8/12/2019 iaNews_0707

1/3

ia ws

IN THIS ISSUE:

SuperSherpa Team SummetsMt. Everest

Meet Your Icom Team Emma Cashen Service Support Specialist

Tornado vs F221

Accessory of the Month: Ranger Headset

P25 Trade-in Program

Tech Corner - Using the Monitor Key

July 20

For People Who Make Smart Choices

SuperSherpa Team Summits Mt. Everest

2007 Icom America Inc.The Icom logo is a registered trademarkof Icom Inc. All other trademarks remainthe property of their respective owners. Allinformation and specications subject tochange without notice or obligation. 9444

On May 16, Apa Sherpa radioed basecamp with his Icom F3021S portable.We are on the summit. We are on thesummit. The message came throughloud and clear.

That radio message marked anachievement like none other. Not onlyhad the SuperSherpa climbing team,comprised solely of Sherpas, summitedMt. Everest, the worlds tallest peak,

they had also succeeded in their missionto bring attention to the often overlookedcontribution of the Sherpa people to allEverest expeditions.

The team included two of the best knownSherpas, Apa Sherpa, who holds theworld record at 17 Everest summits, andLhakpa Gelu Sherpa, who has recordedthe fastest summit from base camp.

Icom two-way radios played an importantrole in the climbing expedition. An F121mobile served as a base station at basecamp, and each group of climbers wasequipped with two F3021S portableradios (for redundancys sake), allowingclimbers to stay in touch.

Climbers rely on radios for two primaryreasons, weather reports and generalnews and progress updates, says RogerKehr, a SuperSherpa team member basedin Salt Lake City. Communications iscritical, especially weather reports, Kehrexplains. It can mean the differencebetween life and death.

Poor weather conditions are the No. 1reason for tragedy. In recent decades,the fatality rate on Everest has hoveredaround 10 percent, but with the increaseduse of radio communications by climbingteams the fatality rate is dropping rapidly,

says Kehr, an expert in mountaineerinwho helped organize the SuperSherpaclimb.

It can be difcult to nd a reliablightweight radio that can operate atemperatures approaching minus 50degrees and in the oxygen-poor air ohigh altitudes, but, even though theare not intended for operation in thalow of temperature, the Icom portablesperformed awlessly, Kehr says. Othecritical radio features include a longlife battery that can function at very lotemperatures.

For each portable radio, climbers carriedone regular Li-ion battery, one backupLi-ion battery, and one alkaline batterpack. A generator and solar-poweredcharging system at base camp kept thebase station up and running.

Look for an upcoming documentary andbook based on the SuperSherpa teamsummit. Proceeds from the climb, whichalso include public speaking engagementfees, are earmarked to benet the Nepalipeople through educational and healthprograms.

Yes this photo was actually taken on top of theworld. Courtesy of the SuperSherpa team.

ianews, your connection toIcom Americas Land MobileDivision! Keep up with thelatest products, news andtechnical information inthis newsletter.

8/12/2019 iaNews_0707

2/3

ia wsnews

ianews / July 2007 / Page 2

For People Who Make Smart Choices

Emma Cashen is our newest member ofthe Icom Service Administration team.Emma has been our Service SupportSpecialist since April, 2007 and isdoing a fantastic job communicatingwith Icom valued customers. Sheis the rst line communicator to allcustomer calls both ingoing andoutgoing. Emma answers questions inthe areas of freight, charges, estimateapproval calls, status calling, billing,reverse credit processing, shipping,receiving, freight damage/reporting,warranty exceptions, buffer customerand service repair techs and customersatisfaction intervention daily. Emmais a true professional and treats everycustomer with respect and sincerity.Emma likes dancing, camping, andcliff diving!

Emma CashenService Support Specialist

Meet Your Icom TeamTornado vs. F221

Theres no shortage of stories about Icomradios surviving drops onto concrete,dunks in swimming pools, and exposureto severe weather.

But heres one for the record books: A violent tornado hits a small town inOklahoma. The twister demolishes a highschool gym, blows off a church steeple,and destroys multiple homes and vehicles,including a company pickup truck ownedby oil eld service company Galmors Inc.Nothing in the truck is salvageable exceptthe trucks Icom F221 mobile radio, whichcontinues to function awlessly.

The truck ew 60 yards and bouncedthree times. All the windows weresmashed, explains Dan Pennington,business manager of Galmors. When Ipulled out theradio, it wascovered in mud.It was amazingit still worked.

The F-3 tornadothat hit Sweetwater, Okla., on May 5,

2007, produced wind speeds of 136 to165 miles per hour and caused millions ofdollars in damage in the small, rural townlocated about ve miles east of the TexasPanhandle.

The driver of the truck, Tim Maines,was not in the vehicle when the tornadotouched down. He not only managed toescape all harm; he also rescued two girls

from a trailerl o c a t e dnext to the

Sweetwaterhigh school.

Galmors isan oil eld

service company based in Elk City, Okla.The company provides services to the

petroleum exploration and productioindustry, such as preparing sites beforeoil rigs arrive and completing sites aftethe rig is gone.

