@@nealbeach4947 I disagree. Sure, whatever this new radio is, its going to be the most expensive radio that Icom have ever put on the market, but it, like its forebear the IC7850/1 is unlikely to sell more than a few hundred. By contrast, consider that the IC7300 has now surpassed the 100,000 sales mark… that’s hardly an ‘expensive’ radio… there is nothing to stop people buying excellent performing secondhand radios or, if you have the ability making from scratch.
I think you nailed it. Same idea as the 7850 was for the 50th anniversary. So it would be the 7860/7861. Features could be a hybrid SDR. They could add 2m/440/etc but that has never made a great HF radio (9100 wasn’t a great HF radio for example). Predistortion like the 7610 with the PW2. The size of the tuner cores leads me to think at least a 200 watt radio if not 400 watts.
Exactly my thoughts. Couple of things from Peters comments are that the IC-7300 is virtually the same age as the FT-991(A). Also does anyone at Icom realise they just killed their sales for 3 months. Anyone looking at an Icom will now wait and dealers wont want to get caught with 'old' stock - very poor marketing. In fact it is that poor that I think the whole thing may well be a total anticlimax. If it was groundbreaking then launch it - sell millions and make your money.
Yep, that possible number ... seems to match best. The 7851 was announced as the flagship for ICOM 50th anniversary of company. Another flagship product for the 60th anniversary could naturally be labeled IC-7860 or 7861. The photos check all the right boxes; quality components on quality circuit boards with lots of desirable features = probably Expensive. Maybe ?
I love my IC-7300 and it serves my needs... As a ham for over 50 years, I would be in the group that won't purchase the X60, whatever it becomes, due to fixed income. But, I'm excited for those that it WILL be the next addition to their station!
My guess: Multimode, multiband HF,VHF,UHF base with various audio and video outputs for linking to computers and computer monitors, with provisions of operating the unit remotely. perhaps even built on SDR technology. One of the boards "RF" sections seem to be a cloan of each other on the same board only reverse of each other, receive on one side, transmit on the other side. Gonna be a cool looking radio what ever it turns out to look like!
It looks like an IC-7851 replacement that no-one asked for. ATU, 4 port antenna switch, Dual RX. DVI port. RJ45 for remote station support. It's got to be a HF contest radio. I would have liked an IC-706mkII G refresh.
I'm hoping it's a HF, 6M (and maybe 2M 70cm, but that's probably going to dilute it's capability a bit, but then again, if it was capable of simultaneous HF and 2m 70cm use....), full size base station radio, with a brilliant receiver, seperate receive antenna input, simple to use menus etc, and for a price that you won't have to fear the XYL !
The two radio I think that sold well and haven't been updated for the modern day are the TS-2000 & IC-706mk2g at the 100w output. Hopefully a bigger brother to the 705.
This is the IC-7860 - the last two numerals denoting the 60th anniversary. Much the same as the IC-7850 was for the 50th anniversary. My guess is that it will be a top of the line SDR HF radio, incorporating the latest and best SDR technology. The one thing I don't know, is whether it will include VHF and UHF. Manufacturers tend to exclude VHF and UHF when building their top of the line rigs, so it will be surprising if they do include VHF and UHF.
Hi Peter, I was hoping that Icom would replace/update 7100 to a SDR version. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could attach the microwave modules from the 705 and build a 9cms unit to finish it off😊
I just got my license and was waiting for the summer trade shows to see if any new radios would be announced before buying. I would have preferred if they just announced what was coming. It's frustrating to wait for information
@@dwayne5530 At a current price of £815 after cashback, the 710, with a top notch receiver, is certainly priced to sell. If I didn't have a couple of 991s, I'd think of getting one.
