ianews, your connection to Icom Americas Land Mobile Division!

Keep up with the latest products, news and technical information in this newsletter just for Icom America dealers.

10 Step Guide to Choosing the Right Portable Radio Available Now!

Brochure will help dealers and end-users
So your client wants to buy a portable radio.
Do they need one that uses analog, digital or both? How many memory channels will they realistically use, now and in the future? Will they need one that is safe in explosive or ammable environments? Icom offers a variety of radios with an even wider range of uses. Determining what one is best for your customers requires a detailed analysis of what each portable can do, and that can take hours of research until now. Icom has just released a set of two folded brochures entitled the 10 Step Guide To Choosing The Right Portable Radio. The free brochures, which measures all Icom America portables,

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February 2006

IN THIS ISSUE: 10 Step Guide to Choosing the Right Portable Radio Now Available Ohio State Uses Icom Radios to Equip Command Center for Katrina Help Meet Your Icom TeamJared Betton IA Awarded Contract with the State of New Hampshire Tech CornerEncryption Board Options New Director of Icom Training Department Chris Lougee to Speak at IWCE on 6.25 Technology

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Ohio State Uses Icom Radios to Equip Mobile Command Center

When the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) sent a giant special response truck to help out New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it was packed to the grill with Icom radios. Between Sept. 4-9, the mobile unit, along with ten 4x4 trucks, ten vessels and 24 ODNR ofcers, was used as a mobile command center for search and rescue efforts. It served as a link to coordinate communications between the ODNR ofcers and the Louisiana DNR command center. The command center covered all its interoperability bases by using an M502 marine radio, an A110 avionic radio, an F521 land mobile VHF radio, an F621 land mobile UHF radio and a 706MKIIG amateur ham radio. The ODNR truck is used as a communications center for emergencies and special events. Interoperability is a key factor explaining why the ODNR, as well as most other Ohio agencies, have been repeat Icom customer for years. The agencies are now migrating to more advanced systems and will rely largely on Icom products to create interoperability. The Icom radios are used to maintain interoperability between the states new system and HF, VHF, UHF, Airband and Marine users, Nordcross said. See photos on page 2:

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.

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10 Step Guide Now Available

The ten functions listed on the brochure are: form factor memory channels and scanning performance custom operations spectrum operation modes signaling safety security warranty, technical support

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Meet Your Icom Team

There is a whole range of capabilities our mid-tier radios can do, and we wanted to show people in an easy-to-understand format. Dave Kruzic, Advertising Manager

are designed to be small and easy to carry, and can also be sent out as a mailer. Portables range from $200-$1,100 with widely varying available functions. Thats why one brochure in the set includes a detailed checklist explaining the ten functions that radio buyers should consider when purchasing a portable. The second brochure creates a spreadsheet listing every portable radio Icom sells and showing what features are included in each type of portable. It should take no more than a few minutes to go through the brochure set to determine what radio is best for a particular person or organization.

The portables brochure set is available now. A brochure for mobile radios will be available in March. Two more brochures, one for accessories, and one for base units and repeaters, will be available within six months. Icom America will ship each dealer a set of the new brochures, including a display stand, late February. Contact your MR for additional information

Jared Betton Literature Fulllment Coordinator If you want to order the 10 Step Guide To Choosing The Right Portable Radio featured in this issue of ianews, or any of the myriad other materials Icom creates for dealers and customers, Jared Betton will be the person gathering those materials and shipping them to you. He joined Icom as the literature fulllment coordinator last August. The former project manager and disc jockey says his favorite part of the job is troubleshooting challenging orders.

This special response vehicle owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was used to coordinate communications during early Hurricane Katrina search and rescue efforts. No less than ve Icom radios were used to help connect ofcers with the Louisiana DNR switchboard.

