The IC-905 transceiver consists of a controller and an external RF unit. The controller inherits the look and operation of the popular IC-705, but the entire RF technology is located in its own housing (RF Unit), which is mounted externally on the mast, very close to the antennas. This avoids high losses via long coaxial cables.
The controller and the RF Unit are connected via a weatherproof Ethernet cable. Not only the control is transmitted via this cable, but also the power supply. This is done via "Power over Ethernet", a well-known and widespread standard in network technology for supplying remote network devices. The supply voltage for PoE is 48 V, so power losses on the cable are reduced.
The HF unit is weatherproof (IPX 5) and has all transmit and receive technology for the 2m, 70cm, 23cm, 13cm and 6cm bands. In addition, a GPS receiver is built in, which serves to stabilise the frequency of the built-in OCXO. This provides exceptional accuracy and stability even on the high bands. The transmitting power on 2m, 70cm and 23cm is 10 Watt each, a common antenna connector is available for these three bands (N-socket). On 2400 and 5600 MHz the transmitter offers 2 Watt power each, there is a separate antenna connector (SMA socket) for each band. The 10 GHz can be used via a CX-10G HF unit. This box, which is also weatherproof, is also attached directly to the mast near the antenna. The CX-10G option is connected to the HF unit via a control cable, and the GPSDO reference clock is also passed on to this unit. The transmitting power on 10 GHz is 500 mW.
The IC-905's control unit inherits the look and ease of use from the popular IC-705 transceiver. The colour touch display is 4.5 inches, spectrum and waterfall display with adjustable bandwidths are available.
The operating voltage is 13.8 V, the 48 V required for the power supply of the RF unit is generated by the controller (Power over Ethernet). An Ethernet port is available for integration into the radio station. Configuration data, memory, images and other data can be stored on an optional SD memory card. For connection to a local PC, the USB-C socket can be used. A weatherproof Ethernet cable is supplied to connect the controller to the RF unit.