so i finally got my hands on the IC-905 after waiting like four months for the backorder to clear. been doing mostly HF for years but wanted to get into microwave stuff and this thing has been on my radar since they announced it. first impressions are honestly pretty solid, the build quality feels like typical icom which is to say its good but not jaw dropping or anything.

the big thing for me was getting it set up on 10 GHz with the external unit mounted up on the roof. that was a whole afternoon of head scratching honestly. the GPS sync for the transverter is clever but the documentation could use some work — or maybe im just impatient. once i got it dialed in though and made my first CW contact on 10 GHz i was pretty stoked. its a band ive always wanted to play on and never had good gear for.

anyway curious if anyone else has been running one of these, especially on the higher bands. also wondering if there are good nets or activity nights for weak signal on 2.4 or 10 GHz in the midwest, havent been able to find much activity poking around.

congrats on getting it up on 10 GHz, thats not trivial. ive been running a 905 since late last year and yeah the documentation for the external unit setup is kind of rough in places. the GPS lock thing threw me off too at first — took me a bit to realize i had the antenna cable slightly loose and it was causing intermittent issues i blamed on the radio for like a week before i found it.

for activity in the midwest, check out the ARRL microwave activity weekends, theres usually a decent cluster of guys on in the Chicago and KC areas during those. also the VHF contests bring out some 10 GHz activity even from people who dont normally operate up there. September VHF contest especially seems to wake people up. might also be worth posting on the weak signals reflector to see if anyone in your grid is interested in a sked.

ooh nice, ive been eyeing that radio for a while. way out of my budget right now but living vicariously lol. does it do anything on the regular VHF/UHF bands or is it pretty much focused on the microwave stuff? i keep reading conflicting things and the icom page isnt super clear to me as a newer guy