Tag Archives: Hamvention 2022

Icom drops hints about the SHF-P1 controller prototype/concept

Yesterday, Icom posted the following teaser and image above on Twitter in advance of the 2022 Hamvention:

Are you ready for Dayton Hamvention 2022? Something new and exciting is on the horizon, visit us in building 2 from Friday, May 20 through Sunday, May 22.

At first, I was scratching my head because the product image (at the top of the page) looks like an IC-705, but the frequency displayed is 5.780 GHz.  Then I remembered mention of Icom’s SHF (Super High Frequency) Band Challenge some months ago.

I looked up the SHF Project page on Icom Japan’s website and found the details.

Basically, Icom seems to be repurposing the IC-705 platform to be used as a controller for the SHF transceiver. Why not? The IC-705 has fantastic ergonomics and a brilliant spectrum display.

In order to mitigate line losses, the SHF transceiver/RF module is designed to be mounted directly on a tower at the antenna and controlled remotely via a LAN cable. Here’s a simple diagram from Icom’s news release:

Here’s what the SHF RF module looks like:

Icom will have the new SHF-P1 controller prototype on display at the 2022 Hamvention:

I think it’s pretty cool that Icom’s working on a 2.4 GHz/5.6 GHz project even during these challenging times for manufacturers. I’ve never even tinkered in these frequency ranges, but I think it would be a lot of fun to explore.

For more information about this project and links to all previous news releases, check out the SHF project page on Icom’s website.

Why I’m skipping Hamvention this year

I made a tough choice a few weeks ago.

Since last year, I’ve been planning to attend the 2022 Hamvention and the Four Days In May (FDIM) evenings.

Hamvention weekend is one of the big highlights of my year and–until the pandemic–I hadn’t missed a single on in more than a decade.

I was really looking forward to this year if for no other reason than to connect with friends I only see at Hamvention.

My buddy Eric (WD8RIF), his son Miles (KD8KNC), and sometimes our good friend Mike (K8RAT) attend Hamvention together. We split accommodation, car pool, and fit in park activations before, during, and after. We also fit in an annual pilgrimage to the USAF museum. It’s incredibly fun.

As fun as Hamvention is–which is insanely fun–I realized that it was going to be a pricey 3-4 night excursion when I already have some pretty epic, much-anticipated travels planned this summer with my family.

Since I had literally no items on my Hamvention shopping list (Eric didn’t either) and since I wanted to funnel all of my travel monies into the amazingness that awaits us this summer, I had a hard time justifying the costs of the trip.

So I reached out to Eric who, turns out, was feeling much the same way.

We hatched an alternate plan that ended up winning us over. Continue reading Why I’m skipping Hamvention this year