I was 76 when got my tech, 77 when I passed my general and extra. My four children chipped in and bought me an IC-7300. I really was having a tough time using it until I located Tom’s videos. I did technical training during part of my career. Tom has a natural gift for instructional design and an easy way of explaining things. I owe him a debt for creating this series. Thanks.
I can't read anything correctly. The manual could be in Chinese and I would learn it just as well. Tuning for maximum smoke is where I'm at! I bought a 7300 a few months ago and I haven't even fired it up yet. I'm still trying to find out where the tubes and crystals plug in..
I'm considering getting one, but it would be sad if an updated model came out shortly after. The problem I'm having with these touch screen devices that came out a decade ago is the menu responsiveness and the update rates. This is obviously due to the processing power, but apart from that, it's a great radio. I haven't used one personally, so I can't really tell how comfortable it's to use, but if I had to buy a radio now, i would probably go for the yaesu.
Had my 7300 for about 2 weeks now. I have not even switched it on too busy learning how to use it from your wonderful vids. Thanks for your trouble. I congratulate you sir for your simple humanity.
My IC-7300 arrived last week and fortunately I found your series that will provide me with an accelerated learning path. Looking forward to going through all of your videos on the 7300. Your time and effort in putting these together is greatly appreciated.
Was glad to hear the "finally saved enough in the ham radio fund" line. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that has to scrimp and save and even sell other things to buy my ham "toys".
You are definitely not alone. There are certainly a good number of hams that go buy whatever rig, antenna, tower, etc. they want whenever they want and more power to them. At the same time, there are plenty of us that have to save and/or sell for that next major goody. My next major “want” is the 9700 to go with the 7300 as a matched pair. That will probably be a little ways down the road.
@@catfishinwithcrow685 LUCKY that I as able to save and buy that 7300 and get to use it for about 2 months before I had to sell it to cover some unforseen major expenses. Time to start over again. :)
Thank you so much for doing this series. It is my go to informational series on the 7300 which I purchased just a few months ago. An in depth series which I consider to be "Icom 7300 for dummies". I fall into that category. lol. Videos are very well made and I would suggest them to anyone who has a 7300. I absolutely love my 7300.
Thanks Tom this helps to get more familiar with the Radio. For people that like hands on to put all this information in to context, I think many people think perfect memories are the general rule some of us have to work at it before it starts to stick.
Tom, I just bought my very first ham radio after months of saving up for it, a IC-7300, and was faced with the daunting task of trying to figure it out on my own from the manual until I stumbled on your channel. I can't thank you enough. It's made learning the radio a real pleasure instead of being frustrated with my lack of knowledge about any radio, let along the 7300. I'm starting to feel like a wiz on it now and thought I'd come back to the first video to acknowledge the excellent work you've done. Well organized, clear, perfect length, great pace and excellent video work. You've truly created an incredible learning experience for this radio. Icom should advertise your videos on their site on at least use them as a template on how to help their customers. Thanks!
Hi Tom - Thanks for the wonderful series on the IC-7300. I learnt more from watching your superb videos than I would ever understand by reading the manual. The old saying a picture is worth a thousand words, is absolutely true in this instance. Thank you Tom for spending endless hours in putting this altogether. Brian
Tom, thank you for an excellent series. My 7300 is scheduled to arrive today. I chose the radio because the price was right and I heard good things. I had no idea it had all these features. Your presentations fit my learning style and you have organized everything logically. I have the manual and bought a book, but this has moved my knowledge ahead immeasurably.
Just had my first view of this great video which WA7SDC introduced me to. So glad I encountered him on QRZ. Acquired the IC7300 this summer and have been totally overwhelmed by the various controls and settings but this first part of your series is really beginning to open the door. Excited to start exploring your next issue. Thank you a ton.
Highly recommend this series: This whole series is very much worth your time investment in watching. I've viewed all 31 so far and Tom did an excellent job (and I don't even own a 7300 and yet I learned things here and there). I started viewing because I realize the days of the superhet are numbered and for a few months now, I've been getting up to speed on SDR.
