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The Icom 7610 is here!!
10 January 2018 | by 
The long awaited Icom 7610 is now available, the spec’s on this rig are very impressive. I would say that for all this rig offers it is priced VERY COMPETITIVELY! I won’t list the spec’s just provide this link that gives you the run down……..see what you think?
24 Responses to “The Icom 7610 is here!!”
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I can’t afford it Mike. I have a 26 year old Icom-728 that works well.
Even if I had the money, I would not spend it on such an expensive radio.
It reminds me of overpriced, over-decorated, Japanese riceboxes.
Does a $6000 dollar radio outperform a $3000 one? Really?
It’s antennas that make the difference.
Stephen
G7VFY
Uhhh, no. To me that’s just not 6K worth of radio. I do find it amusing for that amount you have to go out and purchase your own SD card.
Really, guys?
Well here in US the IC7610 is going for $3899 discount price. Not sure where the $6k price is coming from.
It is the next generation radio, it is SDR where the antenna is connected directly to the DSP.
It is pricey, I think worth it, but I cannot spend that much for a rig, but would if I could for this one. I do have IC7300 also SDR rig from Icom, IMHO the best rig I have ever known, and I have owned a lot of rigs in last 50 years as a Ham.
Seems whenever anyone comes out with a very good radio so many want to attack it, I guess the way things are these days.
Good evening Robert, I am happy with my Elecraft K3 and P3 and for portable ops the KX3. The 7610 is a very nice rig I must say.
73 and thanks for stopping by
Mike
Hello Stephen, it very true the antenna will make or break the radio not matter what the price.
73
Mike
Nice to hear from you Lowell, well my wife is a pro photographer and the 8,000 Nikon a memory card is extra….:)). Maybe it’s the way of the future.
Have a great weekend
73
Mike
Good evening Ron and thanks for taking the time to comment, as for the 6k up this way it’s 5200.00 and with tax in its 6k. Having said that the SDR technology is amazing and Icom has left lots of memory for software upgrades. I am the first to say for the price and what Icom is offering you get good bang for your buck.
Have a great weekend Ron
73
Mike
I like the IC-7610. Kind of reminds me of a poor mans IC-7851, but lower powered and much lighter. One day I might have one. More like in a year or two or three. With a rare few exceptions I don’t get new radios, I get pre-owed with trades. Examples are: My main K3 was a straight trade for a my TenTec Eagle. I traded a 706MKII(none G) for my KX3 which was loaded (S/N 0064) shortly after it came out. I traded a K2/100 (that was from another trade) for a IC-7200. I traded a IC-7000 for a IC-7100 which got traded for a FT-991(none A) that got sold and paid for a new KX2 with internal Battery and ATU. Since I now had a KX3 and KX2 and they are so close to being the same in everyday use, and I love the size and weight of the KX2, when I got the chance I traded my KX3 for 6 month old IC-7300. That is just a small sampling of how I have what I have now. A second K3 that was dead and looked like a dog puked on it, is now working and looking good and is my digital radio. Soooooo since I have a second K3 and it is hooked up to a SDRPlay the thought of trading my K3 and P3 for a pre-owned IC-7610 has crossed my mind. Local hams that know of my “impossible” trades just shake their heads.. They know it would be a hard trade to do.. They also know that the chances for me are better then average based on my history. Time will tell. As for now I am extremely happy with my K3/P3 and my second K3/SDRPlay plus the 7300. Who knows what might happen in a few years from now.
Being on fixed income has made me very creative. Plus it has been fun playing with radios I would never have guessed I would have ever owned.
Now as far as $6,000 forget it. The US price is high, but not unreasonable. I suspect that a year down the road the radio will go from the $3,900 in the US down to maybe $3,200 tops and on sale a bit lower… Give it time… I am
73 Harry K7ZOV
I’ll keep my yeasu ft-991 as I have two more bands plus c4fm digital! its funny the 7300 owners can’t go to 2m or 440 ssb lol! go yeasu!!! 🙂
Good morning Harry, I will say you sure are creative when it come to upgrading your rigs. It’s true the price will come down over the next year but also some of the bugs will be ironed out as well. There also may be some added inhancements since it’s SDR and a simple download can add new features.
Well it’s Friday Harry have a great weekend
73
Mike
Hello Jerry, yes Yaesu is a very nice radio I had the FT 1000MP MK and it was a wonderful rig.
