?

if not when I got it id just throw the mic away so I have proof im not transmiting, one day im sure ill get my lisence but im not the talking type.

Any Input?
 

zz0468

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That's an awful lot of money to spend just to throw half the functionality away. But in answer to your question, no, you don't need the mic plugged in to receive. I don't own one, but I've used one. I do own the 746Pro, which I believe uses the same DSP chipset. The receiver is, in a word, incredible.
 

prcguy

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If your going to spend that much money why not consider for the new TenTec Omni VII? It has a better receiver than than the Pro III and it even beats the $10k Icom 7800 receiver in many ways. Its also made in the US and TenTec updates the firmware all the time to add more features based on users input. The Icom Pro III design and features are stuck in the year it was introduced, about 2003. Here is a good site that has receiver test data and rates them in a pecking order:
http://www.sherweng.com/table.html
prcguy
 

Shortwavewave

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zz, I guess your right thats half the radio, but I just wish they would make a shortwave radio with a specrum scope that didnt cost 13grand:mad:

pcr, thanks for the link I didnt know much about TenTec, I looked at their website. I had no idea they were made in the US
 

prcguy

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TenTec also took over production of the Watkins Johnson HF-1000, which is now the TenTec RX-340. It was one of the first DSP based receivers and considered fairly high end. See: http://radio.tentec.com/Commercial/RX340
You probably don't want to spend that much and the link is mainly to show what TenTec can do.
prcguy
Shortwavewave said:
zz, I guess your right thats half the radio, but I just wish they would make a shortwave radio with a specrum scope that didnt cost 13grand:mad:

pcr, thanks for the link I didnt know much about TenTec, I looked at their website. I had no idea they were made in the US
 
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jay427

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you can't go wrong with the Icom, its a nice rig, I would say go for it.

I myself use my FT-920 all the time for SWL and talk on it about 10 percent of the time.

Jay
 

k4njk

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The Icom 756 Pro II and III are great radios for SWL. The bandscope is terrific and the receiver outstanding. I had a Ten Tec Orion and I sold it to purchase the Icom. I didn't care for the Ten Tec. Too much fiddling with the radio on each different station and riding the RF Gain just to get it to sound as good as the Icom which didn't require any adjustments. The Ten Tec bandscope was not real time and could not hold a candle to the Icom. (I have not tried the new Omni VII.)
 

prcguy

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The TenTec Orion series does take some knowledge and time to set up for maximum pleasure and still has some quirks from what I hear but its about the best you can get for a contesting radio. The Omni VII is dream to operate, just take it out of the box and start operating. If I were to design a radio from scratch for myself, it would probably look and feel like a TenTEc Omni VII, its that smooth to operate and you can figure out everything it does without opening the manual.
prcguy
k4njk said:
The Icom 756 Pro II and III are great radios for SWL. The bandscope is terrific and the receiver outstanding. I had a Ten Tec Orion and I sold it to purchase the Icom. I didn't care for the Ten Tec. Too much fiddling with the radio on each different station and riding the RF Gain just to get it to sound as good as the Icom which didn't require any adjustments. The Ten Tec bandscope was not real time and could not hold a candle to the Icom. (I have not tried the new Omni VII.)
 

Zaratsu

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I have seen quite a bit of discussion of the real serious SWL guys who are buying transcievers because there is little to no development in recievers. I think that this is the way that things are going. Much cheaper for the manufactuer and ultimatitly, you will probably get more usefull features for the money because of the shared development and manufacturing.

No point in throwing out the mic, just dont broadcast. If you broadcast on most HF recieve only antannaes, you could damange them. But, apparently it is not hard to get your amature lic these days and I do not know of any minimum requirements to maintain the lic either.

I'd do the same thing. I have ZERO interest in being a ham myself, but I do listen to them on occasion. I would be interested in getting my lic, but cannot see myself ever using it.
 

K3GI

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While the 746 Pro doesn't have a "real" bandscope, it does have something the 756 Pro III does not: synchronous detection. If you listen to AM shortwave broadcasts this is a nice feature, and the 746 Pro is great on utility, (SSB RTTY etc.) too. If you're interested only in utility (SSB, RTTY, etc.) then go for the 756 Pro III if you really want a bandscope. Unplug the mike and it still receives. Also I think there is a menu item that lets you disable transmit so that you don't accidentally kick it into the transmit mode. (My Kenwood TS-850 has it.)

I have run across some articles on the internet about the usefulness of the 746 Pro as a receiver and many SWL listeners swear by it. It's about half the price of the 756 Pro III.

http://www.dxing.info/equipment/icom_ic746_mjelde.pdf
 
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Shortwavewave

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thank you K3GI, well I will have to look into that, I opened a new bank account today just for saving up to get a new radio
 

Jose_Pointero

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Buying a Pro 2 or Pro 3 for SWL isn't really that bad of an idea. As DanTSX said, there just isn't as much interest in receivers to warrant the constant development that the transceiver market gets. The 756 Pro series are all absolutely fantastic radios, and I'm sure you would love it.

I was pretty much in the same boat last year. I wanted to upgrade from my Kenwood R-1000 and the transceivers were just much more desirable than dedicated receivers. I looked long and hard at the Pro 2 and 3 but eventually decided on an old FT-1000D because I'm a sucker for awesome 80's rigs. I "modernized" it by running it though a Timewave 599zx DSP; and used that setup for SWL for about 6 months.

But this year I decided to go for a license and got it in January. Now I'm even more happy I bought the FT-1000D because I can use it for transmitting as well, and I don't have to buy another radio. I'll bet if you end up getting a 756 Pro the same thing will end up happening to you :) Why not have the best of both worlds?
 

elk2370bruce

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I've been using a 756 Pro II for nearly a year - both for amateur radio and for SWL work. Got it used (but not abused and from a reliable source). Awesome receiver and the scope is a nice feature. Besides, you can find a good used one at many ham shops or hamfests. For that kinda dough, I would not get one on sleazebay. I like to check out the radio myself. I've read many good things about Ten Tec as well. For hf rigs, I'm a bit biased toward Icom. Besides, you may become bitten by the amateur radio bug later on, get licensed, and then just screw on the microphone and you're ready to yack with the world.
 
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