Icom IC-7300 vs IC-7610 (HEAD to HEAD)!

I have upgraded from my Icom IC-7300 to an Icom IC-7610! What were the key differences & features and is the IC-7610 vs IC-7300 a worthwhile upgrade, or just two radios in one?

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⏱️Chapters⏱️
0:00 New radio day!
1:23 I'm keeping the IC7300
2:05 Unboxing & first looks
3:02 Why the IC7610 is superior
6:11 Rear connectors
10:00 The SP-41 speaker
10:57 Shack swap out
12:15 External display to PC capture card
13:35 Menus

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[RayDabkowski]

It was fun to share your enthusiasm for the new 7610. Congratulations, Hayden!

[thorktjt]

Congrats! You won’t regret it. I “drove” a 7300 for a few years. Stepped up to the 7610 in Nov of 2023. I noticed a difference in receive from the 7300 immediately. I find new things it does all the time. Being able to connect a LAN directly, the diversity receive, and the cw filtering are my favorite differences from the 7300….so far! I’m very happy with my 7610. Good luck and have fun! 73

[MLMK]

Great choice Hayden. Let me know if you get stuck with anything, I've had my 7610 for about 3 years and love it! My favourite way to operate is to use my main antenna on VFO A and a Loop On Ground (using the RX Ant input) on VFO B. You can then set both VFO to the same frequency by pressing and holding the Dual-W button and set the waterfall display to "Dual". Press and hold the "Tracking" soft button in the main menu. This will lock both VFO together and give you "brain powered" diversity receive. Works great with headphones as you can hear signals move from one side of your head to the other as the signal fades from one antenna to the other.

One of the very few disappointments is that the 7610 fails to remember antenna selections when in the tracking mode so you have to set it up each time. Only a 30 second job but a little annoying!

[nikpresservkba]

I'm with you Hayden, I thought the 7300 was good, but now having the 7610 is the king!!! The 7610 creams the 7300 and DVI output to an external monitor

[vkcrg]

Congratulations Hayden! The look on your face and the noise you made when you took it out of the box we ALL understand 😂I have my eye on a 7610 too down the track. I did own a 7600 (the previous model) and loved it but downsized to a 7300 when they came out as for the amount of time I was on air it was kind of a waste and I was interested in the smaller footprint and SDR etc. The speaker looks great too and I had a previous model Icom speaker I purchased with the 7600. I ignored the fact the price they charge for the speakers is kind of outrageous 😂yes they have a bit of filtering on them (in my last speaker it was a switch that hung different caps across the speaker to change it’s frequency response!) but nothing looks better than the matching speaker!!! For free it’s a no brainer! I look forward to seeing you use your new toy and if I end up buying one (it’ll happen 😂) it’s YOUR fault! 😂73, Craig VK3CRG

[WALBK]

Interesting topic on the upgrade; I'm similar to you in being an ICOM guy, also currently own an IC-7300, IC-9700, & IC-705. My IC-7300 replaced an original IC-756 (the 1st version with the monochrome display; about the same physical size as the IC-7610). One thing I gave up from my old IC-756 in moving to the IC-7300 was the 2 antenna ports; I wound up missing this feature more than I thought I would because I'm a long-time 6 meter operator. I used to leave the 6 meter beam connected directly to one anteanna port, & used a conventional coax switch on the other to switch HF anteanns; now I find I have to use 2 coax switches with the IC-7300 to accomplish the same thing. I also don't operate HF as much as I might otherwise because the IC-7300 is usually parked on 50.313. MHz., monitoring 6 M. FT8 for band openings. 🙂 With the IC-7610 I could leave one receiver "parked" on 50.313 MHz. while operating HF.