This is great, Tom! I plan to look at all your videos on the 7300 since I just got the radio and need to familiarize myself. The videos make it much simpler than reading the manual; which is like watching paint dry or grass grow
I have plans to buy an Icom IC 7300 radio right later on my birthday. I have had an interest in radio since I worked at an FM radio station. I also realized the many shortcomings I had in the world of amateur radio. But my desire and motivation to learn never subsided. Hopefully my hope to get the Icom IC 7300 radio can be realized. I love the videos that are on your RU-vid channel Tom. I love the Icom IC 7300 radio. Hopefully my love for radio can be realized in the future. Keep working and stay healthy and happy always Tom. 73 De YD7KQO Lazuardi
First, you have an EXCELLENT narrator voice. Are you a broadcast radio or TV personality? Second, THANK YOU for a superb A-Z series for the three Icom radio I happen to own. Your no-NO NONSENSE approach that is easy to understand, probably by anyone with very little technical knowledge. It's people like you who make YT a valuable learning resource.
Just walk in with my IC-7300, it's still in the box unopened. I'm going to watch all 41 video's before Sunday and on Sunday I will open the box and hit the airwaves! Thank you so much! de WQ1I 73'S
What a great present John. Enjoy! You’re most welcome for the videos. Thank you for the kind words and I hope they help you get comfortable with the radio. Merry Christmas!
I've loved the series. Explanation has been very clear and I've picked up many tricks I would have missed or found difficult to understand from the manual. I've watched almost every video in the series and will continue to do so. This sped up my ability to use my new IC-7300 a lot. Thanks!
I can't thank you enough for this tutorial series. I'm a new ham, 1 year old. Got my general license last January. Put together my 1st hf rig last weekend: 20Ah Bioenno -> Icom 7300 -> MP1 Super Antenna 80 - 10 meters. Your vids are so easy to follow to learn the bells & whistles of the 7300. MUCH appreciation. KI5FBZ, 73
I chose the Icom 718 as my first radio over the 7300. Waiting to receive it. Hope I made a good decision. Maybe I’ll buy the 7300 in a couple of years.
THANKS for going to such lengths to deliver a comprehensive series on this radio. I received my pre-loved 7300 yesterday and will use the videos to get my head around the radio. 73 Daryl de VK3AWA.
Thanks Tom for taking the time to put these informative videos together! I certainly do appreciate it! I have a 7300 that I am fixing to connect to an antenna and then I’ll be ready to set the radio up. Your videos are a fantastic wealth of information! God bless you my friend. 🤠👋🏻
I didn’t need another radio I had 3 good radios. But I had to get a 7300 for the bedroom. I love this rig. Perfect for an occasional jaw and some nice shortwave listening.
Just found your channel well done sir ! After seeing this it’s of my opinion that companies would we well served to put videos in this format when releasing a new radio. Once again well done
I have found your series on the 7100 and 7300 extremely helpful. I did win my 7300 at a conference and it leaves my FT-897 for dead on the receive side of things.
Super video series. One small change I would suggest. As the VERY first step I would save the configuration to a SD card. That way if all else fails you have a baseline to start off at.
That's not a bad idea. There is another way also. If you do a full factory reset, the radio will revert to the configuration and settings that it had right out of the box.
I wanted to come back to this first video in the series after watching the entire 7300 series and just say thank you very much for such an excellent video documentation collection on the Icom 7300! I am subscribed with notifications turned on and of course thumbs up,! 73 W3GUY
Excellent! . . . due to not a fan of manuals ! I just picked up my 7300 last week . . . still setting up . . . your videos simplified many features for me. KD2ULL
Tom, When is the Sainthood ceremony taking place. I am sure, KAY, is proud for you my friend. You are giving in a HUGE way. I have never had someone to guide my misguided steps along the way. I have always taught myself and much to learn. I would like to call you, my Elmer because of what you are doing here. 73 my friend and God bless you and your family
Thank you so much! I am honored to be your Elmer. Since we both know Kay, please reach out and let me know who you are. You can find contact info on the channel web site- a-2-z.tech
Thank you for the kind words. We recently moved into a new house and my video production has been interrupted for longer than I planned. I plan to be making more videos on the 7100 again soon.
Great video. I have a handy hint to share. I have backed up on my SD card my Normal Settings and FT9 Settings. I use the Callsign display to let me know which one is loaded on switch on. Normal displays VK2APA, FT9 displays VK2APA D. To do this edit you callsign and save your settings. 73 Paul VK2APA
Thanks Paul. It will be a while before I get to covering the SD card, but I will definitely try to remember to put that in. That sounds like a great way to keep track of different setups and easily switch between them.
