iaNews_0812

8/20/2019 iaNews_0812

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ianews0812 1/6

ia

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Improvements in PassPort®

Protocol Facilitate Critical

Communications

• Enhanced MDC Brings GPS,

Texting to Icom Radios

• Meet Your Icom Team -

Brian Tobin - Parts Specialist

• Accessory of the Month -

HM170GP Microphone

• FR6000 Bridges Facility’s

Analog, Digital Systems

ianews, your connection to

Icom America’s Land Mobile

Division! Keep up with the

latest products, news and

technical information in

this newsletter.

December 2

For People Who Make Smart Cho

©2008 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 specifications

subject to change without notice

or obligation. 10079

Improvements in PassPort®

Protocol FacilitaCritical Communications

Continued on pa

Icom America is

pleased to announce

that PassPort® 4.0

and Passport® 2.8 are

available this month

for our F5061/6061

radios. The new

generation of Pass-

Port® protocol adds enhanced features

–– emergency declaration, channelbackup and priority access –– to the

wide area network trunked technology.

Applications can be found wherever

radio systems may carry critical

communications, such as utilities,

governments, manufacturing, college

campuses, public safety, hospitals and

sports arenas.

“PassPort® 4.0 is denitely a step

up over the classic PassPort® protocol

in terms of capitalizing on comm

cations to ensure safety during a cor disaster,” said Chis Lougee,

President of Icom America.

An enhanced low-speed trun

protocol, PassPort® was introduce

the late 1990s. It improves on the pop

single-site LTR® trunking protoco

allowing dispatching over mult

networked trunked radio systems

Enhanced MDC Brings GPS Location, Textingto Icom Radios

When MDC 1200 was introduced

20 years ago, the signaling protocol

was the state of the art, using forward

error correction that vastly improved

data throughput.

“MDC 1200 is so effective that the

message will come through even when

the signal is so weak that you cannot

hear any voice,” said John Gibbs,

Engineering Manager, Icom America.“There is very little improvement that can

be made on this fundamental over-the-

air technology today.”

Icom engineers recently faced a

daunting task when they went to work

on a new signaling system to replace

MDC 1200. How do you improve on an

incredible success story?

“MDC 1200 is probably the most

popular signaling system in the world

and for good reason – it really

works,” said Gibbs. “But

MDC 1200 is missing modern

features, most notably AVL

[automatic vehicle location] and text messaging.” In addition, the M

1200 system has a xed set of c

mands and is not expandable

customizable, he added.

The demand for vehicle location

a big driver behind Icom’s sign

improvements. Knowing the locatio

assets is the key to eet managem

Continued on pa

8/20/2019 iaNews_0812



ianews / December 2008 / Pag

ianews

Brian TobinParts Specialist

Meet Your Icom Team Continued from page 1 Improvements in PassPort®

Protocol Facilitate

roaming between networked sites. The

built-in receive signal strength indicator

(RSSI) enables seamless roaming. The

radios still offer operation in the basic

LTR® and conventional modes.

Individual Selective Call (MIN call)

allows private call between individual

members within a eet. Primary

Talk Group (all call) allows individual

users to call all groups in the eet. Other

PassPort® features include positive

system management and access con-

trol, short message service, telephone

interconnect and voice mail capability.

PassPort® 4.0 expands on those

features, allowing a user or system

operator to modify a radio system’s critical communications in concert with

planning for emergencies. A priority

access level may be granted to any

PassPort® 4.0 radio, giving higher priority

radios access to available channels

over lower priority radios.

“This type of radio system cus-

tomization is what separates land mobile

radio systems from the cellular network,”

Lougee said. “In an emergency situation,

cellular networks normally become

jammed with call trafc and will beunusable. Priority access ensures that

the ofcials and ofcers in charge are

able to coordinate vital operations.”

Some emergencies are not subject to

planning, such as, if a worker or ofcer

becomes ill or injured in the eld. A

cell phone may be useless to someone

unable to dial a number or to speak.

That is where the emergency declaration

becomes so important. The PassP

4.0 radio is able to immedia

declare an emergency at the pres

a button, speeding the process

bringing help.

“A radio system going ofine

have many unappealing consequenc

Lougee said. “For a factory tryin

maintain a level of productivity, it c

mean a loss of revenue. And it c

mean a life-threatening situation fo

ofcer trying to communicate with

ghters or for a worker switching tr

in the rail yard.” To this end, PassP

4.0 offers home channel backup.

Operators and users who man

PassPort® “classic” systems may

grade existing systems to

advantage of the enhanced PassP

4.0 features. PassPort® 4.0 and

original PassPort®, both operate

Trident Micro Systems’ NTS d

network in the VHF, 217-222 M

UHF, 700 MHz, 800 MHz and 900

frequency bands. And each haveability to cross-band digital audio.

