Icom just posted their new flagship product on the japanese website: IC-7851. It doesn’t seem to be a completely new product – as the front panel is almost identical to the IC-7800, but appearences can be misleading.

Icom claims redesigned insides for the IC-7851, aimed at improving performance “no matter what cost”. They targeted the LO (much lower phase noise local oscillator), the DSP (we might finally have a working bandscope), the exciter BPF block is now relay-switched (as the PIN diodes bring some distorsions into the mix) and they added few more bells and whistles such as USB mouse support, DVI display output and SP-DIF audio I/O. There is also a new 1.2kHz “OPTIMUM ROOFING FILTER” on the 1st IF (64MHz).

Probably the most effort was put into improving performance as the IC-7800 didn’t really measure up to the competiton from Yaesu and Kenwood, so the new figures for Reciprocal Mixing Dynamic Range look impressive:

Official claim is 110dB dynamic range and +40dBm IP3, wich is competitive enough. The price point for the Icom IC-7851 in the japanese market is 1.1 million yen, wich is about US$9200 – both the Yaesu FTdx-5000MP and the Kenwood TS-990S were initially listed around US$8200.

The complete list of specs below; not sure what’s with the limited TX range on 160m and 80m, might be a requirement of the japanese market.

General specification

Frequency range
Reception frequency 30kHz ~ 60.000MHz (operating range)
(Warranty coverage) 100kHz ~ 29.999MHz
50.000MHz ~ 54.000MHz
Transmit frequency 1.810MHz ~ 1.825MHz
1.9075MHz ~ 1.9125MHz
3.500MHz ~ 3.575MHz
3.599MHz ~ 3.612MHz
3.680MHz ~ 3.687MHz
3.702MHz ~ 3.716MHz
3.745MHz ~ 3.770MHz
3.791MHz ~ 3.805MHz
7.000MHz ~ 7.200MHz
10.100MHz ~ 10.150MHz
14.000MHz ~ 14.350MHz
18.068MHz ~ 18.168MHz
21.000MHz ~ 21.450MHz
24.890MHz ~ 24.990MHz
28.000MHz ~ 29.700MHz
50.000MHz ~ 54.000MHz
4630kHz
Mode LSB, USB, CW, RTTY, PSK31 / 63, AM, FM
The number of memory channels 101 (split memory 99ch + scan edge 2ch)
Antenna impedance 50Ω (unbalanced)
Antenna terminal HF / 50MHz band for M type 4 system, BNC type 2 system for reception
Power-supply voltage 85 ~ 265V AC
Grounding scheme Minus ground
Operating temperature limit 0 ℃ ~ + 50 ℃
Frequency stability ± 0.05ppm within (at the time of 0 ℃ ~ + 50 ℃ / 54MHz)
Frequency resolution Minimum 1Hz
Power consumption Receiving standby time of 120VA (TYP)
Reception at the maximum 130VA (TYP)
Send at the maximum 800VA
External dimensions
(I except the projections)
About 425 (W) × 149 (H) × 435 (D) mm
Weight About 23.5kg

Transmission unit

Transmission output SSB, CW, FM, RTTY, PSK31 / 63: 5W ~ 200W
AM: 5W ~ 50W
Modulation scheme SSB: balanced modulation
AM: low-power modulation
FM: phase modulation
Spurious emission intensity Harmonic:
More than 60dB (HF band)
70dB or more (50MHz band)

Spurious area (I except the harmonic):
More than 50dB (HF band)
70dB or more (50MHz band)

Out-of-band region:
More than 40dB (HF band)
More than 60dB (50MHz band)

Carrier suppression ratio 63dB or more
Unnecessary sideband suppression ratio 70dB or more
Microphone impedance 600Ω
TX variable range ± 9.999kHz

Receiving part

Receiving scheme Double superheterodyne system
Intermediate frequency First: 64.455MHz (MAIN), 64.555MHz (SUB)
Second: 36kHz
Receiver sensitivity (TYP) SSB / CW / RTTY / PSK (BW = 2.4kHz) (when 10dB S / N)
0.1MHz ~ 1.7999MHz: -6dBμ (preamplifier 1: When ON)
1.8MHz ~ 29.990MHz: -16dBμ (preamplifier 1: When ON)
50MHz ~ 54MHz: -18dBμ (preamplifier 2: When ON)

AM (BW = 6kHz) (when 10dB S / N)
0.1MHz ~ 1.7999MHz: + 16dBμ (preamplifier 1: When ON)
1.8MHz ~ 29.990MHz: + 6dBμ (preamplifier 1: When ON)
50MHz ~ 54MHz: + 0dBμ (preamplifier 2: When ON)

FM (BW = 15kHz) (when 12dB SINAD)
28MHz ~ 29.990MHz: -6dBμ (preamplifier 1: When ON)
50MHz ~ 54MHz: -10dBμ (preamplifier 2: When ON)

Squelch sensitivity SSB / CW / AM / RTTY / PSK: + 15dBμ below
FM: 0dBμ below
Selectivity (TYP) SSB (BW = 2.4kHz): 2.4kHz more / -3dB 3.6kHz or less / -60dB
CW / RTTY / PSK (BW = 500Hz): 500Hz or more / -3dB 700Hz or less / -60dB
AM (BW = 6kHz): 6.0kHz more / -3dB 15kHz or less / -60dB
FM (BW = 15kHz): 12kHz or more / -6dB 20kHz or less / -60dB
Spurious interference ratio 70dB or more
Low-frequency output More than 2.6W (8Ω load, when 10% distortion)
Low-frequency load impedance
RIT variable range ± 9.999kHz more

Accessories

● rack mount handle
● SD card
● AC power cable
● spare fuse
● speaker plug other