Hi Dee,
Looks a great unit, the preliminary spec is at http://www.icomuk.co.uk/getFile.asp?categoryID=3508&cCID=16907&fFID=...
I noted the 1240 MHz band coverage goes out to 1320 MHz, be useful in the UK as our 23cm band goes out to 1325. The incorporation of a USB port is good, wish all rigs had one.
The only disappointment is the absence of the 70 MHz band which we now have in much of Region 1. I look forward to the QST review which will should a good indication how it performs in practice.
Agree the price is steep, clearly aimed at the very top of the Amateur market, it makes the IC-910 look cheap, but there are lots of other options for equipment for low cost satellite working.
73 Trevor M5AKA Daily Amateur Radio Email/RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email Your News To: editor at southgatearc.org Or Upload Using Form At: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news_1.htm ----
--- On Tue, 18/5/10, Dee morsesat@optonline.net wrote:
Date: Tuesday, 18 May, 2010, 20:30 Satellite enthusiasts, To give everyone the actual Pre-release specs, I have attached the copy (specs only) of the Icom pamphlet I was offered at Dayton about the IC9100. I think that if Yaesu comes in with a $2000 version, they will corner the market- I own 2 (yes, two) IC910's and love them but the price of this IC9100 is out there with the satellites somewhere. The estimated cost of $4000 is out of reach for the average satellite enthusiast. This is a hobby, not a profession...and while it looks great, the satellite users need something they can afford so they can also donate to & support a Launch fund to allow AMSAT-NA to put up another HEO bird. (One of the top questions to AMSAT at the Dayton 2010 booth while spending 14+ hours assisting with fund raising & fielding members questions.) Similar obstacles are being encountered by AMSAT-DL. Putting together a satellite our members have asked for is within sight, however, launching them is presently out of reach. AMSAT-NA is presently putting together several LEO projects to keep the spark alive. Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Alinco, & other manufacturers, a campaign for the launch costs for the benefit of all is needed to re-kindle the satellite spirit of yesterday. (AO-10, AO-13 and AO-40) DARA has started in this direction with their matching funds offer(Thanks). Let's continue with this support. See you on the birds. 73, Dee, NB2F AMSAT Life member and Satellite enthusiast
On 05/19/2010 03:33 AM, Trevor . wrote:
I noted the 1240 MHz band coverage goes out to 1320 MHz, be useful in the UK as our 23cm band goes out to 1325. The incorporation of a USB port is good, wish all rigs had one.
Expanding on the message I wrote directly to Trevor: USB is good, but I think Ethernet would be better, and I think it should speak an established protocol for controlling radios, like the rigctld protocol, which is based on TCP/IP.
USB is designed to connect peripherals to a main computer, which means that connecting to a radio using USB are going to need drivers to do it. I expect that the radio will show up as a logical serial port, and it will be necessary to use a protocol to communicate over that serial port to control the radio.
On the other hand, Ethernet is for connecting separate systems together, and since most computers speak TCP/IP over Ethernet already, it wouldn't be necessary to create drivers to talk to the radio. It would only be required to write applications that know how to use the protocol that the radio knows. Since, in both cases, a protocol must be defined, the advantage goes to Ethernet, I think. Further, if a previously defined protocol is used then it is likely that there may be available applications that already know how to drive the radio before the radio is even available. I like the rigctld protocol because it's what the program I use (gpredict) knows.
In fact, at the cost bandied about for this radio, I think it should have 100Base-T switch built into it, although I agree with Bruce that real information about pricing won't be known until the dealers tell us what they're going to charge for it.
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participants (2)
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Jonathan Guthrie -
Trevor .