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IC-7000 external video display

 

I'm posting some notes regarding an external video display for my IC-7000 to potentially help others considering using one.
Prior comments on this forum indicated that inexpensive displays for back-up cameras on cars would work for the IC-7000 so I ordered one for $14 USD to find out.? Once my radio came back to life this morning, I tried it.? It worked, but the display wasn't very bright and some of the colours were smeared.? What was red on the internal screen was red on the external display with an orange shadow to the right.? After having ordered that display, I had found the remote video system I had bought 9 years ago to monitor a boat I was towing, so I tried that, too.? This monitor and its packaging was almost identical to the one I had just purchased, but it was brighter and didn't have the orange blur on the red letters.? Current draw was 142 mA.
I searched for and did not find information about the resolution of the radio's internal display.? I found it hard to measure because the pixels seem to be arranged diagonally at about 5 pixels per mm.
The internal screen is 35 mm tall and 50mm wide.? My external screen is 53 mm high and 94 mm wide.? It has 320 pixels vertically and 480 horizontally.? It stretches the image from the radio over its wider aspect ratio, adding noticeable distortion.? The external display's higher pixel count doesn't make the image sharper.? It's taking NTSC (525 lines) video from the computer and rendering it over 320 pixels, adding some blur to make things seem about the right size.? The NTSC video generated inside the radio might reflect similar compromises.? I don't expect that an even-larger display will improve sharpness.
Since this display is lightweight, cheap, and doesn't draw much power, I'll probably bring it along on POTA ops and SOTA attempts....once I sort out the radio's other problems.
Cheers
Halden VE7UTS
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Hi Halden,
Many many years ago (2007) when the IC-7000 was taking ham radio by storm and this group was maintained by Yahoo, many were experimenting with the video out capability. The conclusion landed on the Curtis 7in Portable TV. Why this? It had a video in connector and ran on 12v. I set it up in my car for mobile use. It even came with a remote that had the TV/AV button, Yep, the Curtis did pick up a TV station before they all went digital. I just tested it and it still works.?
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73, Larry W7DGP
 

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Yes,

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I remember having to remove a diode in the USA version (video was not activated from the factory) because there was some NTSC video (Federal?) requirement that ICOM could not incorporate into the unit.? The video worked well for me, but then all TV stations here went digital.

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¡®73 de Jim N2ZZ

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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Larry Ryan via groups.io
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 4:03 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ic7000] IC-7000 external video display

?

Hi Halden,

Many many years ago (2007) when the IC-7000 was taking ham radio by storm and this group was maintained by Yahoo, many were experimenting with the video out capability. The conclusion landed on the Curtis 7in Portable TV. Why this? It had a video in connector and ran on 12v. I set it up in my car for mobile use. It even came with a remote that had the TV/AV button, Yep, the Curtis did pick up a TV station before they all went digital. I just tested it and it still works.?

?

73, Larry W7DGP
 

Hi Jim,
Removing a diode was to allow the IC-7000 to become a VHF TV receiver...yep, watch a TV channel on your rig. I was always intrigued by this mod but I never was really interested in watching TV using my 7000. On the old Yahoo group, there was a lot of discussion about this mod. I still think this was the only ham rig that could be used to watch TV.? It could also be mod'd for MARS use outside the ham bands. Both required a soldering iron.?
?
Getting the composite video from the '7000 (our discussion) to view the rigs screen on a bigger monitor does not require any mods.
All you need is a cable and a monitor. Before I retired, I had a 7in monitor mounted in my company car ('07 Ford Taurus) when I used my shiny new 7000 exclusively for mobile use.?
?
73, Larry W7DGP
PS: The mod:
USING THE TVRO FUNCTION:?
After modification, TV channels 2-13 are available (USA) in NTSC format -Push and hold [AF(set)] for one second to turn TV mode ON and OFF -Rotate [M-ch] (inner control) to select the desired TV Channel -The Band keys to the far right of the radio also change TV channels -There will be a popup showing the TV channel (This can be turned off in set mode) -The preamp and attenuator functions are functional in TV mode and each channel can?
store the preamp/attenuator on/off functions independently -There will be a popup showing the ATT/P.AMP status (This can be turned off in set?
mode) -Rotate [AF] for a suitable volume level.
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

Oh yes,

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There was an option for an external monitor.? I do remember that now.? I think I purchased one but never used it.? I ended up selling it years later.

?

?

¡®73 de Jim N2ZZ

?

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Larry Ryan via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2025 4:16 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ic7000] IC-7000 external video display

?

Hi Jim,

Removing a diode was to allow the IC-7000 to become a VHF TV receiver...yep, watch a TV channel on your rig. I was always intrigued by this mod but I never was really interested in watching TV using my 7000. On the old Yahoo group, there was a lot of discussion about this mod. I still think this was the only ham rig that could be used to watch TV.? It could also be mod'd for MARS use outside the ham bands. Both required a soldering iron.?

?

Getting the composite video from the '7000 (our discussion) to view the rigs screen on a bigger monitor does not require any mods.

All you need is a cable and a monitor. Before I retired, I had a 7in monitor mounted in my company car ('07 Ford Taurus) when I used my shiny new 7000 exclusively for mobile use.?

?

73, Larry W7DGP

PS: The mod:

USING THE TVRO FUNCTION:?
After modification, TV channels 2-13 are available (USA) in NTSC format -Push and hold [AF(set)] for one second to turn TV mode ON and OFF -Rotate [M-ch] (inner control) to select the desired TV Channel -The Band keys to the far right of the radio also change TV channels -There will be a popup showing the TV channel (This can be turned off in set mode) -The preamp and attenuator functions are functional in TV mode and each channel can?
store the preamp/attenuator on/off functions independently -There will be a popup showing the ATT/P.AMP status (This can be turned off in set?
mode) -Rotate [AF] for a suitable volume level.
 

Larry
was it a Curtis RT700 TV that you were using?
Lynn WR7G
 

In display set mode No19, you can choose 1 or 2. You have to choose 2 because it is a 4:3 composite video signal.
It works fine for me on a 7 inch monitor. (with black areas on the sides.)
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73s, Kees PA0KME
 

Thanks, Kees,
I just set it to "2".? The width on the external display became slightly less wide.? It's still distorted relative to the internal display, but less so.
Cheers,
Halden VE7UTS
 

I had one of those cheap 7" TFT video displays in a box for years and finally connected it to the IC-7000. The colors are not there, it shows up white text only. Also, it is slowly scrolling down nonstop. There are no adjustments on any radio menu for this. Is there and adjustment in the display? Is this display defective? This display is still all over eBay and Amazon at $30-35. Its easy to see it's identical.
?
Anyone here has ever seen this condition for the display?
I saw better $55 ones that must be very advanced because they have multiple formats like HDMI, VGA and the composite as the old one does.
?
 
Edited

Yes, that's it Lynn. Chosen on the basis of all the commentary and the fact that it runs on 12v. Nice color picture.
73, Larry
 

Thanks for the confirmation Larry. yes something that runs on 12V is a must for me.
Lynn WR7G
 

I have never had a problem with viewing the video output on a small or a large TV screen.
I have used various 7" monitors and TVs and also the video monitor in my Town and Country Mini-van.
Perhaps the issue is the other TV types like PAL etc instead of NTSC? There may be a select for the type of output or it may be set by zone as it has been a long time since I have had an IC-7000 to play with.

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