Icom just released a new radio soon to be out to replace the tired looking IC-7100. This is an all mode 100w HF and 50w 2m/440 with D-Star. No list or street price available yet. My guess will be at least $1600.
RigPix website already has this posted. One thing I was looking for is if this radio had a display out port like the IC-7300MkII in HDMI or other type of video out. Unfortunately it does not. That wouldn't breaker though. I still have two IC-7000's which I like and are still great for an all mode shack in the box mobile. Being a bigger display head on this new model makes it more of a portable or a less obtrusive size shack radio in limited space and it will fill that need quite well. As for mobile operating, Today's modern vehicles don't really have much free console space to mount a large radio control head like this so a clever mounting scheme will have to be engineered or just set it on top of the dash but the size of this could obstruct some of the drivers view.
This radio does feature built in mounting schemes like tripod and magnetic mounts as shown below in the last pic but it will remain to be seen if proprietary Icom mounts must be used or if many other brands of aftermarket mounts can be used.
The Bluetooth feature is great for mobile or wireless hands free operating at anytime. Blue Parrot headsets are the best headsets out there for outstanding noise canceling performance. However, I rigged my IC-7000 for Bluetooth with the headset and it does work, but there is just a slight bit of latency. Maybe this radio with built in Bluetooth may not have any latency to it.
Here's a pic from RigPix webpage. You can see both radio head and main unit have mic input jacks. It's likely similar to the IC-7000 where only one mic can be plugged into a jack at a time so never plug 2 mics together. Notice there is 2 speaker jacks, one for HF and one for 2m/440?...why? Unless it has dual band receive, that would be a great feature!
RigPix website already has this posted. One thing I was looking for is if this radio had a display out port like the IC-7300MkII in HDMI or other type of video out. Unfortunately it does not. That wouldn't breaker though. I still have two IC-7000's which I like and are still great for an all mode shack in the box mobile. Being a bigger display head on this new model makes it more of a portable or a less obtrusive size shack radio in limited space and it will fill that need quite well. As for mobile operating, Today's modern vehicles don't really have much free console space to mount a large radio control head like this so a clever mounting scheme will have to be engineered or just set it on top of the dash but the size of this could obstruct some of the drivers view.
This radio does feature built in mounting schemes like tripod and magnetic mounts as shown below in the last pic but it will remain to be seen if proprietary Icom mounts must be used or if many other brands of aftermarket mounts can be used.
The Bluetooth feature is great for mobile or wireless hands free operating at anytime. Blue Parrot headsets are the best headsets out there for outstanding noise canceling performance. However, I rigged my IC-7000 for Bluetooth with the headset and it does work, but there is just a slight bit of latency. Maybe this radio with built in Bluetooth may not have any latency to it.
Here's a pic from RigPix webpage. You can see both radio head and main unit have mic input jacks. It's likely similar to the IC-7000 where only one mic can be plugged into a jack at a time so never plug 2 mics together. Notice there is 2 speaker jacks, one for HF and one for 2m/440?...why? Unless it has dual band receive, that would be a great feature!