Icom Mobile Radios

Icom of Japan has made some good mobile radios over the years. Most of mine have held up to the

test of time. Here are two that I have owned for a while that have done well. The first is the IC-

2100H 2 meter amateur radio. The other is the Icom IC F-1020 commercial mobile. These two Icom's

have lived in a mobile environment for many years, and are now being retired to basestation use.

First the IC-2100H will be discussed. This was my first ham radio after completing my Technician

license test in 2005. I bought this through Ham Radio Outlet, and also ordered a magnet mount

antenna for it as well. The selling point for me was that it was only about $150 dollars, had three

power levels and the backlight could be changed from green to yellow. The hand mic seemed to be the

weakest part of the radio. It felt light and all of the buttons sometimes got in the way. Over

time,there was some audio noise with the radio. Of course this came up after the warranty had

expired. Looking online, people said it may be the lack of ground screws inside. Opening the top

cover showed 5 holes for the main circuit board to be secured to the metal heatsink/chassis. Only

two of these holes had screws in them. I placed three more screws inside, and the noise went away.

It seems many people had this problem with the Icom IC-2100H. Some said this was worse if you

actually mounted the radio inside of a car, rather than using it stationary. Even though mine was

used in a car, it had stable power and didn't get jostled too much.

At that time, I was driving a 2000 model SUV and this seemed to fit one of the crevices under the

dash alright. With the magnet antenna, a Larson, it picked up a lot of traffic in my part of the

country. The scan feature let me listen to a lot of radio nets. This radio rode in the SUV until

2004. This was when I switched out vehicles. My new vehicle, was a mid size sedan that did not have

a good spot for a radio of this size and shape. The microphone even aged well, I never had the Push

to Talk button problem others said they had. Supposedly, the spring could fail and the button would

stay keyed on. My only issue was sometimes getting it caught in the area between the console and

seats of the SUV. My Icom F-1020 had a similiar life.

In 2005,I took a job with a company that was consolidating hardware and had merged with another

company. Both companies had a fleet of ships and vessels with VHF and UHF radios on board. I was

given an Icom IC F-1020 VHF mobile to use for myself, as these were being replaced with Motorola

radios to standardize hardware. These had been used in company trucks and vessels for several years

before I started. This radio was stacked with my amateur radio.

In 2016, both of these Icoms are still running strong, in a basestation use now. I now let them

monitor local traffic. The commercial F1020 listens to weather stations and the 2100 is still

working 2 meters. Both are now connected to a Comprod antenna on the roof, and have RG-213 coax

connecting them. A generic antenna switch lets me determine which radio is connected.

After about 16 years, both have strong and bright backlights to their LCD displays, the buttons all

still work and the speakers have loud and crisp audio. They show some tarnish on their bare

aluminum heat sinks from use, but seem to have held up well. Either of these would work well for a

fleet of vehicles or vessels as used radios. They have both been replaced by newer models. The IC-

2100H was replaced with the 2200 and then 2300. The IC F1020 and 2020 UHF version have had several

replacements as well. For me they have been great mobiles and I intend to use them until they

actually fail to function.