Passport® 2.8 & 4.0 is available

a rmware upgrade on all new ra

before they are shipped. Softw

upgrades in the eld are not poss

Similar to the AES upgrades for

the choice of PassPort® version sh

be indicated upon order. Icom will

PassPort® to the radio before it ship

Brian Tobin has supported our dealers

as Icom America’s Parts Specialist for

two years, answering phone calls from

dealers and end-users, entering orders and

generally making sure things run smoothly

for the Parts Department. He also works

in conjunction with the Export Team to

provide their customers the repair parts they

need, in addition to processing warranty

claims and orders going to home company

to rejuvenate our stock.

To decrease the inconvenience ofbackorders, Brian maintains excellent stock

levels on commonly used items. One of

Brian’s most important tasks is maintaining

Icom’s parts price list (approximately 15,000

parts!), as well as updating part numbers in

AS400 to ease the ordering process.

“I don’t think they truly understand how

many different parts we have on hand on

a constant basis. At any given time our

department holds between 11,000 and

12,000 parts. We support parts for radios in

every division and can supply parts for almost

every radio Icom has sold in the U.S. market,”

said Bryan, when asked what message he

would most like to relate to dealers.

Pre-Icom, Brian held a wide range of

positions; from working in customer service

for G.I. Joes, a librarian at a law rm in

Seattle, and even worked at a family fun

center in Issaquah called Illusionz Magical

Entertainment Center.

Asked the age-old “What is the most

“rewarding” aspect of your job?” Brian replied

that it was as simple as hearing how happy

end-users are when they hear we still carry

repair parts for old radios.

8/20/2019 iaNews_0812



ianews / December 2008 / Pa

ianewsContinued from page 1 Enhanced MDC Brings GPS

Location, Texting to Icom Radio

reduced operating costs and reduced

liability for companies. For example,

insurance companies are demanding

that school buses have AVL to ensure

the safety of the children. To be efcient,

taxicab companies and delivery services

cannot be wondering about the location

of their eets.

The result of this engineering effort,

Enhanced MDC (EMDC), integrates GPS

automatic vehicle location and automatic

personnel location with all of the featuresof MDC 1200 that users have grown to

depend on. Increased functionality, such

as free-form short text messaging of up

to 48 characters, remote diagnostics, are

also now available. EMDC will be offered

initially in Icom’s IC-F70 series portable

and IC-F1721 series mobile radios.

The integration of GPS into the

signaling function also eliminates the

need for external modems, data-only

radios, data-only channels or the

requirement to replace an entire eet ofradios and infrastructure.

“Many existing signaling solutions

have used separate radios on a separate

data channel for AVL,” Gibbs said. “But

this doubles the radio cost and requires

purchasing from the FCC another

channel that may not even be available

in congested urban environments.”

Another important step with EM

Icom radios can now interface

dispatch software and to map

programs. “AVL is a lot more than

sending GPS information. To be us

GPS latitude and longitude informa

needs to be plotted on a map that

user can understand,” Gibbs said.Urban environments often req

street maps as the primary displa

useful feature in this case is add

location. But search and rescue o

ations also require a topographic

to plot AVL and automatic perso

location where a GPS microphon

used with a portable radio.

“EMDC is designed to interface

multiple mapping vendors to provide

best solution for a particular applicat

Gibbs said. “And it can also si

taneously interface to multiple map

programs so that the user can use mu

views and get the best results.”

HM-170GP

Microphone

Accessory of the Month

This microphone has outstanding

protection against dust and water that

is equivalent to IP57. The microphone

can withstand submersion in 1m depth

of water for up to 30 mins and has dust-

tight construction that prevents the

ingress of dust.

• Improved speaker audio quality

and loudness

• Includes high performance GPS receiver

• Works with F70/F80 series

Continued on pa

8/20/2019 iaNews_0812


ianews



Other signaling solutions, suchas BIIS and FleetSync™, requirethe replacement of every radio in anMDC-1200 eet, even though all thatmay be needed is the addition ofnew features to only a few radios. For

example, AVL and text messaging maybe needed only in the supervisors’ orcommanders’ vehicles.

Icom decided to go a different routeand designed EMDC so that existingMDC 1200 radios are not left obsolete.

“From the user’s point of view, itis just the addition of new features, an incremental change. From thesystem view, it is a major improve-

ment,” Lougee said. “EMDC iscompletely backward compatible withexisting MDC 1200 systems, even

those based on competitor’s radios.This required clever design to get theexisting MDC 1200 radios to ignorethe EMDC signals.”

