Hi John! 1
I was trying to help out another ham get started with satellites, and just checked the on-line HRO catalog. They no longer list the Icom W32A, only its accessories.
Does that mean that the TH-D7A[G] is the only HT being made today which works well on FM satellites??? Are there other vendors besides HRO to check?
You're correct. The IC-W32A might be available from other vendors, and if HRO's web site no longer has the W32A listed then their stores have probably sold their remaining stock of those radios.
As for the IC-91A/AD that Icom is advertising as the replacement for the W32A, it is not a full-duplex radio. In fact, it will take some manual effort to use the new HT with satellites, since its memories won't accept frequencies in different bands like many Kenwood and Yaesu dual-band HTs. I played with the IC-91A at Dayton, and asked specifically about the radio's capabilities related to FM satellite work. It sounded like it would be as useful as my IC-T7H - it can work, but with swapping the TX and RX frequencies manually to work the passes, and not full-duplex. :-( Seems like Icom replaced the cross-band full-duplex capability of the W32A with D-Star.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Phoenix AZ http://www.wd9ewk.net/