Well, finally I purchased the IC-7000, I've wanted one since they first released it so 3 years ago but got put off by the fact that it does'nt have an SWR meter on all the bands and no internal voltage meter. Well, I have got round both problems now and what with my local 70cms repeater being back on air, and my superb Bluetooth hands free system, I decided to go for it!!

I chose to have the TV mod and wide TX mod applied by the dealer. I also purchased the seperation cable and extra DC cable. I got sent the wrong cable so I am still waiting for it, but otherwise its now up and running in the car.

I did have a few early issues, the stock mic is "ok" but not great, so I am looking at getting another mic and modding this. Also i found the S Meter to be very lazy on 2 and 70cms being reluctant to go above S9. I am told this is by design, I also found the notched tuning dial fiddly to disengage. Otherwise on air reports are great, I tried it at full power in the car, no immediate problems came to light except the output power was only 50%. However I put my battery on charge and it was only at 60% charge!!

I have looked at getting a battery booster to dial up the voltage to get max power out. I may well end up doing this in the near future. But I'd like to test the rig out on a fully charged battery first. Its worth noting the 75Amp caravan battery is over 2 years old now and normally by now I am having to replace it anyway.