ICOM 9700 9600 Baud Packet Question
All:
I reached out to the senior sales manager at ICOM today and asked about the possibility of adding 9600 baud packet capabilities to the IC-9700.
He said he hasn't heard anything about 9.6 k, but he did mention that such matters are handled by the engineering department.
I know some of you have contacted Icom regarding this matter and was wondering if anyone has heard directly from engineering?
Tony -K2MO
Hello Tony,
I am delighted to see you asking about this and in contact with Icom about it! I got my IC-9700 before Hamvention in May 2019. A rep from Icom (Japan) was there (as was the US rep--can't think of his name, but he's present and around when new rigs come out, etc...), and I had conversation with them, and even wrote a little note about the lack of 9600 packet in the radio. I can't recall his position at Icom-Japan, but he said he would take the request back--but no promise it would/could be done. Nothing changed so far...1.5 years ago.
My note basically said that the FM-D mode in the 9700 needed to work or be the same as in the IC-9100 FM-D mode, both on transmit and receive. That was the easiest way for me to make the point...
It would be REALLY helpful to have 9600 baud packet on the IC-9700. Really, it's a sad reality that they haven't done it yet...surely the radio is capable via firmware. Surely it's the cost...
Using the IF output, I (and others) can decode 9600 baud packet no problem. But that's not how it should work, either...9600 baud capable signals should be coming out the back jack when in FM-D mode. Concept is easy--implementation must not be so!
Any help I can lend, or voice to add, please let me know. Several people have sold or disconnected their 9700 radios because of this. Minor part of the market, but losing a feature that has been around quite a while is sad.
73,
Mark N8MH
On 12/5/2020 12:57 AM, Tony via AMSAT-BB wrote:
All:
I reached out to the senior sales manager at ICOM today and asked about the possibility of adding 9600 baud packet capabilities to the IC-9700.
He said he hasn't heard anything about 9.6 k, but he did mention that such matters are handled by the engineering department.
I know some of you have contacted Icom regarding this matter and was wondering if anyone has heard directly from engineering?
Tony -K2MO
Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
I badly wanted one, until I read about this problem.
Off the list . . . .
My 910, 475H, and 275H work fine . . . . .
73,
Jim
On 12/5/2020 12:35 PM, Mark Hammond via AMSAT-BB wrote:
Hello Tony,
I am delighted to see you asking about this and in contact with Icom about it! I got my IC-9700 before Hamvention in May 2019. A rep from Icom (Japan) was there (as was the US rep--can't think of his name, but he's present and around when new rigs come out, etc...), and I had conversation with them, and even wrote a little note about the lack of 9600 packet in the radio. I can't recall his position at Icom-Japan, but he said he would take the request back--but no promise it would/could be done. Nothing changed so far...1.5 years ago.
My note basically said that the FM-D mode in the 9700 needed to work or be the same as in the IC-9100 FM-D mode, both on transmit and receive. That was the easiest way for me to make the point...
It would be REALLY helpful to have 9600 baud packet on the IC-9700. Really, it's a sad reality that they haven't done it yet...surely the radio is capable via firmware. Surely it's the cost...
Using the IF output, I (and others) can decode 9600 baud packet no problem. But that's not how it should work, either...9600 baud capable signals should be coming out the back jack when in FM-D mode. Concept is easy--implementation must not be so!
Any help I can lend, or voice to add, please let me know. Several people have sold or disconnected their 9700 radios because of this. Minor part of the market, but losing a feature that has been around quite a while is sad.
73,
Mark N8MH
On 12/5/2020 12:57 AM, Tony via AMSAT-BB wrote:
All:
I reached out to the senior sales manager at ICOM today and asked about the possibility of adding 9600 baud packet capabilities to the IC-9700.
He said he hasn't heard anything about 9.6 k, but he did mention that such matters are handled by the engineering department.
I know some of you have contacted Icom regarding this matter and was wondering if anyone has heard directly from engineering?
Tony -K2MO
Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
I also wanted one until I realized it did not support this. As Alan says, it is not really about packet. A modern radio with an SDR at its heart should support wideband digital signals. It should ideally be as wide as the IF in both directions.
73 Chris G0KLA
On Sat, Dec 5, 2020 at 3:31 PM Jim Sanford via AMSAT-BB [email protected] wrote:
I badly wanted one, until I read about this problem.
Off the list . . . .
My 910, 475H, and 275H work fine . . . . .
73,
Jim
On 12/5/2020 12:35 PM, Mark Hammond via AMSAT-BB wrote:
Hello Tony,
I am delighted to see you asking about this and in contact with Icom about it! I got my IC-9700 before Hamvention in May 2019. A rep from Icom (Japan) was there (as was the US rep--can't think of his name, but he's present and around when new rigs come out, etc...), and I had conversation with them, and even wrote a little note about the lack of 9600 packet in the radio. I can't recall his position at Icom-Japan, but he said he would take the request back--but no promise it would/could be done. Nothing changed so far...1.5 years ago.
