iaFebruary 2011

IN THIS ISSUE:

• MultiTrunk:IDAS™Multi-site Trunking

• AccessoryoftheMonth: HM-171GPHandMic

• BearComCallsonIcomforaHail (andWindandSleetandSnow...) MaryPlaytoHelpSuperBowl Travelers

• MeetYourIcomTeam: DianeMorrison-DealerSupport RaychelGray-SalesSupport AliciaScott-ProductSupport

• SpokanePublicSchoolsBeats FCCNarrowbandingRequirement DeadlinewithIcom

• IcomandTeamF.A.S.T.:Taking CommunicationsReliabilityand Off-RoadRacingtotheLimit

ianews,yourconnectiontoIcomAmerica’sLandMobileDivision!Keepupwiththelatestproducts,newsandtechnicalinformationin thisnewsletter.

©2011 Icom America Inc.The Icom logo is a registered trademark of Icom Inc. The IDAS logo and name are trademarks of Icom Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. All information and specifications subject to change without notice or obligation. 50261

For People Who Make Smart Choices

MultiTrunk: IDAS™ Multi-site Trunking

IcomAmericaannouncesthe launch of MultiTrunkdigitalmulti-site trunkingfor IDAS two-way radiosystems. A simple firm-ware and compact flashupgraderequiringnoex-ternalhardware,convertsan IDAS conventionalor trunked system to ahigh-capacity, multi-sitetrunkedsystem.

“MultiTrunk multi-site trunking allows a largenumber of users to operate on the system to make themost efficient use of radio channels,”saysMarkBehrends,IcomLandMobileNationalSalesManager.“Withnoexter-nal hardware required,MultiTrunk is aneconomical solution forSMRoperatorsand private mobile radio users requir-ing seamless roaming across a large geographicalarea.”

MultiTrunk offers IP connectivity between up to 16 sites for seamless wideareacoverageacrossanexpansivearea.Eachsitehasthecapacityforup to 30 channels, and because nodedicated control channel is required, all channelsareavailable for voiceanddatacommunication.

Seamless roaming between sitesenables subscribers to freely moveaboutwithinthesystem’scoverageareaand contact other subscribers withoutknowing their exact location. Radiosautomaticallyregisteronrepeaterswhenmovinginandoutofcoverageareas.

With Icom’s MultiTrunk, significant coverageimprovementoveranalogsys-tems,whetherin-building,cross-campus,or over a larger geographic area. ThedigitaladvantagesofIDASoffersuperioraudioqualityoveranalog,too.

See our MultiTrunk ad (shown on thenextpage) inMissionCriticalCom- munications,REMagazine,UTCJournal, andUrgentCommunicationsmagazines.

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews / February 2011 / Page 2

ianewsBearCom Calls on Icom for a Hail (and Wind and Sleet and Snow...) Mary Play to Help Super Bowl TravelersByHughJohnston,PurchasingManager,BearCom,Dallas,TX

“I just thought I’dpassalongasuc-cess story from the weather mess wehadlastweekduringSuperBowlweek.Dallas Love Field expected 400-500private jets to pile up there during theSuperBowlweekend.

LoveFieldisn’tallthatbig,anditmeanttowingplanesallover theplaceacrossactive runways and taxiways to makeroom. Their tow vehicles have ancientradios thatwere not programmed rightfor some needed ground control fre-quencies.Thegroundcrewthoughttheyhadtakencareoftheproblembyrentingsome radios from us. Unfortunately,they only asked our rental coordinatorfor“VHF”radiosanddidn’tspecifytheyneededAMaviationradiostotalktothetowerandgroundcontrol.

Starting Tuesday we got hit with averyunusualicestormmakingthesitu-ationevenworse.Itwasn’ttillThursday,just before all the extra airplanes wereto start landing, that they realized therentalradioswereuseless.WeonlyhadoneoldIcomA4instock.Alicia[atIcom

America]confirmedavailabil-ity and Laura [of BearCom,

stuckathomeintheice]ordered9IcomA14sfromSharon[onIcom’sorderdesk]justbeforeshippingcutoff.

OnFridaywegot6-8”ofsnowontopof the ice. Love Field was completelyclosed. FedEx did get the radios toDallas but could not deliver due to theroad conditions. On Saturdaymorning,our chairman, JohnWatson, picked uptheradiosandpersonallydeliveredthemalongwiththeA4forthetenradiostheydesperately needed. The weather didimprovetremendouslyonSaturdayandthe private jets flew in like a swarm oflocusts.TheIcomradiossavedtheday.Today they are getting us a PO. Whatreallymade thismost important is thatwehavea largequoteatLoveField tocompletely revamp their field main-tenance radio system using UHF-AMcrossbandrepeatersandIcommobilesand portables. That all testedwell, butunfortunately they hadn’t bought it intimeforSuperBowlweekend.

