Tom, thank you again for this great video series! I use the “mic keying” feature every day to tune and touch up my manual antenna tuner. I work mostly SSB. I have my menu set to straight key and the mic keying on. Turn down the power, switch to cw (make sure semi-break-in is on) and key the transmitter for tuner adjustments. I don’t remember where I found this hint - it’s not my idea but it works great. W2RSB / F4WCM
Hi Robin. That’s a great hint. There is another method that doesn’t require you to disable your Mic Up/Dn buttons-. If you just switch your mode to RTTY instead of CW, keying the Mic will transmit a solid carrier. No buttons required. You still need to remember to turn your power down. 73, Tom
If you have not mentioned it in a previous video, don't forget the "CW Normal Side", which can be set to either USB or LSB. To get there you press [MENU]->[SET]->[Function]=>[CW Normal Side]. This feature mimics the ability to tune the BFO control on a vintage receiver to either side of the receiving channel, as on my old RCA AR88. Suppose for example you tuned in a signal to produce a 500 Hz audio tone. Suppose then an interfering signal appeared producing a 1,000 Hz tone. By tuning the BFO to the other side of the desired signal the interfering signal can be zero beat and the received signal will still be 500 Hz. However, ICOM made a huge mistake by putting this feature in a menu. It really should be provided by a front panel rotary control. Thus you could conveniently and almost instantly zero beat an interfering signal of any frequency, although it often would change the frequency of the desired signal. But that doesn't really matter. The important thing is to zero beat the interfering one. This is a huge operational advantage. Trying to accomplish the same thing using the ICOM's menu selection during an actual QSO is too time consuming while at the same time copying code. Plus, it doesn't allow you to tune the BFO as on a vintage receiver. ICOM really should have talked to some old WW2 CW operators on this one.
Thanks. I will talk about the menu option for “Normal”, but you will be glad to know that this is a simple touch-screen switch on the front panel. If you’re in CW mode, just touch CW at the top of the screen. Then, on the mode select window, touch the CW button and your mode will change to CW-R (CW-Reverse). It switches to the other sideband. Repeat the sequence to switch back to CW Normal. The menu option just sets which side you prefer to use as Normal vs. Reverse.
@@HamRadioA2Z Wow!!! Thank you so much for this info about CW-R. I had noticed CW-R appear from time to time but I never noticed what it did and I was always too busy or lazy to look into it. I take back my previous criticism of ICOM. The more with your help I learn about this rig, the more respect I have for ICOM. It's not exactly like my old AR88 that allowed fine tuning the BFO oscillator with a nice big knob that was easy to grasp, but it's still pretty darn effective. And by only touching the screen twice and then either the main tuning or RIT to achieve zero beat on the interfering signal, it's reasonably convenient to accomplish during a QSO. Thanks again. Keep up the good work on your videos.
Your video camera quality is excellent! You subject matter was quite useful. Suggestion - on future videos - tell the viewers what version of firmware you are working at the time of the video, so we might not be surprised about later firmware versions and feature changes in the option sets. When we don't see the same options, we wonder if a feature needed to be enabled in another part of the menu first...and if it was in the same firmware version. Finding your way out, when your lost is easier to do - if your directions are current.
Hi Tom, love the key you're using. Which one is it please? Can't seem to find anything like it here in the UK. Thanks. PS Loving this series! Has helped me so much!
Hi Sue. First, thank you for the kind words. I'm glad the videos are helpful. The paddle in the video is actually one that I borrowed from a friend. It is a Bencher BY-2. It looks like Waters & Stanton carries them, but they're currently out of stock.
I'm not in front of my IC-7300 right now, but if it is similar to my IC-7610, then the Auto Tune button will also zero in on an AM signal in spite of the instruction manuals for both radios mentioning nothing about it.
Do you have any experience using this radio with a Ciro Manzzoni baby loop antenna.? If I connect the CI-V port to the ATU tuner for the Loop antenna can I connect the radio through a USB port to a Computer and use software to control the radio?