@@k6usy I was hoping for a 7100 like you described or an updated 7300. Looks like it's going to be an expensive radio. It would be nice if the parts where for two different radios as a fake out, one those that want to spending $3000+ on a Flagship and one for those who want to keep it $1200 range
Certainly, ICOM will come up with an unique transceiver with more bells and whistles to mark it's glorious 60 years in business and, will doubly ensure that this rig will be a distant dream to own for poor hams... :)
@goinghomesomeday1 Xiegu's G-90 is a real great rig. I'm sure and, also want such companies to democratise great rigs for the radio amateurs worldwide. I hate and envy those having the purchasing power of premium rigs and brag about it whether on air, online, offline or even at the drop of a pretext... :)
I would suggest something with 23cm. There is (beside the 9700) nothing on the market anymore. I remember the days with the excellent TM-741. Still own one but that radio is ancient.
It would be nice to see a replacement for the TS-990. I'm not bothered who makes it, but something that offers the same beautiful operating experience without the cruddy menu systems that are baked into all of the current crop of radio's.
Those boards are exact clones of the Elecraft K4HD but with an extra board for instant translation for TX/RX in 60 different languages - all for $10k 😊
All band, all mode SDR with two independent receivers for arbitrary bands, ATU, remote controlled, antenna ports for Tx/Rx, with built in power supply and 200W out - all to the cost of a 7300.
Probably another base station. I'd like an all band, all mode mobile, 50 - 100 watts that can be controlled by an HT or, used as a mobile cross-band repeater.
I’m guessing a replacement for either the 7610 or 7851; possibly more the latter, as I’ve heard that the 7851 is no longer in stock here at U.S. dealers. There are substantial clues in the boards themselves; besides the PA, filter, & ATU boards, there is what appears to be a large lower front or rear panel board with small rotary controls, & another board (which appears to be several smaller boards designed to be cut apart in production: it looks like 3 of those may hold rotary encoders. As a VHF / UHF / microwave weak - signal operator, I’d be delighted if it also included 2 meter, 70 cm., & 23 cm. multimode capabilities as well, particularly if they include dual receivers to allow for satellite operations (as the IC-9700 does). If it does have those capabilities, it could wind up being a modern ICOM equivalent of the older Kenwood TS-2000, with spectrum displays & other SDR capabilities. I just hope they can keep the price point SOMEWHAT reasonable ( not in the stratosphere like the IC-7851!). Still looking forward to seeing what they actually produce. Tom WA1LBK
It’s obviously a 60th anniversary radio, so it’s going to be something at the cutting edge, almost certainly using the latest and fastest SDR technology to finally beat the RX performance of anything that they have made before. It must also be ‘remoteable’, in which case if Icom are forward thinking enough, they will make it directly compatible with Macs too without need to stoop to using an MS operating system.
Shack in a box! Bring it on, just what I'd like! I❤ ICOM! Let's hope you're right Peter! Id like it to be similar dimensions to Guohetec Q900 with a nice low current draw! 😂
@@electrolytics yeah I have a friend who has a 7100 and its a nice radio for what it does. I want something more home base though and with a scope. Few options out there for HF and 6m for sure.
What I think is Japanese radio manufacturers are blowing the advantage they long held. Icom and Yaesu representatives in the USA are out of the loop on what their companies make, and are not consulted about what we want, it has to be worse for GB. If this thing is not a 10 watt Xiegu6200/sBitX inspired base station, it will be obsolete before it is released.
Yea my guess was an all band TRX, the filter board looked like HF to 6m or even 2m. But im going to go even further and say it will be compatible with the IC-905 module to extend the X60 to 10ghz. So my guess is it will be HF to 10ghz. My guess is also that it will be a SDR TRX with the native ability to run it through a computer, basically a competitor to the Flex. So all bands, all modes, SDR, remote operation, digital noise reduction like the Flex. This will likely be an everything TRX and priced at about 3.5k with the microwave add on extra. That would be my guess.
I work in marketing, and this type of bird crumbing marketing is touch and go. It actually is frustrating for many consumers. Hamvention is typically a place where products are unveiled, and with Flex announcing a fully baked product at the same time. I feel it was a huge flop in terms of building excitement. How can you be excited about something literally so “deconstructed” and so nebulous. It could literally be anything with antenna ports. A bit of a fail for me.
