Micro PA100 100W HF Amp

I recently I came across an amp at a radio rally and it was for sale at just £50 “SOLD FOR PARTS”.  I got my phone out and Googled the device to learn more about it and discovered that they cost £200 new, so I decided to take a chance on it, figuring I could make a quick buck by selling it on Ebay after reviewing it. Sadly, when I got it home, it didn’t work. Dead as a Dodo!  I was gutted, but figured I’d open it up to see if it was a melted mess inside. 

The PCB and all its components looked to be absolutely as new and in perfect condition - just couldn’t figure it out. After spending time staring at the PCB, I noticed that there was an unusual fuse holder. I removed the fuse, tested it and found that it was blown. Needless to say, I didn't have any of these tiny fuses in my box of bits, so I ordered some on eBay and waited for them to arrive (from China).

When I replaced the tiny fuse, I powered the amp up again, using a current-limiting power supply, half expecting it to blow again. But it didn’t! 

With everything apparently working as it should, I connected it to my IC-705 and a Dummy Load. Dropping the 705’s power to 500mW, I got 20W output from the PA100 into a dummy load. A big smile appeared on my face 😄. I started to increase the power and with a full 5W in, it showed 110W out.

The next step was to connect it to its “natural partner”, the Hermes Lite 2. As mentioned in a previous post, I wanted to take advantage of the ability to run the amplifier output through the Hermes’ Pure Signal processor by adding an RF Sampler. 

With the Hermes putting out 750mW the amp was outputting around 25W - perfect (for me).

I went on the 40M band and broke into a QSO between two English operators with booming signals. I was eager to get a good report from them. Sadly, this didn’t quite go to plan 🙄. When I keyed up, I could see distortion on the panadapter and one of the operators told me my audio was indeed badly distorted.

Without any idea what was causing the distortion, I removed the RF Sampler and tried again. This time, the outgoing signal looked perfect and so I recontacted the operator I’d spoken with moments ago. He confirmed that everything sounded fantastic. He told me that there were some Linearity settings in Thetis which would probably resolve the issue.

Sitting there, I wondered if it was simply a case of there not being enough attenuation in the sampler’s coupling output (-50dB), therefore overloading the HL2’s Pure Signal input 🤔. I’d need to add some inline attenuators and experiment more. But that’s for another day - I don’t want to detract from the performance of the amplifier.

The Micro PA100 is a very compact device, with a 100W (or more) output on the 80-6M bands. It has automatic band sensing or you can provide your own interface lead to let your radio force band changes. There is information in the manual to help you achieve this.

I didn’t have an interface lead and since I’m going to be selling this amp, I can’t see the point in making one, so I used the band-sensing and it worked amazingly well - faultlessly even!

The amp also has RF-Sensing which means that you don’t need to fit a PTT SEND line - just transmit and the amp instantly detects the RF. It works well, but I’d still recommend fitting a lead between the two devices. The menu has options for Icom, Yaesu and Xiegu protocols.

Unlike say a Xiegu XPA125, the PA100 doesn’t have an ATU so I connected an LDG Z-100Plus. Now this would present a problem in that initiating a tune could mean the amp could potentially see huge amounts of reflected power and very high swr during the tune-cycle (it will protect itself if it sees anything greater than 2:1).  Thankfully, the PA100 has a BYPASS mode which is accessed by a simple press of the Function button. Once the ATU has found a match, it’s just a case of pressing the Function button again. 

There’s an impressive amount of protection built into the amp which keeps an eye on high swr, and high temperature - there are two fans fitted in a push-pull arrangement. The fans are quick to switch on and although they aren’t noisy, you are certainly aware of their presence. 

There’s also that tiny 20A fuse which protects from over current and even from applying the power supply the wrong way around (I am so pleased that the previous owner wasn’t aware of the existence of the fuse) 😂🤣😂.

The front panel sports just two things a screen and a button! The display is pretty small but extremely clear and easy to read, providing all the information you need. The (function) button switches between PA ON and PA OFF (bypass) and also gives access to other functions. It’s a little odd, but you soon get used to it. The only thing that concerns me about it is that it sometimes doesn’t detect a press which can be annoying. It also makes me question the longevity of the button.

