March 2006

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.

IN THIS ISSUE:
Gillette Stadium Upgrading to
Icom Products
Multiple Branding is Good for
Dealers, Consumers
Get P25 Interoperability Digital
Migration in One Box
Meet Your Icom Team
Gregg Hake
Accessory of the Month
Bulk Accessory Orders
at Discount
Product Spotlight
F50/F60 Series Portable Radios

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.8181

Gillette Stadium Upgrading to

Icom Products
When Dave Trainors daughter
attended college in Boston, she
worked security at Gillette Field to
get a free chance to watch the New
England Patriots play football. Thats
how Trainor, a sales and service
representative at BearCom
Communications, discovered
the stadium relied on cell
phones for communication.
Two years later, the stadium
is prepping to switch over to an
Icom system, including three
FR4000 UHF repeaters and more
than 200 F43TR portables.
Its good for them for two reasons,

says Trainor, who is based in Bloomeld,

Connecticut. Before, if they wanted
to do any group calling, it was very
expensive. Also, they were reliant on
another network, rather than their own.
Apparently, the network went down
during a game once.
Gillette Field owners estimate that
theyll recoup costs for installing the
Icom system in three months, Trainor
said.
I liked the radio, says Trainor of the
F43TR. Considering the price point,
it wasnt something you could ignore
... And with the FR4000 repeaters, the
sound is very clear.

Multiple Branding is Good for

Dealers, Consumers

Icom P25 Radios: A solid choice vs the competition

Ten years ago a large number of
dealers sold radio equipment from only
one major manufacturer. But today a
multiple-brand strategy is the rule rather
than the exception, as many independent
dealers recognize the benets of offering
a wider selection of products and
services.
A multiple-branding strategy benets
both the dealer and the consumer. For
dealers, it is a way to navigate the changing
buying patterns of U.S. consumers and
maintain business relationships with
long-standing customers.
The Internet created a new breed of
consumers who are better informed and
inclined to comparison-shop between
different brands for specic feature
sets and price points. When dealers

carry a second brand, customers can

comparison-shop under one roof.
Regardless of what product the consumer chooses, the dealer still wins.
One prominent dealer who formerly
represented a leading manufacturer
exclusively says he realized about six
years ago that his single-brand strategy
was causing him to lose business
to competitors. Most of the other
dealers already carried other brands
and I realized I had to offer customers a
choice, he says. This well established,
long time dealer requested we keep his
name condential.

Continued on page 3:

ianews

March 2006

Meet Your Icom Team

P25 Interoperability, Digital Migration

In One Box

Icom America Systems' DRB-25 Repeater Makes Cents

Police,
re,
federal
emergency
management ofcials, and other public
safety agencies know they need both
interoperability and the ability to migrate
to P25 analog-to-digital communication
equipment. Now that system comes in
one affordable box from Icom.

obsolete. And whats more, DRB-25

even lets users in different bands talk
together directly, he continues.
That means the repeater/base station
receives both VHF and UHF; digital and
analog, with auto-sensing; and includes
two 512 channel repeater/bases in one
package.

The DRB-25 base station repeater, aka

P25 Digital and Analog Interoperability
all in one box, is ready for shipping and
is a highly cost-effective foundation for
digital migration.

Gregg Hake
Technical Support Supervisor
Customers, dealers and other clients
with technical questions will have
denitely run across Gregg Hake.
He coordinates daily activities of the
tech support crew, from monitoring
quality support to special projects
and training for the military and
other customers. The best part of
my job is helping solve our dealers
radio-related questions, he says.
Not only are they a great bunch
of people, but their questions and
input help me learn more about
the industry. An Icom employee
for three years, he hasnt always
been an electronics guru. Before
obtaining an electronics degree, his
rst schooling was in food science
and technology, and he worked for
such food manufacturing rms as
Otis Spunkmeyer and Kraft Foods.

The DRB-25 also has interconnection

to PSTN or a microwave bearer through
a standard 2-wire, or 4-wire + E & M
interface. The DRB-25 has IP enabled
connection to corporate intranets, public
internets, and provides VOIP and control,
monitoring, and diagnostic through a
built-in web server.

