Anyone have an Icom IC-718?

I was wanting to get back into SWL.  Then the wife asked "do we have transmitters?".  Nope.  "Why not?".    

So here I am.  Getting a Ham license is next. I see fairly good prices on the IC-718, and prefer a bit of simplicity rather than a SDR system.

My ARRl handbook is from 1969, so I'm thinking things have changed...


Paladin

Hi @Paladin,
Remember that a radio is a tool as much as your favorite, uh, anything else. The radio is a good basic set, largely for the General class and up ham op. It is limited to one band pass filter at a time but will come with some fair noise reduction. The radio is largely designed for long distance communications; though, local communications are certainly doable. An antenna for the lower frequency bands will take quite a bit of space. Right now, in the sunspot cycle, the lower frequencies are where it's at; though, the higher bands are beginning to wake up. You mentioned a 1969 handbook, let the group know about any former experience.
73,
Rob

The IC-718 is a very good radio, but the design is quite long in the tooth. It doesn't interface digitally very easy like more modern radios.

I hear a lot of them on the air and they sound good.

The big downside is that it doesn't have an internal antenna tuner. There are auto-tuners designed to work with it, however.
Alternately, you could get a manual tuner. In spite of popular opinions, manual tuners are easy to set up and tune if one just reads the f**king manual. They usually have a wider tuning range than most manual tuners, but that is improving.

Do a little shopping around and see if the price difference between the 718 and (say) the IC-7300 makes the extra effort worthwhile.

I think the FT-891 is a better radio than the IC-718 for roughly the same cost.

This. And if you think you'll want or need VHF and UHF and an antenna tuner for use with multi band or non resonant antennas then you're probably money ahead getting an FT-991A.

I just sold a 718 to one of our guys. I guess he's happy. If he's happy then so am I.

The 718 IMO was an excellent rig for what it was/is.

It's fairly simple.

Now you have to take into consideration that my first rig was a PRC 320 which was designed to take a guy with a 6th grade education and turn him into a UK military radio operator with a 4 hour course.

The 718, LDG ProII antenna tuner and an SEC 1235 power supply served me well as a first class starter rig.

BUT was NOT a good rig when I considered digital. I went to an IC 7200 and it was good for digi in that I didn't have to Mickey Mouse an interface. A printer cord was all I needed.

FWIW I now have an IC 7300 as a primary rig because I am getting old and feel the need of a retirement rig but whatever.

If you can work a 718 you can run a 7200.

Reading between the lines you ought to get an IC 7200 and call it good.
FWIW and YMMV

IC-7200's seem to have become unobtanium recently.

A lot of rigs are due to covid and a surge in interest in offline comms.

In-production rigs have wait lists now. The current lead time on 7300s is late May.

FWIW to the OP, I agree that the 7300 or 7200 (in that order) is preferable to the 718, and it's worth saving.

The 7300 is so high on the bang for buck curve and covers so many use cases I think you can make
a credible argument it's a lifetime radio, and that's pretty much unheard of in the hobby. It's hard to justify
spending a little less for a lot less radio.

Hams used to say the same thing about FT-101s and TS-550s back in the day. There’s no such thing as a lifetime radio. I would argue that the touch screen, band scope, and surface mount components on modern radios will fail sooner, and give the modern rigs a much shorter lifespan.

I do think there is a difference between being technically obsolete and it not lasting a lifetime. With an SDR based radio the only thing keeping the firmware from constantly improving performance is Icom's desire to continue to sell new radios. Someday I'm going to upgrade my 7300, I want second VFO mostly. The only thing I don't really like is how loud the background static is. I have other radios that are more pleasant to listen to but aren't nearly as easy to use. I'd also really like them to make a DC to daylight version but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks for the input.  Need to further investigate the other radios mentioned.  Looked at the IC-7300 series again, and the inclusion of the auto-tuner looks pretty nice to have built-in.

Paladin

There's one on the EE. Not mine.

OP, I have no user experience, but the IC-7100 can be picked up for a few hundred less than the 7300 and it's not a SDR. Gives you VHF/UHF also.