Other than that button though, I must admit that the construction of this cheap Chinese amp is absolutely excellent!! The pcb seems to be a high quality item and the components look to be very well soldered and carefully placed. There’s not even a hint of “cheap tat” that you often get with these budget devices. Everything looks top notch. It’s also a ‘clean’ amp with a measured -60dBc separation between the wanted signal and any unwanted harmonics.

Note the huge heatsink

CONCLUSION

Putting aside the fact that I got this amplifier for a ridiculously low price, I have to say that the Micro PA100 is a great little amp, brimming with features, versatility and safety. It’s good to know too, that the designer is constantly updating the firmware in order to improve the product.

If I needed a 100W amp, then I wouldn’t hesitate to invest in one of these. They can be used with virtually any transceiver, without the need for an interface lead and you’d have to be an idiot to do it any harm (sorry previous owner).

Its compact dimensions and light weight mean it can easily be taken on POTA outings. It’s just a great little all-rounder. For a Foundation License holder, I like the fact that you can transmit under a Watt and get a solid 25 Watts, giving both radio and amp an easy life.

Before I sell it, I’m going to resolve the RF Sampler issue, just because I want to understand what the cause is.

Thanks for visiting the blog!

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

Manual

PURE SIGNAL - HERMES LITE 2

HOW DO I  BECOME PURE?

People email me saying they've read my blog-posts about the wonderful Hermes Lite 2 but point out that I don't provide instructions on how to use Pure Signal, so let's fix that right now!  It's a very simple process and can be achieved quickly. Using PS is detailed in the manual, but it seems some people don’t read them, lol. Bear in mind though, I'm a simple M7 license holder, so everything written below is based purely on experimentations. 

There's actually a couple of ways of doing it - internally or externally. I have only used the HL2's internal method, but that might change as I go along.  Anyway, let's start with the easiest way first of all. Anyone can use this method and there's no extra parts to pay for it you already have a Pure Signal output.

Pure Signal (an advanced, adaptive predistortion technique) is used to significantly clean up your transmitted signals by reducing distortion, IMD (Intermodulation Distortion), and harmonics. By sampling a portion of the output and correcting for nonlinearities, it improves transmission quality, reduces splatter and enhances efficiency.

In order for Pure Signal to function on your Hermes Lite, you must start by switching on PS-A (which is the Pure Signal Auto calibration) and DUPLEX (meaning that the radio receives even when transmitting). This is so that the transmitted signal can be monitored, measured and subsequently adjusted. So go to your Thetis software and switch it on (by the way, I'm using V2.10.3.12)...

Then you need to switch on AGC AUTO by double-clicking the text above the AGC until it switches from S-ATT  to  A-ATT. If you forget to do this, Pure Signal will not work properly.

Then go to the menus at the top of the screen and click on LINEARITY. A screen will appear - make sure you have all these settings...

Now find a clear spot on your preferred band and transmit. You will notice that the green   Feedback/Pure Signal 2  markers will change to indicate that your transmission is being examined, measured and adjusted...

That's it! You have PURE SIGNAL! 

 

WHAT ABOUT CONNECTING AN AMP?

So when you use the internal method, everything leaving your HL2 antenna port will be pure as the driven snow. But what if your pure signal goes out to an amplifier? That amplifier could undo all your good work!

Up to now, I've not seen a single post on the internet about this. There's little bits here and a few hints there, but no simple, straightforward guide on how to use Pure Signal with a HL2 and an Amp. So let's hope this post fixes that situation.

In this case, you want to monitor the signal leaving the amp instead of the radio. To do that you need a special splitter which is actually an RF SAMPLER. There are a few samplers available on the market and in the example below, I've shown an Australian sampler from VK3AMP in the illustration...

You will note from my diagram that the Pure Signal connector on the radio is actually an INPUT and not an output as some mistakenly believe. It's very important that the RF Sampler output to this connector is -50dB or greater to avoid overload. Ideally, you should connect the sampler directly to the amplifier's output connector. In the above case, it would mean using an PL239-PL239 Male pass-thru. 

😂 A pretty diagram versus reality 😂

If you are going to insert an ATU in the circuit, it's going to be between the RF Sampler and the Antenna. You should (in this example) put the amplifier into BYPASS mode during tuning.

