Icom IC-718 Review By KN4LF

In October 2005 I purchased a new Icom IC-718 transceiver for digital modes operation only and as follows is a review of it. Note! This review also contains information on how to hook up this rig for digital modes operation and also for computer control.
The IC-718 is advertised as an entry level rig and it's price ~$600 would lead you to believe it to be so. However the first secret behind the incredible number of bells and whistles and performance for the price is the rig's very powerful computer microprocessor. The rig is very similar to the Orion Jupiter in that respect. The second secret is that this is a ham radio version of the excellent $1000 + Icom IC-78 Marine HF transceiver, with only some very minor ergonomic differences, though which I consider to be a bit annoying.

My first impression is as follows:

The rig is very small and light at approximately 8 lbs and would make an excellent Field Day and DXpedition rig.

The rig has allot of bells and whistles, many that the Yaesu FT-840 does not have to include:
1.) Full break in on CW, though you have to listen to relay clicking noise.

2.) Adjustable CW keyer

3.) You can send CW via the hand mic which acts as an Iambic paddle

4.) RF gain control and an attenuator

5.) Receiver preamplifier

6.) Tunes in 1 hz intervals and shows the 1 hz digit on the digital readout, that is very easy to read without glasses (for us 50 year old plus operators)

7.) Effective AF DSP noise reduction

8.) Automatic notch filter

9.) Adjustable VOX

10.) Direct frequency entry via keypad

11.) Adjustable wide/narrow noise blanker

12.) Built in SWR bridge, ALC and output power metering

13.) Settings menu system like the IC-756 series (To some this might not be a plus)

14.) Front firing speaker with built in audio tailoring to communications quality SSB

15.) Stock 6 kc AM filter

16.) Stock 2.1 kc (to narrow for general SSB operation in my opinion) SSB filter with a good shape factor

17.) Stock 7 kc roofing filter

18.) You can choose any filter independent of mode

19.) RIT

20.) IF shift

21.) Split frequency operation

22.) 101 memories

23.) Frequency and memories scanning

24.) Will key virtually any amplifier without a buffer interface

It's amazing how inexpensive the rig is (~$600) considering all the bells and whistles built in.

Bells and whistles are all fine but the real question is how does it perform on receive? On receive it's surprisingly good, very impressive actually.
Yesterday evening on the longwave band I had easy copy of European and African longwave broadcast stations with no IMD. On the MF AM broadcast band it's also very sensitive but with no IMD. On SW broadcast it's very sensitive with no IMD, including the ham bands of course. Yesterday evening I listened on 20 and 80 meters SSB where many strong signals existed and could detect no IMD.

The rig is considered to be only average on 160 meters due to MF AM broadcast band station breakthrough, because of high sensitivity on the AM broadcast band but I could not detect any IMD on 160. Of course I don't have allot of point blank flame throwing high powered MF AM broadcast band stations either. I have one 5 kw day timer on 1430 kc approximately 4.9 miles that puts in an S9+40 signal away but nothing greater than 1 KW at night. A true 160 meter test will be the first SSB or CW contest this fall.
After giving the IC-718 a good shakedown in several 160 meter contests I can happily say that I could detect no overload IMD listening on a 160 meter 1/2 wavelength inverted L. I also discovered that the rig has a 7 kc roofing filter which explains why IMD is not an issue.

The DSP unit works very well at knocking down lightning crashes and placing a marginally readable above the noise for Q5 copy!
The IC-718 is a very capable QRP rig. It puts out as low as 900 milliwatts and has an excellent CW keyer built in. All of my QRP operation is with this rig. You do have to add the optional CW filter. I have the W4RT Collins mechanical 500 hz filter installed.

CLICK TO ENTER
NORTH AMERICAN QRP CW CLUB (NAQCC)
KN4LF QRP DXCC ENTITY TOTALS
Intermodulation distortion (IMD) is a measure of the ability of the receiver to be able to hear weak stations very near in frequency to strong stations.

Comparing the Icom IC-718 to the Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V Field (with the optional roofing filter) and FT-840.

On the LF band the IC-718 is better than the Mark V Field and FT-840 as far as sensitivity and IMD.

On the MF band the IC-718 is much better than the Mark V Field and better than FT-840 as far as sensitivity and IMD.

On HF including the ham bands it's better than the FT-840 and down a smidge with the Mark V Field as far as sensitivity and IMD, especially on 80 and 20 meters. Remember though the IC-718 is supposed to be an entry level transceiver.
Sherwood Engineering has measured the close in dynamic range (one of the most important receiver performance measurements) of many transceivers and receivers. The Yaesu FT-1000 MP Mark V Field without the optional roofing filter was measured at a -66 and the Icom IC-718/R-75 at -67. The ~$600 IC-718 beat the ~$1800 stock FT-1000MP Mark V Field.
SHERWOOD ENGINEERING RIG PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS
I do have a list of five complaints. However at the same time to be fair with Icom they had to cut some corners in order to get the price down to what would be considered entry level.

1.) No internal transmit audio tailoring. You buy the SM-20 desk microphone and an outboard W2IHY equalizer box. I initially used an Icom SM-6 desk microphone on phone but recently replaced it with a Heil iCM desk microphone. The iCM is designed for Icom rigs and at -3db passes 30 hz to 12000 hz audio with a bit of a peak at 4000 hz. I've received some very good audio reports with the microphone so far. I posted the following review of the Heil iCM microphone on eHam.