@@jstoltenburg I hated it. They released that ad with a "?" in QST and then showed us nothing but boards. I was expecting to see a radio or at least picture or none working dummy unit. I rather they not have said anything and just revealed at Tokyo. They could've at least gave a few specs if they're going to bread crumb
If it is a new HF transceiver, it better have receiver specs as good or better than the FTDX-10 and FTDX101D, and it better not be $10k because they won't sell that many. Note to Icom.. Yaesu has a 3 year warranty. $10k + for an amateur transceiver? No thanks
I’m surprised the big three manufacturers even bother producing radios for the amateur market as it is surely dying . Certainly I feel that’s the case in Uk . Up here in the NW I used to have maybe 3 or 4 dealerships with LOWES being the biggie . Now there’s nothing .
For sure NOT an IC-705 with built in ATU and 4M added, as the ATU board looks quite large. There is something that looks like a (digital) interface board, so it might be computer controllable. Or even lacking knobs and display on the front to make it a kind of remote controlled radio. Something for inside a shack in a large house. Living in an S9+++ QRM QTH, I can keep my money in the pocket ;-) No need for a base station radio over here...
I wonder if showing us a bunch of circuit boards means that they couldn't get a product ready in time for Hamvention. COVID might have slowed down the development, so we'll be patient. We shall see...
i think icom has joined with you peter to put the mysterios word out and start interrest long before its announced..its not my radio cause its going to be way over cost for me and many other hams..i think you already know and even perhaps have a display unit ready to go in august..its just way over my funds lol .im not interrested
This could backfire on Icom and stifle sales, why go out and buy a new Icom when it could be out of date in a few months, I was looking at buying a 7300 but will now be holding back until the X-60 full announcement.
It will be a completely different market and price point to the IC-7300, This will be top of the line, and based on the IC-7851 asking price...means it will be 10 x the price of the 7300. Likely USD 10,000 or more
Masterstroke of marketing - to wit, this video! What I sadly think it isn't, is what I would be making - an industry first in modern times in the form of transmit and receive separates, network linked, so you could be anywhere you want, with the transmitter somewhere else, and the receiver (or more than one receiver) somewhere else again. Distributed networking is commonplace in the IT world, but only Flex seem to understand this (and even then they have no tx and rx separates). I understand why - they don't want you to only ever buy one transmitter, they want you to buy the same thing over and over, just to get the latest receiver - which is where the developments are. I'll bet on a 7860 as commented elsewhere. But all band to 70cm or even 23cm. Time will tell - and there'll probably be many claimed leaks, most of them fake.
The 7610 just isn't impressive enough to be a flagship HF base station. Hopefully this new transceiver will have enough about it to take the honours properly. I do not want to see another all band all mode box. I want to see a flagship HF & 6m rig that surpasses all Yaesu offers and has proper DNR that actually works. It should also have pre-distortion out for my amp.
Memory card on misc front panel board? Then NOT a predessor of 7100. It could be a flagship model stated by others or a revised model of the bestseller 7300 beeing the 7360. But the plugrow for backpanel is exsessive so I guess a flagship.
I think it is a modular system that can be configured according to different needs. This means that you can get different functions with a number of modules that have known performance. Looks very promising. Thanks for nice videos.
I believe the X60 will be a new flagship radio like the IC-7851 (IC-7860). It shows a 200W RF Board without any VHF/UHF amp components; built-in auto tuner; Dual receiver - most likely SDR; One thing missing was a lot of dual control knobs (The display only showed 3 total and one encoder. It does have a SD card slot) along with 2 RCA jacks on the main board which suggests this may be a computer-controlled rig to compete with Flex.; They did learn not to use soldered battery/super caps for the clock. I notices a LOT of phono jacks for speakers, keys, CI-V control, etc.
