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Icom Commercial Tales From America

Since its launch in the summer of 2001, the Icom IC-F31GS series of advanced handportables has become a big hit around the world with government agencies, public services institutions and large corporations. In the US, as in the UK, the new model has gone from strength to strength. The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Arkansas Forestry Commission are just two of the latest commercial organisations that have realised just what a viable solution the IC-F31GS series is.

Missouri Department of Conservation
The Missouri Department of Conservation has purchased 225 IC-F31GS radios. Before placing the order for the new radios, the Communications Committee for the Missouri Department of Conservation did an exhaustive evaluation of radios made by ICOM and 10 competitors. This committee, comprising 15 professional law-enforcement and emergency officials working in the field, field-tested them for 60 days. The committee sent in weekly evaluations that ranked performance, transmission, sound quality, ease of use, effectiveness and overall performance of each radio.

The IC-F31GS series was the unanimous favourite.The IC-F31GS was found to offer superior performance and ease of operation. Ease of configuration of the IC-F31GS was very important to The Missouri Department of Conservation. Because radios are PC programmable, they can be modified for individual users, divisions etc. Additionally, it is possible to update this radio as technology and needs change.

Arkansas Forestry Commission
The Arkansas Forestry Commission has placed an order for 300 ICOM IC-F31GS radios, which will be used by their fire fighters, replacing radios that are currently 15-20 years old. Bruce Lantz, Communications System Manager for the Arkansas Forestry Commission said, 'These radios are tough enough to be used in the heat of a forest fire and simple enough to operate in the most chaotic conditions.'

Lantz cited many radio characteristics as essential for flawless functioning in the Forestry Commission. Key among those is the 256-channel capability, which allows ample communication capability. Lantz also noted the ability of the IC-F31GS to use AA batteries,' because fire fighting can be unpredictable, the ability to bring back-up alkaline batteries and install them - rather than relying on a power source to charge batteries - provides more operational hours.'

He further added, 'From a business perspective, the ICOM IC-F31GS was a clear choice because we were able to purchase 25 additional units as a result of the low price.' The IC-F31GS features a newly designed Fractional-N™ PLL system. The ultra high-speed circuitry is stable for data communications and provides fast acquisition times for trunking. In fact, data, trunking, signalling and encryption can all be used simultaneously. The audio compander function provides crystal clear audio under noisy conditions on either wide (25 kHz) or narrow (12.5 kHz) channels. The radio is also available in a full keypad version as the IC-F31GT.

'These purchases are proof that Icom have one of the best radios on the market,' says Ian Lockyer, Marketing Manager of Icom (UK) Ltd. 'We are seeing more and more corporate decision makers choosing Icom over the competition. For any group with strict budget conditions and strenuous working conditions, Icom products offer unbeatable quality and value.'

Icom UK Marketing - marketing@icomuk.co.uk