Icom M802 vs Icom 7300

[BigAl.NZ]

Hi,

I have been reading about both these radios - putting aside that one is Ham and one is Marine SSB what are the pro's / con's of one over the other? (assuming you had a modified 7300 to include SSB bands)

I came up with:

1. 7300 not built to withstand marine environment but others have said this isnt an issue.
2. No DSC in 7300?
3. No GPS integration in 7300?

On the pro side of things:

1. 7300 is cheaper
2. 7300 has arguably more control over how you transmit (if you know what your doing)

I think they are both roughly same transmit power.

The DSC for emergency situations isn't so much of a concern as twin EPIRBS is my first line of alerting in an emergency.

I will definitely want email over HF with Pactor4 - so there are benefits to Winmail over Sailmail which I am aware of in terms of subscription costs and number of ground stations.

Cheers

Al

[btrayfors]

Al,

The 7300 is definitely prettier and has some interesting features. However:

1. it is a ham radio and is NOT type-certificated for use on the marine bands;

2. the built-in tuner is a plus if you are going to use an unbalanced antenna/feedline (e.g., coax-fed dipole or beam) but these are impractical on a boat; most likely you'd need an external tuner like the AH-4 as well; and

3. unlikely to work well with lower voltages often found on sailboats, e.g., less than about 12.5VDC.

The 802 on the other hand is an excellent radio for both marine and ham use, and works extremely well in the digital modes. This would allow you to use the P4 modem with SailMail, an excellent combination. SailMail offers easier connects and no restriction for business traffic....all very worth the modest annual cost.

The integration of GPS position data and DSC on the 802 could be of real benefit in an emergency.

The "more control over transmit" you mention with the 7300 is unlikely to be a significant advantage, since the 802 with speech compression enabled has excellent audio -- both transmit and receive.

But, if you're a ham and are seduced by the bells and whistles on the 7300 and want to be mesmerized by the colorful waterfall display and the spectrum graphics, why not go for them both?

Bill
WA6CCA