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A couple of subscribers asked: with IC-905, what comes out of the box, what are the accessories and what are the options?

First thing to keep in mind: IC-905 is a system, rather than a one box transceiver. Practically, you have to make a decision – is it going to be a portable or a permanent home setup? For a simple reason: the ‘radio’ consists of two separate units: the ‘head’ (or as ICOM calls it, ‘the controller’) and the RF unit. In the case of home setup, the assumption is that you will be using multiple directional antennas situated on a tower. In which case the RF unit is to be physically located as close as possible to antennas (the connection between the RF unit and the ‘head’ is via a 20m or 50m LAN control cable). So you can’t just put the radio head in a backpack, and drive to a local mountain peak without the RF unit.

On the other hand, if you decide to operate from portable, to play with ATV or make close range contacts with locals on multiple bands, or some fun contesting, then ICOM provides three lightweight collinear antennas for 2.4 and 5.6 and 10GHz. Plus a 10GHz parabola for more serious record breaking long range contacts.  

In addition, the third component in the system is a 10GHz transverter which also has to be mounted as close as possible to a 10GHz antenna.

So what comes out of the box?

IC-905 head, the RF unit with bracket, 5m control cable, microphone, some connectors, DC power cable, GPS antenna and fuses. (RRP $5,775).

For 10GHz, a transverter unit CX-10G (RRP $2,200) is required. It comes with a connection cable and bracket.

All antennas are optional: collinear antennas for 2.4 and 5.6 and 10GHz. (RRP $385 each).

10GHz parabola AH-109PB is $2,200. Control cables in 20m and 50m lengths are also available.

There are some peculiarities with IC-905. For example, on the RF unit box, the 2m/70cm/23cm antenna output is a single N connector. Which means that an external triplexer would be required.

Again, I am not a microwave expert, but I am here to help you, to the best of my ability. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.