MICOM-X Question

spareparts · Post by **spareparts** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 12:49 pm

I just picked up a Micom-X HF radio (D80MLA1X41_K) to install in my project truck (1990 Ford Bronco) Will be using an SGC-230 autotuner.

Charging system is fine, has dual batteries, and a #0 gauge supply lead already.

The antenna I'm using is a Shakespeare AT-1011/U with 4245 spring base, mounted on a pedastal on the bumper.

Other then the usual things for lowband, such as body panel bonding, ferrites on the fuel pump, ABS controller, and EFI computer, is there something I should be doing?

I will be adding a fixed VHF & UHF Radio to replace the company issued handhelds.

Martin

007 · Post by **007** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 1:46 pm

(Out of sheer curiosity, where did you get the Micom from?)

Make sure your body grounds are not only sufficent for 12v current capacity, but also add a few ground straps for RFI reduction. If you make the straps yourself, use some good adhesive shrink tubing on the ring terminals to keep the corrosion out.

Run ground straps (.25-.50 in.) in the following places:

-Hood to body

-Tailgate to body (had this bite me on an Explorer with an FT100D & ATAS-100 mounted to the tailgate..damn thing wouldn't tune right and induced noice into the RX'r until the TG got grounded..may not even be an issue in your case)

-Rear bumper to chassis (if this is where you end up mounting the antenna)

-Exhaust pipe to the chassis, nearer the exhaust tip (~1 foot)

If you are able, tie the exhaust and bumper grounds to the same frame/chassis mounting point.

***

Add these while you do the rest the of the work, and you'll be a happy camper! It sounds like the rest of your electrical system is in good shape, so you should be fine.

Do you know where the SGC tuner is going to mounted yet? I'm assuming inside, in the rear...?

spareparts · Post by **spareparts** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:32 pm

[quote="007"](Out of sheer curiosity, where did you get the Micom from?)

Do you know where the SGC tuner is going to mounted yet? I'm assuming inside, in the rear...?[/quote]

The radio was a private sale. I missed the split chass version by an less then an hour!

Re the tuner, will either go inside the body of the truck, or on the swing away spare tire carrier (between the tailgate & carrier). The spare will go inside the truck in either case

BTW, the ground straps, the truck had OEM tinned braid straps already.

jim · Post by **jim** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:07 pm

Is that anything like a Malcom X ???

Har har har.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 8:43 pm

no he's quite dead......

spareparts · Post by **spareparts** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 11:58 am

Follow up to my original post: Turn out the bumper mount won't work as the necessary "pedastal" would make it near impossible to open the tailgate!

Plan 'B" is the passenger side quarter panel, aft of the real wheels. It will use a steel plate doubler to provide enough mechanical strenth for the antenna base. On the positive side, the coupler can now be placed inside the truck, with a shorter feedline to the antenna.

If anyone is interested in pictures, I will scan a few & post a link to them.

Martin

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 12:53 pm

Yes, I'd like to see. I'd also like to see a Micom in action.

I'm getting my SGC230 back from my brother now that he's done using it. And if things work out, I'll have an HF rig going in my pickup truck. Eventually anyway. The SGC will make life easy to be sure. And I have a ball mount I will put in the side of the truck near the rear. I'm not so worried though about doubling up behind the sheet metal. I'll probably just use some nylon twine to guy the thing up. I've done that before with a Hustler system on the back bumper. It looks goofy, but then again, it would have looked goofy even without a guy line.

Anyway, good luck. I used to work in Rahway. Funny seeing you're from there.

Enjoy

spareparts · Post by **spareparts** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:05 pm

Will post a link after the first of the year. If work brings you to the facility in Avenel, e-mail me. Might be able to meet to take a look at the truck and lunch.

Martin

wd9cms · Post by **wd9cms** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 12:10 pm

I have a MICOM 2E in my truck with the Motorola antenna tuner and whip. It is by far the best of the best on HF. The antenna tuner and whip are one package from Motorola and work with the MICOM 2E flawlessly. The radio and tuner communicate through the coax so no extra wires are needed. I have the antenna and tuner mounted on my roof rack which has a 1/8 inch diamond plate floor and provides an excellent ground plane. The motorola whip is a 12 foot fiberglass whip which allows for 1.6 to 30 Mhz tuning. The radio is mounted in the back of the vehicle with the control head up in front. Since the setup only requires power to the radio it was very straight foward. I went through the vehicle and grounded everything that I could think of even though the manufacturer did a good job. I also used clamp on ferret material as provided by Motorola on the power leads and on the control head cable. I also used a special coax cable between the radio and antenna tuner that Motorola provided with the antenna tuner. This cable looks like RG58 with ferret beads at different spacings under shrinkwrap tubing.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 4:19 pm

got any pics?