To be backward compatible with

MDC 1200, EMDC continues to use

EMDC is Backward Compatible with MDC 120

the same baud rate of 1200, whi

also helps maintain the range

the radio. Instead of increasing t

data rate, EMDC uses sophisticat

data compression to speed

transmissions. Without compressio

it takes three to four seconds fa vehicle to report GPS locati

information. For example, a eet

50 vehicles reporting their positio

every ve minutes would use up h

of the airtime. With data compressio

EMDC transmits GPS signals in only

third of a second.

“One of the fundamental goals

developing EMDC was to minim

airtime used for digital signaling. MD

1200 and EMDC systems are primar

voice radio systems, with the dariding in a short burst at the beginni

or end of the transmission,” Loug

said. “If the digital signaling takes

too much airtime, voice communicati

becomes impossible.”

Continued from page 3 Enhanced MDC Brings GPS

Location, Texting to Icom Radio

“With PC control of MDC 1200 and

EMDC functions, EMDC dispatch soft-

ware and mapping, dealers can now sell

a complete solution: mobile and portable

radios with GPS microphones, repeaters

and base stations,” Lougee added.

Other new and unique features that

come with EMDC are remote battery level

and RSSI sensing. The dispatcher can

now monitor a portable radio’s battery

level and warn the user when he should

recharge his battery. RSSI (received

nal strength indicator) enables map

of the usable radio area coverage

actual on the ground measurements

EMDC also maintains the MDC 1

signaling features so critical to r

systems over the last two deca

including: Call Alert, Radio Check,

ID/Caller ID, Selective Call, Stun/Re

Status, Group Calls and Emergency

audio frequency shift keying, (AFSK)

8/20/2019 iaNews_0812




ianewsFR6000 Bridges Facility’s Analog, Digital System

Project partners Ken Aungst of

Washtenaw Communications and Scott

Adams of Adams Distributing needed

to nd just the right repeater for a cus-

tomer’s new research facility situated on

700 acres in southeastern Michigan.

The customer, a leading automo-

bile manufacturer, wanted to install a

narrowband digital communications

system in its newly constructed research

facility. But it also needed the capability

to communicate with a nearby engineer-

ing facility that still operated a conven-

tional analog system. Security was a toppriority, along with superior audio and a

wide channel range.

The requirements were rigid, but the

Icom FR6000 repeater was a “slam

dunk,” according to Adams.

Flexible and high-performing, the

FR6000 IDAS repeater can receive

both analog and digital signals on a

single channel, allowing the customer to

operate a digital system in the research

facility and still communicate with the

engineering facility’s analog system.Built on the NXDN common air interface,

the FR6000 also met the customer’s

tight security specications.

“When this project emerged, Ken and

I began looking at currently available

equipment to provide the users with a

system that operated better than com-

petitive offerings,” Adams says. “Several

suppliers were consulted, and of the two

that were considered, the Icom syprovided the performance and securit

user desired at almost half the cost. W

Ken presented it, it wasn’t even close.

Both Aungst and Adams

more than 30 years experience in

LMR industry.

As part of Icom’s next-genera

IDAS digital offerings, the FR600

an ideal t for business and indu

users anticipating a future migra

to advanced digital 6.25 kHz t

nology. All Icom IDAS products compatible with legacy FM analog r

systems and offer digital/analog mi

mode operation.

In addition to the two FR6000 rep

ers installed at the facility, the custo

also purchased 12 F4061 portables

three F6061 mobile radios cong

as control stations. An F6061 is pa

with each of the repeaters, and a th

set up as a control station for the exis

analog system at the engineering sit

The portables are primarily usedsecurity and maintenance personne

Installation proceeded without

cident, and the system is perform

exactly as designed. “The user loves

system,” Adams says.

The facility plans to add a

tional portables and potentially a

repeater within the coming month

additional building phases progress

Icom America Inc. 2380 116th Ave NE

Bellevue, WA 98004

Phone: (425) 454-8155

Fax: (425) 454-1509

Customer Service: (425) 454-7619

Icom America Systems Phone: (425) 586-6363

Fax: (425) 586-6321

[email protected]

8/20/2019 iaNews_0812


ianews



IWCE

March 18 - 20

Las Vegas, NV

ASLRRA Annual

Convention

April 26 – 28Red Rock Resort,

Las Vegas, NV

RSSI 49th Annual

C&S Exhibition

May 19 – 20

Nashville, TN

GSA Expo

June 9 – 11 Austin, TX

APCO International

August 16 – 20

Las Vegas, NV

FCCA

October 4 – 7

Mesa, AZ

AASHTO

October 22 – 27

Palm Desert, CA

EWA

November 3 – 6

Atlanta, GA

Come See Us at the

Following Tradeshows in 2009!

2009

All information subject to change without

notice. Please check our website

periodically for the latest updates.

iaNews_0812

Documents