Innovative RF Direct Sampling System
Introduced with the IC-7300, Icom’s RF Direct Sampling System has made SDR performance affordable. Direct Sampling means incoming RF signals are digitized by the Analog-to-Digital Converter and immediately processed by the FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array). This process greatly reduces distortion that naturally occurs in the various mixer stages found in traditional superhetrodyne receivers.
Astonishing 110dB RMDR
The RF Direct Sampling System in the IC-7610 is capable of 110 dB RMDR. This performance gives you the ability to pull weak signals out of the noise of strong adjacent signals. There is a difference you can actually hear as the desired signal comes out of the pileup!
Customized VCXO is used for Master Clock
Reducing phase noise in a receiver is always a challenge as it is a natural characteristic of a receiver. The master clock of the IC-7610 utilizes a low phase noise VCXO (Voltage Controlled Crystal Oscillator), combined with Icom’s years of technical expertise to design a common power supply for the VCXO and FPGA, yielding an ultra-low phase noise. Also, a 10 MHz reference signal can be input to the IC-7610 for higher precision.
Independent Dual Receiver
Whether listening to both sides of a rare DX station running split, or looking for a multiplier on a different band or mode, the dual receivers in the IC-7610 have you covered. Two separate DIGI-SEL preselectors, two separate Band Pass Filter networks, feed two separate A/D converters into the FPGA.
DIGI-SEL for Main and Sub Bands
The DIGI-SEL preselectors are RF filters with sharp, narrow passband characteristics preventing Analog-to-Digital Converter overflow from large out-of-band signals when sampling the RF signals. Additionally the third and higher order IMD components are reduced. This is ideal when strong signals are received in a contest pile-up or from broadcast stations on adjacent frequencies or bands.
Hight Quality Speaker Sound
To finish out the receiver, is an internal speaker cabinet. The cabinet is tuned to reproduce clear, natural sounding audio, and is insulated from the radio chassis to prevent noise from vibration and panel resonance.
Digital Up-Conversion (DUC) for Clean TX
Breaking with the tradition of mixing a carrier signal with a local oscillator, a Digital-Up-Conversion (DUC) method is used to generate the required signal from the Digital-to-Analog Converter. The chart to the right shows the difference made by this new design.
Built-In Automatic Antenna Tuner
The built-in automatic antenna tuner memorizes its settings based on your transmit frequency, so that it can recall the tuning setting when you switch operating bands. The emergency tuner function* enables you to operate for short periods of time with an antenna with a high SWR.
7-Inch Color Display with Touch Screen
The large 7-inch color display shows various operating and setting information at a glance in high resolution (800 × 480 pixels.) The display clearly shows various features, for example the dual spectrum scope aligned vertically or horizontally, simulated analog meters and RTTY, PSK31/63 mode decoded messages.
Dual Receivers, Dual Spectrum Scopes
The IC-7610 provides dual reception, on different bands, as does the high-speed, high-resolution spectrum scopes. Whether watching for a band opening, working a rare DX station operating split, or searching for a multiplier, the ability to watch each receiver separately allows the operator to concentrate on pulling in a weak signal. The scopes provide class-leading performance in resolution, sweep speed and a 100 dB dynamic range. Scroll mode automatically keeps the operating signal within the scope range. To navigate around the band easier, connect a PC mouse to the USB port for point and click tuning of the receivers.
Audio Scope Flexibility
The Audio Scope screen shows both a FFT scope with waterfall along with an oscilloscope for both transmit and receive audio. This makes it easy to monitor AF characteristics such as microphone compressor level, filter width, notch filter, and in CW, you can monitor received CW keying wave forms.