Friday, June 20, 2008

It's official

Finally, something official from Icom.


The IC-7200 should be released in Japan sometime in early August and the price will be 104790 yen as reported recently by JI1ANI, Yukito. Sorry Yukito, I believe you now.

The Icom Japan article is here, with a translated version here.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

IC-7200 price

According to JI1ANI, Yukito, on the Digital Ham Life blog, the price for the IC-7200 has been released.

It'll be 104790 yen according to Yukito, that's just under $1000 in the US and just over $1000 in Australia. Unfortunately, Yukito doesn't say where or when that price was announced, or who by. Without citing his source it's really a meaningless statement to make. I could just as easily make a similar claim and it would be all over the internet within a day.

I won't believe the price until I see it from Icom and there hasn't been a lot of news from them so far. One website was advertising it for US$9999.99, but I suspect that was just so they could get it on the website. Perhaps their software didn't allow TBA, who knows.

This advertisement from Icom in the UK has got me thinking. They say " The IC-7200 features military styling, which makes its suitable for all round use."

To me, military styling means it looks military, it doesn't necessarily mean it's rugged, just looks like it is. I could be reading too much into that though, as the brochure seems to suggest that it's built to take a few knocks as well as utilising technology used in marine radios. It's not waterproof, but it won't mind getting a bit damp.

I'm still looking forward to hearing more about the IC-7200, but since I'm going to have a lot more time on my hands soon, I'm starting to get tempted by a K2.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Oops

My previous blog entry about DXpeditions was the first since Ben added the Anorak Files to Planet Ham.

Unfortunately, it shows up under IW3SOX, Elio's name. That's not unfortunate for me, because it means there are two links to my blog instead of one, but it's unfortunate for Elio. So until Ben gets a chance to fix up the error, here's a link to Elio's blog that's been translated into English by Google and the original Italian version.

It's well worth a look as it has some great pictures on it. I was in Italy earlier this year and it's nice to see the Italian countryside again.

73 de VK4VSP

DXpeditions

Looking at NG3K's DXpedition website, it appears there are quite a few DXpeditions coming up in my region soon.

A couple of those are ZS8T, Marion Island and VK9X, Christmas Island, both of which I've blogged about previously. They both have start dates listed, but I'm not sure how accurate they are, since there are no start dates on their own websites. Still, I'll be keeping an eye out (or and ear).

There are also a couple coming up in Vietnam, 3W2BMK and Cambodia, XU7BMK. If you think those callsigns look familiar, that's because they're both the same person, JA8BMK, Toshi. Having visited Vietnam last year for a holiday, I'd love to get it in the log.

It looks like I'll have more time to get on the radio soon too. After twenty four years with my present employer, my job has been outsourced and I'm being made redundant. I finish up on the 2nd of July. I'll be looking hard for another job, but until I get one I'll be making the most of my time at home.

My first project will be to make up a battery pack so I can use the IC-730 in the field.

73 de VK4VSP