iaNews_0808

iaIN THIS ISSUE:

• MidwesternFlooding:TooClose forComfort

• MeetYourIcomTeam-LalaGusakov SalesAssistantforthe LandMobileDivision

• PeruCountyConsolidatesand ModernizesitsSystemwithIAS

• AccessoryoftheMonth- HM173SpeakerMicrophone

• HPUK-HighPowerUpgradeKit forIcomMobileRadios

ianews,yourconnectiontoIcomAmerica’sLandMobileDivision!Keepupwiththelatestproducts,newsandtechnicalinformationin thisnewsletter.

August 2008

For People Who Make Smart Choices

©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. 100060

Midwestern Flooding: Too Close for ComfortA Follow-up on the Pike County, IL IAS System

WiththeMississippifloodsearlierthissummer, theSmy leveesystemofPikeCounty,ILcamewithin6inchesofanall-timefloodhigh.Fortunately,anewsystemdevelopedbyIASforB-KElectricandthecounty was up andrunning, ready if di-sasterstruck.Onthefirstdayoftheflood,PikeCounty’sBravochannel handledapproximately 3700transmissionsduringthefirstfivehours–atrafficlevelthattheirprior equipment didnothave thecapac-itytohandle.

“The new Icomsystem worked perfectly 99% of thetime”, says Jim Eatoch of BK Electric,PikeCounty,IL.Heattributedtheremain-ing1%tousererror.

JimrelatesthatPikeCountywentfroma rag-tag bunch of radio systems that

couldn’t talk to one another, to an IASsystemthatunitesSheriff,FireandEMS.JimpraisestheIcomAmericaemployeesthathavemadethisafunctioningreality.

Icom’s personal service allowedPike County to integrate their existing200– 300 analog radios with the newIASsystemandgetthemupandrunningfast. 12agenciesnowhaveacommonpagingchanneland2incidentchannels(AlphaandBravo)with80%coverageina geographically rough county. Two orthreeofthefourreceiversinPikeCountywillcoverradiousersatalltimes.

Jimhasmanystories–peoplestories–tobackuphisclaimthatIcomwasthebestchoiceforthePikeCountyproject.Prompt, helpful customer service setIASapart.Oneexample:Whenapagingsystemtimerneededtobeautomaticallyrepeatedevery15secondsfromdifferentgeographicalregionsIASwastednotimetobuildtheirownsolution.InamatterofhoursIAShaddesignedandbuiltatimercircuitthatworkedperfectly.

Whether it’s personalized customerservice or just equipment integrationsolutions,IAShasyoucovered.

Above right: BK Radio’s Jim Eatoch inspects the new system with IAS’s

Scott Bigger before delivery. Above left: Taking a break atop a

water tower during system installation.

Pike County, IllinoisPopulation (year 2000): 12,837 people

5,119 households: 3,680 familiesSize: 341 square miles (883 km)Population density: 38 people per

square mile (15/km)Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org


ianews / August 2008 / Page 2

ianewsPeru County Consolidates and Modernizes its System with IAS

WhenDouglasBernabeibecametheChiefofPoliceinthetownofPeru,Illinois,building a top-notch communicationsystemwasoneofhishighestpriorities. Peru is a small community, but, likecountless rural communitiesacross thecountry, it covers a large geographicarea. With a commercial core on thebanks of the Illinois River, residentialneighborhoodsonabluffabovetheriverand many businesses and residencesthatextendformilesdownaninterstatecorridor,Perufacedsignificantcommu-nications challenges. These challengesweren’tbeingmetbytheircurrentsystem.

The first thing that occurred toBarnebei is that the police departmentshouldworkwiththefiredepartmentaswell as the Peru Volunteer AmbulanceSystem (PVAS) to create an integratednetwork that served all the needs forPeruanditscitizens.“WhenIcameinaschiefin2006,”explainsBarnabei,“itwasa2sitesystem,onerepeaterintheNorthand one downtown. The ambulancesand the fire department were workingonasimplexsystem,norepeatersatallexceptoneNorthoftheInterstate.”Notonly did this cause significant gaps incoverage,itdidn’tallowforthedifferentagenciestoworktogether.

Barnabeiworkedwiththeotheragen-ciestodevelopanRFPforasystemthatwouldworkforall3agencies,handlethelargeandwidelyvariedterrain,beeasytouse, allow for growthandworkwiththefiberopticcabling thatwasalreadyinplacesothattheywouldnothavetoworkwithleasedphonelines.

ThecallwasansweredbyMacCawley, of Starved Rock Communications.Cawley and Bernabei embarked on a very in-depth planning process. “For aprojectofthisscale,thiskindofplanningisreallytypicalforus,”explainsCawley.Indeed,theyspentseveralmonthsdoinga detailed analysis of the terrain as well as the varied use patterns of eachagency.“Afterextensivetesting,”reportsCawley, “we came to the realizationthat what we needed was a series of repeaters and a series of satellite receiversaroundtown.”

