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Is Your Digital Repeater Ham Friendly?

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Digital technology continues to flood our repeater frequencies, leaving many questions about standardization. If you are one of those who are holding out, or have been sucked into the bandwagon of the latest craze of the repeater gods, take a few steps back and ask yourself: do we have a ham friendly repeater?

Many of the advances over the last 35 years for amateur repeaters have come from the land mobile or commercial radio world. For instance, the use of tone and tone squelch to allow repeater frequencies to be reused across a geographical area that previously was not possible. This was a great advancement and allowed more people to have their “own” repeater. However, I feel that the latest phase in digital has brought in a dangerous trend that few understand, and as a result, there are several fundamental freedoms that ham radio operators are unknowingly giving up! Read More...

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Amateur Radio Emergency Communications — Be Prepared

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Earlier on this blog, I wrote about Emergency Communications — Amateur Radio’s Role. In that post I touched on the things that I feel make amateur radio ideal for emergency communications:

  • Communication Options — Amateur radio offers frequencies from HF to VHF to UHF as well as communication modes from CW to D-STAR. That range of options allows local, regional, or national communications in times of need.
  • Volunteers — The number of licensed amateur radio operators has never been greater. They are eager to get involved to help out in any situation.
  • Training — There are plenty of training options available from introductory courses to management courses. That includes ARRL courses as well as FEMA Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Incident Command System (ICS), and National Incident Management System (NIMS) training.
  • Experience — ARRL Field Day is a great way to test your club’s ability to get a station on the air, make contacts, and get everyone involved. Hopefully, you also have other events that you’re supporting in addition to your routine repeater and equipment maintenance.

I also pointed out in that blog post that there can often be a big gap between technical skills and the human skills that we bring to any emergency. It’s all well and good that we have the radios, training, and experience but if we can’t mesh with the existing first responder organization, we’re not really helping. And, in fact, we may be hindering their effectiveness. Read More...

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Amateur Radio and Scouting Intertwine at the 2017 Jamboree

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Over the years, I’m sure you have seen one thing about me that is very, very consistent — I feel strongly about getting youth involved in amateur radio. That is a big reason why we support amateur radio activities for Carol Perry’s Dayton Hamvention® Youth Forum and the Boy Scouts of America.

In doing so we provide radio stations through the Scouting Loan Stations for Scout Councils, support Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA) and sponsor the National Scout Jamboree as the exclusive amateur radio transceiver supplier. Plus, for clubs with a need for Amateur radios for a special event or for support of a radio merit badge outing, check out the Radio Merit Badge radio loan program. Read More...

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Dayton Hamvention® 2017 — Change for the Better

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They say that change is inevitable, but I was beginning to have my doubts about Hamvention®. I should not have.

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) started the event in 1952 with 600 in attendance, and moved to HARA Arena in 1964, where attendance climbed to near 30 thousand.

Now they have moved to the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. What a fantastic venue and what a great job by DARA in getting this huge event up and running.

Hams to Japan – #H2JA

We’re really excited to hold the Hams to Japan Sweepstakes and wanted to incorporate it into the mix at the Hamvention® booth this year.  A kiosk was placed at the from of our booth, allowing visitors to sign up while at Hamvention®. We have had great participation so far and only expect more until our final drawing. The grand prize drawing, a trip for two to  2017 Tokyo Hamfair or an IC-7300, will announce the second week of July. Read More...

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D-STAR Live 2017 — All About D-STAR from A to Z

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It has been a while since my blog post titled “D-STAR — It’s not just for the kids.” I was thinking about that this past weekend during D-STAR Live. It isn’t just for the kids, but it is easy enough for anyone to get engaged. Plus, there are so many different aspects to explore and they were all on display during this four-hour information packed session.

View the Recording

I’ll provide a quick summary here. But, you can find the recording at the bottom of this blog. It’s divided into four segments to cover the full four hours. Read More...

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Back by Popular Demand, the IC-7200 HF Rig is Here!

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As you may have noticed, our IC-7200 HF/50 MHz Transceiver is back! Usually when a rig is discontinued it is because the parts are no longer available. However the demand was so high for this rig, that when you asked, we were able to make it happen. I’m delighted that we can get more of these fantastic transceivers into the field.

Built for the Outdoors

A small and compact radio, the optional MB-116 front handles protect the front buttons and knobs. It also has a rear bumper that protects all the connectors on the back of the radio, helping to keep the elements out. In fact, it was the perfect transceiver for the Scouting loan stations that we put together some for local Boy Scout Councils. Read More...

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Who’s that on the Radio? Creating Your Ham Identity

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Behind every Ham is a callsign. It is how you are known in the amateur radio community. Creating your own callsign (vanity callsign) helps to personalize your radio identity.

Throughout the years, as I have upgraded my ham license, I have also changed my callsign. I received my first callsign (KB5KCL) while living in Starkville, MS. After moving to the Pacific Northwest I felt changing my callsign (KC7JPA) to my new region would simplify things. I was happy with that callsign, until the introduction of the IC-7800. Once exposed to the world of DX and contesters, I quickly learned the need for a 1×2 callsign. After upgrading once again, I snagged my current sign, N9JA. Read More...

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Land Mobile Solutions: Growing and Expanding

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Novak

Ray Novak, Senior Sales Manager

I have always known a major strength of Icom is the depth of expertise and experience we are able to bring to every market, every industry and every customer. Ranging from product design to development to customer service, this high level of knowledge allows us to find the right solutions for our customer’s communication needs. Our superior service has contributed to the growth of our largest division, Land Mobile.

New Opportunities

Not only has our Land Mobile Division grown, but my position has as well. Still involved within our Amateur Radio Division, I have now added the additional responsibility of our U.S. Sales Team within our Land Mobile Division. It is truly exciting to work with both teams. Read More...

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Radio Scouting – Mentoring the Next Generation of Hams

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Ray Novak at 2013 Jamboree

N9JA at the K2BSA 2013 Jamboree Operation. Scouts were on the air from West Virginia using Icom gear.

Icom America began its relationship with Boy Scouts of America in 1981, by loaning equipment to the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association’s jamboree operation at Fort A.P. Hill. That continued up till 2012, when Icom signed a sponsorship agreement with the Boy Scouts of America. I’m very pleased to note that we have renewed our sponsorship through 2018.

What is Radio Scouting?

Radio Scouting is a pretty simple concept – it is everything involved with amateur radio within Scouting. At the heart of Radio Scouting is talking with other Scouts on-air, sharing stories, and learning about other cultures. Radio Scouting also introduces the technology and magic of amateur radio. It does this in a number of ways starting with Jamboree-on-the-Air. Read More...

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Why Buy the Dynamic New IC-7300?

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In Icom’s 50+ years of providing communication solutions, our amateur radio products have always been on the leading edge of innovation. Our new IC-7300 HF transceiver continues that bold tradition by providing yet another amateur radio first – an RF direct sampling system.

And, it doesn’t stop there:

  • Real-Time Spectrum Scope
  • Audio Scope
  • Large Touch Screen Color TFT LCD
  • Multi-dial Knob for Intuitive Menu Selection
  • Built-in Automatic Antenna Tuner

Introduced at the Tokyo JARL Hamfair 2015, it’s now ready for your ham shack.

IC-7300 Brochure Image

RF Direct Sampling System

We’ve deployed a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) along with a digital signal processor (DSP) to essentially replace a traditional superheterodyne receiving system. In the bargain, we’ve eliminated the physical mixer. Read More...