I was a scanning enthusiast before I was an amateur radio operator, so the first thing I had to do was compare the receivers. Using transmitters such as the ATIS at Hunter AAF (UHF and VHF), NOAA WX Radio transmitters, and other common frequencies, I tried out both radios using a Diamond SRH77CA antenna. The Icom easily performed better on VHF and UHF and in AM and FM modes. I will stop here and say that I haven't tried either radio on the shortwave broadcast bands yet; it could be that the Yaesu could have the edge there. On the whole, it seems that the Icom has the much more useful extended receive capability.
Both radios were equal in working through amateur radio repeaters. From here at the house, I've been able to reliably hit both the 442.700 and 147.330 repeaters with both radios. From the Rincon area, I was able to hit the 442.700 repeater and carry on a QSO. From there, the radios offer different capabilities, so if you can only buy one, you really have to make your decision based on what you want to do with it:
- The Yaesu VX-7R offers 6-Meter FM (and 1 Watt of 6-Meter AM) and milliwatts of 220 MHz in addition to the standard 2-Meter and 70cm bands. So far I've not been able to fully explore the 6-Meter capabilities because I'm not within handheld simplex range of anyone with 6-Meters at home and there aren't any 6-Meter repeaters in Savannah. I am interested, however, in seeing what happens with Sporadic-E come this summer.
- The Icom IC-91AD offers the standard 2-Meter and 70cm bands, but offers D-Star digital voice capability in the B (or Sub) Band. This makes the radio approximately $100 more than the VX-7R, but the D-Star has been interesting to play with even though I have to connect it to the JTB4 outside to hit the Pembroke D-Star repeaters.
The radios have very similar features:
- Both radios offer the ability to monitor two frequencies simultaneously. On both radios, the receive range on the B/Sub band is limited to the Amateur Bands and some spectrum right around the Amateur Bands; the A/Main band has the full extended receive capability. It would be nice if both bands had the full expanded receive spectrum; most Hams probably wouldn't care but those of us who are also monitoring hobbyists would love it. The IC-91AD offers an extra feature that makes monitoring two frequencies at a time even easier: you can set the volume on the A/B bands independently!
- Both radios tune the VFO/Channels and adjust the volume with a single stacked knob. The only problem is that the two radios work opposite of each other. On the Icom, the outer ring control the volume and the inner knob tunes the VFO/Channel. On the Yeasu, the outer ring tunes the VFO/Channel and the inner knob adjusts the volume.
- Both have good sized displays in which you can display both bands at one time or one at a time. Both have alpha numeric channel tags that appear when you put the radio in single band mode, but disappear in dual band mode to avoid clutter in the display. The VX-7R offers two worthwhile extras in the display realm, First it offers several different S-meter formats including a customizable one. Second, it makes more use of the LED indicator; Main Band activity shows activity via green and red light, the Sub band uses blue and purple. Yellow indicates that both bands are receiving. The colors can also reassigned to your preferences.
Both radios are software programmable. I've used the factory software with both radios and I have to say that Yaesu has the edge here. The Icom software isn't nearly as user friendly. I particularly don't like the fact that I can cut and paste programmed channels from the A Band to the B Band; you have to retype everything in.
In the end, comparing the two radios is somewhat like comparing apples to oranges. As both an amateur radio operator and a scanning enthusiast, the Icom is becoming my favorite. As a 6-Meter enthusiast and someone who carries an amateur HT daily, the Yaesu makes the better daily carry radio.
Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