For People Who Make Smart Choices Page 2

IA Awarded P25 Contract For New Hampshire

Icom America was recently awarded a contract for Statewide Portable Radio Interoperability with the state of New Hampshire. The winning bid features Icoms F70DS portable P25 radio. The F70DS was put through rigorous eld testing performed by New Hampshires First Responder Radio Interoperability Committee. There are seven IA dealers in the area that should benet with sales to NH state and local agencies such as EMS and re departments. There are a growing number of state contracts that Icom has across the U.S. Contact your MR for state and local opportunities.

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TECH CORNER Encryption Board Options
Icom offers 2 different encryption boards as an accessory that is added to your radio. Choosing between them depends on the type of encryption you prefer. UT-109: This board uses simple voice inversion, capable of up to 32 different codes. The board also supports use in an LTR or Passport system. UT-110: The encryption used in this board offers the more secure rolling code encryption, with up to 1020 codes available. To use the encryption board, youll need to open your radio and cut 2 points on your radios main circuit board. Depending on the radio model, the cut points are usually around the accessory jack. In most portables, removing the accessory plate will give you access to the cut points. The cut points are plainly labeled on the circuit board. Remember that these are multi layer circuit boards, and care needs to be taken so that you do not cut the boards too deeply.

Radio
F3 F4 F320/F420 F3G/F4G F30G/F40G F33/F43G/F43TR F14/F24 F121/F221 F521/F621/F621TR F70/F80 F1721/F1821

Radio Circuit Board Cut Points

W2. W10 W2, W12 A, B (encryption unavailable in serial numbers lower than 50k) C, F A, B C, F Mic/Disc Mic/Disc A, B CP1, CP2 Mic, AFOut; solder CP37

New Director of Icom Training Department

Icom Americas dealer training department has a new face in the U.S. and he wants to hear from dealers who have any ideas, comments or critiques to improve or develop current training programs. Michael Maldonado was hired in November . Hell offer all Icom training from the traveling road shows to Icom University to new programs that will address current and future technology issues. His counterpart, Javier Escobedo, will offer Spanish-language trainings in Latin America. Right now, Im doing P25 operability and Meet the Family trainings, but Im open to any suggestions on how to change programming, said Maldonado. Based in Florida, hes currently responsible for all training across the country. Maldonado has been a trainer for 20 years, most of it in wireless communications. He worked most recently at SunCom Wireless in Puerto Rico as a customer service manager.

Michael Maldonado brings 20 years training experience to the mix

Before that, he spent 15 years with AT&T Wireless as an installer, service technician, repair technician, technical trainer, and last as a performance and training consultant. Please have people contact me, Id like to hear from them, he said. He asks people to contact him through e-mail at michaelmaldonado@icomamerica.com.

For People Who Make Smart Choices Page 3

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Lougee To Speak At IWCE On 6.25 Technology
Icom Land Mobile Vice President Chris Lougee will speak at the upcoming International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) in May on the issue of mandatory narrowbanding. Icom America is leading the wireless industrys migration towards 6.25kHz, by introducing the rst line of products to use the new technology. 2013 may seem far away, but the long life cycle of land mobile radio systems means that licensees must prepare sooner rather than later for narrowband conversions required by the FCC. Discuss and understand the new rules, learn how to prepare for conversion, and hear about equipment options.
IWCE 2006 Session:

Mandatory Narrowbanding at 150 & 450 MHz 2013 Is Closer Than You Think.
Spectrum Utilization Track TH01 When: Thursday, May 18, 2006: 11am12:15 pm Where: Las Vegas Convention Center /S205 To register for this session: http://www.iwceexpo.com/register/index.html Use promotion code W01.

2006: a spectrum odyssey

Icom America will have a large presence at this years IWCE. Please visit us at Booth #1100 & #1307

Call Icom America today: 800.USA.ICOM All departments open 7:00 AM 5:00 PM Pacic time, unless stated otherwise Customer Service and Orders: sales@icomamerica.com Parts Department: parts@icomamerica.com (open 8:00 AM) Technical Support: landmobile@icomamerica.com Literature Request: literature@icomamerica.com

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