IC 746 pro.

Just what it says -- this is the place for any discussions not related to Buying, Selling and Trading ham gear. The discussion must be related to Ham Radio.
Post Reply
k9vt
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 9:50 am

IC 746 pro.

Post by k9vt »

I have been thinking about picking up a used 746 pro. After reading through some of the sights regarding the dead transmit issues i'm extremely leary. I guess to further explain my mis trust i just bought a used Kenwood TS-940s off this sight that is very sick. It was supposedly working fine according to the guy i trusted. My question is is the dead transmitt issue an isolated case or something prone to happen? Sure wish hams of today had the integrity of yesterday. Ken
wx1f
Posts: 257
Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:45 pm

Re: IC 746 pro.

Post by wx1f »

Post Deleted
Last edited by wx1f on Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
K4ICL
Posts: 663
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2003 1:07 pm
Location: Greenville, SC
Contact:

A good question...

Post by K4ICL »

Ken:

I bought a new IC-746Pro a few months after it was introduced on the market. After using it for about six weeks, one day it just quit. Yep, the now-infamous manufactured flaw got it.

Sent it to the Service center and in a couple of weeks it was returned completely upgraded with no charge for the service.

So far an all too familiar story... The story that is making you leery of buying.

Turns out there was a manufacturer's flaw and Icom did repairs and upgrades to deal with it. That being the case, it might be assumed Icom has corrected the manufacturing issues with the model and all is wonderful again.

But to be sure, your best bet is to contact the ICOM service center and ask the question directly. The Supervisor of the center KNOWS which production runs are likely to be affected and which are not.

Armed with this info, you can purchase with high degree of confidence the unit you buy will not crash on you.

BTW, buying a "new" radio will not solve the problem. Remember, mine WAS new.

Cheers,

Al
k2id
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2008 8:14 pm

Stay away from the 746 Pro

Post by k2id »

Like many others mine stopped transmitting about 6 weeks after I bought it. Sure Icom fixed it but I was out $70 for shipping (I paid for professional packing). The worst part was that when i called icom about the problem and stated that it looked like I had the known problem with dead transmit I was met with anger and denial of any such problem. I was promptly told that the problem was probably caused by static and that Icom had fixed the dead transmit problem long ago. I did some research and found out that at one time there was a technical bulletin on Icom's website acknowledging the problem and then mysteriously it was removed and no one seems to know of its existance at Icom.

To make matters worse, I sold the 746 Pro and the guy I sold it to called me up and said that after a few days it would not transmit any more. I had to pay to ship it back to Icom and then back to my buyer. I talked to the subcontracted service company that Icom uses in my region and was told that during the production of my rig, Icom had designed a new circuit board to eliminate the problem but apprently the new board was causing even more problems so he simply put back the original type board again, the same type that failed the first time. The guy who bought my 746 ended up selling mine and his due to continuing problems.

I called Icom and asked if they would at least reimburse some of my shipping cost and they refused citing their policy even after providing proof that in both cases the repairs were due to known defective parts. I ended up telling them that their refusal to reimbuse me my costs would cost them more in the long run and to date I have talked 4 hams out of buying the 746 Pro. What I say is true.

There is one other issue that you can research and verify. That is that on some Icom rigs like the 706 and 746 Pro, you can hear the PL tones on VHF during receive and your PL tones that are sent can be heard by others. icom states that this is normal. The problem seems to be that Icom, unlike other manufactures, does not attenuate or filter audio below 300 Hz properly and therefore you hear the repeater's tones which are very annoying on a quality speaker. You can use the built in speaker to get around this problem but sacrifice fidelity. I was also told that my rigs send out a very strong PL tone which was also normal. Heck, I was told by Icom that there was nothing wrong with the audio on my IC 7000 even though everyone i spoke to asked me to turn up my mic gain which was already set to the max. I had to pay for a mic mod so that I could sound good enough so that people whould stop telling me that I was a fool for spending so much money for a rig that cost that much and sounds so bad. Then there was the 756 Pro III that blew a pre-map only after two months.

I know that I sound like an Icom basher but I have bought and sold 19 rigs in the last two years so I have tried most of the ones out there and have had one model or another of an Icom. Yaesu and Kenwood in my shack at the same time many times. The only rigs that I ever had problems with were the Icoms. I always got the best audio reports with my Yaesus, whether they be mobile, base or HT. YMMV. Yes I am biased but biased due to my personal experience with acutally owning and using these rigs. I have never heard a bad Yaesu mobile rig but heard plenty of pinched and low audio from icom mobile rigs. It is a fact that the non Pro icom rigs have very low mic pre-amps. That makes it a problem if you want to use a non Icom mic. Anyway, for what it is worth, my personal experience with Icom and the 746 Pro in particular has not been good and the same goes for the few hams I know that had them. They all ended up selling them. Many hams are attracted to them because of the 2m ability but you would be better off getting an HF and separate VHF/UHF rig. Of course as with all things, many hams have not had any problems with their icom rigs. I must be one of the large minority of those who have had just about every reported problem with icom rigs that I have owned.
N4EMP
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:40 pm
Location: Jasper, AL
Contact:

Dead Transmit on my Icom 746 Pro

Post by N4EMP »

Well, looks like mine has fallen prey to the "known issue". No TX output!!
Was working digital mode BPSK-31 and noticed Forward movement on the radio had stopped during one sent message.... Needed that state too for my ARRL WAS LOTW. lol
With all digital hardware disconnected (SignaLink USB) and radio tuned to a local 2 meter repeater, was able to kerchunk a repeater but saw NO TX power output at all. Oh well, I learned my lesson not to rush out and by a $1300.ºº radio (Power Supply was included) from AES. Will "Further Study" from now on!
Icom America is conveniently "Closed on Saturdays" and the Online email form wouldn't accept my comments. Will try again on Monday.
Hopefully, if this is a "known issue", I can get satisfactory results! *fingers crossed*
Eddie Phillips
Jasper, AL
k9yli
Posts: 229
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:35 pm
Location: northwest wisconsin

Post by k9yli »

http://forums2.qrz.com/showthread.php?2 ... IC-746PROs!

QRZ forums, "repair" wa6mhz

date of 12/04/10 in case the link doesnt work..

you fix already figured out..
brownee
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:18 am

Re: IC 746 pro.

Post by brownee »

Post Reply