so ive been running my old IC-746 for probably 12 years now, great radio, never really had issues with it but the lack of a real panadapter and the whole having to bolt on an SDR just to see whats happening on the band was getting old. finally grabbed a used 7300 off a guy local to me, paid $850 which i think was fair given the condition.

first thing i noticed is just how different the waterfall feels compared to running SDRuno alongside the old rig. its all integrated and snappy, scrolling through 40m at night and actually seeing where the activity is without tabbing between windows is kind of a game changer honestly. the touch screen took maybe a day to get used to, i kept instinctively reaching for knobs that werent where i expected them.

RF performance wise i honestly cant tell a huge difference on RX compared to the 746 on most bands, maybe slightly better on 160 but im not doing rigorous testing here just operating. transmit audio reports have been good, running the stock mic which i never do but havent swapped it yet. the built in ATU handles my off-center fed pretty well up through 15m, starts complaining a bit on 10 when conditions are up and things get weird impedance wise.

anyway just figured id share since i see people asking about the 746 to 7300 jump all the time. happy to answer stuff if anyone has questions about the comparison

good write up, that price sounds about right for a clean used one. i made a similar jump except i came from a TS-590SG and the thing i missed most was the kenwood's receiver on a crowded band — the 7300 is real good but side by side on a busy 40m contest night the 590 just felt a little more composed to me. not saying the icom is bad at all, just something i noticed. the waterfall integration is hard to argue with though especially for casual operating where you're not trying to pull a signal out of a pileup

also re: the ATU, have you gone into the settings and manually saved a channel memory for the frequencies you use most? makes the tuning cycle way shorter once its learned the match, saves a lot of time especially on 10 when its bouncy

$850 for a used 7300 in good shape is decent, ive seen them go higher lately. im still on a 718 which i know is a completely different class of radio but it works and i cant justify the upgrade when the antenna situation at my QTH is the actual limiting factor lol. one day maybe. enjoy the new rig