Author: mjreffel

“The ICOM IC-2820H 2M/440 dual bander has all the features you would expect and some you would not! You get: separate front panel, wideband receive, 3 power settings, built-in CTCSS decode/encode, selectable amber/green display, PC compatibility and 522 memory channels. V/V and U/U receive is available. The rear panel has two SO-239 antenna jacks to support diversity reception (two antennas required). The diversity function compares the receiving signal strength from two different antennas, ANT1 and ANT2, and automatically selects the strongest signal. This feature is useful when you are listening in a moving vehicle or the transmitting station itself is moving. Diversity receiving is available in 127 MHz, 136 MHz, 146 MHz, 375 MHz, 440 MHz and 500 MHz bands only. 

The IC-2820H is D-STAR upgradeable with the optional UT-123 Power output is 50/15/5 watts on 2 meters and 50/15/5 watts on 440 MHz. It is 9600 BPS packet ready too (6 pin DIN). This radio comes with full function backlit HM-133 remote DTMF hand mic, mounting bracket, power cord and spare fuses. Main unit size: 5.9 x 1.65 x 7.4 inches 3.3 Lbs (150x40x188 mm 1.5 kg). Controller size: 5.9 x 2.6 x 1.25 inches 7.4 ounces (150x58x32 mm 210g). This model requires 13.8 VDC at 12 amps. This radio is supplied with the OPC-1663 and OPC-1712 separation cables. “

“144/220/430 MHz TRIBANDER. Triband Amateur radio packed with convenient features and the advantage of a digital transceiver with D-STAR, and APRS support. Featuring a color transflective TFT display that offers excellent visibility during the day or at night. Built-in GPS and Bluetooth support, as well as Micro USB and microSD/ SDHC. This radio is ready to harness the exciting developments in radio communications.”

I have really loved this radio and all its features but if you are like me and many others who have this radio you can find that its menu driven system can be quite confusing at times to find what you are looking for. As I learn more I will try to update here with more information to aid and assist any others who are also having troubles working with their handheld. It really is a great radio but does take some learning / getting used to as do all radios.

Manual Frequency Operation

I have found a few quirks about the manual frequency operation on this radio. A few key features to note as it does have the ability to do dual receive I have noticed that while it does allow for a wide receive range of frequencies it only does this on the second (B) of the dual frequencies. This can be annoying if you are like me and like to have a one band as your primary operating repeaters and a second one for either digital or APRS and find yourself needing to operate on a certain frequency you do not already have programmed and need to operate in manual frequency mode. If you do not remember this caveat when setting things up you may be forced to change from your preferred setup. Because of this I generally setup my second (B) with whatever part I can do without if I need to change to different frequency. I generally use the second channel for either APRS which can be turned off relatively easily, or I use this for simplex / secondary repeater.

Another thing I noticed which was not quite intuitive about the manual frequency operation is you can switch frequencies a few different ways.

1. You can click and hold the enter button which will then clear out the frequency and allow you to type in the desired frequency.
2. You can select the frequency using the multi select knob on the top.
3. You can change the frequency band by holding the left or right arrow buttons.

If you do try to move to a frequency while on the (A) of the dual channels and that frequency is out of bounds as mentioned above that the frequencies are in channel (B) then it will simply beep at you and navigate back to the previous frequency.