Note that I have included an RF Choke in the mix too - that's only because I often use a ground mounted vertical which generates problematic common mode currents. If you have no need for one (or for an ATU) then ignore. In this case, the layout would be simpler still...

So there you have it! Pretty straightforward huh? But what if you don't yet have a Pure Signal connector on the rear panel of your transceiver? Don't worry, it's a very simple and cheap mod - all you have to do is buy an RG-178 pigtail from Amazon (other stores are available lol) and solder one end to the connector block which connects the HL2 PCB and the Filter Board.

Note that the center-conductor goes to pin-6 and the shield (twist it all together) goes to both pins 3 and 4.

HL2 Internals

Close-Up

I hope this post proved to be useful to you.

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

 

UPDATE : 24 FEB 2026

Found a competitively priced RF SAMPLER here in the UK - just ordered one for £44. It gets good reviews, so happy days. Also ordered a couple of inline SMA-SMA attenuators in case I need more attenuation than the sampler provides.

The sampler arrived very promptly from the supplier, well packaged and the whole thing looked to be constructed to a very high standard. Excellent value for money!!

If you wish to purchase the VK3AMP sampler, click here. ($150) 😵

 

If you are from the STATES, perhaps this sampler would be a better option....

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

Q: Explain Pure Signal on the Hermes Lite 2 HL2 + Plus

Q: How do I use Pure Signal on my Hermes Lite 2?

Q: How do I use Pure Signal on my Hermes Lite 2 with an AMPlifier?

Q: How do I connect my amplifier to Pure Signal on the Hermes Lite 2 HL2 Plus?

HERMES LITE 2+ VS IC-7300 II

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE HL2 PLUS.

First off, please excuse the tinkering that I've done with my images - I was just trying to get away from all the usual boring photographs that I normally post by injecting a bit of colour and fun 😊.

Following on from my initial review of the Hermes Lite 2, here’s a revisit, some two and a half years later. I recently purchased the new (Mk2) version of the Icom IC-7300 and it got me thinking about value for money and in particular whether the £1350 radio would bag me more contacts than the diminutive HL2 which costs a whopping £1000 less!

Now obviously, the 7300 is a 100W radio and the HL2 is a 5W radio, so I will be running the latter with a 25W amp and I’ll run the 7300 at the same power level. I’m keen to know how the two receivers compare - not so much in terms of receiver sensitivity, but more in terms of effective Noise Reduction, because at the end of the day, noise reduction has become one of the most important considerations in the electrically noisy environment we call home.

The 7300 Mk2 is Icom’s latest iteration of their famously popular budget base-station and by using the might of Icom’s design team, it has supposedly improved the RX & TX characteristics. By comparison, the HL2 uses a cheap AD9866 Cable Modem chip and you have to wonder how it achieves such high performance levels. The HL2 also benefits from Pure Signal adaptive transmission pre-distortion which is normally only found in very high-end transceivers.

My own Hermes Lite 2 is the PLUS model which has an extra companion board providing the following additional features…

• Adds a headphone socket with a sidetone in CW mode.
• Adds a microphone jack to the front panel with PTT.
• Adds an Iambic Keyer to the key jack on the front panel.
• Adds a dedicated Hardrock-50 interface with bandpass switching.
• Adds a dedicated AH4 ATU control interface option.
• Adds a local speaker output with sidetone in CW mode.
• Adds an On/Off power switch option.
• Greatly reduces latency in both CW and SSB.

The HL2 is part of an OpenSource project which facilitates the use of a very wide range of software including SparkSDR, SDRconsole, SDR++, piHPSDR, PowerSDR, Thetis and many more. The majority of people choose to use Thetis with the HL2 and there is one version of Thetis in particular which has been modified by MI0BOT. This special version takes advantage of the differences between the HL2 and Apache Labs radios and it introduces some new features. The very latest version (at the time of writing) is V2.10.3.12.

My home location (like many others) is blitzed with unwanted noise and I generally struggle to hear all but the strongest signals - it’s the reason that I spend so much of my operating time outdoors in the countryside. I often wonder how good it must have been for hams a few decades ago, before there were dodgy Chinese switched-mode power supplies, broadband hash, LEDs and solar panels!