Hi Tom, Is there anyway I can get these videos downloaded onto a thumb drive for me to watch off line? I like reviewing these videos over & over again. Not sure what new things RU-vid will do with their streaming in the future. I learn by visual and hands on rather than read the manual. Thank you! KD4MAN
Unfortunately, RU-vid doesn’t officially allow downloading of videos. You can do a Google search and find multiple methods describe, but as I understand it, RU-vid keeps tweaking their software to make them not work. At some point I’m planning to have a web site to go along with the RU-vid channel. When I do, I’ll look into hosting the videos, podcast style. Thanks for watching!
When I did that video I was using a 53ft. End fed random length antenna with a 9:1 unun. I was in a rental house in an HOA at the time. I currently use an 80M off-center fed dipole that covers everything up through 10 meters nicely.
I have a few questions. I'm a new HAM. I bought this Receiver but haven't received it yet. Do I need to purchase a separate speaker and Microphone? What Power supply do you recommend? Do I need to purchase separate power supply cord or do they usually come with the supply? I did not have all the money to buy everything at once but Figured I should at least get the receiver. Thank You.
I just received my IC-7300. It has a built-in speaker, but I understand that many people use an external speaker (not required). I believe you can also use a USB cable and connect the IC-7300 to your computer, and use the PC speakers as well. For the power supply I saw that many people recommended the Astron RS-35M-AP. I had to search for a seller that had them in stock. There are two versions; one with meters (RS-35M-AP) and one without. The power supply cord and hand-held microphone comes with the IC-7300. I purchased the ICO-SM-30 Goose Neck desk microphone, also because of the reviews I read.
Hi. Dave answered most of your questions pretty well. The Astron RS-35M is a really good supply. I used to have an Astron, but without the meters. That particular model is a linear supply. Many people like linear supplies for their low noise. They don’t introduce any hash on HF in receive. The downside is that they’re big and heavy. I have a Powerwerx and an MFJ switching supply and I have found them both to be fine. Congratulations on the new radio and enjoy it!
Excellent! New to the hobby. Most comprehensive logistical review & operational functions of the 7300. I’m waiting on delivery, first time ever HF user. Apparently there are 2 manuals for the 7300. I assume one is a quick start packaged with the radio. The other is a downloaded manual. For this video, which manual is referenced? IF iindeed there are 2 manuals. 73 Louis KK7AAG
Hi. Sorry for the delayed reply. The Basic manual is included in the box with the radio. The Full Manual is included on a CD in the box (at least it was a couple years ago). You can download the latest versions of both manuals on the Icom America website here: www.icomamerica.com/en/downloads/default.aspx?Category=615 The Full Manual includes everything in the Basic manual and more. I'm pretty sure that anytime I reference manual pages in the description, I say which manual. Although may not have done that consistently in some of the earlier videos.
Could you please go back to videos 4,5, and 6 and place a description of what is covered in those videos?? It would help to know what is in those as you have done with the others. Much thanks...
Hi John. I have only had the chance to play with a 7610 briefly, once. So I don’t know a lot about it, but from what I saw, I do believe that many of the menus and functions will be identical or very similar.
Hi Gary. I'm currently using an 80 meter Off-Center-Fed dipole. It works pretty well on most of the HF bands. For most of the IC-7300 series, I was still in a rental house and using a 53ft. end-fed antenna from Princeton Antennas. It was a compromise antenna, but I made a fair number of contacts with it.
Did you do a video regarding connecting a 7300 to a linear amplifier? I have a Yaesu FL-7000 which has been connect to my Icom 756 Pro3. Thank for any help you can provide. I just got my 7300 and don't want to do anything stupid! LOL
Yes. You are right. Some things have changed. I've been considering a redo of the series based on the latest firmware. Many things are the same, but (hopefully) I'm a little better at this now and can make better versions of the videos too.
Hi Tom i done the wideband bit of a tale of woe, i took diodes 1 and 3 out in the line, unfortainatly diodes 2 came out as well, maybe i need a smaller soldering rion, the only problem with the second one in the line being removed that i can see is it wont transmit on 4 meters now, everything else seems the same, it wont tx above 30 mhz or much below 1.8mhz, i still have tohe diode but its just too small for me to get back in without loosing it...it transmits on all the hf bands and CB etc, so it has work its just 4mts wont tx any more, 6 meters is still ok...i cant see that the diose does anything other than not letting t tx on 4 meters, still rx on there....from Fred g4vvq Uk.