My note basically said that the FM-D mode in the 9700 needed to work or be the same as in the IC-9100 FM-D mode, both on transmit and receive. That was the easiest way for me to make the point...
It would be REALLY helpful to have 9600 baud packet on the IC-9700. Really, it's a sad reality that they haven't done it yet...surely the radio is capable via firmware. Surely it's the cost...
Using the IF output, I (and others) can decode 9600 baud packet no problem. But that's not how it should work, either...9600 baud capable signals should be coming out the back jack when in FM-D mode. Concept is easy--implementation must not be so!
Any help I can lend, or voice to add, please let me know. Several people have sold or disconnected their 9700 radios because of this. Minor part of the market, but losing a feature that has been around quite a while is sad.
73,
Mark N8MH
On 12/5/2020 12:57 AM, Tony via AMSAT-BB wrote:
All:
I reached out to the senior sales manager at ICOM today and asked about the possibility of adding 9600 baud packet capabilities to the IC-9700.
He said he hasn't heard anything about 9.6 k, but he did mention that such matters are handled by the engineering department.
I know some of you have contacted Icom regarding this matter and was wondering if anyone has heard directly from engineering?
Tony -K2MO
Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
-- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
On 12/05/20 16:23, Chris Thompson via AMSAT-BB wrote:
I also wanted one until I realized it did not support this. As Alan says, it is not really about packet. A modern radio with an SDR at its heart should support wideband digital signals. It should ideally be as wide as the IF in both directions.
Chris,
Indeed. Raw access to the digital IF, bidirectionally, would be ideal.
*Soapbox warning*
This example serves to highlight the reality of software-defined radios where corporations, not amateurs, are writing the code within the CPU/DSP.
Used to be, if you wanted your rig to do something (with the RF/AF path anyway), you could apply a soldering iron at the proper location and make it so. Not so much with SDR (DSP) rigs, which have much of that path in the software realm.
The same thing is happening in many aspects of our lives: there is less "hackability", in the true hardware hacker sense of the word, as corporations realize that they need us to buy next year's model to get the 1% functionality that wasn't in what we have now and have no way to add it ourselves.
It makes me less inclined to buy a shiny new box to do radio. I'd rather build my own equipment that I can then modify, experiment, and share with others.
*Off the soapbox*
--- Zach N0ZGO
ABSOLUTELY agree!
Jim
On 12/5/2020 7:29 PM, Zach Metzinger via AMSAT-BB wrote:
On 12/05/20 16:23, Chris Thompson via AMSAT-BB wrote:
I also wanted one until I realized it did not support this. As Alan says, it is not really about packet. A modern radio with an SDR at its heart should support wideband digital signals. It should ideally be as wide as the IF in both directions.
Chris,
Indeed. Raw access to the digital IF, bidirectionally, would be ideal.
*Soapbox warning*
This example serves to highlight the reality of software-defined radios where corporations, not amateurs, are writing the code within the CPU/DSP.
Used to be, if you wanted your rig to do something (with the RF/AF path anyway), you could apply a soldering iron at the proper location and make it so. Not so much with SDR (DSP) rigs, which have much of that path in the software realm.
The same thing is happening in many aspects of our lives: there is less "hackability", in the true hardware hacker sense of the word, as corporations realize that they need us to buy next year's model to get the 1% functionality that wasn't in what we have now and have no way to add it ourselves.
It makes me less inclined to buy a shiny new box to do radio. I'd rather build my own equipment that I can then modify, experiment, and share with others.
*Off the soapbox*
--- Zach N0ZGO _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Tony,
Pretty much what Mark said. The IC-9700 was going to be my Bucket List satellite rig until that issue turned up. I already have a much more capable rig which also does not support 9600 baud TX. Hi Hi
One point I have found in talking with Icom employees, as well as those folks who have somewhat unofficial but influential connections, is that they have a limited concept of what you mean when you say 9600 baud. They are basically thinking classical packet, while in fact it is just a shorthand for the required audio response of several modes and uses such as satellite telemetry, and the growing use of VARA for EMCOMM work. It hasn't resulted in any action, obviously, but mentioning those does prevent them from tuning you out immediately. It couldn't hurt to include those in communications.
73,
Alan WA4SCA
<-----Original Message----- <From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tony via AMSAT- <BB <Sent: Friday, December 4, 2020 11:57 PM <To: AMSAT-BB [email protected] <Subject: [amsat-bb] ICOM 9700 9600 Baud Packet Question < <All: < <I reached out to the senior sales manager at ICOM today and asked about <the possibility of adding 9600 baud packet capabilities to the IC-9700. < <He said he hasn't heard anything about 9.6 k, but he did mention that <such matters are handled by the engineering department. < <I know some of you have contacted Icom regarding this matter and was <wondering if anyone has heard directly from engineering? < <Tony -K2MO < < < < <_______________________________________________ <Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available <to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed <are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. <Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! <Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
participants (6)
-
Alan -
Chris Thompson -
Jim Sanford -
Mark Hammond -
Tony -
Zach Metzinger