By Andrew Barron, ZL3DW

The Icom IC-7300 radio is one of the best-selling radios of recent years but, as an owner or potential buyer, are you aware of all the features it has and how to get these set up and achieve the potential of the radio? This revised edition of the Radio Today guide to the Icom IC-7300 includes the new features added in the v1.40 firmware update.

The Radio Today guide to the Icom IC-7300 sets out to provide exactly what you want a practical guide that makes getting the most out of this radio. This book doesn't simply duplicate the manuals that describe each button, function, and control but is a "how to do it" book with easy to follow step by step instructions. The new features included in this updated book include the very useful FT8 Preset, which can be used for all external digital modes, scrolling the spectrum display if you tune off the edge of the currently displayed span, four fixed edges for the FIX display, using the MULTI control to step through memory channels, the ability to temporarily allocate one of fifteen transceiver adjustments to the MULTI knob, and the ability to apply custom functions to four of the front panel buttons, and two microphone buttons. The book certainly doesn't stop here either as there are also sections on troubleshooting, reviews of modifications that some have made, links that will extend your knowledge further and much more.

On opening the box of the Icom IC-7300 perhaps you will be surprised by how many settings and controls there are to learn. The inclusion of the 'panadapter' or 'band-scope' marks out the radio as being excellent value but there is a lot more. The radio has VOX (voice operated transmit switching), a built-in antenna tuner, coverage of the 6m (50MHz) and 4m (70MHz) amateur radio bands. And it has a voice keyer, RTTY and CW keyer memories, and an RTTY decoder. These all need effort to setup well and the easy to understand tips and explanations Andrew provides are invaluable in doing so. There are guides to setting up the various operating modes and the section on setting up the PC software digital mode program for FT8 will be the first turned to by many.

The Icom IC-7300 is a great radio and if you want to get the most out of it the updated Radio Today guide to the Icom IC-7300 provides invaluable reading and the insight that is illuminating for every owner or potential purchaser.