I've love to get my hands on a MICOM as well.

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 4:28 pm

The Micom 2E is indeed a VERY nice radio, but quite pricey. We have one in our Ford Excursion that we use for remote operations. It cost us over $8,000 (for the radio, auto tuner, 12 ft whip and mntg brkt). We also have a Suburban that has the ICOM M-802. The M-802 covers 1.6 thru 30 MHz (continuous), and it cost us $1,700, plus $500 for the matching ICOM auto ant tuner. $8,000 versus $2,200 (about one-fourth the cost!), and we all much prefer the ICOM. The MOBAT looks and feels like an ultra cheapie rice rocket, almost worse than what you find with a typical Rat Shack radio. Unbelievable cheezie looking, and not at all up to Motorola's typical rugged good looks. But then it's a MOBAT, which anymore has nothing to do with Motorola, albeit they still sell a few here (other than being an old investment---I'm told they no longer have anything to do with MOBAT radio design and daily plant/factory ops. It certainly shows!).

The ICOM control head is infinately superior to the MOBAT head! The M-802 is used for Marine ops (as well as Mobile), so its head,mic and remote ant tuner box are all completely waterproof. This comes in handie out in the Boon Docs when the Suburban's door is left open, its raining cats and dogs, and you spill your java from your Stanley all over the head!

http://www.icomamerica.com/marine/ssb/icm802main.html

The only potential advantage of the Israeli MOBAT is if you must use encryption (which is illegal for Hams). In this case, forget the ICOM. But, you now have a $12k to $16k radio. Thus far, none of the helicopter contracts with the 3 and 4 digit boys have required encrypted HF. What we are being told is that this is coming, and possibly as soon as the end of FY04. However, we have also been told that these HF radios will entail an all-new design, using digital voice and data.

Larry

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 7:53 pm

Nice, had not looked at ICOM commerical HF for some time.

HF for the suburban is on the long range plan - not a requirement but would be fun to have.

So far the only band I don't' have covered right now is 902

wd9cms · Post by **wd9cms** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 10:24 am

APCO 25 ...sorry do not have a digital camera at this time to post pictures. ASTROMODAT as far as the MICOM 2ET looking like a rice rocket ...I think it looks better than anything coming from Japan and its designed for commercial use. Since the control head is the same configuration as the MCS2000 I do not understand your comments about appearences???? The MICOM 2 was a joint venture between Motorola and Bartel. Since Motorola sold out all of its Government and special government only equipment to General Dynamics it also sold out its HF interest as well (they make more money selling cell phones). The Micom 2 is a motorola design including one of the best implemented DSP's on HF and a squelch that really works. The Micom 2 will also do many things that most amatuer radio tranceivers (ICOM) will not and that does include encrytion, Automatic Link Establishment, SelectCall, Digital audio and data with the new vocoder modem. I think as usual you get what you pay for and if you are into amatuer radio tranceivers then I can see that you would not like the MICOM 2. For those of you that are interested MOBAT has also introduced the new MICOM 3 and you can see it and the MICOM 2 at http://www.mobat.com .

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 12:08 pm

The Micom 3---$8,000+, and now, IMHO, it looks even worse than a Rat Shack. Check out that cheezie head---looks like a home brew/consumer/CB set-up! And, no digital voice, without Rube Goldberg outboard add-ons.

The issue with HF is they are on the cusp of radically changing to fully support digital voice, and not as an outboard afterthought, but as a fully integrated major design requirement. We'll need to be patient for about 9 more months. In the meantime, I'd pass on these $8,000 analog HF radios.

Larry

007 · Post by **007** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 2:08 pm

I'll be the guy to ask the dumb question here:

Do either the Micom or the Icom have a VFO, or just the XXX channels that get programmed and then scanned?

That Icom is a nice unit, and I am certainly not a "typical" ham that "has to have" a VFO....but it still would come in handy once in a while.

I think that Icom would make a nice HF radio for my Caprice...put a 7 or 8 foot whip on the left fender (already has a ball mount..thank you, MO SHP) and a SGC tuner in the trunk.

