Icom IC-7300 Review: Still the Default First HF Radio?

The radio that made a real time spectrum scope normal at under $1,500, and what it costs you.

Specifications

Specifications above come from Icom's published specifications for the IC-7300. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.

What it does well

• The spectrum scope and waterfall show every signal in the segment at once, so you click on activity instead of tuning past it.
• Direct sampling receiver with sharp, adjustable DSP filtering that costs nothing extra in optional crystal filters.
• Built-in automatic tuner handles a resonant antenna that has drifted, without another box on the desk.
• USB connection carries audio and CAT control on one cable, which makes FT8 and other digital modes a short setup rather than a project.
• Very large owner base, so nearly every question you will have has already been answered in public.

Where it falls short

• The internal tuner has a narrow matching range. It is there to clean up a resonant antenna, not to load a random wire, and buyers who expect it to tune anything are the most common disappointed group.
• The receiver can overload in the presence of a very strong nearby signal, which is the known trade of a direct sampling front end without a preselector as aggressive as a higher tier radio.
• There is no VHF or UHF. If you want one box for HF and 2 metres and 70 centimetres, this is the wrong radio.
• It is a desktop radio in size, weight and current draw, so a mobile or rucksack install is fighting the design.

Where it fits in a station

The IC-7300 is a 100 watt radio, and 100 watts is only useful if the power reaches an antenna. Before you order, work out what the feedline will cost you with the coax loss calculator, and cut the wire properly using the dipole length calculator. A modest radio on a well built dipole beats an expensive radio on a compromise antenna every time, and that ordering does not change at any budget.

Plan the power supply before the radio arrives. A 100 watt HF transceiver draws around 20 to 23 amps at full output, and a supply that only just meets that figure will sag on voice peaks and show up as distorted transmit audio. Size it with headroom using the power supply sizing calculator, and see linear versus switching supplies for the noise trade. What power you may actually run, and on which frequencies, is set by your licence class and your national regulator, the FCC in the United States, not by what the radio can produce.

What owners report

Published owner reviews are unusually consistent on this radio, and they cluster on three points. The first is that the waterfall changes behaviour rather than just looking good: operators describe working stations they would never have found by tuning, and describe learning band openings faster than they did on a radio without a scope. The second is that the receive audio and the filtering are better than the price suggests, particularly on a crowded 40 metres at night.

The third is the internal tuner, and it is where owner reports turn critical. The complaint is not that the tuner is bad, it is that people expected it to do a job it was never specified for. Owners who feed it a resonant dipole or a vertical that is already close report it disappears into the background. Owners who hang a random length of wire off it report it refuses to match, which is what the specification says it will do. If your antenna needs a real matching range, budget for an external tuner and read manual versus automatic antenna tuners before you choose one.

A smaller but repeated theme is front end overload near a strong AM broadcast transmitter or a neighbouring contest station. Owners in those situations describe fixing it with the attenuator, the preamp off, or a bandpass filter, rather than by returning the radio.

Who it suits

• A new General class licensee buying a first HF radio that will live on a desk.
• Anyone moving up from a radio without a panadapter who wants to see the band.
• Digital mode operators who want FT8 and a sound card interface on one USB cable.
• Operators with a resonant antenna, or one that will be resonant once it is cut and trimmed.

Who should skip it

• Anyone who needs the radio in a car or a rucksack. The Yaesu FT-891 is the same 100 watts in a fraction of the volume.
• Anyone who wants HF, 2 metres and 70 centimetres in one box. Look at the Yaesu FT-991A instead.
• Anyone planning to feed a random wire and expecting the internal tuner to handle it.
• Anyone whose antenna budget is still zero. Spend there first.

Alternatives worth considering

Keep reading

• Icom IC-7300 vs Yaesu FT-891 compared
• Yaesu FT-891 review
• Yaesu FT-710 AESS review
• Icom IC-7610 review
• Best HF transceivers for beginners
• Power supply sizing calculator
• How to put a first station together

This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.