Icom commercial radios- Suitable for Amateur Radio use? 

I am making GMRS and Amateur Radio repeaters out of these radios to this day. As well as AllStar nodes. They are strong radios!!

I have made several digipeaters using the F-121S radios. The "S" model is only 8 channels and have no screen. But they work well for link radios or like I use them as packet digipeaters. I have 3 of them in service as digipeaters covering over 300 square miles here in Florida. Two of them are in two hospitals here. Another at a tower site with the antenna at 300 ft.

Thanks for the videos Kevin. got a 2nd hand 6062 which read much lower than expected power, loaded up the adjustment software and found the power has been lowered so cranked it back up. something worth checking when you get these radio's.

Hello from New Zealand. I have the icom IC-F6023 i cant find the programming software for it anywhere. Any clue ?

Hi, so today I got myself a F610 UHF model and from testing the radio I've found much like a similar radio the F310 it has a dealer menu on it the only issue seems to be you need a dealer combination to open the menu like on the F310, I know on the F310 the dealer menu allowed you to program the radio from the front panel so it could be the same on the F610, great video explaining about these radio I got my VHF & now the UHF sets for less than £30 and their very simple to use. Many thanks for the video, 73s M7NQL

hello kevin, thanks for yout video, I watched it with interest because I also have an ic f 510 that I can't program, I have the right cable and the right software for cloning. can you share your icf file so that I can test it in my radio? thanks 🙂

thanks for sharing this valuable experience, I was wonder if you have any video which explains component and subsystems of a typical VHF radio transmitter

The situation is similar across the pond. I've used the earlier versions F121/F221 as well as the F521/621. Biggest difference is the amount of memories available. F121/F221 were 128 memories, F521/F621 were 256 and as you noted F5063 were 512 memories. I typically program one of the P buttons as "power" so that I can adjust transmit power from the front panel. As you noted the major disadvantage is the lack of front panel programming. That's actually a FCC requirement for commercial service. Not much of a problem as long as one used the radio in the same geographic area. If I'm traveling to a specific destination, I'll research repeaters along the route and the destination and preprogram them into a different memory bank. Another advantage of the commercial radio is the front end is usually a lot "tighter" and rejects more signals in an urban setting. de N8WLF

Hi Kevin I have my fathers Icom ic-f410 unit from his old taxi from 2000. Is there any way you can help me to get it running here in New Zealand? He’s just gone into a home and I’d appreciate the help. Wikipedia caley hall artist.

How do you assign channels to the bottom presets? Can you do it just on the radio?

I have the Icom ic f610 MT do you have the cable diagram and the software for me to program it....????

DO you know maybe how to change to direct channel operating at F6022?

Rx ok and tx not wark