Hi Fred. Sorry to hear about the trouble. Doing mods always has risks. I modified a few HTs a number of years ago. Haven’t done any in quite a while and haven’t even looked into it on the 7300. Those surface mount diodes can be difficult. I used a very fine tip , temperature controlled iron, a head visor magnifier and very tiny tweezers. Digikey and mouser typically carry the diodes if you bugger up the part. Just be careful about lifting pads and traces on the board. If you want a laugh you can watch a recent repair video I did where I demonstrated absolutely terrible soldering skills. I’m actually quite embarrassed by it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VAu2L70Oy0g.html
I purchased the IC 7300 a few weeks ago and have been watching your videos every chance I get. I do have a question for you that I probably missed in your videos. When I broadcast, it doesnt show my broadcast in the water fall. Do you know I turn that on ? Again, thanks for all your hard work putting these videos together. Ryan - KG7FRS
Hi Ryan. Your transmit signal will only show up on the scope if it is in Center mode, not Fixed mode. On the Scope Set Screens, there is an option for Scope on during TX. The default is ON. So if you haven’t changed that, just putting the scope in center mode should solve the problem. 73, Tom
how do you get a amplifier pulser, to work with a 7300 I have a new pulser, and cable but I cannot get it to work, have batteries in the pulser, what setting does the radio have to be on?
Not sure how band stacking works at all after watching this, AND trying to use it on the radio. The 3 memories change, but god only knows how or why! 🙂
Let's try a different explanation-- When you switch from 20 meters to 15 meters (for example), the settings and frequency on 15 meters will be exactly how you left them from the last time you were on 15 meters. Think of the band stacking registers as 3 different versions of each band. Say you're on 20 meters on 14.235 USB. You bring up the band menu and "switch" to 20 meters again. Now you're on version 2 of 20 meters. Change your frequency to 14.050 and mode to CW. Now, bring up the band menu again and "switch" to 20 meters one more time. Now you're on version 3. Change the frequency to 14.085 and the mode to RTTY. Now "switch" to 20 meters one more time. You will be back to version (or band-stacking register) 1, and you should be back at 14.235 USB. Now if you keep "switching" to 20 meters, you'll cycle through those 3 registers and their settings. It is effectively like having 3 extra memories that you don't explicitly save. With the new firmware, if you press and hold the band, it will display a pop-up that shows the frequencies saved in all 3 registers and you can tap the one you want to go to.
Hi, Tom fist of all thanks for the great set of videos on the IC-7300. You have helped me a great deal I have just had the radio 2 days now. I have had a play with a function by mistake. Can you explain about calibrating the frequency. I went into Menu, Set, Function "REF ADJUST" I did not note down the % before I adjusted it by mistake. I see this is freq calibration. Can you please help the manual goes on about the 15.000 mhz calibration signal . Steve G4YTK
Hi Steve. We all make mistakes. Fortunately, all is not lost and you won’t need to learn a complicated calibration procedure. Go into the Set menu and scroll down to the bottom to find Others. In the Others menu select Reset. Under Reset you want to select All Reset. You’ll get some warnings and you will lose any memories you have programmed and any other setting changes you made. However, after the reset, the REF ADJUST value will be set back to the factory setting. I just tested this on my rig to confirm that it works. Hope this helps. 73, Tom WA2IVD
@@HamRadioA2Z That was easy, 29% was the reset value. I knew it was in the 20's I thought I had changed it by mistake and set it to 50%, "Mistake". Your videos are great and so useful. Really pleased so far, contacts on FT8 FT4 and CW. Once again Tom many thanks for all your help.
it tunes .30 to 1.60, but it does not work below 630 kc. There is nothing heard in all those Radio Beacon portion. These Videos put the ICOM Book to Shame! There is no section 13 in the manual now
Hi Jim. Thank you for the kind words. The Icom specifications say it receives from 0.030000 (30 kHz) up to 74Mhz, but it also includes the note "Some frequency ranges are not guaranteed". The Basic manual only goes up to section 12. My references have all been to the Advanced (Full) Manual. It is a little confusing on Icom's website. If you go to Resources and click on IC7300 downloads, it lists the Advanced Manual, but if you click the link it takes you to another search page. Here is a link to the Advanced Manual: www.icomjapan.com/support/manual/2271/ The link is to an Icom Download Service page. You will need to click the "I Agree" box and then click the Download button about half way down the page.