The Icom aviation radios really impressed the guys on the ground atLoveFieldandshouldhelpget theap-proval for the new system. Thanks foryourgoodservice.”

Accessory of the Month

ForusewiththeF3101Dseriesportables.GPS position data can be sent to other advanced IDAS radios (PC andsoftware required) and/or virtual radio/PCdispatchstations.

HM-171GP Hand Mic

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews / February 2011 / Page 3

ianews

Icom America Inc.2380 116th Ave NEBellevue, WA 98004Phone: (425) 454-8155Fax: (425) 454-1509Customer Service: (425) 454-7619

Icom America SystemsPhone: (425) 586-6363Fax: (425) 586-6321ias@icomamerica.com

Icomhasimplementedareorganizationofad-ministrationdutiesintheSales&MarketingGroupto streamlineprocessesand improveefficiencyboth internally and externally. Administrationsupport has been divided into categories ofDealer Support, Product Support, and SalesSupport.Thesethreesupportcategoriesencom-passallproductgroupswhichincludeAmateur,Avionic,MarineandLandMobile.

Meet Your Icom Team

Diane Morrison, Raychel Gray and Alicia Scott

Diane Morrison – Dealer Support: (3 ½ years)

DianehasbeentheSales&MarketingAssistantfortheAmateurgroupsinceshestartedwith Icom in2007. Hernewduties focusonDealersupportsoshe is thecontactperson for all Icomdealers acrossall productgroupsandalsodealswithendusercommunications. Her responsibilities includeRA’s,dealer/endusercon-signments,adco-op,maintenanceofalldealercontact information,distributionofbulletins,andsheisthepointofcontactfortheB2Bsite.YoucancontactDianeatdianem@icomamerica.comor425-586-6307.

Raychel Gray – Sales Support: (6 years)

Raychel’s first position at Icomwaswith the Customer Service Department as theTravelCoordinator.AfterayearshewaspromotedtoSales&MarketingAssistantfor the V.P. over the Amateur, Marine, Avionics and Land Mobile groups. With the reorganization her new duties focus on Sales Support so she now assists all sales representatives for all product groups aswell as theV.P andproduct group managers. Some of her other responsibilities are dealer rebates, price lists, and forecastupdates.

Alicia Scott – Product Support: (10 years)

Aliciastartedat Icomas theSales&MarketingAssistant forAmateurandLandMobile.AfterayearherdutieschangedtotheLandMobileSales&MarketingAssistantandshewasthenpromotedtotheLandMobileProductCoordinatorposition.HernewdutiesfocusonProductSupportforallproductgroupswhichincludesnewproductlaunches,creationofbulletins,andinventoryanalysis.

ianews / February 2011 / Page 4

ianewsSpokane Public Schools Beats FCC Narrow-banding Requirement Deadline with Icom

Spokane PublicSchools is overhaul-ing its two-way radiosystem to provide areliable, district-widesystem meeting FCCnarrowbanding re- quirements. The newIcom system connectsdistrict officials, schoolprincipals and vice principals, school re-source officers, safetypatrols, recess atten-

dantsandtransportationvehiclesacrosstheSpokanemetroarea.

Thefirstphaseoftheproject,involvingthefunding,purchasingandimplement-ingofanIcomUHFradiosystemforthedistrict’s34elementaryschools,isnearlycomplete. Spokane Public Schools isnowmovingforwardonthenextphaseoftheproject,whichfocusesonacquir-ingafullfleetofVHFportableradiosforitsmiddleschoolsandhighschools.

A cross-band repeater seamlesslyconnects the district’s UHF and VHFradiosandenablesschool resourceof-ficers to communicatedirectlywith theSpokanePoliceandmonitorSpokane’sSheriff’sandFiredepartments.

“We had to switch to a narrowbandsystem before the end of 2012,” saysLynette Spilker, district resource of-ficerwithSpokanePublicSchools,who assisted in the selection of the newradios“tomeettherequirementsofthenew system.”According toSpilker, thenew Icom radios offer more channelsand better reception than the district’sprevioussolution.

Inimplementingthenewsystem,thedistrict’s primary goal is to ensure thesafetyofitsnearly30,000studentsandpromotea secure learningenvironmentforallstudents,teachersandstaffmem-bers. Spokane Public Schools (DistrictNo. 81) is the largest school district in

For People Who Make Smart Choices

eastern Washington, comprising 34elementaryschools,sixmiddleschools,sixhighschoolsandaskillscenter.