My antenna for this comparison is a highly compromised, ground-mounted vertical  from Sigma with no counterpoise. It’s far from ideal, but due to local restrictions it’s the only option open to me. 

As much as people criticise these antennas, you have to applaud their performance given the locations/situations that they are frequently expected to work from. And although this antenna is sold as an 80-6M, it easily tunes at 160M and while it’s a dummy load on SSB, at least it gets me FT8 contacts on the top band - happy days!

The antenna is shared between the IC-7300 and the Hermes Lite 2+ using a high quality switch from Cross Country Wireless. With the 7300 I use an external speaker (Icom SP38) and with the Hermes I use the computer’s speaker (Bose Mini II).  I did my utmost to level the audio output of both radios so as not to influence my decision on which signal sounded the clearest. If anything, the Icom should have a slight advantage due to the fact that the computer speaker (Bose) has a softer (warmer) sound than the more clinical sounding SP38.

I have conducted comparisons on all of the bands over the course of a few weeks, during the day and the night. I’ve made contacts on SSB and used my own ears to determine which radio provided the most audible signal.   I have also conducted FT8 comparisons on all the bands too and allowed the factual signal reports to be the judge.

To eliminate any Common-Mode currents (and reduce noise), I have a LINE ISOLATING CHOKE installed from RFCOMMS. This is a high quality unit and using such a choke is always a good idea when using 1/4 Wave verticals or end-fed wires.

Thankfully, there were plenty of Contests on over the test-period, which meant that the same people were constantly calling, allowing me to repeatedly switch between radios. As much as I hate to admit it (considering I’d spent £1400 on the Icom), the Hermes came through time and time again when it came to the simple test of making out the callsign of a weak operator on SSB. 

Having the ability to tweak the myriad Thetis settings makes a huge difference - it’s the software which makes this radio special and in particular, the DSP - it really is good. I cannot think of another radio which has noise reduction as effective as the humble HL2 (and I’ve owned some pretty fancy models).

The Hermes NR1 is pretty much the same as what’s available on the Icom, but NR2 is just out of this world. I’m not exaggerating!  If you live (as most people do) in a very noisy environment, NR2 can make you fall out with all your other radios, lol. It’s got to the point where I just leave it on most of the time.

With the Icom (and any other radio I use in the shack), I tend to control noise with the RF GAIN more than the DSP, but when the signal is really weak, that’s not an option. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that the Icom’s noise reduction is useless - I’m saying that the HL2’s is outstanding.

NR2 uses an NPE algorithm and sounds superb at the default settings, but there’s nothing to stop you experimenting with the settings if it’s not quite ‘hitting the spot’, but in all honesty, you’re unlikely to improve on all the hard work put in by the developers. If you do want to play around, be sure to make a note of the existing settings and apply the NR2 before the AGC.

Thetis has a lot of settings that you can play around with and that can be great fun and great frustration at the same time. If you go too far with your experimentation, you can make a right mess of things, so it's always a good idea to make backups. There's lots of help and tips online, none more so than ON7OFF's superb YouTube channel.

If you don't want to spend your precious time finding the perfect setup, you could always download someone else's instead and use it as a starting point for further refining to suit your personal preferences and voice characteristics. The one I like is from Kurt (ON7OFF)...

So, after spending a great deal of time (according to my wife at least) switching between one radio and the other, I can "Hands On Heart" say that there's very little difference between the £350 Hermes and the £1350 IC-7300 receivers in everyday use. I will admit that I'm not one for breaking my neck trying to dig out the faintest of the faintest, so if you are, you may come to a different conclusion.

Let's remember though, I started with the question "Will the 7300 bag me more contacts than the HL2". The answer was no!

I love the IC-7300-2 and I think it's worth every penny of its RRP. It offers so much for so little and IMHO it beats the competition with its amazing feature-set. But when it comes to out and out Value For Money, the award has to go to the HL2.

Okay, so there's a matter of 100W vs 5W but even if you add a MICRO PA100 you'll still only be paying around 40% of the Icom's cost and to many people that's a BIG consideration. Let's not forget though that the HL2 needs a computer, where the 7300 is a standalone radio.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - every ham should have a HL2 in their shack!

