Received On Christmas Morning IC705 from my wife bless her, set up this fantastic transceiver 4 days later well after getting my call registered for D Star use I have managed to make contact with no antenna via WiFi my cheap Bluetooth headset works like a dream, I have a few other radios in my small shed shack mainly Yaesu so a learning curve for me. In the short time of ownership I have made contact on HF 10m band into Europe and on FT8 all at 5w very impressed with the Icom unfortunately it’s probably put my FT818nd into retirement.

The debate between brands will never end, however one thing is obvious! The IC-705 is THE radio when it comes to a portable shack in a box. Having been in use for a bit more than a week I can clearly say, it is a gamechanger. Unlimited possibilities, huge, clear display, the ease of use and the look are top notch. The service and the unbeatable offer received at Moonraker just tops this euphoria and I take the opportunity to thank every single one of the team members who went above and beyond when I visited them to pick up the radio. Catch you on the air!

About time manufacturers produced such a transceiver. Yaesu will be hashing something together for a slice of sales.
To me it has everything a newcomer could be looking for, including portability or a shack radio with amplification should they require it.
A turning point in amateur radio retail production.

Many thanks to Justin who put a package together.

What a fantastic piece of kit. Extras like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi make it really special. Just wish they would release a base station version with antenna tuner and 100W amplifier built in!

A very high quality radio. Packed with features and useful presets. Comes preloaded with DV and analogue repeaters. Beautiful touch screen display. GPS, presets for FT8 and ssb phone. Comes with upgraded higher power battery pack, fused DC cable and speaker microphone, rubber feet, phono plug and strain relief bracket for microphone cable and the basic operating manual.
Cons. Microphone to small.

I purchased the Icom 705 as a first radio, having just passed my foundation licence. The radio is just terrific. I have been playing around one week with it, and there is so so so much to learn!!! I am glad I purchased an all bands transceiver, as I will be able to play with other bands later on. At the moment, I'm playing with 2 meters, and 70 cm. D-star worked staring out the box. Lots and lots of settings and options. I could not be happier with the purchase, as I feel it will keep me entertained for a while!! the waterfall function is also absolutely great. Highly recommended.

This little, fully portable, shack in a box lived up to everything I had heard and read about it.
Easy to use, superbly built and feature rich.
This little radio has most of the features that you would expect in a 'full sized' base station radio. So far it has not left me wanting and if I'm honest I don't think it will.
The 705 has handled everything I have thrown at it. When paired with the mAT 705 ATU every makeshift antenna I have connected matches. Every noisy environment I have used it in I have been able to use the RF gain and filters to if not eliminate the noise at least get it to the point I can pick out the stations. FT8 works out of the box.
Ragchews on VHF it never gets too hot and even has a handy temperature meeter to keep and eye on. Natters on the local repeater it works fine.
Okay I have yet to try out it primary designed use of /P but I'm confident it will work great.
No issues with D-Star, it just works. What would I change? It would be nice with 4 metres and the PTT button is little on the small side. But that's it. I really can find anything else to fault it on.
If you are looking for a QRP around portable/base shack in the box, don't hesitate just buy a 705.

Moved to the coast where there are lots of Fauna and Flora activation sites, bit like SOTA but with out the hills lol, so been building a go box with quick deployment aerials the IC-705 is a terrific radio to add in. It has an immense amount of features to cover all interests, I only tend to operate on CW on HF, but love a rag chew on VHF/UHF so has all I need, as a QRP operator this is ideal, I will have a little 50 watt amp after Christmas which should be more than enough to deal with various pile ups with an efficient aerial. Well done Icom, and Moonraker for their excellent customer service. 73 all stay safe and all that stuff.

I have a FT-817ND and it’s a great radio but this IC-705 is just awesome. First week, did a 2m SOTA and had a pileup for an hour. Listening back to the audio recording the TX audio was just beautiful and the RX was pretty easy to pick out despite being on a hill. The bandscope gives a great view of the band and makes it easy to flick around for signals. Bandscope is way better than that of the FT-991A by a country mile too.

As a QRP enthusiast, my interest in the 705 is as a ‘shack in a box’ covering HF and V/UHF bands - in truth, a replacement for my 19 year old FT817. I have not been disappointed. The radio worked out of the box and I found I could access basic TX and RX without reading the enclosed short form manual. However, I strongly recommend that you read the manual before you try any serious operating. The radio is sturdy and the controls are firm. The touch screen is not over sensitive - I found that the best results were to be had by placing my fingers on top of the radio and using my thumb to activate the on screen buttons/boxes. This also stops the rig moving when pushing buttons. The of screen push button switches are firm and positive, use of finger nails is recommended as they are smallish and often co-located. The menu system took a little getting used to but after a couple of days use, I reached the conclusion that it had been well thought out. There are a few oddities, so read the book! Performance will be objectively assessed elsewhere, but the RX did not fall down under contest conditions. Sensitivity seems good on all bands. I found it necessary to reduce the RF gain when listening on the lower HF bands as the ambient noise at this location was strong enough to produce what I can only describe as ‘ringing’ in the CW bandwidths. The RX attenuators must be of the order of 20dB, hence using the RF gain to control the ringing. This effect was not present in wider RX bandwidths, SSB etc. Quality of received audio was excellent in both phone and CW modes. On transmit, I can say that CW full break in mode is poor. It only returns to receive in between words, not individual dots and dashes. There is also an audible T/R. It clicks gently rather than clangs and I find it acceptable. I cannot speak for data modes and digital phone operation as I do not use either.

Overall, I doubt that any purchaser will be disappointed. I question whether it will be much used by backpackers as it is rather heavier than, say, a KX2 and it does not have an onboard ATU. I’m in the process of evaluating the supplied battery’s endurance and will post a further review in due course. It took just a couple of hours to top up the battery - received with a 40 per cent charge - using the 5V charger for my iPad. The battery will, it is claimed, charge more rapidly when the rig is connected to the 13.8V supply. Oh, a final note, the onboard GPS finds satellites very rapidly, even indoors.