InterceptRadio.com Forums

They don't support stuff, they only sell it... their primary purpose is profit, not support of the Ham community.... and yes I worked there and speak from experience.

I remember a Gary Fibar (sp) who was at SeaPac several years ago along with Pat? who sold some commercial Icoms and in which later on, I had some sort of problem with it and they serviced it for free, as a favor I guess. I don't think Gary is with Icom any longer and the service end of it has gone downhill.

For all of appox. 30 days :shock: , and "jj" did NOT quit, thus the hard feelings :cry: ...

I on the other hand enjoyed the priviledge of working at ICOM America for nearly 5 years, and enjoyed almost every day of it. Sadly, I recently found an even better deal, and chose to move on...

In my experience I found that ICOM, like any other manufacturer, tries very hard to design, build, and support quality products. You could bash products made by ANY manufacturer if you had a boner for them. ICOM wouldn't be in business if they made crap products and/or offered crap service.

Look at the numbers in Japan, and it is clear that ICOM is doing VERY well. They dominate several product sectors sold into the Amateur, Avionics, and Marine radio services. And they do not incur ANY long term debt as they continue to grow. None of their competitors can make that claim!



As to the question Steve asked, D-Star appears to be making slow growth across the US. The fact is, it is a new and expensive technology being introduced to a hobby of tight wallets and massive surplus markets.

Where it has been introduced it works very well, and I understand some local Amateurs are in the process of bringing it to the Pacific NW. A high speed data + voice system has been in operation in Dallas for well over a year, and I have heard reports of 128Kbps to the dashboard, across an area covering a 35 mile radius. While the speeds do not compare to 802.11 or other high speed protocols, 128K (reliably) across a 35 mile radius, from one site, kicks any "high speed" system that does not charge per minute.

We should be seeing D-Star here soon.

Steve, e-mail me for more. Use my call at comcast.

73's
Nick
N7QOR

In North America, DSTAR will compete with P25 for commercial uses. I suspect there are already more ham P25 repeaters in the US than DSTAR ones.

Flash

DSTAR is not worth changing to. DSTAR will require that all the repeater be changed out to make it work. Look what ICOM guy says himself see below.

If you try to talk through an analog repeater, in digital mode, it will not work. The repeater must be able to receive a digital carrier and re-broadcast a digital carrier.

Since a digital carrier is different than an analog carrier, a non-digital radio can not re-broadcast the digital carrier. It's not just digital data, it's an actual digital signal. If you try to transmit, in digital mode, into an analog repeater, all the analog radios on the repeater will simply hear white noise and a digital radio listening will hear nothing. The digital radio will see activity on the signal strength meter, as would be normal when there is analog activity on the frequency.

_____________________________

Kevin McClinton, W7JRL
Amateur Technical Trainer

ICOM America, Inc.
2380 116th Ave. NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
Ph. (425) 454-7619
Fax (425) 637-8417
http://www.icomamerica.com

ICOM sold 16 D-Star systems during the Dayton Hamfest this year.
Not bad considering this is the first year they have had systems to sell. I hear these were in a mix of bands, 2M Voice, 440 Voice, and 1.2 Voice + 1.2 high speed data.

In addition to the D-Star systems sold at Dayton, I hear they completely sold out of the new P7A handheld, and sold nearly all of the U-82 / V-82 handhelds that were stocked at the show. Those are the D-Star capable handhelds.

So for all of the dire predictions, it appears they are getting off to a pretty good start, now that product is finally available.

Interesting to see a mild to moderate anti-ICOM sentiment here lately. I see a couple of disgruntled former employees sniping, and now it looks like someone is trying to make current employee Kevin McClinton look bad by forging a post in his name.

As far as the P25 vs D-Star debate goes, they are 2 different animals alltogether. If people think D-Star is expensive, try pricing comparable P25 systems and gear.

As the D-Star backbone slowly builds, the first benefit users will see over P25 is the similarity to NEXTHELL's PTT calling (direct connect) capability. Simply put, if a D-Star server knows where you are, someone else can call you by your callsign from anywhere else in the connected system.

73,
Nick
N7QOR

The message by Kevin McClinton was not forged it was on the ICOM web site for two months on one of their forums. If Mr McClinton does not want to look bad then maybe he be more carefull about what he posts.

PLease also note I have never worked for ICOM. By the way does VE7TKO work for Icom because he has spammed every mesage I can think of about DSTAR.

Also note the that MR McClintons message has been removed from ICOM's wesite.

TWO POINTS: It does not do anyone or the HAM radio service any good - to "pick apart" each radio maker or brand. It is soley a "personal" choose. Some like Fords. Others like General Motors. --- In the long run -- even a poor brand helps consumers. --- Point Two: HDTV is now -- anything BUT "Market Driven". There is not ONE TV set built in the United States. Sony proposed a complete change to the TV Broadcast service -- within the US of A. While the FIRST FCC rules allowed a change over from analog to HDTV -- based on consumer sales / new HDTV sets sold -- Congress changed the rules to mandate a set date for the complete change to Digital --- BASED ON MONEY. The Federal Government hopes to auction off TV channels from 52 to 67 (except channels 63, 64, -- 68 and 69 -- reserved for 700 Mhz Public Safety). The Feds want CASH. Big cash. Billions. And don't expect a Tax break or "rebate". MTM