Oh and we've not even touched on the HL2's Pure Signal capability!! I'll write another post on that in a few days time. Thanks for reading.

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

.

CHOYONG LC90 SMART RADIO

The CHOYONG LC90 is a pretty cool radio and is probably unique in what it offers; FM, MW, LW and SW reception including SSB.  It also provides comprehensive Internet Radio Streaming facilities for Music, Podcasts and News! This is a fascinating area to explore and the LC90’s menu system makes it super easy to navigate through the 40,000+ stations currently available (subject to GeoFencing). 

Streaming is handled by the radio’s built-in Wi-Fi, but you can also add a Sim-Card  to provide the data stream when there’s no local Wi-Fi. It also has provision for an SDCARD so that you can playback your own MP3 songs. Sadly, there is no Airband!

Thanks to the BlueTooth facility, I was able to stream music from my iPhone to the radio and enjoy the rich 15W speakers of the LC90.

Despite being a lesser-known brand, the  build-quality of the unit is quite high, but to be fair, that’s reflected in the pricing of the radio - this ain’t no cheap Chinese tat! I’ve seen the LC90 advertised as high as £350 on Amazon, although the more common selling price is £235.

If you’re a frequent visitor to this blog, you’ll know that I never pay full price for new radio gear and this was no exception - I snaffled my LC90 for a lowly £146 from Ebay after waiting almost 12 months for the right listing to appear. And at this price, the radio definitely is a bargain!

Unlike Tecsun portable radios, the Choyong doesn’t come with a travel-case which is a great pity. If I ever take my PL990 outdoors, I always put it in its faux-leather case for protection and it’d be great if Choyong provided something similar.

The ergonomics of the LC90 are excellent and I really enjoy operating it - more so than my Tecsuns if I’m honest. The buttons are well placed and the legends are easy to read. The menu system is a joy to use and the (non-touch)  crystal-clear colour screen further enhances operation. With my experience of using portable radios, I found little need for the operator’s manual. The only thing which spoiled the enjoyment of the radio was the lack of a stand on the back. On my Tecsuns, I almost always use their built-in stand to have the radio sat at a 45 degree angle for comfortable operation on a desktop, I’ll have to buy one and stick it on myself.

Starting in FM mode with the telescopic antenna extended, it was easy to find stations and I have to say that I loved the audio from this radio! It was surprisingly deep and rich in sound for such a small package, thanks to the 3 drivers behind the speaker-grille. Holding down the FM button places the radio in Search mode and received stations can be stored in memory (and there’s a lot of memories). This search facility is replicated on the other bands too. I also like the fact that RDS information is displayed in FM mode.

MW didn’t pull in too many stations from my location, but neither do my Tecsuns. There simply aren’t that many around any more, but all the usual suspects were received. Sensitivity was below par.

The ShortWave bands were thankfully busy with Ham Radio contesters, so it was easy to find contacts on all the available bands. Strong signals from Europe came through well on the telescopic while, but I was eager to try the external antenna port so  I connected one of my small wires and pulled in a heck of a lot more signals.

As with any radio, it’s always worth considering using a small matching unit to improve the performance of your wire antenna across the bands. The tiny Pocket Transmatch from Kanga is a good example…

 

I should point out that the external antenna port (a 3.5mm mono jack) is located right next to the tuning dial which is crazy! It would be so much better if it was one the left edge of the radio (which is completely blank).

I’d say that side-by-side with the PL-990X, the LC90 had a less sensitive receiver, but the difference is small and the additional features provided by the Choyong made it the radio that I picked up much more often. It’s really grown on me quite quickly. So this is no DX radio, but to be honest, neither is my PL990X. When I want to pull in very weak stations I just go into my shack and switch on one of my ‘big boy’ radios. 

The biggest feature of the LC90 is the Internet Radio Streaming. Having the ability to choose from over forty thousand stations from across the globe is a real boon! Yes, we know you can do that on your mobile phone, but you’ll drain your battery and potentially miss an important call. Plus, your phone app won’t cover AM/FM/LW/MW/SW and won’t have LSB and USB. And it won’t have all those lovely buttons and dials that us radio freaks love so much 😂.

