Adding A Second Receiver To The Icom IC-7100

Here we take a look at how to add a second receiver to the ICOM IC-7100 Ham Radio Transceiver. The method in which I chose allows me to have a full bandscope on my computer, with it synced via Omnirig for CAT control.
The buffer board is available from SDR KITS:
www.sdr-kits.net/index.php?ro...
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[@JJ-el8li]

The 7100 is still a great radio for the money and is so versatile. I don't have any plans to sell mine and have owned it for 4 years.

[@kv5r]

Thank you for referencing my web article "7100 Panadapter how to connect an SDR to the IC-7100… © 2018-2024 by KV5R. I did not find it necessary to use a buffer, but indicated in the article that that was the "proper" way to do it. At the time of writing, a suitable buffer board didn't exist, but there were some cheap little MMIC amps that would need their 30dB gain greatly reducted with resistive dividers, and they would impart some distortion and spurs in the SDR signal. It's good to see SDR Kits is making a proper buffer board now. I still use my 7100 every day, with the same RF tap, with and SDRPlay, and have also used an Airspy and RTL-SDR v3 with acceptable results. As stated in the article, the loss to the 7100 receiver is about 1dB with a little series resistance; and this also makes the signal to the SDR a little lower, which it needs to be during transmit. I always love your videos! Kepp up the good work, bro! 73, --KV5R

[@TechMindsOfficial]

That's made my day that you are a viewer of my channel! Without your article I would of not made this video. Thank you!

[@GoonyMclinux]

I have no clue what you just said but it sounded cool. 🤣

[@FightUni09]

I used the info on your great website to get my 7100 on digital. TNX

[@jeremiahhill6431]

I just purchased the kit from SDR-KITS along with their bulkhead mount. I've been wanting to do something like this on my 7100 for a while and this will bring it up to par with the newer radios! Thanks for the video and instructions.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

You're welcome :-)

[@Scotscan]

Not that old, icom, thankfully, are still manufauring them. Absolutely superb 👌

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Yeh I think they stopped making them for a while and then they bought it back. Way ahead of it's time and it's a radio I over looked in the past. It's a fantastic radio for home and for mobile. Cheers!

[@4X4-RADIO]

Owned my 7100 for nearly 10 years, I would never let it go. At present it mostly does 40MHz/8M with my Experimental Licence.

[@merlinonline67]

You said it Matt! FT-8 is not a digital mode, it is a data mode. The difference is FT-8 and all other data modes is they are analogue and use tones, Digital Signals use a series of 000 and 111s such as Digital Voice.

[@robertl.tisdale5166]

Just got the board in the mail. Going to install on a TS440.

[@hotforrobot]

Thanks for doing a video on the sdr kits buffer board. I am planning to use it on an ft-891 and was a little unsure about whether to use IF or RF input from the radio. This video cleared it up for me.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Top Banana Matt!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Thanks Cal.. :-)

[@mahtin]

I think the £12 cost vs the new or second-hand cost of an ICOM IC-7100 is basically zero! A great upgrade from the 5pF cap method!

[@macdee8628]

An easy task if you have good eyes and competent skills and good soldering gear sdr kits are great ive had my ic775dsp done

[@winstonchurchill6506]

Well done

[@David3o3]

I use these on some ft-450d's, works great!

[@FightUni09]

Keep my 7100 running VARAC all day long. Great radio

[@Northern-Rambler]

Great video as always Matt, why did you choose the PATV board over the PAT150M which seems to be designed to fit the IC-7100?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Hi ya, the PAT150M board is designed to be used with the IF output, and it has built in Low Pass Filters. With the RX Output that I tapped into I needed a buffer, but no LPF, hence the use of the PATV as it has no LPF. Hope that helps :-)

[@wtmayhew]

This approach might also work with well the Icom IC-706 Mk IIg, which is a rig I still use frequently. It is really a plus to have HF, 6m, VHF and UHF all in one pretty small box. I’ve got an IC-7300 for HF, but I still find the aging 706 is a fairly pleasant radio when it has the SSB and CW filters installed. The older Icoms are still too god to toss out. The downside of the 706 is the fairly high idle current of almost 2A at 13.6V when receiving, not the best for battery portable.

[@frankENZC]

Excellent!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Coowallsky]

Kudos!

[@deltadiversbyward]

You mentioned you used some 50ohm coax for the IF tap but could have used some plain wire. Why did you choose coax ? what would the benefit be?, What would the drawback to plain wire be ?

[@Ei2iP]

So to be clear connecting the module the way you recommend does not give you a second independent receiver, so in order to use the sdr receiver you need to be on the same band. Would I be correct in saying this?

[@Subgunman]

I wonder if this would work with Yaesu radios with CAT control. FT857 original not D series.

[@radioastronomy2001]

I think there is an IF output at the back of the radio.

[@Subgunman]

Do you have a source for the coax used in this modification? What nomenclature does this coax carry?

[@paulsengupta971]

Looks a bit like RG-316 to me.

[@Subgunman]

@@paulsengupta971 thanks! I will check it out if there is an EU supplier for this cable.

[@Ei2iP]

Is it for hf only, does it work with vhf and uhf

[@TechMindsOfficial]

All bands as shown in the video.

[@Ei2iP]

​@@TechMindsOfficial great have the kit, I'll do the install

[@cleitorubi_izolan]

show Parabéns pelas tuas publicações muito legais 73´s py3sa

[@CBPunisher1900]

wonder it that board would work on a cb/10m radio like a ranger 2950 or anytone 5555n2 or president george i bet it would work though u should do a video lol

[@Mrgiz-2e0off]

Mate on watching this video I have bought the board and fitted it to my 7100 and wow love the results, it has opened up the radio to a new level cheers and thank you for sharing and showing this to me .. de 2e0off Rob

[@TechMindsOfficial]

That's awesome! Glad to hear it helped out. :-) Thanks for watching..

[@deltadiversbyward]

What SDR receiver do you use ?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

I use an RSPdx from SDRPlay