I am a total newbie, so cannot advise you on hardware; others will provide that info (although I do really like my IC-7300). What I can tell you is about getting a license, since I just went through that. Forgive me if you already know all this. They dropped the Morse Code requirement in 2007(?) so that is a huge hurdle removed. Now, there are only 3 tiers of ham license: (from least to most priv)

Technician
General
Amateur Extra

When you take the license exam, there is a fee, usually $15. This fee covers the entire test session, and you are welcome to take all 3 license tier exams, one at a time. In other words, if you pass the Technician exam, you can take the General exam, and if you pass that, you can take the Amateur Extra exam. Pass all 3, and you end up with an Amateur Extra license, all in a single testing session that costs $15.

Being frugal and not a huge fan of taking tests, I decided to try for all 3 instead of having to go through the process in 3 separate sessions, and managed to pass them all. So, if I, with my tiny pea brain can do this, almost anyone can, if they study enough. I used Ham Study.org and hit all 3 levels enough that I could consistently get a passing score on the test exams. The nice thing is that in "Study Mode" you answer a question and it tells you immediately if you were right or wrong. It also keeps track in the upper right corner of your score. Click the upper corner of the question box and you get a nice explanation of why the answer is what it is.

Good luck!

The perfect radio is all based on one's preferences and use cases.
Price/Performance/Usability ratio, simplicity, features or lack of all play a role.

I have two like new ic-718s, and I paid half the price of a 7300 for those two.
Don't really care for the aesthetics, or lack of in the 7300, as I am of the knob twister generation, and despise touch screens.

I look at a price/usability ratio and the 718 fits into that model for me.
I don't really want an expensive radio that requires a big fat manual to figure out complex menu systems.
A cheap radio with a power button, tuner knob and volume knob are the only basics I require, and the 718 provides a cheap basic platform.

Yes I admit I wanted the 7200 more but I also find them to be unobtanium. Gotta love those handles too!

I prefer to have many low priced rigs in different shacks/locations than one high priced one.
If a tornado hits your house and destroys your only shack, you are now out of the EMCOMM game.

As for no built in auto tuner, I prefer a manual tuner anyway.
Good luck tuning up your rain gutter or experimental contraption of an antenna in an emergency with some auto tuners.
As an experimenter not a contester, the 718 with no built in auto tuner is good enough for me.

I am also not in such a hurry that I need an auto tuner. I can tune in less than 10 seconds as is.

A great low cost add on to the 718 and other ICOM radios:

https://www.w2eny.com/tenatuner/

https://www.w2eny.com/tenatunerplus/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/10w-Ten-a-Tuner-PLUS-Module-Icom-706-718-746-756-PRO-7000-7100-7200-7300-W2ENY/351705334735




It allows you to press your 718's tuner button, then your radio switches to a ~10 second 10w CW mode for tuning your manual tuner, very handy. All for as little as $10.00 too!

As for digital modes, the SignalLink works very well with this radio.

I owned the 718 for many years and was very happy with it.  Made some great contacts, plenty of them DX.  I did trade up to a 7200, but only because I smoked the 718 because of my stupidity.  At work, we use a 718 on .GOV frequencies and it has been chugging along for well over a decade.

If you buy one, I am sure you will not be disappointed.  Their initial price point after release was $500.00 but I paid $625.00 for mine new.

IC-718 plus an LDG tuner will work just fine.  If the wife suggested it, see what she wants, she may say "Let's get a 7300 because it is a newer model."

Bill

FT-991A has a 3 year warranty. Icom has a 1 year warranty.

Once you start listening check out WRMI. They broadcast on multiple frequencis and re-transmit programming from numerous foreigm stations. They're located in Okechobee, FL and come in well along the Eastern US on 5.850 MHz and other frequencies.

Radio Romania International has several English language programs.
The BBC still has transmitters in Africia and Asia and while they don't beam toward the US, they often put in strong signals here.

Shortwave listening can be a very pleasurable hobby and there are several websites that give information regarding which frequencis and times-of-day yield the best results.

Many hams got their start SWLing, often with simple home-made receivers.

Circa 1961

Cir 1953

Built this while studying for Novice license. It's undergone several modifications.

Many of those early regen sets were AC/DC with a two-wire unpolarized power plug. They could give you a real thrill if plugged in the wrong way.
They worked well for CW and kinda well for SSB (which nobody was running back then).
AM reception required a deft touch on the regen control. The trick was to put the detector on the verge of oscillation to obtain maximum gain. One little slip and it went into oscillation, producing an earsplitting howl.

Get the 7300. You will thank us later.