.....I'm mostly a QRP CW and digital modes operator with an Icom IC-718. On
occasion when I operated phone in rag chews with friends the SM-6 desk mic
always got reports of to many high's.

I took a look at the Icom SM-20 desk mic and didn't like the spec's or
appearance and especially not the price! I had purchased HC-5 and HC-4
microphone elements around 11 years ago and was happy with their
performance. So I decided to check out the Heil website and stumbled across
the Icom iCM desk microphone. I emailed Chip Margelli, K7JA with some
questions and he responded very quickly and politely.

I went ahead and placed an order for the iCM through HRO in Atlanta and
darned if they didn't get it in the UPS system on the same day. When the
microphone arrived I was pleased to see that Heil included the mic clip and
wind sock.

The mic looks good and appears to be well built. I immediately made some
local 80 and 160 meter QSO's with friends and received much better audio
reports than with the SM-6.

Fairly recently I pulled the IC-718 stock 2.1 kc SSB ceramic filter and
replaced it with a Collins 2.4 kc SSB mechanical filter from W4RT and I'm
sure that also assisted in improving transmitted audio response.

Bottom line is that I'm very happy with the product and customer service and
will do business with Bob Heil again! By the way I was also impressed with
the service I received from HRO in Atlanta.....
HEIL ICM MICROPHONE
2.) The built in adjustable noise blanker, is ineffective at any setting on most of the powerline and other neighborhood noise that I have at my particular QTH. However it is effective on suppression of some noise when used as a mobile rig.

3.) The AGC time constant is fixed. From the front panel there is no way to adjust for fast, slow, off per the individual mode that you might be operating. Fortunately on CW, RTTY and AM the fixed time constant is of the correct decay rate. However in the SSB mode the decay time constant is to fast for my personal taste.

It is correctable by backing off on the RF gain control a little until the AGC pumping stops. A second and permanent fix is to make a physical modification, which I chose to do. Note! In order to successfully do this modification you need good eye sight and a steady hand, as you have to solder a jumper wire from one tiny SMT to another in a tight area. You can find this modification at the
KB2LLJ RADIO MODS DATABASE
4.) The RF speech processor is not adjustable from the front or back panels. The rig produces poor transmit audio reports in the SSB mode with the RF speech processor on. At the factory Icom set's the RF processing level at approximately +12 db, with the proper level being +6db max. However all is not lost if you are not timid about opening up the rig.

On the "Main" board is the adjustment for the speech processor which is R2220, a 220k trimmer located to the bottom right of IC2201 on the main board, when looking at the top side of the board layout in the service manual. Using an oscilloscope I set the RF processing level to +6 db and am now getting excellent audio reports. BTW the idea of a modification came from me but the actual research into the modification was done courtesy of Rick W8ZT.
5.) The rig comes standard with a 6 kc AM filter and 2.1 kc SSB filter with a pretty good shape factor but no CW filter and only one slot is available for an optional filter. So if you want a wider or more narrow SSB filter or a CW filter, it's one or the other. However the problem is fixable.

I made the W4RT "One Board" filter modification myself as I'm a fairly competent electronics technician. However if you are timid about putting your fingers inside of your rig, W4RT will install the modification for you at a minimal charge. The product quality, customer service and technical support at W4RT is first rate and I highly recommend them. By the way the addition of the Collins 2.4 kc mechanical SSB filter gives you an approximate 3 db increase in talk power.

For more information on the filters and the modification check out the two website links below.
W4RT ELECTRONICS
COLLINS MECHANICAL FILTERS FOR THE FT-817/IC-718
W4RT ELECTRONICS RETROFIT ONE BOARD FILTER ASSEMBLY
REVIEW BY GREG BUCHWALD K9QI

If you want to interface the IC-718 or any other Icom rig with a computer for rig control, an outboard CI-V CAT device is required. As follows is some information on hooking up the IC-718 13 pin DIN jack to the MixW Rig Expert Tiny 5 pin DIN plug CI-V CAT interface.

The connections are as follows:

ACC(1) yellow wire to orange wire on Bux Comm 13 pin DIN prewired cable for PTT. (pin 3)
ACC(1) white wire to light green wire on Bux Comm 13 pin DIN prewired cable for rig receive AF out to sound card. (pin 12)
ACC(1) red wire to pink wire on Bux Comm 13 pin DIN prewired cable for MOD in to rig. (pin 11)
ACC(1) untinned braid to Bux Comm 13 pin DIN prewired cable tinned braid for ground.
NOTE!!! I have no financial interest in the following products. I'm merely a very satisfied customer.
I highly recommend the MixW Rig Expert Tiny as a digital interface as far as quality of parts and construction and of course operation. However I did run into some problems initially with the 13 pin DIN plug being wired wrong. I corrected the problem myself by adding a new prewired 13 pin DIN plug (part #13D) from BUX CommCo http://www.packetradio.com . I also highly recommend them as their parts are top notch and so is their customer service.
To be fair to the Rig Expert Tiny people, when I ordered another "Tiny" for my Icom IC-746 Pro the attached 8 pin DIN plug was correctly wired.
The "Tiny" includes the CI-V circuitry necessary for computer control of Icom rigs including frequency. You can learn more about this interface at:

MIX W RIG EXPERT SITE

I also highly recommend the MixW multimode digital software. You can learn more about it at:
MIX W SOFTWARE SITE

For more general information on the Icom CI-V CAT interface check out the following website:
DF4OR ICOM CI-V INTERFACE SITE