ia

April 2006

ianews, your connection to

Icom Americas Land Mobile
Division! Keep up with the
latest products, news and
technical information in this
newsletter.

Dealer Proves Value of Icom P25 Products

IN THIS ISSUE:

Thats why his company has installed

P25 repeaters in a 512-foot tower that
work with digital and analog signals, and
put Icom radios in peoples hands for
testing.

Dealer Proves Value of

Icom P25 Products
Icoms Portable F60,
Mobile F521 Only Choice
for Commonwealth of PA
Meet You Icom Team Kristina Pickering
IAS Releases New
Voting Receiver
Accessory of the Month 1-Wire Auto Earbud
Tech Corner Explaining P25 Squelch Types
DRB-25 Base Station Allows
Alaskan Hospital Easy Switch
to Digital

2006 Icom America Inc.

The Icom logo is a registered
trademark of Icom Inc. All other
trademarks remain the property
of their respective owners. All
information and specications
subject to change without
notice or obligation. #8195

Demo Repeater Allows Customers to Test Radios

Gary Bendy, owner of Tekk Comm
Communications in Franklinville, New
Jersey, is proving to his customers that
P25 equipment isnt only required its
also of superior quality, particularly Icom
products.

When we demo the equipment and

switch from analog to digital, the digital
channel is crystal clear no hiss, no
static, nothing, says Bendy. The Icom
P25 product line really speaks for itself.
Icom is by far our biggest seller.

The repeaters were installed in

February, says Dave Crowell, Tekk
Comms operations manager. Though
they arent Icom repeaters, the Icom
radios are working just ne, proving
interoperability, which is a big plus for
public safety organizations who may
need to work with more than one brand
of radio.
It also works with the emergency man
down feature, which of course is of great
interest to public safety people, says
Crowell.

Icoms portable F60, mobile F521

only choice for Commonwealth of PA
The employees at Commonwealth
Telephone in Pennsylvania are often out
in the driving rain and stormy weather
working on telephone lines. They need
rugged radios, and when they called
Slymock Safety Systems in Edwardsville,
Pennsylvania last December, they
needed them fast to spend a surprise
end-of-year budget surplus.
Icom not only had the mobile
F521s and rugged F60 portables that
Commonwealth required, but Icom
employees were also able to ll the
order for 180 mobiles and 60 portables
within three weeks, says dealership
owner Frank Slymock.

The way the whole deal went down

was amazing, says Slymock. Im a
small dealer, and new Icom dealer. I
was impressed with how we created a
chain of people to nail this down before
Christmas.
Commonwealth had already placed the
order, originally to be delivered in January
and June, before the last-minute request
to speed up the process came through.
Icom managed to ll the order in time
for Commonwealth to use up the extra
money found in the companys end-ofyear nancial review.

Continued on page 2

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews

April 2006

ianews
Meet Your Icom Team
Kristina Pickering
Customer Service Manager
As customer service manager, Kristina
Pickering is responsible for inside sales
and customer support for the U.S.,
Central and South America. She and
her nine employees are in charge of
reception, travel coordination, ofce
supplies, promotion entry, dealer
applications and tracking, land mobile
extended warranty administration, and
service warranty claim work entry. Thats
a big job, but Pickering, who came to
Icom in 2001 from the Pacic Northwests
largest utility company, is proud to be
able to track so many different projects.
I like to be known as that person whom
anyone can depend on to get the job
done! she says. Supporting people,
building trust among my peers and using
my knowledge of corporate operations
to help streamline the best workow
processes for all of us.

Kristina with her staff.

IAS Releases New Voting Receiver

Improves wide-area repeater/base operation

Choose from three new IAS Voting
Receivers to enhance portable and
mobile talk-in performance.
Each model features a three-cavity
band-pass lter, built-in pilot tone
generator (1950 or 2175 Hz), a builtin power supply (220/110 with BBU
capability), and the exibility of using
it on a desktop or mounting it in a 19
industry standard rack.
Continued from page 1

IAS Voting RX UHF (450-470)

IAS Voting RX VHF High (160-170)
IAS Voting RX VHF Low (150-160)
For more information contact Icom
America Systems at 425-586-6363,
or via email: ias@icomamerica.com.

Icoms portable F60, mobile F521

Slymock said Commonwealth was

sold on the product because of its
performance, and his dealership
because it was close by the company
headquarters and could offer enough
technical support and assistance.

They knew exactly what they wanted,

and Icom offered it at the best price,
says Slymock. I absolutely love the
Icom products myself, particularly the
F33, which in my mind is a grand slam.

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews

April 2006

Page 2

ianews
Accessory of the Month

1-Wire Otto Earbud

TECH CORNER
Explaining P25 Squelch Types
Just like in a conventional radio,
there are three levels of squelch that
can be set in a P25 radio. These
different levels allow you to ne tune
the RX radio selectivity. Squelch levels
are sent in the programming software
and are activated in the Memory CH
Squelch Type eld.

The Otto E1-EB2CC131 earbud with

in-line microphone and push-totalk (PTT) is the perfect accessory
for commercial applications such
as retail, hospitality, entertainment,
security/maintenance and recreational
users. The single earbud is designed
to t either the left or right ear. The
in-line mini PTT with clothing clip is
light and easily positioned for comfort
and convenience. The right angle
connector ts the F11/F21, F3G/F4G &
F14/F24 series.

code must match before squelch will

open. Set the squelch type to NAC to
enable this feature.
To make a selective call to a talk
group or individual radio, set the
squelch type to SEL. With this setting,
the frequency, the NAC code, and talk
group ID must match before squelch
will open. You can also make a call to
an individual radio from a talk group,
by pressing a key that has been
programmed with an individual ID.
However, remember that with SEL
enabled, the radio will default to talk
group ID squelch if you do not press
the programmed individual ID key.

When the squelch type is set to

OFF, only the frequencies have to
match for two radios to open squelch
and communicate. NAC codes, Talk
groups, and individual radio IDs are
ignored.
Using NAC squelch is similar to
setting CTCSS tones in a conventional
radio. The frequency and the NAC

BY MARK FUSSELL, ICOM AMERICA

DRB-25 Base Station Allows Alaskan Hospital

Easy Switch to Digital
Icom dealer Curt Law was moonlighting
as a volunteer communications operator
for the re department on tiny Kodiak
Island, in Alaska, in late March when a
terrible re was called into the station.

at Providence Kodiak Island Hospital.

The 100 watt station has three analog
channels and one P25 digital channel set
to receive from Kodiaks various public
safety agencies.

Some badly burned people were

brought to the hospital, he said. It
was amazing, the clarity of the hospital
lines versus those coming from other
repeaters being used by different agency
responders.

The hospital purchased the new system

using Homeland Security money, which
has been set aside to help government
agencies migrate to a P25 system, soon
to be required by law.

Law sounds proud, and he should

be: his dealership, Aksala Electronics,
installed Icoms DRB-25 base station

All they have to do when they want

to go to digital is push a button, says
Law.

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews

April 2006

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