I agree. It’s not very suitable for the typical SOTA use-case. Too bulky, too heavy, too fragile, battery life probably too short.
No doubt they will sell thousands to armchair adventurers.
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Hi Pete,
You could be right, this could be a “shack in a box” for Foundation class operators in the UK or Australia. I would be interested to see what its receive performance is compared to an FT817 - I suspect a lot better but it will undoubtedly be a lot more expensive. Whether it’s a “KX3 beater” with all the extra bands it covers will remain to be seen. I suspect Elecraft have nothing to worry about but this could jolt Yaesu to restart the FT-791 development…
If you want to look for a 20w Portable rig, take a look at the old Xiegu X108G or the new G90, they are both 20w output (in fact my X108G is nearer to 30w PEP output). Output is fully adjustable from 1w to 20w on both of these rigs.
73 Ed.
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I mostly agree Pete. Although, if they build a bandscope into that large display that would be a big plus for me. I don’t know if it would offset the loss of a built-in antenna tuner though.
On the other hand it is great to see Icom releasing a stream of new rigs for us to debate the pros and cons of 
Malcolm VE2DDZ
The IC-705 has the same band scope that the IC-7300 and IC-9700 has.
I wonder if the release version will have an internal ATU? I suspect the version at Tokyo was the final version before production start though, so probably not.
73 Ed.
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I see you can now pay a well known retailer of Amateur Radio equipment a deposit of £99 to secure early delivery of an IC-705… Not that they can tell you when it’ll be available nor how much it’ll cost you :-s
I won’t be rushing to take up the offer…
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You can normally sell your place in the queue when the deliveries are imminent for a tidy profit. 
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I totally agree Pete. I don’t use all the features available on the 817 / 857, so why would I want more? Once set up, the only time I actually look at the rig is when I change band or mode… or get QRM’d off the frequency and need to QSY. The exception is the S2S events when I do tune around, but I don’t need a touch screen display with a band scope to do that.
As for operating this rig in horizontal driving sleet… no doubt someone will try it one day. I will stick with my 817 and 857, both of which have passed that test. 
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One usecase apart from SOTA for me would be 2m and 70cm SSB contest that have a portable on summit category. There is for example the Alpe Adria contest and the bandscope would be helpful to see activity on the band instead tuning up and down like cracy.
73 Joe
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Hi Gerald,
I suppose the adjustable digital filters (Notch and Passband) in modern rigs, including the 705 might be good to filter out some QRM for a station on a nearby frequency. I expect this to be better on this rig than on the 817 for example (I have a real problem with that on the 817). Of course - how often one has the problem will decide whether the extra cost is worthwhile.
As has been said above, having a new rig as an extra choice is not a bad thing. I wonder if a 705 plus some kind of a 3rd. party or home-made plug-in base at home (PSU, ATU/antenna switch/triplexer plus possibly an amplifier) could make this economic to serve as both an activator and chaser rig?
73 Ed.
Point taken Ed, but quite frankly I rarely find the time to make adjustments to the rig during an activation. On the few occasions QRM has become unbearable, I have found it far simpler to QSY and re-spot myself. Most of the settings on my rigs stay the same during an activation. Even the DSP rarely gets used on a summit.
I can see more bells and whistles such as those the IC-705 offers being of use when sat comfortably in warm and dry conditions. Unfortunately, quite often conditions during my activations are somewhat more challenging, so the rig is kept well under wraps and I adopt the principle of minmal contact to avoid wetting it. I can just see a touch screen being “fun” under such conditions. I have enough problems with my mobile phone!.
73, Gerald
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Agreed. It’s all a matter of what type and in some ways how long an activation is that decides whether features on nay portable rig will be used.
“Set and forget” is always better, especially in wet conditions (we have just had snow fall down to 1500m here last night by the way, so winter is coming).
An operation that is going on for a longer time “Field-day style” with a tent or whatever may use more of the features available.
It’ll be interesting to see what the take-up is for the IC-705. I think with it’s purpose designed rucksack, it may attract new people to SOTA (at least for the easier summits) by having one package to pick up and take. It just needs a small vertical antenna like the Elecraft one and it may well be a success for the “appliance operator” type.
73 Ed.
Today, Wade VK1MIC and I had snow on Webb’s Ridge VK2/ST-005 @ 1306 metre ASL. The ruggedised FT-817 didn’t miss a beat, even at 1 degree C on 2m and 70cm the VFO didn’t drift.
I doubt I will be an IC-705 owner.
73 Andrew VK1AD
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Wow, the market place is filling up with 10 W SDR’s.
This can only help keep the prices reasonable.
I think unit this lacks an inbuilt speaker - but as I usually use headphones anyway that’s not a show stopper. A clip on ATU and battery holder would be nice too…
73
Ron
VK3AFW
0.059Kg would be pretty special, but I believe the website says 0.57Kg, or 20oz for those of us who have more than 10 fingers and thumbs!!
David, VK2NU
Now that Discovery TX500 looks interesting. I shall be waiting for the price and independant performance figures, just as I would for any other new rig. After all, look at this thread, 75 posts of conjecture and driblets of information - what’s up with you guys, do you shake your christmas present parcels to guess what’s in them?
do you shake your christmas present parcels to guess what’s in them?
Yes.
Do you not engage in small talk?
73
Ron
VK3AFW
I thought I just had!
You mean you DON’T??? 
of course! 
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