Lessthanayearlater,thecityofPeruhad an integrated system that allowedforalloftheagenciestoworktogether.Just as their planning had suggested,they installed a system that allowedeachagencytohavetheirownFR3000repeatersatamain transmitsite– thatturned out to be the same transmit

Lala was hired as Sales Assistant for the Land Mobile division in May of this year. She makes life a lot easier for the MRs, RSMs and Dealers by promptly supplying the various pieces of information they request including (but not limited to, of course!) dealer questions, returns, and B2B passwords.

“The most rewarding part of this position is definitely being able to help everyone reach their sales goals” she says, further proving that her excellent customer service is an invaluable asset to the LM division.

Lala currently lives in downtown Seattle with her 11 month old daughter, Kapri and her husband Serg. She plans to celebrate her 3rd wedding anniversary at the end of August with a three week trip to Spain and France. Congratulations Lala, and Bon Voyage!

Lala GusakovSalesAssistantforthe LandMobiledivision

Meet Your Icom Team

Continued on page 3



ianews

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) [email protected]

site they had already been using, theMid Town Plaza water tower, a locallandmark. In addition, they installed aseriesof remotesatellite receivers.Thepolicedepartmenthas4satellitereceiv-ers,but theFireDepartmentandPVAS each have 5 receivers because theycover a larger territory that includesneighboringcommunities.

“Wedealwithlotsofmanufacturers,”explainsCawley,“butIcomisournumberone,especiallyfortheirfixedequipmentlike repeaters and receivers. They’vereallygottenaggressiveabouttheirtech-nology,andthat’swhatweneeded.”

Of course, that fixed technology isjust the cornerstone of a system thatincludes dozens of handhelds that areused by first-responders. The F3161portablehasbeenaperfectfitforalloftheir needs. Amongst them, the policedepartmentisnowusing27,thefirede-partment isusingaround40andPVAS isusing25ofthem.

Accessory of the Month

HM-173 Speaker Microphone

Outwiththeold,inwiththenewHM-173!

– What exactly is the HM-173? It’saspeakermicwithaPTTswitch. TheHM-173isreplacingthediscon- tinued(andoutofinventory)HM-119…

– Yes, but – what’s the difference? TheHM-119hadastraightconnector, whiletheHM-173hasan“L”connector.

– What radios are compatible with the HM-173?

A6,A14seriesandA24handheld radios,butdon’ttryitwiththeA4- the“L”connectorcannotbeaccepted, asthemicjackisontopoftheradio.

Overall, it’s been animpressive change thathas had a great impacton the functioningofallthree agencies. They’vealready expanded thesystem with 3 new an-tennas to increase thepage-out capabilitiesnecessary when work-ing with employeesand volunteers wholive in the further outrural communities.According to Barnabei,“thebugsareallworkedout and everyone has been very responsive.I don’t think we’ve hadanysitesgodownatall,it’sgoinggreat.”

Barnabei isquick toadd,“we’re justvery pleased with the combined ef-forts of the city of Peru, Starved RockCommunications, and Icom America.With these combined efforts and tech-nologies,wewere able to put in placeaverysophisticated,butsimpletouse,user-friendlycommunicationsystemthatdoeswhatweneedittodo.”

Continued from page 2 Peru County Header



ianewsHPUK – High Power Upgrade Kit for Icom Mobile Radios

ThereisademandintheGovernmentandUtilitiesmarketfor100W mobilesthatIcomwasnotabletofulfilluntilnow.Wearepleased toannounceaHighPowerUpgradeKit(HPUK)thatconvertsour

IC-F1721series,50WVHFmobileto110W.Itisa heavydutydesignwithexcellentTXspecs,andincludesdualcoolingfansformaximumairflow.

Eachkitincludesamobileradio,remote mountkit(RMK2orRMK3),andtheHPUK

Theseradiokitshaveremotemountcapabilityfor trunkorbehindtheseatinstallation.Threeseparation

cablesareavailabletomeetyourspecificapplication(not included).Pleaseorderthecablesseparately.

IA Engineering Best Practices requires the high power upgrade kit to ship assembled with the radio, and does not permit sale as an accessory only.

Weoffer2yearswarrantyonthekits,anditcomesfullyassembled,testedandreadyforinstallation.

AvailabilityontheHPUKis6to8weeksfromreceiptoforder–makesuretoplaceyourorderwithIcomAmericaSystemstoday!

Fax:425-586-6321

Email:[email protected]

HPUKismanufacturedexclusivelyfor IcomAmericabyTPL,andincludes: •1eachofpowercableassembly- fused(15”)

•1eachofjumpercableassembly •1eachofthermostatassemblykit

ThisdevicehasnotbeenapprovedbytheFederalCommunicationsCommission.Thisdevicemaynotbesoldorleased,orbeofferedforsaleorlease,untilapprovaloftheFCChasbeenobtained.

Documents

iaNews_0808