1. When in the fone portion of a band, can you send CW? I heard some guy complain that he couldn't do that - that it would only go into SSB. 2. Is the QSK real full breakin or semi-breakin or something a little better than semi-breakin? If you ever had a Ten-Tec rig, you know what true QSK is. I love it. 3. There in your video during the Band Stacking explanation, it showed 40m, USB Digital. Are the newer modes really done in USB on 80 & 40m? 4. At the end, you mentioned Connectors (jacks) Mic, USB, Accec etc. Now this is kind of important - surely you can't send MCW with this rig can you? We are not allowed to send MCW on the HF bands here. ICOM needs to block that (I don't know how they would) and new hams (and older) need to know this.
Good questions. Since there’s a few, I’ll probably take these over several comments. On transmitting CW in the phone part of the band- If the Band Edge Beep function is set to ON(User) & TX Limit and you have set user defined band edges within the CW portion of the band, then the radio won’t transmit at all outside the user defined edges. I don’t know of anything limits that are mode based.
2. On full break in- The radio supports Full Break-in via the VOX/Bk In button. I’m not a big CW operator. So, I can’t say how it compares to TenTec radios.
WSJT-X uses USB for all of it’s modes. For (B)PSK-31, it actually doesn’t matter. Because it shifts the phase of a single tone, rather than sending multiple tones the transmitting station can be on USB and the receiving station on LSB. As long as you’re tuned to the signal, it will work fine. The RTTY convention is still LSB on all HF bands, as far as I know.
I'll answer my own third question? Now I know that RTTY is LSB on 20m and up and a lot of hams don't know that and that's why they're 'reversed', but for the others, I found this: Soundcard digital modes are USB - never LSB. Clover, RTTY, PACKET, AMTOR and PACTOR typically use LSB, however. n1su.com/digital.html Still need an answer to #4 though. EDIT (Your WSJT-X response came as I hit Enter to this, my answering my own #3 :)
4- The MCW (Modulated CW) question is an interesting one on SSB. When MCW is sent on AM or FM, the waveform looks like any other audio signal with just a single tone. MCW on suppressed carrier SSB is different. Let’s say you transmit a single 800Hz sine wave tone on USB. The transmit waveform will look exactly the same as an unmodulated CW carrier 800Hz higher than the dial frequency. So, you’re right, I don’t know how how Icom could prevent this, but on SSB I don’t know how the FCC or any other government agency could tell the difference.
Hi Paul. It’s on my list. I’m working on a website as I get time. An indexed list of the episodes will definitely be one of the items on the site. I’m hoping to have something up by the spring. Thanks for your interest! 73, Tom WA2IVD
This series on the 7300 looks like it would be a HUGE help for a lot of us to learn about our new radio. But I have to mention that I have the volume on the computer literally turned all the way up and I can hardly hear you. What would (and should) have been hours of watching and learning has ended after only a few minutes because I just cant deal with the inability to hear you. Sorry.
Hi Ken. I appreciate the feedback and I’m sorry you’re having trouble. I haven’t received any similar comments yet. I just went to RU-vid on my iPad and tried listening to Part 1. I also spot checked a couple other episodes and I’m hearing them fine through my iPad speakers with the volume set to about half. I double check sound levels on future episodes and see if I can bring it up a little, but it seems okay to me. I’m guessing that you’ve tried different RU-vid videos or sound samples and haven’t had a problem? In case you haven’t, maybe double check your sound settings at your end. I do know that I have one episode - #9 where my voice is only on the left channel and the radio is on the right channel. I discovered that and mentioned it toward the end of the episode and that it will be fixed in future episodes. Because of the way I recorded that one, I don’t have a good way to fix it. I hope you’ll check back again or maybe check out a couple of the other episodes.
I have to disagree as to the first thing to do when turning on any modern radio. As updating the firmware and or mars modding will erase and reset all changes made..... it's best to update the firmware first...then all changes will remain ~ At the time of writing this comment the 7300 had been in production or almost 8 years. I suspect a new advanced version of this radio is just around the corner ,,,, so I'll save my money for that radio.
You need to turn off ads. You may not know it, but seeing a commercial for extra extra large plus size sports bras... EVERY 5 minutes... is NOT what I'm trying to learn from you
I’m sorry about that. I used to set the monetization options to only show ads at the beginning and end of the video and not in the middle. Unfortunately, that option is no longer available to me.