The LC90’s method of searching and selecting a station makes it a pleasure to use. It even has Voice Control and its recent integration with ChatGPT means it hardly ever fails to understand you (in any language)!

And then there’s all the News channels and Podcasts of the world. Imagine listening to your favourite Ham Radio podcast while pottering around the garden or tidying up the shack. No need to turn on your computer or use up your phone’s charge.  Talking of charging, the radio has a USB-C charging port which keeps your twin 2500mAh 18650 batteries topped up. You can seemingly run your radio for days on end before they fully discharge. If you want even longer run-time, simply swap out the supplied batteries for a couple of 4000mAh 18650s!

To test the LC90’s WiFi, I connected to my local router and experienced no problems. I connected with no issues whatsoever and I suffered no lag or buffering during streaming sessions. I later connected to my iPhone’s Personal Hotspot and again, it worked flawlessly. Finally, I inserted a 4G Vodafone Sim Card into the radio and that worked fine too.

Searching through thousands of Radio Stations is never going to be quick and easy, although it can be quite entertaining. When you select one of the stations shown on screen, you have to wait a few seconds for it to be loaded and begin playing. That’s fine most of the time, but it’s fair to say that some stations take longer than others, while some of the more obscure stations just never load at all. That’s not the fault of the radio.

The best thing you can do when you find a station that you really like is to add it to the Memory Bank. Alternatively, if you know the name of the station, you can ask for it verbally with a command such as “BBC WORLD SERVICE”.

Since first coming to market around a year ago, a lot has changed on the radio thanks to Choyong’s regular firmware updates. They have listened to their customers and have made some fantastic improvements. Reading early reviews would be a complete waste of time, since it’s just not the same radio now, with the latest V4.8 firmware. And there’s more to come! A waterfall would be nice (wink-wink).

Conclusion

This isn’t the most sensitive radio in the world, nor is it the very best, but for me, it’s the one I find myself turning to over and over again. It’s so very easy to operate and it does everything it’s supposed to. In particular, I love the sound of the LC90 and at the end of the day, that’s one of the most important considerations when choosing a radio.

The appearance and ergonomics are great and so too is the build quality. All the buttons and rotaries feel firm and positive. The screen is clear and bright and brimming with useful information. I’m really happy with my little bargain and would go so far as to say I’d have been just as happy if I’d had to pay full price! My only real complaint is the lack of AirBand 😥. 

Other than that, this feature-rich smart radio is smart in every sense of the word and you’d be dumb for not considering it if you’re looking for a great portable.

Please feel free to leave a comment below.

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

ICOM IC-7300 MK II

IC-7300 MK2 MINI-REVIEW

Having got shut of my Yaesu FTX-1 🙏,  I made the (very easy) decision to keep on using the wonderful IC-705 for outdoor use and to add the new 7300-II to the shack. And you know what? It feels great!!

 

As much as I really wanted to love the FTX-1 Optima, I found myself increasingly disappointed with it. Despite losing money 🙄 I was still excited to just put it behind me and get back to enjoying radio!

I had a 7300 a few years ago and it was a great radio but the Mk-II has just made things even better. That’s what you want from a new model - new features and improved function - are you listening Yaesu??

Icom have sold over 100,000 Mk1’s, making it one of the most popular and influential transceivers of all time. When introduced to the UK market (almost a decade ago), it was a genuine game-changer, bringing  high-end SDR tech at entry-level prices, setting new standards. It left everyone else in this sector of the market trailing behind for the next few years.

Apart from being a fabulous budget-priced 100W HF, 6M & 4M SDR transceiver with built-in ATU, it was also compact enough to be used outdoors and the 4.3” colour TFT touch-screen was perfectly visible in bright sunlight - as a result you’d often find it used for Field Days and POTA activations.

