Review of the Icom IC-V86

[axlesandantennas]

Hi folks,

I just uploaded a 18 month review of the Icom IC-V86. It's a heck of a radio, so please check out the review.

Also, I'm just getting my feet wet on videos, so please bear with some of my stumbling and janky editing.

 

[binrat]

I have the same radio that I use for SOTA. Furthest contact was 177 miles while using a homebrew Extended Double Zepp on a fishing pole I use as a mast. Great radio.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I have the same radio that I use for SOTA. Furthest contact was 177 miles while using a homebrew Extended Double Zepp on a fishing pole I use as a mast. Great radio.

Wow, that's incredible on VHF! What was the weather and geography, was the other station also high elevation?

 

[binrat]

Wow, that's incredible on VHF! What was the weather and geography, was the other station also high elevation?

Barely line of sight, I think. He was mobile. Weather was windy but clear where I was. I was 50 miles west of Calgary and he was just north of the Sweet Grass border crossing. Since that day I am a firm believer in the V86 and EDZ antennas.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Barely line of sight, I think. He was mobile. Weather was windy but clear where I was. I was 50 miles west of Calgary and he was just north of the Sweet Grass border crossing. Since that day I am a firm believer in the V86 and EDZ antennas.

I only ask because I've never come close to that because the most I can achieve is about a 10,000' differential in elevation. Our peaks are 14,000' but the radio line of sight is to stations that sit on the plains at 4,000' to 5,000'. The radio horizon for 10,000' difference in antenna height is about 140 miles.

But if I do peak-to-peak, like both of us sitting at 12,000' with me in Colorado and the other station in Wyoming or New Mexico, really long direct paths are possible. Otherwise I'm hoping for a topospheric duct to get the DX.

At 177 miles path loss at 144 MHz calculates to roughly -124 dB, so 7W (+38 dBm) and an EDZ (about +11 dB of gain) should produce around -75 dBm at the receiver, which is something like 40 μV of signal strength at 50 Ω even without RX antenna gain. Most radios these days have sensitivity down to around 0.2 μV, so the limit with VHF and UHF is mostly line of sight and not so much transmitter power.

 

[axlesandantennas]

I only ask because I've never come close to that because the most I can achieve is about a 10,000' differential in elevation. Our peaks are 14,000' but the radio line of sight is to stations that sit on the plains at 4,000' to 5,000'. The radio horizon for 10,000' difference in antenna height is about 140 miles.

But if I do peak-to-peak, like both of us sitting at 12,000' with me in Colorado and the other station in Wyoming or New Mexico, really long direct paths are possible. Otherwise I'm hoping for a topospheric duct to get the DX.

At 177 miles path loss at 144 MHz calculates to roughly -124 dB, so 7W (+38 dBm) and an EDZ (about +11 dB of gain) should produce around -75 dBm at the receiver, which is something like 40 μV of signal strength at 50 Ω even without RX antenna gain. Most radios these days have sensitivity down to around 0.2 μV, so the limit with VHF and UHF is mostly line of sight and not so much transmitter power.

I'd be inclined to guess he got a little duct work in there. I don't hit it too often, but when I do, it's pretty amazing! Once, in the early 90s when I was about 13, I was working on a 1/4 wave antenna and had it on my bed. My radio was a HTX-202 at 5 watts and wound up in a 30 minute conversation with a repeater in NY state. I was in the southern part of VA. Probably over 300 miles. It was pretty amazing. Tropo is hard to predict though.