Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, 2 a.m. — I exercised my right to do a little retail therapy last weekend. After writing about maybe looking for an ICOM IC-756/PRO/PROII/PROIII to place here in the library operating position to replace the IC-746, a really, really nice IC-756PRO showed up on eBay — and from a Kentucky seller to boot. I checked the price, checked the listing and did my due diligence.
Here was a near mint IC-756PRO looking at me on eBay with a Buy It Now price only $40 more than I paid for my near-mint IC-746 with 500Hz CW filter. There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with the 746; its in excellent shape and has a great receiver. I simply prefer the color display over the 746’s display. Not much of a justification, is it? I pooled money from a couple of nearly extinct bank accounts and scrapped up sufficient cash to cover the Buy It Now price so I punched the button.
I’ve only had it operational for a couple of hours, and part of that time has been trying to recall how to access features, etc. Its a sweet rig to be as old as it is. So far the big difference I see so far is the factory speaker on the rig lacks the same crispness that I have with the IC-746 speaker audio. I’ll get the rig on the air later this weekend with the CW net.
Another question I had with the 756PRO was how it would handle the power supply hash issue with my Dell. I had to dial in the noise reduction but just like the 746, it took the majority of the hash out, which was all I needed it to do.
I already have fallen back in love with the DSP and the many filter options available.
Every now and then you see a 756PRO or PROII on eBay at a price worth the money. And when you think about it, it (and the 746) represent quite a value when you factor in that a yaesu FT817 sells regularly for $500, and some older rigs — like the Yaesu FT-757GX — can sell for more than $400! I have a weak spot for the FT-757GX, but I’ve got a working example and I’m not in the market for another.
I suppose I’ll keep the 746 on hand a while to make sure the new rig functions as it should.
73 es CUL de KY4Z … sk …. dit dit ..