ICOM IC-7850 and IC-7851 history and serial numbers

Email me to add your serial number to this public list which makes the radios hard to sell when stolen .

It also makes it harder for scammers to create a fake sale listing using a photo they have found on the internet that shows a serial number.  ZL2LD@harvest.com 

If you have any corrections or interesting information about these radios or any rumours of  new radios coming to replace the 7851 or the 7610 please send to ZL2LD@harvest.com and I will publish that here. Thanks - Peter Munn ZL2LD

In 2014 Icom announced a new  50^th  anniversary radio called the IC-7850 and stated that only 150 would be made worldwide.  

IC-7850 brochure  IC-7850-50th-LT.pdf

The radio was the most expensive production ham radio HF transceiver ever made.

This is what the plate belonging to Karol SP5AKP looks like. He is the only owner of a 7850 in Poland.

I can only find 42 of the 7850 listed as station equipment on QRZ.com whereas I found 244 of the 7851.  To date the highest 7851 serial number is 374. The Icom brochure for the 7850 says that the total number was limited to 150 worldwide.

We have been collecting serial numbers to determine how  many 7851s have been made to date as Icom do not publish such figures. You can see the serial numbers down below that Peter Fox G2YT and I have collected so far. This information could also be useful to anyone looking to be buy a used one of these radios to make sure it is not stolen.

 I contacted Rob Sherwood NC0B, the respected RF engineer who has lab tested more HF radios than anyone else. He says that the 7851 is identical to the 7850 apart from the gold trim. Based on that it seems likely that Icom have sold less than 500 units total of the 7850/7851.

In 2015 Icom began selling the 7851.

PA3HGT was very fortunate to purchase serial number 1 in April 2015.

Hi Peter, 

I have one of the very first 7851 . Modded by Icom with RX spike problem . Bought 8 April 2015 , a few months later Icom UK introduced the 7851 and asked me how I succeeded so early.

Hans,PA3HGT

David Burger VK2CZ sent me this fascinating first hand story;

Hi Peter

I visited Japan as an IEEE President representative in 2015 as part of an IEEE Milestone commemoration for NHK, and rolled in a pre-arranged VIP visit to Icom HQ in Tokyo and then a 1.5 hour drive to Wakayama..

Mr Inoue has a dedicated top floor in the ICOM HQ building, where he was still active in the business, at least in 2015.

(Update Apr 2023 from Icom UK "Even into his 90’s Mr. Inoue still goes to work everyday and is still very much involved in the development of Icom radios/products. He still very much enjoys his working life")

The ground floor is a dedicated museum of (almost) every radio they have every produced in Amateur and Commercial markets.  Their engineering development building is 300m down the road, with big HF antennas openly visible, which was off limits in my visit. 

The production team for the 7851 was just 2 technicians (making 2-3 radios per week), however, when Icom released the 7850 Gold edition, they had over 40 staff on the 300 limited run.  Even the chief engineer was involved in applying gold finishes to the knobs..!!  it was an all-in effort. 

Regarding Icom’s business, international offices in Australia,  EU etc are just for sales, and they are effectively arms length to core business.  However, face to face with their Head Office people, there was very little off limits in discussions, cognisant of limited English language issues outside Tokyo..

Since 2015 however, I've not done any follow-up with Icom, as my volunteer role in the international IEEE space ceased in 2016.

Oh, one niggle issue with 7850/51, is RF pickup on the mains cord, where a local station 1km away was quite audible with no cables (bar AC power) connected..  I built a heavy duty EMI filter into my AC power power board, and killed that issue, and offered some AC transient protection to boot.

David Burger VK2CZ  /  VJ2J 

Life Senior Member IEEE 

++++

Here’s an interesting story from Greg Cook JO3SLK

Mine was from the first batch of 10 that were produced as the Japanese model, after the IC-7850 were made. I had a choice of several from the first batch....except 001 and 002, that were already "spoken for"... I thought "007" was a good number, so I chose it. I have all my paperwork, and will find it and let you know the actual purchase date, but I am sure it was in the same 2015 time frame. A domestic sales guy personally delivered it to my house (here in Japan) and helped me unbox it. 

