‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  
PARAMETERS TO MATCH THOSE OF THE SOFTWARE.  AS WITH MOST CURRENT
TRANSCEIVERS, FIRMWARE IS UPDATED REGULARLY TO ADD FEATURES AND FIX BUGS.
OUR RADIO ARRIVED WITH FIRMWARE VERSION 1R04, WHICH WE USED FOR INITIAL
EVALUATION.  UPDATES TO V1R05 AND V1R06 ADD SUBTLE IMPROVEMENTS IN MANY
AREAS, INCLUDING SSB SIDEBAND SUPPRESSION, AM RECEIVER FILTERING,
TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNAL QUALITY, VARIOUS INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS,
AND BUG FIXES.  TO UPDATE THE FIRMWARE, 

PRODUCT REVIEW  ICOM IC 7610 HF AND 6 METER TRANSCEIVER  REVIEWED BY JOEL
R. HALLAS, W1ZR QST CONTRIBUTING EDITOR W1ZR ARRL.ORG  THE IC 7610 IS A
NOMINAL 100 W SSB, CW, AM, FM, AND DIGITAL MODE TRANSCEIVER FOR 160 THROUGH
6 METERS.  WHILE ITS ANCESTRY IS CLEARLY BASED ON THE POPULAR DIRECT
SAMPLING IC 7300, ITS PERFORMANCE AND FEATURES MAY BE MORE CLOSELY TIED TO
ICOMS TOP OF THE LINE IC 7851.  THE KEY STEP UP FROM THE 7300 IS THE
ADDITION OF A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT SECOND RECEIVER, WITH PERFORMANCE
EQUAL TO THE PRIMARY RECEIVER AND SEPARATE AUDIO CHANNELS FOR SPEAKERS OR
HEADPHONES.  IN ADDITION, THE DUAL FREQUENCY READOUTS AND VIRTUAL ANALOG
MULTIMETERS ARE REMINISCENT OF THE LARGER, HEAVIER, AND MORE EXPENSIVE IC
7800 AND 7851 FRONT PANELS.  THE DISPLAY  WE WERE SMITTEN BY THE DISPLAY OF
THE IC 7800, FIRST REVIEWED IN 2004 PARTICULARLY ITS DIGITAL EMULATION OF
TRADITIONAL ANALOG METERS.  THE IC 7610S DISPLAY IS EQUALLY IMPRESSIVE SEE
FIGURE 1, WITH A NICE UPGRADE DISPLAY AND OPERATIONAL FEATURES CAN BE
SELECTED BY A TOUCH OF THE SCREEN.  IN SOME CASES, SUCH AS FREQUENCY AND
BAND SELECTION, THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO CHANGE THE SETTINGS, BUT SOME
NOTABLY MODE AND METER SELECTION, AS WELL AS THE MODE SPECIFIC SIDE AND
BOTTOM BUTTONS SEEM TO BE ACCESSIBLE ONLY VIA THE TOUCHSCREEN.  UNLIKE THE
UBIQUITOUS SMARTPHONE, THE DISPLAY IS NOT CHANGE ABLE BY PINCHING OR

SPREADING OF THE FINGERS.  THIS WAS FINE FOR ME, BECAUSE I ALWAYS SEEM TO
GET IN TROUBLE WHEN ATTEMPTING THOSE MANEUVERS.  THE DISPLAY OFFERS
MULTIPLE CONFIGURATIONS.  THE SPECTRUM DISPLAY CAN PROVIDE A SINGLE VIEW OF
THE RECEIVED SPECTRUM, AS IN FIGURE 1.  YOU CAN CHANGE FREQUENCY BY
TOUCHING THE SPECTRUM DISPLAY SCREEN, ALTHOUGH YOU CAN HAVE MORE PRECISE
CONTROL BY PLUGGING A USB MOUSE INTO ONE OF THE FRONT PANEL USB SOCKETS AND
CLICKING ON A FREQUENCY ON THE SPECTRUM DISPLAY WITH THAT.  I OFTEN FIND IT
EASIER TO SPOT WEAK SIGNALS ON A WATERFALL DISPLAY, AND ONE CAN BE ADDED,
AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 2.  IF FREQUENCIES ARE TOO FAR APART FOR SIGNALS FROM
BOTH RECEIVERS TO BE SHOWN ON A SINGLE DISPLAY, THEY CAN BE SEPARATED, AS
SHOWN IN FIGURE 3.  WHILE THE VIRTUAL METERS ARE FUN TO LOOK AT, THEY DO
TAKE UP A BIG CHUNK OF THE DISPLAY, AND A MORE COMPACT BAR GRAPH METER
ALLOWS MORE ROOM FOR THE SPECTRUM DISPLAY.  ALL METER CHOICES CAN BE VIEWED
SIMULTANEOUSLY, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 4 HANDY DURING SETUP.  AN EXTERNAL
MONITOR WITH A DVI CONNECTOR CAN BE USED FOR A LARGER DISPLAY.  HOW IT
WORKS  AS WITH THE IC 7300, THIS TRANSCEIVER IS BASED ON A DIRECT DIGITAL
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