The HM-243 speaker/microphone combo supplied with the ICOM IC-705 is rather bulky, making it difficult to transport and operate. It has a thick, curled cable and must be connected to the side of the IC-705 with two jack plugs.

Inspired by a newsletter from WIMO.COM I tried the Bluetooth speaker/microphone combo BHM-79 from VERO TELECOM. At just 120g, the BHM-79 is an extremely lightweight speaker/microphone.

Setting up the microphone

To operate the microphone with the IC-705 you first have to put it into ICOM-mode.

For this you have to use the corresponding APP on your smartphone. On my iPhone I have to search for an APP with the meaningfull name BS HT.

Install this APP on your smartphone and launch it.

Switch on the microphone by pressing the ON/OFF button (the one on the far left in the picture) until you hear a sound. Then put the microphone into pairing mode by double-clicking the ON/OFF button. The PTT light should now flash constantly, indicating that you can connect the microphone in the BS HT app.

Now check, that the firmware version is 0.3.1 - mine has this version already installed. If not, update the firmware first.

You can now switch the microphone to iCOM mode. Then disconnect the microphone from the smartphone, ready for connection to the IC-705.

Pairing with the IC-705

Press the menu button to open the menu

Press SET and scroll down to Bluetooth Set and select it

The select Pairing/Connect

Select Search Headset

Now put the microphone again into pairing mode. The BHM-79 should now appear in the list of Bluetooth devices

Select it, answer "Connect?" with YES 

And the microphone is paired with the IC-705 

Now you're ready to to go using your new microphone.

Field impressions

Interestingly, I didn't have to adjust the microphone gain. The settings for the HM-243 are perfect for the BHM-79 in my case. The modulation has been praised several times during POTA activations :-)

Hints

1. The microphone has two push buttons for increasing or decreasing the volume. These operate independently of the volume control on the IC-705. I always set the microphone to maximum volume, which gives me sufficient volume.

2. Do not speak immediately after pressing the PTT button; wait for a short double beep.

3. If you switch on the microphone before the IC-705, the coupling works perfectly and fully automatically for me.