Company Owner and President SteveGalmor decided to switch from commerciacellular service to two-way radios fgeneral company communicationsHe equipped the eet 18 big rigs, 4pickup trucks and 25 heavy units witIcom F221 mobile radios. Employees alsouse Icom portable radios.

Lawton Communications of Lawto

Okla., worked with Galmors OperationManager Russell Freas to pick outhe radios, acquire the necessaryFCC license, and coordinate systeminstallation. Ongoing projects includinstalling a tower in the Texas Panhandlregion, one of the oil companys primarareas of operation.

In the Texas Panhandle and in ruraWestern Oklahoma where the companyalso maintains operations, cell phoncoverage is very limited. Two-way radio

provide much better coverage thancommercial services, Galmors Penningtonsays. The company also saves moneeliminating the high monthly airtime bigenerated by 62 employees using celphones.

We are extremely happy with the radios,Pennington says. They are high-qualitand very durable.

Icoms F221 mobile radio is built toughmeeting MIL-STD 810 requirements. Easto use, the radio offers an eight-characteralphanumeric display, independenvolume knob, and six programmablbuttons. Additional features include 12memory channels with eight memorbanks and built-in 2-tone, 5-tone, CTCSSDTCS encoder and decoder.

Photo courtesy of Marc Crow.

Courtesy of Galmors Inc.

8/12/2019 iaNews_0707

3/3

For People Who Make Smart Choices

ianews / July 2007 / Page 3

ia wsnewsRanger Headset

For use with Icom F30G, F40G, F50, F60,F70, F80, F3061, F4061 radios

Accessory of the Month P25 Trade-in ProgramThe current concern about possibleterrorist threats has ramications in manyareas, not the least of which is makingsure that public safety communicationsgear employs the latest in technology andinteroperability. Jeff Mitchell of MitchellCommunications learned rsthand howthat can translate into sales through theP25 trade-in program.

Mitchell Communications, located in Akron, Ohio was recently awarded a bidfor 80 F70D and 29 F1721D radios plusaccessories from a group of volunteerre departments in the southern part ofPortage County, southeast of Cleveland.Jeff reports that he probably wouldnthave been awarded the bid but for thetrade-in program.

The sale resulted from a $215,000Department of Homeland Security (DHS)grant. DHS encourages but doesnt

require the purchase of P25 radios, and,according to Mitchell, might not havissued the grant if it had not been usedto purchase P25 equipment.

Mitchell reports that the deciding factowas learning that the trade-in value othe existing equipment could be usedtoward the 10% match required of there departments. Other grants may nothave the same rules, of course.

Jeffs advice to other dealers? Get demoequipment and put it in the hands opotential buyers for a free trial, especiall

those who arent familiar with Icoproducts. Become familiar with theneeds. And, as Mitchell points out fromhis own experience with this customerwhen it comes time to demonstrate newproducts, it doesnt hurt to have a 20year customer relationship behind you!

TECH CORNER Using the Monitor Key

A monitor key may seem like a simplefeature, but there is more than one wayto use this key. Ordinarily, you use yourmonitor key as a courtesy to otherswho may be using the same frequency,but with different tones. When youmonitor a frequency, you are listening toeveryone on that frequency, regardlessof the tones that they may be using.The monitor function strips away thetone requirement so that you can hearall trafc.

Many Icom radios have two levels ofmonitor. One level will open up thespeaker to carrier-level squelch, thesquelch level set for your radio. Theother monitor function will give youcompletely open squelch and will benoisy, but you will be able hear anyfaint trafc on the selected frequency.

V4-NR2CM1 (With std. in-line PTT)

V4-NR2CM3B (With in line PTT and pigtail forPTT options)

Behind-the-head style with single leftspeaker.

Speaker rotates on the steel frame to allowfor adjustment.

Water, wind and dust proof for harshenvironments.

Flexible, noise canceling left boommicrophone with replaceable windscreen.

Straight cable is 33 inches from headset topush to talk module.

Coiled cable is 10 inches retracted, 36inches extended from push to talk moduleto radio UDC.

Wearing weight 2.85 lbs. typical

Did you know?The Ranger headset is ideal for applicationswhere wind, water and dust can be a problem.It is used in military, tactical, constructionand public safety applications where harshenvironments are the norm.

Optional PTTs allow more versatility for theuser. In a S.W.A.T. application the user mayprefer a ring PTT for use with a rie or the80mm body PTT when using the elbow to PTTagainst the body. The uses are bound onlyby your imagination.

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

Heres how you operate the twodifferent monitor levels.

Carrier-Level Squelch MonitoringPress the monitor key until the speakericon appears on the display. Once yourelease the monitor key, you will stayin monitor mode until the auto resettimer times out. When this occurs, thespeaker icon will disappear, indicatingyou are no longer in monitor mode.

Open-Squelch MonitoringWith this level of monitoring, pressand hold the monitor key. When thespeaker icon appears on the display,you will hear open squelch noiseas long as you hold the key down.Once you release the key, you will bemonitoring at carrier level squelch,which will continue until the auto resettimer has timed out.