Yes Richard, that’s my considered view.
Please feel free to be specific about what IYO the FT818 should have been. Or what the IC-705 should finish up as, staying within the realms of available and affordable technology. And meeting the demands of US outdoors activities.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
I’m already on this path too Ron, I look forward to comparing notes 
.
If I’m carrying something for “rugged” situations I’ve got the HF-90 which has even less frills than the FT-857 and half the weight.
If IC-705 comes close to a 7300 experience from a mountain top then I’ll be a happy man. In VK2 we’re so spoiled on the weather front most to of the time my biggest worry remains how the screen handles glare and polarization with sunglasses (APX8000 screens are 90 degree offset so work fine while some other units go blank when viewed normally).
ATU and power wise imo it remains that carrying a linked dipole is half the battle won already. That never really changed regardless of rig I carried.
So it uses an Analog Devices SHARC family DSP…brings back memories of programming large arrays of them for some serious DSP applications.
This is my concern as well. I don’t like touch screens in the field.
And what’s with the box of cookies and lantern? Curious minds just have to know 
I’ve watched a handful of “unboxing” vids now on youtube ( I know - nothing else better to do, right?) and
they all seem pretty excited to open up the box of cookies. Christmas from Icom in June?
Later,
Todd KH2TJ
Looks like my “wild guess” from 9 months ago was quite on point:
This would put the IC-705 clearly at the bottom of the list in terms of battery life, with only ~3.5 hours of RX time, or about 450-600mA (let’s say 520mA on average) current draw depending on settings.
All the goodies that result from a modern SDR architecture (nice panadapter, excellent receiver performance, advanced filtering etc) have a limited use in portable. Awkward form factor, poor battery life, lack of internal tuner … these are essential to portable purist / SOTA people and it seems to me the IC-705 will have modest success in this segment.
Maybe more of a travel / camping radio ?
Now being offered here at the reduced price of $1,849. Not quite so enthusiastic now. More expensive than the IC7300 or the IC7100. I suppose the mad early adopter will buy one but maybe it will drop toward Christmas. AUD is about 70c USD.
Ron
VK3AFW
We just need hundreds to be sold for monitoring repeaters, which is VHF operation to most hams. That will help bring the price down, eventually.
yes I was thinking of the IC703 when I wrote 220 mA. I looked at the current on my KX3 today, it is a touch over 170mA on receive with no backlight. It stays at that level on headphones, but on speaker with volume up, the RX current increases to over 200 mA. Whatever the actual current is, it is very good as you say. my 4200 mAH LiFePO4 battery does 4 one-hour activations easily. (about 20 contacts on mixed ssb/cw for each activation).
Unfortunately the economy of scale only determines profit; prices are determined by market & competition. The more successful a radio is, the more it keeps its high launch price for longer. Manufacturers make these in batches and need to move them, if the first batch doesn’t move fast enough they will reduce the price to recover some of the initial investment quicker and that price can never be put back up.
Why is the IC-705 so thick? Must be a CRT display in there 
No internal ATU - what an omission. [Don’t say you use only resonant antennas - I use dipoles and they ain’t resonant at both ends of the band]
Still nothing yet to beat my KX2 for compact HF SOTA.
I welcome the 705 anyway - it can only help our hobby.
Mine is Andy (Only talking about 20m, 30m, 40m) well below 2:1 at band edges. I don’t tend to operate other HF bands these days (I did in the beginning including 160m) and I don’t have an ATU suitable for carrying up a summit. Funny shaped radio the IC-705 I wouldn’t how resilient it is to rain. Touch screen is a negative for operation in the condx we often encounter.
73 Phil
That in AUD or USD? I assumed AUD, but when I converted that to GBP to make a comparison with prices here I figured someone (HMRC?) over here is raking in a fair bit, because one store has listed it at GBP 1299.95 in the July RadCom, and at this moment’s exchange rate that works out somewhere around AUD 2350 or USD 1640…
Hi Phil,
I’ve made lightweight portable dipoles for most HF bands [using ultra-thin wire] and got good VSWR on 20m and higher [frequency bands]. 30m is so narrow, it’s not a problem.
80m SSB/CW needs an ATU especially for QRP power levels.
Less of a problem if you work only CW or only SSB.
You just need to make those dipoles a lot more lossy and the match will improve no end.
Two last posts right off topic.
My given price for the IC705 was the sale price here. The price in the UK is the RRP and is what is mentioned as the presale price here. And yes unless otherwise stated I quote AUD.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
Easiest place to tackle this is in the feeder. 10 year old RG174 that has suffered regular water ingress is particularly effective 
With a badly fitted PL259 ?