So what does the MkII bring to the table? Well of course it has all the benefits of the original version plus a few improvements…

• An improved receiver! The old one was great anyway, but improvements are always welcome. The RMDR has been increased to 105dB for a better dynamic range.
• Improved TX Phase Noise! A 12db improvement - now -139dBc/Hz @ 1kHz.
• Improved Power Consumption! Radio only draws 700mA in standby.
• Cooler Operating Temp! I never thought the old one ran hot, but cooler is good.
• USB-C Conector! Much better than the old USB. AND it provides two com-ports!
• LAN Connector! This makes Remote Control far, far simpler! Inline with the 7610 RC.
• RX-In/RX-Out! So pleased to see this valuable addition.
• CW Decoder! So now the 7300- can decode RTTY and CW.
• HDMI Port! External big-screen display.
• IPS SCREEN! IPS replaces TFT for better detail and colours

So all in all, a very nice collection of useful upgrades! And no losses. Thank you Icom for listening to your customer-base and giving them what they want.

Looking at the front panel there’s virtually no changes apart from the colour of the Power Switch and the ‘Mk2’ logo. On the back panel however, it looks significantly different… 

 

One of the most welcome additions to me is the RX IN/OUT connectors. This allows you to connect an inline BandPass Filter or to add a Receive-Only antenna (say a ground-mounted loop) or even add an external receiver in the form of an SDRPLAY RSPA1. The latter is my personal choice - more on this later.

Having extremely limited space in the shack means that the compact 7300 is a perfect fit, but the downside is that I have to locate the radio to the left of my sitting position. To be fair, that’s not really a problem, since I’m one of those people who prefers to operate their base station via their computer most of the time and that allows me to use my PC’s 32” curved screen, amplified speakers and my Elgato Wave 3 microphone.

So the first job was to attach the supplied EMC Filter to the back wall. I’m not entirely sure that these bulky things do any good, but it’s there so I’ll use it. Next up was to squeeze the 7300 onto a shelf next to a matching Icom speaker that I already owned. Boy, that was a TIGHT fit! Then I connected my trusty LDG Z100PLUS tuner and a USB lead for the computer connection. 

I also connected a LAN cable and initiated the network time-sync facility. The LAN connector is a fabulous addition to the Mk2 and I’m soooo glad they included it. Apart from keeping the clock time perfectly synced, it also negates the need for a computer for remote-control operartion - just like the 7610.

To be honest, I didn’t have access to a LAN port in the shack, so I bought a WiFi Extender which includes an RJ45 LAN port and plugged it in nearby. It works superbly and was an absolute doddle to setup! It has also boosted the performance of my computer’s built-in WiFi, making downloads much faster than they had been previously. And best of all, I paid for it with some Amazon Gift Vouchers that I’d received for my (67th) birthday. Result!!

It’ll probably come as a surprise to hear that I didn’t bother using the HDMI port at all 😮. To me, it’s little more than a vanity screen and is only of any real use to the visually-impaired.

With all the basics connected, I powered up and checked that everything was working properly. I heard IX1HPN on 20M and gave him a shout at 10W. He had a pile-up going and I struggled to get through so I increased power to 25W and still struggled, thanks to my extremely compromised ground-mounted vertical antenna 😢. After repeated attempts, he finally heard me and gave me what he called a genuine 59+.

The Mk2 receiver didn’t sound any different to the last one I’d owned. It didn’t sound any better than my 705 or the Yaesu FTX-1.  In fact, I believe that most modern SDR receivers sound pretty much the same and I’m convinced that 9 out of 10 operators who attach such great value to the Sherwood Table would come unstuck in a blind listening test!

IC-7300 Mk2 with my 5yr old IC-705❤️

The Noise Reduction on the 7300 doesn’t offer anything ground-breaking and that’s always annoying to me when I witness the absolute wonders of the NR2 on the cheap Hermes Lite II - nothing comes close to it! But, it is what it is and I find most of my noise-reduction success comes from making regular use of that little RF GAIN dial!

A mate of mine (M7XCA) reckons the Mk2 pulls in a fraction more noise than his Mk1, but maybe that's because his old Mk1 is a little less sensitive than it used to be. It’s hard for me to comment right now because I’m absolutely surrounded by Xmas lights, Xmas trees, Xmas animated decorations. I sure do wish I had no neighbours! 😂

The old 7300 screen was a TFT and that has been updated with an IPS screen, offering better colours and better performance in bright light. The difference isn’t huge, but it’s definitely an upgrade. Whether it’s more durable and longer lasting than the TFT is a question with no answer. All I can say is I hope it’s better than that crappy screen on my Yaesu FT3D🤬.