Nice hearing from you Jerry
73
Mike
http://sherweng.com/table.html shows us that the receiver on the IC-7610 is pretty good, but not world-class. What is encouraging is the phase noise number, that will help transmitted spectral purity, which is unfortunately something that is not talked about a lot. Some very expensive radios have very dirty transmitters. see http://audiosystemsgroup.com/TXNoise.pdf
“Nice to hear from you Lowell, well my wife is a pro photographer and the 8,000 Nikon a memory card is extra….:)). Maybe it’s the way of the future.
Have a great weekend
73
Mike”
Maybe you’re right!
I’m sure there are hams that this radio represents good value for what they want. The specs are quite impressive and high performance has never been cheap. I’ve been guilty of a few purchases in the past that other people would not be able to justify for their own use.
Glad to see new things showing up in our market space even if it is at the high end.
73
Lowell
Good morning Mike,
Since around 2000 I started trading. I picked up a few tech specials and repaired them and used them for seeds for trading. I have totally lost track of exactly how many radios I have made trades for, but I do know it was more then 50. A few like the FT-817 and K2/10 and K2/100’s more times then others. A couple of trades where I got two radios for the one I was giving up. It has been fun. Now I have a real problem. All the radios I have are keepers. Even my “blast from the past” ALDA 103, which was one of the first all solid state radios made in 1977. My Heathkit HW-16. And my very first SWL RX my father got me, a Hallicrafters S-38D that I got in 1960.(It still works great and was re-capped last year). So the 7610 might be a long ways off in my life…but then again… With my trading luck who knows ..
Have a great week-end. Hope you get some on the air time and works some great DX… 73 to you and yours… Harry
Hi Lowell, yes we all have been guilty of those large purchases. With the big price tag items I find that my inner self has a battle of the “yes you should you deserve it” and “no hang on it’s lots of money should you really get it” I will admit there are times when either of the sides has won the battle.
73
Mike
WOW Harry you should have a show on the Discovery Channel with all the trading you have done or at least put a book together so we can all learn from you!
73 and as well all the best to you and yours as well.
Mike
Good idea Mike… Probably won’t do either, however here is how I do it. I first my have a item that in reality is trade material. No junk, must be clean and working. Something that I have no issue keeping if a trade in not possible. Then I keep go after ads in eham.net, but mostly qth.com. If I see what I am looking for I present a “offer for you consideration” trade offer. It might take 50 tries and many months of on and off trying but in the end I get what I wanted and the other person gets what he wanted. Most people like to trade up or at least equal in value. They are the hardest. The ones, like me, that have the attitude that the case worth means less then getting what I want means more are the deal makers. I have never added $$$ nor asked for any in deal. It has to be a straight trade. I have added goodies to sweeten the pot, like a extra mike, or key or P.S. and even a external ATU to get the deal. All items that are extra a collecting dust. Most hams have items like that.
If the deal blow out. To me it is not big deal. I will just try again with someone else in a week or two. So when it is time for a K3+P3 trade for a IC-7610 I will probably pull a extra filter from the second K3 and make sure the other person know about the SVGA option installed in the P3 and all the cable, including the USB cable and new Mic…. Make it as good as possible and see what happens. For a trade like this I will need to find a Elecraft person who fell in lust for the 7610 and realized he/she really missed the size and features of the K3+P3 they parted with in the past. Will it be easy? Nope… Is it possible… Yup…
73 Harry
My Ten Tec Omni VII does the job for me. I cant complain about their products.
Hello Harry, a very nice process that you go through and it seems it’s a matter of waiting it out. I did check out QTH.COM and there was someone putting their K3 and P3 up for trade for a 7610………it has started already.
73,
Mike
Hello Bob, yes the Ten Tec radios are very nice but I’m not sure really what’s up with Ten Tec with the new owners??
Have a great weekend Bob
73
Mike
Mike your right about 7610 for sale or trade.. One wanted only a trade.. Yup I though my baited hook out just for yucks… I think at this stage of the game I have about a 10% chance of getting a trade. LET THE GAMES BEGIN…
73 Harry
Mike.. I done did do it… Posted my main K3+P3 for trade for a IC-7610 on QTH.COM… Now let’ see how many hours, days, weeks or months before I get a bite….
Good luck Harry keep me posted!