The district placed its first orderfor 60 Icom F21 portable radios withValence Wireless & Communications,a local Spokane dealer, in November2008.Sincethen,Valencehasprovidedapproximately 300 F4011 portables, abase station, remote desk sets and anFR4000repeatertothedistrictforuseinitselementaryschools.SpokanePublicSchoolshasalsopurchasedanewIcomVHF base station and a handful of re-placementandfill-inVHFradiosforusebyitsmiddleschoolsandhighschools.

GrantmoneyacquiredwiththehelpoftheSpokaneSchoolsSafetyDepartmentfundedthepurchaseoftheradiosusedbytheelementarycrossingguards.

“We’ve been working with SpokanePublic Schools for many years,” saysTom Sieverding, Sales Manager atValence.“Wegotheextramileandmakesuretheelementaryschoolsunderstandhowtousetheradios.Wetaketimetosit down with them tomake sure theyfully understand the programming andcompleteoperationoftheirequipment.”

AccordingtoSieverding,theextratimespentontrainingandcoordinationpaysoffintermsofbothsystemperformanceandcustomersatisfaction.Newsof thesuccess of the district’s system hastraveled throughout the Inland Empire,withreferralscomingfromotherschooldistrictsacrosstheregion.

”The district wanted to grow withtheirsystem,”explainsSieverding,whosays the new Icom system provides the full benefits of privatemobile radioatahighlycompetitiveprice.Italsocaneasily expand to accommodate addi-tionalusersandfunctionalityastheneedarises,hesays.

AhistoriclookatLewisandClarkHighSchool, stillinusetoday

Continued on page 5

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianewsBoth Spilker and Sieverding confirm

the system is performing well and sayuserfeedbackispositive.

“The system is working phenom-enally,” Sieverding says. “There are nocomplaints.”

Continued from page 4 Spokane Public Schools Beats FCC Narrowbanding Requirement

Icom and Team F.A.S.T.: Taking Communications Reliability and Off-Road Racing to the Limit

Bullhead City, AZ – F.A.S.T.Industrieshaschosen Icomasacompany sponsor and commu-nications equipment provider fortheoff-roadgroupknownasTeamF.A.S.T.Racing.TeamF.A.S.T.con-sistsofagroupofpassionateanddetermined builders, racers andvolunteers–ahighly-coordinatedand choreographed group withabsolute reliance on each other,andtheirIcomequipment.

F.A.S.T.founderKeithMinnicksandhis teamare ready for a busy firstracing season. Keith states: “We aregoing to start in the 1450 sportsmanclass and by end of seasonmove intoour professional class 7 unlimited, toprepareforthefightforthe2012SNORE[SouthernNevadaOffRoadEnthusiasts]championship.”

Theadrenaline-charged,bone-jarringworld of high-speed off-road racing isapassion for the26-year-old companyfounder and college student. Keith isfinishing work on a highly-customizedFord Ranger off-road racing truck for competing in the Nevada andCaliforniadeserts.With anewer,modi-fied4.0-literSOHCengine, theyexpectaround300-320hp.

Sevenyearsago,KeithMinnickswasaself-confessedadrenalineaddictlivinglifeontheedge,alwayspushingtobeatthetopofhisgame–includingdirtmo-torcycle racing. Everything changedonFebruary14,2004atthesanddunesofGlamis,CAwhereKeithsufferedaseverebikingaccident.Herecounts,“Twoyears

ofphysicaltherapy,repairsurgeries,andnervegrafts later, I had to findanotherwaytodowhatIloved–liveontheedgeathighspeedsthroughthedesert.”

BecauseKeithcan’tusehisleftarm,he needs his co-driver to shift for himandreadthegaugeswhilehesteers,sothetwoareinconstantcommunication.The noise level inside the truckmakesradio communication between Keithandhisco-driveramust.The twoalsomustkeepintouchwiththerestoftheirteamandthechasetruck.Keithandtheteam rely on their teamof IcomF3011portables and F5021mobiles radios tosend and receive critical data. The ter-rain where they’re racing is so severeandthespeedsso fast thatKeithcan’ttakehiseyesawaytoreadthegauges,sohereliescompletelyontheteamandradiostosendandreceivecriticaldata.

Keithsays,“Icom’sroleinthisprojectisat thecoreof this team.Without thecommunicationbetweendriver,co-driverandthepitteam,wewouldn’tbeaforcetobereckonedwith.BecauseofIcom’srace-provenF5021 land radioandpro-grammingbyPCIRaceRadios,wewillneverhavetoworryaboutthelossofvitalcommunications.TheF3011handheldisuser-friendly for our volunteers too—itseasyprogrammingoptionsandcompat-ibility with the various race intercomsandheadsetsmakeitawinner.”

“Icom is THE name in communica-tions for theoff-road industry. Iputnotonlymylife,butmyco-driver’saswell,inthehandsofIcomeveryrace.”

ianews / February 2011 / Page 5