Icom M710 HF Marine Radio IC-M710

A typical M710 HF radio package consists of: 

Must Haves:

1. Icom M710 marine HF SSB transceiver (incls radio, hand mic, power cable, manual, mounting bracket and connectors) ($1,699 price covers this only)
   
2. Icom AT-130 or Hitech AT-130 Antenna Tuner (mounted as close to your grounding point / grounding plate as is possible)
   
3. Icom OPC-420 tuner control cable (10M - 30+Feet) (runs from M710 radio to AT130 antenna tuner)                
   
4. RG-8 coaxial cable with soldered connectors installed on both ends (12', 12', 50', 75', or 100' available)*(runs from radio to antenna tuner)
   
5. Backstay (RopeAntenna) - commercially manufactured, various lengths available or Marine HF whip antenna
   
6. Copper RF grounding strip (Up to 9', heavy-duty .010 thick 4-inch Wide - Won't dissolve in your bilge). (Keep run from tuner to grounding plate as short as possible)
   
7. Antenna feeder cable (runs from antenna tuner to feedpoint of backstay antenna or marine whip - keep as short as possible)
8. Grounding Plate (professional grade) with mounting kit (mounted to the underside of hull)
9. Technical support - for installation provided free of charge via email / telephone with purchase of the Icom M710.

* Call or e-mail if your coaxial cable length is not listed.

Nice to haves:

1. T-4-500 "common mode" coaxial RF Choke with double male coaxial connector (inserted between radio and coaxial cable to eliminate potential radio interference)
   
2. RF chokes - FairRites (two XL type-31 snap-on ). (clip onto cables for any other electronic devices at the helm that maybe effected by radio interference - ie pactor modem cables).
3. Pactor Modem - send / receive emails via your HF radio, decode weatherfax, download grib files, plot your boat position on the internet for friends and family to track your course.
4. DC Block - if you are grounding to a boat with a metal hull you need to take precautions against electrolysis - this device will do the trick
   
   

All of the install accessories are listed as options below - to purchase, simply select the tick box next to the options that you require and click the green "Add to Basket" button. This will add the Icom m710 and one each of the options that you have selected to your shopping cart. Quantites (ie metres of cable) can be adjusted within  the shopping cart itself prior to check-out.

If you wish to purchase an option on a standalone basis (ie without buying an M710 HF radio) or to obtain detailed information about an option just click on the text (ie name) for that option and you will be redirected to the dedicated page for that optional product.

If an option you require is not listed below - then simply use the search box in the top right corner of this page to locate it on our site.

For a desciption of what is involved in a typical install please click on the HF SSB Installation tab above.

The above is an installation diagram for the Icom M-802 - the principles are the same for the Icom M710 HF SSB

This is not intended as a complete installation guide - but rather an installation description to aid you in determining what you need to buy from us to do the job right. We will supply a comprehensive installation guide with your radio purchase which goes into far greater detail. The process is not complicated - if you can follow step by step instructions then you can get this job done.

A comprehensive marine installation incorporating HF SSB radio, antenna system and Pactor Modem (for email at sea) is shown above.

The pactor modem installation is highlighted in grey and can be disregarded if you do not require email at sea capabilities.

OPC-420 (replaces OPC-1147N - available from us here) - is the antenna tuner control cable (10 metres long) - when you press the "tune" button on the radio - this cables carries the signal to your Icom  AT-130 tuner (replaces AT-140 above -sold by us here)  to tell it to tune / stop tuning etc.

Only one coaxial cable is required to run from the M710 (it does not have DSC like the m802) to the tuner - coaxial cables in various lengths are sold by us here

The power cable is supplied with the radio and is attached to your vessel DC power system. We recommend connecting straight to your battery as the vessel circuit board is a source of electrical noise which will diminish your ability to receive weaker radio signals.

The Icom AT-130 antenna tuner is mounted as close to your ground plate / shoe (sold here) as is possible. This is the most critical distance in the whole installation and it is best to start your installation plan here - ie the tuner must be as close to the ground plate as is possible (no more than 1 metre) - this accordingly determines the location of the tuner (ie next to the ground plate).

The installation a of a high quality ground system cannot be overestimated. Your antenna system will simply not work if you have not installed a good quality ground plate on the underside of your vessel. The larger the surface area of the plate (in contact with the sea water) the better the sytem will work. The tuner is bound to the ground plate using copper strip - sold here (preferred) or tinned copper braid (cheaper alternative) sold here.

The grounding system can be further improved by installing a counterpoise system - this is easy to do - and will pay off in reduced receiver noise and faster / more efficient tuning of your antenna.  See our counterpoise systems here.

Recommended antenna for sailing vessels (ie boat with a mast) is the RopeAntenna (see it on our webpage here)

Alternately you can make your own backstay antenna or for vessels without a mast you can install a marine whip antenna (sold by us here)

The tuner is attached to your chosen antenna by feeder cable which you can purchase from us here. It is best to also keep this length as short as is possible (ie less than 3 metres).

You should also consider purchase of the following:

DC Block / Blocking Capacitors

If you have a metal boat - then the vessel itself can act as your ground (ie no need for a grounding plate). You do however need to install a DC block (sold by us here) or as a minimum, cut a gap in your copper strip / grounding braid and the bridge the gap with filtering capacitors (sold by us here). Stray DC currents create electrolysis which can eat away your ground plate and even worse, your metal hull - the DC block / or capcitors will filter out these DC currents.

Radio interference prevention

Your radio signal can interfere with other electronic equipment on board. To minimise the risk of this we recommend:

Installing a Line Isolator between in the coaxial line between the radio and tuner (we sell this here)

Clip ferite beads onto the cables attaching to your other other equipment - ie pactor modem, GPS etc (we sell these here).

Recommended ferrite bead locations are detailed in the diagram below:

Programming an Icom M710

Virtually all SSB communications are conducted using the frequency and mode data stored in the 160 radio channels/memory locations in the User Channel Group. Any or all of these 160 User Memory Channels can be reprogrammed either manually, or by computer. Here's how to manually reprogram a User Channel:

There are two large knobs, a keypad, and a Mode button on the front of the radio. These are the tools used to reprogram frequency and mode data in the radio.

• The large left-hand knob is the Group Channel Selector knob. Use it to  select the channel group you want to use.

• The right-hand knob is the Channel Selector knob. Use the Channel Selector knob to select a radio channel within a selected Channel Group.

• The CH/Freq keypad key toggles the radio LCD dial display between Channel and Frequency.

• The Mode button selects USB, LSB, H3E, etc., modes. Note: ALL marine SSB communications are conducted in the USB mode.

M-710/710RT Programming: