New Icom 2m - 10Ghz radio !

[VK3BA]

At the EMDRC uWave test & tune day today, we learned some more about the IC-905 that Hiro from Icom Aust was demonstrating while we had some beacons running on 2.4G, 5.7G & 10G in the paddock. No further info re the pinout of the multi-pin connectors on the two ODU's. But available waterproof pre-terminated Cat5 cables will be 5m, 20m, 30m & 50m lengths. It has a single VFO and earthing of the ODU's will have to be via one of the mounting bolts as far as I could see - no dedicated earth stud / bolt hole. Whilst there were some colinear antennas on display & in use, I suspect Icom won't be selling many of these antennas in VK - ideal for metro use perhaps, but not for uWave DX work. There was an Icom branded parabolic dish for 10G on display, which looked to be about 400mm in diam, similar to what has been seen on one of Hayden's videos. There was quite a bit of interest today - potential use was almost 50/50, for portable work or use on a tower at home. Availability in VK retail outlets is still scheduled for late April and no manuals & software are available as yet, but hopefully in a few weeks was the word.

Anyway, here's a couple of short & unedited videos from today...

EMDRC day - Icom IC-905 control head

EMDRC day - Icom IC-905 ODU's & antennas

Cheers,