After quite some time trying to decide between FTDX101D and IC-7610, I finally opted for the Icom. The radio has arrived and now that I had a chance to use it for a couple of weeks I must admit that I am quite impressed. I live in a very noisy suburban environment, but this receiver is incredibly quiet comparing to any radio I had before.

The noise blanker is spectacular. On 40m I have some power line noise that I was unable to find the sorce of so far, but the IC-7610 wipes it off just like that. Most importantly, it does it already at about 10% (level 10), while IC7300 needed to go to 80% and still not completely kill it off. The signal distortion at NR level 80 on IC-7300 is pretty bad..

The display is simply gorgeous. Many have written reviews and posted various videos about beauty of this display and all I can do is comletely agree. It’s perfect.

The ergonomics – also top notch, with maybe one or two very minor objections. I wish there was a MODE button that flips between CW and SSB, while other modes are selected by touchscreen. The other thing is that I still go for the SUB AF/RF gain knob almost every time, because it just feels natural for AF/RF Gain to be there. Because this radio has two receivers, the main receiver AF/RF Gain control is further up. It’a matter of getting used to, I guess.

Yaesu has done something funny on FTDX101D, they put the main receiver knobs and buttons on the bottom and the sub receiver stuff above it. It looks weird but it seems to be working better, at least it would for me.

APF on CW is heaven. In the current conditions where we can barely hear anyone here in Australia, picking up that tiny signal amongst all the local QRM is quite a task and APF comes to shine here. APF on FTDX3000 was great, but this one is better.

The problem with the universally hated (or loved) elec-key plug on the front of the radio is easily solved by using an L-shaped adapter from eBay, best spent $2.

Now, all we need is for the sun to wake up and give us some joy on the bands.