One of the reasons I replaced the IC-756 with the IC-7300 was the much easier portability of the IC-7300 for portable operation such as Field Day (this was also long before I bought the IC-705). If I do wind up getting an IC-7610, I will probably do the same as you & keep the IC-7300 for (comparitively to the IC-705) "high-power" (100 W.) portable operation. I have the SDR-Control app on my iPad & use it with the IC-705 (mainly for wirelss FT8) & ocaisionally the IC-9700; being able to operate the IC-7610 as well would be nice. They fact that the IC-7610 has been around for a while means that there are also many on the used equipment market; considering that route vs. buying brand new (& yes, I'm asware that some of the early production IC-7610's had display issues). As you also mentioned, it is NOT an inexpensive radio; but the same also applied to the IC-705, & that little rig is a blast to operate! 😁

Thanks for posting!

73,
Tom WA1LBK

[AGSM]

New Radio Day is always a great day. I love new radio day.

[yetiradiovkyt]

Wow. The jealousy is strong on my end. I too have been wanting the mighty 7610 but it still eludes me. The reaction when you pulled it out of the plastic was priceless. Look forward to many videos on set-up and use of this fine rig.

[brentNBDW]

Beautiful radio, AWESOME video-capture Hayden! Thanks for teasing us poor fellas stuck back in the 7300-era 😉. 73 buddy!!

[BLACKHEAT]

Who doesn't love Christmas in February. I took a deep breath and exhaled when you pulled off the screen protector now it's official. Good luck with it, I am thinking about going to a Kenwood TS890s from a Yaesu FT991a. There is a 600.00 rebate until the end of March.

[rodneystevens]

Great quick review Hayden 👍
Good to see you finaly have a 7610 on the bench to enjoy and share features etc with us. I have had one now for a couple of years still use the 7300 as well as they are a fantastic little rig.
Keep us up to date as you work your way through all the features and settings as we all discover different things 👍
Cheers 73 vk7ham.

[ADDMDennis]

We hams always love seeing brand new radios. The 7610 is a beast. Can't wait till you get that video output into a stream.

[flightstatic]

"despite it being 6 or 7 years old, its a good radio"

not me over here still running a IC718 lol

[stevefisher]

Now that IS a base station. You have multiple antenna jacks, connectivity to computers, LAN connections for remote use, etc. Thats alot of desired features.

[VELK]

The look on your face as soon as you set it on your desk and looked at it was the best snapshot of the whole video! Enjoy your new rig! 73

[PrecisionGroupYT]

I purchased my 7300 in 2017 and purchased the 7610 about two years ago! I love both radios and don’t plan to part with either one! I like to switch between the 7300 and 7610 depending on my mood plus the 7300 has lower power consumption on receive so allot of times if I just want to listen I’ll turn on the 7300 instead of the 7610 ( not trying to brag of course but it is nice to have the luxury to have a choice of using either the 7300 or 7610…. A blessing) While I do have a 705 as well it is nice that if I needed to operate in a different location I could bring the 7300 along to have a 100 watt radio! 73 and congratulations and enjoy. (P.S. I also liked my waterfall settings on my 7300 and copied them to the 7610 as well!)

[WarrenPostma]

What a BEAST. Congrats on acquiring such a monster.

[victorcharlie]

Disclaimer, if you don't own a 7610 before this video You just might after! Great looking radio Congratulations, tnx Man!

[Dusty_Ham]

Congrats on the new radio! Looks like an awesome upgrade.

[hotairfred]

Great choice Hayden! I use one with a BOG on Ant2/R and my main transmitting antennas on Ant1 with a home-assembled 6x2 switch to mix and match between my other antennas. Running FT8 I will run 2 instances of WSJT-X on VFO-A and B and am able to sometimes pick up different signals better based on which antenna I have selected. The BOG is great for 160m DX.

Also the 6x2 switch is nice because I don't have to compromise with just the 2 transmit Antenna ports on the back of the 7610.

One other thing. The Blue USB on the back is a USB 3.0 I/Q out that can be used with HDSDR and SDRPlay. I can use it to tune around the band for DX, or run a CW or RTTY skimmer with IQ out of the software to SDC Connectors software with a built in DX Cluster to throw spots in your favorite logging software. In effect you have 3+ independent receivers with your 7610 if using this output.