The new CW Decoder works extremely well and I found that the AUTO mode does a fabulous job of determining the speed and decoding accurately (with a clean signal).

Knowing that everything was working well, I downloaded the latest drivers from Icom’s website and then plugged in the USB cable to the PC. With that done, it was time to install the RS-BA1 Remote Control software and connect the lovely RC-28 external VFO Dial.

Once I’d got that running (I had to update the software to get it to recognise the 7300Mk2), I started to focus on installing an SDRPLAY RSPA1 receiver.

Originally, I thought that I could just plug my SDRPLAY into the 7300’s RX out, because that’s what everyone was saying on the YouTube (and even at Dealerships) but when I did, I got nothing!  You need to “activate” the RX antenna ports by switching RX-ANT on in the Function menu. The trouble with that is, you’re 7300 will then stop receiving and the radio’s panadapter will go dark. 

And then I recalled a similar experience with my IC-7610, where you need to place the external receiver into a loop using a splitter.  I've created a diagram showing how to connect it...

By using a decent quality splitter such as a Mini-Circuits ZCS-2-2+ or a Diamond SS-500, you can be assured that you are also providing a good degree of isolation between your transceiver's receiver(s) and the external receiver. Typically, you're talking about more than 30dB isolation, so there's very little chance of interference from one receiver to another.

At the time of purchase, the Mini-Circuits splitter wasn't available anywhere in the UK - fresh stock wasn't expected for another 3 months, so I turned to the Diamond SS-500 which is well made but at £70 is quite expensive and has an insertion loss of 0.8dB. The Mini-Circuits device has a lower (0.4dB) insertion loss, but costs around £90.  As usual in these post Covid times, stock shortages pushes prices up to ridiculous levels, and you have to choose between stumping up the cash or waiting months. I chose the former.

The Diamond SS-500 is good from 0.5MHz up to 500MHz which falls way short of the SDRPLAY's frequency range, but that's of no consequence to me, since I'm only interested in HF coverage. 

Before I could install the splitter, I needed to make up some PL259-to-SMA patch leads using short lengths of RG-316. Once that was done, I connected them all up.

I then loaded the latest version of SDRuno along with all the various add-ons and also made sure that OmniRig was running and configured for the IC-7300. 

With everything setup correctly I switched on the radio and ran SDRuno. The two interfaced perfectly and it was good to see the full layout and tools of SDRuno.

Version 1.4.2.1710 is the latest version of SDRuno at the time of writing and is incredibly rich in features. There are a couple of bugs, but the software writers are fully aware of them and are working hard to sort them out. I’m also going to install SDR-CONNECT V1.05 too, along with SDR-CONSOLE...

Anyway, the V.1.4.2 software ran perfectly and it feels good to have SDRuno back on screen, especially this latest version which allows you to have up to 16 virtual receivers running at the same time!! Things have changed significantly since the last time I connected an RSP to a radio and I'm looking forward to exploring and experimenting.

PLEASE NOTE> Once you’ve made these connections, you need to switch the Receive Antenna option on which can be found on Page-2 of the FUNCTION MENU. I’ve actually assigned the RX-ANT function to the VOX button for quick access.   Please note further(!) that whenever you use a splitter (no matter how good it is), you will lose a small amount of signal, so if you wish to avoid this, you can use an SDR Switch instead such as this one from ML&S.

Needless to say, you cannot use this Splitter method if you also want to add an external RX antenna such as a LOTG. You'd have to use the more traditional method of an antenna switch such as the MFJ-1708B, etc.

BEAR IN MIND that you don’t need an antenna splitter or an antenna switch if you’re happy to just use your external SDR for listening to your signals - just connect your SDR to the RX-OUT port, switch on the RX-ANT and away you go.

The final step of the 7300 installation was to configure it to communicate with the SUPERB remote-control app called SDR CONTROL FOR ICOM. I have used this with my 7610 and 705 using my IPad and it works flawlessly!! It’s simply the best RC software out there if you have an IPad.

SDR CONTROL FOR ICOM

So that's it for now. Everything is working very well and it's time to sit back and just enjoy playing radio without all the buggy distractions that the FTX-1 brought. Happy days - thank you Icom!

I'll post more after a couple of months use.

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

 

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