so after about two years of running a borrowed FT-450D at my brother-in-laws place and doing portable ops with my little KX2, i finally set up my own shack and got an IC-7300 as the centerpiece. been on the air maybe three weeks now and overall yeah its as good as people say but there were a couple things that kinda caught me off guard that nobody really mentioned in the reviews i read.

first thing is how much the real-time spectrum scope changes how you operate. i knew it was there obviously, but i didnt realize how much time id spend just watching the waterfall instead of actually calling CQ or hunting DX. its almost like it becomes its own hobby within a hobby. had to consciously make myself just pick a frequency and work it instead of staring at the display.

second thing and this is more of a gripe - the stock mic. i know everyone says replace it right away but i figured id give it a fair shot. yeah no, its not great. not terrible but the audio reports i was getting were pretty mediocre until i swapped over to an SM-30 desk mic. night and day difference on SSB.

also the fan noise. its not loud but in a quiet shack at night when bands are dead and youre just monitoring, you hear it. not a dealbreaker just something i noticed. anyone else running one of these long term - did you ever do anything about the fan or just get used to it?

yeah the waterfall thing is real, i went through the same thing when i first got mine a few years back. took me probably a month before i stopped treating it like a television and started actually using it as a tool. now i barely think about it, just kinda peripheral awareness while im operating.

on the fan - i never did anything about it and just got used to it honestly. if it really bugs you theres some people who have done fan mods with quieter aftermarket fans but i wouldnt bother unless youre doing a lot of late night monitoring. the noise floor in my shack from the PC and the rotor controller is already worse than the radio anyway so it kind of blends in.

good call on the desk mic though. the stock hand mic on mine went in a drawer pretty much immediately. im using an Heil PR-40 into a preamp and the audio reports improved dramatically. people actually comment on it sometimes which never happened before.

the spectrum scope addiction is a documented condition i think, my elmers told me the same thing when i got my first radio with one, just an SDR at the time but same deal. you end up being a spectator lol

cant comment on the 7300 specifically but ive heard the fan thing mentioned before. i think someone on one of the Facebook groups did a write up on swapping the fan for a Noctua one but i dont remember if it was worth it in the end or if he just put the stock one back. might be worth digging around for.