I had no problems with my rig, but I did hear later that there had been some modifications, so I contacted the service department and asked it they would update my unit to the current mods at that time. They agreed, sent a guy out to pick up my radio, took it back to the service department and brought it up to current at the time status, and delivered it again to my house. This was done for me as a favor, because I had not had any problems....I just asked if they would do any mods that had been done to other units, and they agreed to do so. 

Apparently the home delivery was common for units sold in Japan, but I am not 100% sure. It might have been because I live within an hour or so from Osaka, where Icom is located, and was one of the first batch customers.  

73,  Greg  JO3SLK

IC-7850 serial numbers

I think I have figured out some of the7850 numbering system. All the 7850 (50th anniversary) radios start with 2.

The next digit is the region

21 = Japan

22 = USA/Canada

23 = Europe

25 = UK

I can't be 100% sure of this so please send me corrections if I have that wrong. It will become clearer as we get more 7850 serial numbers. I can't figure out how the #xx/150 works as #22001017 is only two different from #23001019 but #22001017  was sold as number 50 out of 150 but  #23001019 was sold as  number 70 out of 150 so I must be missing something?

EA1DDO sent me this. It seems that Icom were not completely consistent with this. I have not found any serial numbers beginning with 4,6,7 or 8

From: Máximo EA1DDO_HK1H <ea1ddo@hotmail.com>
Date: Saturday, 4 November 2023 at 6:01 AM
To: Peter Munn <peter.munn@harvest.com>
Subject: RE: Icom IC-7850 serial numbers

Hi Peter, 

I found next table in the Service Manual: 

73, Máximo EA1DDO

I have learnt that Icom were selling 7850 anniversary radio at the same time they were selling 7851 radios which might help to explain why the serial numbers don't seem to line up with the 50th Anniversary 150 units signed by Mr Inoue. The last three digits of the 7851 radios are the unique serial number no matter what the region number is. Perhaps that logic is not the same for 7850 radios? 

Here are a few examples of 7850 serial numbers as well as the number out of the 150 radios made for the 50th anniversary

Pedro Ferreira CT1FCX kindly sent me a list of quite a few known 7850 owners with the numbers on their 50th anniversary plates. I have added more to the list as I get given details.

If you would like your details added to this list please email me ZL2LD@harvest.com

Icom's 50th Anniversary IC-7850 150 list

IC-7851 serial numbers first two digits

01 = Japan

02 = USA/Canada/Australia/New Zealand

03 = Europe

04 = was originally planned for Germany but never used

05 = UK

The last three digits are the actual serial number. 

There seems to be something I don't understand correctly. I thought the first two digits were the region and the last three digits were the serial number but there are some duplicates of the last three digits. For example here are some duplicates

#03001024 LV3HLT

#02001024 VL2WD (JUN 2015)

#03001027 IZ0RVI (JUL 2015)

#05001027 GM4ZUK (NOV 2016)

#01001033 SP1NQN

#02001033 KD7KL ARRL review radio Jul 2016 

#01001034  JK1UNZ (APR 2015)

#03001034 IZ2USP

If anyone can help to explain where I have the numbering scheme wrong please let me know. ZL2LD@harvest.com

Current list of Known ICOM IC-7851 serial numbers in order by serial number 

If you would like your details added to this list please email me ZL2LD@harvest.com

A public list like this makes them less desirable to steal as the thieves will likely get caught when trying to sell the radio

Jun 2023 added Tim Duffy K3LR's 12 - YES 12 x IC-7851 radios and 1 x 7850 - No one of the world can beat that!

