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IC-F8100, HF Export Land Mobile Transceiver. Designed for Reliable Long Distance Communication

Icom are pleased to announce details of a new HF transceiver for export. The IC-F8100 is designed to provide long distance communications for remote areas or developing countries where telephone service is unreliable, non-existent or too expensive. What’s more, the 125W IC-F8100 is an extremely rugged piece of kit. The compact, sealed body has been designed to be installed for the most extreme environments and will operate in hot, dry and dusty conditions.

Three versions of the IC-F8100 are available, giving organisations the option of either base, or remote control operation. Firstly there is a typical base station set up with hand microphone, suitable for standard desktop use or quick set-up in a field station. Secondly, there is the option of detaching the main radio body in the boot and installing the control panel in the dashboard, a solution where space is at a premium. Lastly, there is a remote controller option which allows a user to operate most of the features of the radio from a handset…a safe option during mobile operation.

Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) has been incorporated into the IC-F8100 to improve communication signal quality. The radio can be programmed to automatically send and receive sounding signals on all operating channels to/from other ALE equipped radios in the network. By storing the received signal strength of these sounding calls, radios in the network automatically build up a table of link-quality data. When a subsequent ALE call is made, the IC-F8100 refers to these tables and selects the optimal channel for operation.

Selective Calling (Selcall) is also a standard feature of the IC-F81000 and allows the radio operator to make individual or group calls. Each radio on the network is allocated a unique 4 or 6-digit identity, much like a telephone number, the operator then simply selects the corresponding number of the radio they wish to call and a Selcall will be sent. Upon successful connection, an acknowledgement signal will be sent. The Selcall capabilities on the IC-F8100 will allow an organisation to make selective calling, phone call, message call, position call, status call, emergency call and channel test call.

The optional AD-119 Junction Box expands the capabilities of this HF transceiver providing interfaces with PC, GPS and antenna tuner. It also provides an internal space to install a high speed data modem unit. In ideal propagation conditions, data speeds of up to 9600bps are possible for reliable and fast HF e-mail operation.

When connected an external GPS receiver via the optional Junction Box, the IC-F8100 can send accurate position information to another station and shows position information, time, altitude and heading of movement with a GPS icon on the display.

Ian Lockyer, Marketing Manager of Icom UK said, ‘As you would expect from Icom, the IC-F8100 features a strong commercial build, easy to use interface and plenty of memory channels and operating modes. Three versions of controller configurations are available to suit any requirements made by overseas commercial/business users and NGO's.’

Icom UK Marketing - marketing@icomuk.co.uk