so ive had my 7300 for about 3 years now and honestly its been a great radio, no complaints really. but ive been eyeing the 7610 for a while and im trying to figure out if its actually worth the price difference or if im just suffering from new radio syndrome. the dual watch thing is what keeps pulling me in because i do a fair bit of contesting and being able to monitor two frequencies at the same time would be huge. also the dual receivers mean you can run SO2R from a single box which would clean up my shack considerably.

my current setup is the 7300 into an AL-811H, antenna is a trapped vertical for 80-10 and a 2el yagi on 20 that a buddy helped me put up last spring. the shack is pretty cramped so anything that reduces boxes is a win. anyway i guess my real question is has anyone actually made this jump and did you feel like it was worth it in day to day use not just on paper

made that exact switch about 18 months ago and honestly yes it was worth it for me but i do a lot of contesting so your mileage may vary depending on how you operate. the dual receive is genuinely useful not just a gimmick — being able to park one receiver on a DX station calling CQ while you work a pileup on the other vfo is something you dont really appreciate until youve done it. the roofing filters are noticeably better too, crowded band conditions on 40 and 80 at night are a lot more manageable.

that said if youre mostly doing casual operating or even moderate contesting the 7300 is not holding you back. the 7610 is a real step up but its a "nice to have" more than a "need to have" unless you're really pushing it in competitive environments. if the price difference hurts your wallet you could probably wait and see if a used one pops up, they show up on qrz classifieds pretty regularly around $1400-1500

i cant speak to the 7610 specifically but have you looked at the Flex 6600 in that price range? totally different operating experience obviously since its SDR based and needs a PC but the panadapter and dual slice receivers blow anything icom makes out of the water imo. i know its not for everyone and some guys hate being tied to a computer in the shack but once you go down that road its hard to go back to a traditional rig. just throwing it out there since youre already thinking about spending that kind of money

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