03001001 PA3HGT (APR 2015)

01001007 JO3SLK 

03001011 IW0HEX

05001012 G3TXF 31-Jan-2016

02001016 VK4HF ex VK4SU SK

03001018 IK2CHZ (2016)

02001019 Test by AB4OJ (SEP 2015)

02001020 Sherwood test  (MAR 2016) 

03001022 IK1GPG  (MAY 2015)

05001023 G2YT purchased in UK FEB 2016

03001024 LV3HLT

02001024 VL2WD (JUN 2015)

03001027 IZ0RVI (JUL 2015)

05001027 GM4ZUK (NOV 2016)

02001028 W4QN (AUG 2015)

05001031 M0MGF (2016

01001033 SP1NQN

02001033 KD7KL ARRL review radio Jul 2016 

01001034 JK1UNZ (APR 2015)

03001034 IZ2USP

02001044 K6BYU

02001052 W8DO 

02001055 WR0U

03001057 CT1APE  (2015)

01001060 JH3VWN

02001062 WA2TLY

02001065 VK2CR 

03001069 DK9RZ Oct 2015

01001073 JR1LZK (SEP 2015)

02001074 W5FP 

03001079 sold used by Martin Lynch MAY 2023

03001080 M0BZH

02001089 Tested by AB4OJ JUN 2016

03001093 LA3MHA

03001099 IK5PWJ

01001103 JA1UTB (DEC 2015)

03001107 G7EMK (2018)

03001109 IZ2HFG (2016)

03001110 DK3EE

02001111 K3LR

02001112 K3LR

02001115 K3LR

02001118 K3LR

02001120 K3LR

02001133 K3LR

03001133 DL8KFO (NOV 2016)

02001134 W9RGB (MAR 2016)

03001136 TF2LL (JAN 2017)

02001141 K3LR

02001142 NC1M

03001142 

02001143 K3LR

02001144 VK8AW

02001147 K3LR

02001149 VK2VM (2017)

02001151 K3LR

02001152 K3LR

02001153 K3LR

03001155 OZ9GA (MAY 2017)

02001156 VK4AS (2016)

03001159 PA1BC

03001169 CT1APE

 02001171 WA3KEY

02001181 KA4JON

02001186 AA6VB (JAN 2017)

03001188 HB9DQL (APR 2018)

02001196 W2VP 

03001200 G4YBP (NOV 2018)

02001201 VK4DH (DEC 2016)

02001202 VK7GN (MAY 2017)

03001203 OK1TX  purchased in the Czech Republic 

01001207 JE2GWO (MAY 2017)

03001207 G3ROO (JAN 2019)

02001208 VK6VH  (JUN 2017)

03001218 ON4MM

03001219 EI9HX

02001219 WA3KEY

02001228 K0KLA

02001233 VK4ZP (JUL 2018)

02001245 WA5LEE (2019)

03001254 OK3EE (2020)

02001255 XE1C/MM On board Harmony of the Seas  (Dec 2018)

02001258 VK4YS JUL 2019

03001258 HB9TNW (2021)

02001261 KN4GBZ (2021)

02001267 Tony K4QE Dec 2019 HRO Delaware

03001268 DL8RJ

02001272 KA1DJ

03001276 DL8LAS

 02001279 W2TB

01001281 ZL2LD (2022)

02001296 KN6KBS (JAN 2021)

02001283 ZL3ET/ZL3NZ (SEP 2019)

02001310 WB5HAK (OCT 2021)

02001314 KC2HTV

02001330 WA1GZY (2022)

01001333 JR3VXR 

02001339 VK2UXO (2022)

02001340 VK2DSU 2022 - 11 months from order to delivery

02001361 K9RM Sep 2023 7mo delivery

02001363 ABD4 (Sep 2023)

02001367  XE2ZZ (Oct 2023) 

01001374 JK1MAE (MAY 2022)

02001374 W5DUD (OCT 2023)

01001382 JA1OWP (AUG 2022)