Introducing
any
major
new
communications
technology
has
the potential to create compatibility
problems with users of existing services.
Without a solution, you might nd
your users hesitant to adopt the new
standard, regardless of the features it
offers, says Dick Varbero, head of Icom
America Systems. The DRB-25 APCO
Project 25 digital base station/repeater
fundamentally alters the dynamics
of digital radio migration. It delivers
compatibility not only between analog
and digital modes, but between different
bands as well - all within a single unit.

Once the unit is set up to your

specications, any future changes are
a simple hot swap of the appropriate
module, says Ted Koblick, Icoms federal
sales manager. The DRB-25s modular
design means there is no eld tuning,
adjustments, or alignments necessary.
Unlike other P25 repeaters, the DRB25 allows crossband communications
between
terminals
operating
on
different
frequencies,
signicantly
increasing the potential for inter-agency
communication.

Now you can upgrade your base

station/repeater equipment for the
future without making all your terminals

VHF AND UHF BASE STATION / REPEATER

Project 25 Interoperability. Any Time. Any Place. Anyone.

Simultaneous operation and linking:

VHF and UHF
DIGITAL and ANALOG, with autosensing
Two 512 channel repeaters/bases in one
package capable

No Adjustments Necessary
Slide-in Modular Design

SYSTEMS FOR PEOPLE WHO MAKE SMART CHOICES

Brochures on the new DRB-25 are

available by calling 425-450-6088.

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews

March 2006

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Accessory of the Month

All bulk accessory orders
at discount!
Until March 31, all bulk orders of
Land Mobile accessories are subject
to a discount. If the net invoice
total after the discount exceeds
$1,000, the discount is 5 percent.
If it exceeds $3,000, the discount is
10 percent, and anything exceeding
$5,000 gets a 15 percent discount.
Shipping must be completed by
March 31. No combined or back
orders, please. These purchases can
be used to reach your FY 06 dealer
program goal and annual rebate.

Continued from page 1:

Multiple Branding is Good

enough to prompt customers to consider
changing brands.

Customers also benet from dealers

carrying multiple brands. When given
a wider choice of manufacturers and
products, consumers can nd a product
that meets their unique functionality and
cost requirements.

We feel that Icom offers comparable

features at a lower price point, says
Icom America Vice President Chris
Lougee. The companys P25 radios are
30 percent to 50 percent less expensive
than similar products from competing
manufacturers, Lougee says. This means
an agency can buy considerably more
units for its money.

This is especially true for Project 25

(P25) interoperability equipment, due
to public safetys need for a rugged,
upgradeable, and customizable product
and the equipments traditional high
cost. Grant money is available to help
cash-strapped organizations purchase
the equipment they need, but the money
can stretch only so far. For this reason,
many dealers who once followed singlebrand marketing strategy now also
stock Icom P25 equipment.

Another benet of Icoms P25 solution

is its migration strategy that allows an
agency to migrate over
time from a legacy
analog system to a fully
digital P25 environment.
The fear of switching to a new brand
is the biggest hurdle for many agencies
to overcome, says the dealer. Many
customers have always been with
the same company and would never
consider buying another brand. But he
says that the customers willing to make
the change have been very pleased with
the Icom product.

Todays radio sets are very similar,

but Icom is denitely more affordable,
states the dealer. Competing brands
may provide a few features that Icom
doesnt have, but they also tend to
oversell a system to customers.
For public safety agencies working
within a tight budget, this can often be

Product Spotlight IC-F50/F60

Series Portable Radios
Icom designed the F50/F60 series with
a diverse group of eld professionals
in mind. Fireghters, police ofcers,
utility workers, pipeline operators,
building contractors and other eld
professionals now have a full-featured
and affordable radio in a small, rugged
package. The F50 (VHF) and F60 (UHF)
128-channel land mobile transceivers
serve as both a two-way radio and
pager, combining important features
such as 2-tone and 5-tone signaling
with IPX7 waterproof protection,

ensuring that wireless

communications is available
even in adverse conditions
such as driving rain, snow
or sleet. The F50/F60
series also comes in an
intrinsically safe version
that is suitable for use in
hazardous areas where
flammable
conditions
exist.
Read the full review at:
www.icomamerica.com/reviews/f50series
For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews

March 2006

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