| M1CXF | Rating: | 2015-05-27 |
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| nice and easy to use | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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| I have a 90 and use this system regularly. I also have a 92 and a 51 and this system is so much easier to use |
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| N1FDX | Rating: | 2010-04-16 |
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| Works good for me. | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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This is my second time around with the T90A. I had one in the past sold it for a 91A and went back to the T90a because I just enjoyed the simplicity of the radio. The reciever was far better than the 91a. As for the software, I use it with a serial cable and it seems to work great ever time. Very simple to use, quick upload and downloads. A must have if you like take advantage of your memories and banks. I guess it could have done a little better jib on moving entries around but overall works OK for me.
http://home.comcast.net/~n1fdx |
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| KE7CPK | Rating: | 2007-04-03 |
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| YUK | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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GOT A NEW LAPTOP NOW NONE OF MY SOFTWARE WORKS
AND HAVE TO BUY NEW. NO UPDATES. NOT ME TIME TO SELL THE T90
FOR SOME THING THAT WORKS |
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| K5ADF | Rating: | 2007-04-03 |
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| Minimal Software | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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I have both a T81A and a T90 (as well as a 91 A/D). It just worked out that way as I am not necessarily an ICOM fan. I have the PC cable that works for both the T81 and T90. However it has a 9 pin RS232 end. My laptop (old) has a DB9 connector so it works fine. My desktop computer (much newer) does not have a DB9 connector. I solved the problem by purchasing a DB9 to USB converter that not only passes the signals but provides the power required (important) via USB and it works. I am using a Keyspan USB to serial converter.
As for the software for the T90, it leaves much to be desired. ICOM should be flogged for sending out such a poor product. It does work, but this is not 1995 anymore! It is difficult to use requiring many keystrokes just to program and documentation is non-existent for all practical purposes.
It is better than trying to remember all those key strokes on the T90 to program it, but just barely. I will say that communication between the T90 and the PC always works at least for me. I suggest you purchase a Keyspan USB to serial converter and leave the ICOM converter alone. |
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| KJ7YL | Rating: | 2006-01-16 |
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| T90 | Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
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The OPC 478 is not just a couple of jumpers. The cable can be used on all of the newer model ICOM Radio's. You can also put an stereo to mono plug on the cable and use it for a CIV control cable for your ICOM HF radios alot cheaper than a CT17.
I recently won a radio at the Seapac Hamfest. Kenwood sells thier cable for 30 dollars or so. The software was a free download off of the Kenwood site.
I sold my T90 because I had to many radios. |
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| KC0ORP | Rating: | 2005-05-02 |
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| Functional. Better than by hand. | Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
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The basic mission of cloning/programming software is to provide san alternative to programming radios by hand, a sometimes daunting task, condidering my dexterity. This software accomplishes the basic task of programming the Icom T90 well. There are some limitations to the software, and it is quite expensive relative to it's utility.
I used the USB cable interface (ICOM OPC 478U), and had no difficulty loading drivers (provided), and connecting to the radio. Installing the software was also simple, and there were no suprises. Reading and writing from the T90 went rapidly (about two minutes) with no errors.
The interface is simple- perhaps too simple for some users. There is no drag and drop between memory locations. To insert a freq into a memory channel, you must first insert a line (by right-clicking on the memory channel after the channel you wish to insert to), copy the data from another memory location, then clear the copied location's memory channel(the one you copied from). The channel numbers will then automatically renumber after you do this.
This, and and the fact that you cannot sort channels by frequency, name , etc, is the major limitation of this software. I suspect that the reason this was done in this fashion is for simplicity and reliability. When writing code, simple and reliable is better. If maddening as hell for some users...
Remember, it IS better than doing it by hand.
Almost all the commands of the various 'set' menus are also available, a very nice feature. For me, this is a major plus. Bonus- the contents of the VFO's are also available, sometimes cached four back! This allowed me to recall data for a local station that I had forgotten.
The second drawback is price. Software, cable, shipping and handling came to $76.85 from Universal Radio, the best price that I could find. Universal shipped to me in about three days, and was easy to deal with. $77 is pretty steep, though (not Universal's fault). The cable ($45.00) can be used for my other Icom radios, and is not the pricing problem- the software is. With the low volume of customers purchasing the software, I suspect the cost-per-customer is quite steep. I *am* the customer, though, and the price of the sotware should be reduced to about ten to twelve bucks (from a list of $40.00, retail). I paid $27, about double what the value of the software was to me. Knowing hams, Icom requires a key code to unlock the software.
My next radio to consider software for is the IC-208H, with my gazillion frequencies plugged into it. The software appears to be the same price... I'll review when I get it.
Wally, KC0ORP |
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| KD5ZBX | Rating: | 2004-03-19 |
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| Better than manual | Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
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When I got my T90A, the software was backordered so I had to wait a few weeks to get it. It's worth the wait. Sure, the interface is 'conservative' (ok, a little clunky) but it's far better than reprogramming the darned thing manually. I use it to preconfigure repeater configurations (codes) before going on road trips.
The best part is that this makes it a lot easier to reorder frequencies in the channel banks. Try inserting a frequency in the middle of a group of 50 channels by hand... and relocating the upper 25....
So, it's good.
And despite what one of the previous reviewers said about the OPC cable, it's more than a DB9 shell with a couple wires in it. There's some silicon in there in a square DIP package. I'd expect it's an isolation circuit. As delicate as the guts of a T90A seem to be, a little extra protection from the serial port on your PC is cheap insurance. |
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| KB9QNG | Rating: | 2004-02-08 |
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| Save your money!! JUNK!! | Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
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The software is not user friendly,you spend hours programming the software and then you find out that you can not save it to a cd or floppy!!what a pain in the ---, I have tryed everything to save all the hard work I put into it,and to find out I can not save it is very disappointing.If anybody has a way to save the work to a cd or floppy PLEASE let me know.You are better off programming it manually.
If you are in the market for this software try to find somebody that has it maybe they will let you borrow it--DON'T waste you hard earned money. |
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| KD7KGX | Rating: | 2003-11-30 |
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| Works as expected, makes programming easy | Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
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I don't know what was wrong with an earlier poster's software, but I do know that my T90 software from Icom works as expected and is MUCH easier to use for programming than doing it by hand on the HT.
I purchased the software and cable after I had owned the T90 for a month, and uploaded the radio's contents to the program, rearranged the manually-programmed channels to banks that made sense for me, and downloaded them back again.
Since then I have used the software several times and it has never failed to work as expected.
I'd really give it a 4.5, because it could use some ease-of-use features when quickly duplicating channels... but that's just nit-picking. It works and works well. The only drawback is the one in common with ALL Icom accessories... the software and cable are about 50% higher in price than they should be.
If you have a T90 and want to get the most from it, then I would heartily recommend this software. |
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| W7RJR | Rating: | 2003-11-29 |
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| Works just fine | Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
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I have found this software to work just fine, not difficult to learn or use. It's basically a spreadsheet workalike and shouldn't take much brain power to figure out how to use it. I never even read the instruction booklet.
Does ICOM charge too much for their accessories? YES, but they all work just fine. |
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