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:06 pm

007 wrote:I'll be the guy to ask the dumb question here:

Do either the Micom or the Icom have a VFO, or just the XXX channels that get programmed and then scanned?

That Icom is a nice unit, and I am certainly not a "typical" ham that "has to have" a VFO....but it still would come in handy once in a while.

. . .

I've been wondering that one myself. I never have used either of those radios. The last commercial maritime stuff I was exposed to was running about 500w out on 424, 438, 500, and 512 KHz (that's right KILOhertz.)

As a 29 year ham, I've tried to figure how one could "successfully" ham without a VFO. I don't think you could. Direct entry from the keypad could be doable, but if it was just pre-programmed memories one gets to choose from? I don't see it. Sure, you could program in all the nets you use - ECARS, etc. But day to day hamming?

Many years ago, when most hams used crystal controlled transmitters, folks knew to call CQ then tune the band looking for answers. I even did that as a Novice with one crystal. Nowadays I don't see anyone doing it that way anymore.

If it doesn't have a VFO, or at least on-the-fly keypad entry, I can't see it being usable.

Anyone with different ideas? I'm open to hearing them.

Right now I'm trying to work a deal for a Kenwood TS140 to go in my truck. My brother has finally turned my SGC230 back to me, and I'm putting the ball on the truck when I do the rest of the install over the next couple of weeks. Now I just need the rig. And a sturdy paddle - no SSB here on HF. All CW, even mobile! Done it before, looking forward to doing it again!

Good luck and Happy New Year to all.

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:33 pm

You can scroll UP/DOWN, in settable steps from 10 Hz thru 1 MHz.

Larry

007 · Post by **007** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:11 pm

ASTROMODAT wrote:You can scroll UP/DOWN, in settable steps from 10 Hz thru 1 MHz.

Larry

On both, or on the Icom? And while doing this, is the RX'r actually hearing things and sending out audio, or do you have to stop at each KHz "step" and listen before moving on?

As far as the VFO goes, it is a valid concern that if you can't "tune the bands" without one. But if you can do what I mentioned above, that's good for me. I don't ragchew, or chase down DX (unless I stumble over my hoo-haa onto the station)...just listen to some SW and would talk on a few regional nets. I'm a listener, as opposed to a talker for the most part. It'd be a scanner before a talker in my car.

I'm just having a hard time spending about $1,100 for a FT-857 and a ATAS-120 for the car when I can get a commercial radio that I won't worry about the sun shining on or spilling my Mountain Dew on it while driving.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:19 pm

Ok looked up the current MICOM 3 and I would agree the head is ugly and cheesy looking.

The MICOM 2 is the one that looks like the MCS2000

Still like to have one some day.

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:30 pm

The audio is real time listenable as you scroll UP/DOWN.

Larry

007 · Post by **007** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:34 pm

ASTROMODAT wrote:The audio is real time listenable as you scroll UP/DOWN.

Larry

For the Icom?

spareparts · Post by **spareparts** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 6:38 pm

In case anyone is interested, there is a MICOM-X radio with the Motorola ATU unit up for auction on eBAY.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=40068

Martin

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 6:53 pm

But its an X which is a huge radio - certainly not going to fit in my ride

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 8:06 pm

It also doesn't have the coveted Auto Tuner, which is what really makes the Micom-X such a good radio.

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 10:14 pm

Looks like it works quite well there on CB Channel 38.

spareparts · Post by **spareparts** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 2:42 am

[quote="ASTROMODAT"]It also doesn't have the coveted Auto Tuner, which is what really makes the Micom-X such a good radio.[/quote]

Look in the large picture picture at the bottom of the page - The ATU is under the manual.

hoser · Post by **hoser** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 1:23 pm

Heres a unit I sold recently. It's a great radio. I still have two myself!

http://www3.sympatico.ca/martinm

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 1:51 pm

It's clearly a very nice radio, but notice that with the ATU option (a MUST have for ultra portable operation), the street price for the MOBAT is $11,000!

The ICOM M-802 covers 1.6 thru 30 MHz continuous SSB. With the matching ICOM AT-140 ATU, it lists for only $2,200 total. IMHO, I just can't see the justification, nor value proposition, for such a stratospheric price for the MOBAT. If anything, the ICOM is more rugged, as it is a weatherproof/marine design.

Larry

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 5:00 pm

ICOM does make good stuff in the commerical/marine HF application. The mobat unit is way over priced even by regular motorola standards.

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