"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

The M710 is a great radio for email and Marine SSB use. It is a bit of
a pain for general QSOing since it lacks a "Big Knob". But if you
spend most of your hamming on various nets, then you can program them
into the memories and you are all set. I originally had both an M710
and a Kenwood TS-680 on board, but the TS-680 quit transmitting and it
will cost more to fix
than the rig is worth.

Doug, k3qt
s/v CAllista


This is where the M802 just shines as a ham rig. M802 HAS the "big knob",
actually two of them, in frequency mode. Switching to ham bands is easy.
Press MODE + XMIT + the number 2 buttons together until it beeps and that
opens the transmitter to all the frequencies it covers, not just Marine
bands. Do it again, and it locks out all but the marine channels to keep
your non-ham operators from transmitting out-of-band on their watch. No
wires or diodes to clip.

M802 has tons of memories, so I have a bank programmed for the ham nets.
Press the RX button to switch from channel mode to frequency mode (toggles
back and forth). Once in frequency mode, the left big button selects
which
number the right big button changes....Mhz, 100 khz, 10 Khz, 1 Khz or 100
hz steps. Most hams now use 1 Khz steps so I leave the cursor on the 1Khz
number and just rotate the right "VFO" knob to tune smoothly across the
bands in 1 Khz steps. Works like a great ham radio having this
feature....albeit a little overpriced...(c;

M802 also has a clarifier in 10 Hz steps so you can set the audio tones on
any modem dead on the money for data reception.

It's only 150 watts...but we can't have everything....

http://www.icomamerica.com/products/marine/m802/

The M710 works in a similar way with its 2 "big knobs". Problem is that
the knobs have detents which make it impossible to browse easily.

Doug