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Robin Rumbolt is an electronics engineer and paramotor pilot. He
offers this information up to a sport that struggles to communicate
effectively while airborne.
First of all, I have to admit to you that I am an ICOM junkie. I own six
of their radios, five handheld’s and one base radio. So I felt pretty
good about reviewing their latest aviation hand held radio, the IC-A6. I
own the predecessor to it, the IC-A5/A23. I love that radio. I was
prepared to be pleased.
Added Sept 18, 2007 Robin received and
tested the Icaro helmet:
“Southernskies.net
offers a Fresh Breeze version of the Icaro helmet that includes an
amplifier AND plugs compatible with the Icom A4,A6, & A24 aviation
radios AND many dual prong plug FRS radios.
A small switch on
the earcup selects the type of radio interface. If you use both
aviation radios and FRS radios, this is the radio helmet to have! “
2007-09-24 The Fresh
Breeze Icaro helmet WILL NOT work with the Icom IC-A5/A23
which a lot of PPG pilots apparently have.
The plugs do not fit. Even with an adapter it doesn't work—there no
transmit
audio. Robin says it's likely due to the difference in microphone
impedances.
The IC-A23 has a 150 ohm mic input impedance which severely loads
the little
amplifier in the helmet. The IC-A6 works fine because it has a high
impedance mic input impedance of over 100,000 ohms.
First looks
The radio looks good. It felt good and solid in my hand -
substantial, not a cheap plastic toy. I liked the deeply fluted knobs
that are easy to turn even if your fingers are slick with oil or
sunscreen lotion. The LCD display is large, which is really good for
this 58 yr old who is in denial about the need for wearing bi-focals.
Unfortunately, the buttons and the printing on them are still small. The
push-to-talk button is a solid piece with a definite snap when you press
it. Backlight of the display and keyboard is accomplished by a small
button next to the PTT button. There are two knobs on the top of the
radio, one for volume and one for increasing or decreasing frequency,
memory channels, or other function values. The external headset jack is
of the dual prong variety. The antenna connection is via BNC connector.
The radio comes with antenna, battery, wall charger, AV headset
adapter, belt clip, and hand strap.
Out-of-the-Box Test
The first thing I do when I get a new radio is turn it on. Yes, I
realize that batteries do not come charged. But usually they have enough
juice to come on, even if only briefly. I installed the supplied NiMH
battery on the back of the radio and I pressed and held the PWR button
until the radio beeped, and then did not come on. OK, the second thing I
did was to charge the battery overnight!
The next day I again pressed and held the PWR button until the radio
beeped, and then nothing happened. Hmmm…. This was not a good sign. I
was forced to read the manual. I learned that to turn it on, one had to
press and hold the PWR button for several seconds until the radio beeped
THREE times! Why three times? This radio had just failed my
“Out-of-the-Box” test.
Operation
Actually, this radio is a breeze to use if you will stoop so low as
to read the manual. You WILL have to read the
manual.
This radio has everything you need without all the “cutesy” features
that are sometimes included, but you don’t ever use.
 Basic extra functions includes side tone, a low battery indicator,
keyboard locking, memory or frequency scanning, and the ability to set
squelch, beep, and side tone levels.
The radio has direct frequency entry OR you can select from 200 user
programmable memory channels arranged in 10 banks of 20 channels each.
Each memory channel can be programmed with a 6 character alphanumeric
name. Names are entered the same way as a text message is created on a
cell phone. It’s a bit of a pain since the letters aren’t printed on the
buttons like on a cell phone. You HAVE to look in the manual, but you
don’t have to do it very often. When you flip through channels, you can
see the alphanumeric names OR the frequency readout. It is easy to
switch back and forth between the two.
Radio “cloning” can be easily done without a PC by using the optional
OPC-474 cloning cable. Memory channels can also be read and programmed
via a serial port (OPC-478) cable or USB port (OPC-478U) cable and a
computer running the CS-A24 Cloning software. This makes it really handy
to add, rearrange, and delete memory entries. I did not have these for
this review, but I DO have them for my older IC-A23. They make memory
modification quite easy.
Scanning can be done by frequency or by memory channels. Weather band
channels can also be scanned. Memory and weather band channels can be
“tagged” for inclusion in the scan. Non-tagged channels won’t be
scanned. This keeps the radio from locking to ATIS, AWOS, adjacent area
weather band transmitters, or other beacon frequencies. In frequency
scanning, the A6 scans all frequencies from 118 MHz to 136.975 Mhz.
One new feature I liked and used much was the ability to scroll
through the last ten frequencies entered via two left and right scroll
buttons. Your most used frequencies are there and just a few clicks
away.
All ten NOAA weather radio frequencies can be tuned by the A6. The
frequency last tuned will be called up anytime the weather radio
function is selected.
The radio also has a Weather Alert function. When it is ON, the radio
will alert you if the weather bureau issues an alert. I guess it works.
No alerts were issued while I was reviewing the radio. I found the alert
operation to be a bit annoying. To sample the weather alert frequency,
the radio has to briefly leave the channel being monitored. This means
that every few seconds there is a dropout of the audio of the channel
being monitored. It was annoying enough for me to keep the Weather Alert
function OFF.
The Automatic Noise Limiter (ANL) reduces static noise a bit, but
doesn’t eliminate it.
There is only one other feature on the radio – the 121.5 emergency
button. This RED keyboard button will set the radio to the 121.5 Mhz
frequency if the button is pushed and held for several seconds. I guess
Icom just had an extra button space to fill. I can’t see that this
button would be used very often.
Transmitter power output is the standard 5 watts PEP. The receiver
sensitivity is a dual conversion superhet, which means good sensitivity
and selectivity. Audio output power is 0.5 watts which is plenty loud
enough for the internal speaker or a headset. The audio from the
internal speaker was clear and undistorted.
I found that squelch sensitivity varied depending upon whether the
radio is being held or sitting on a table. This made setting the squelch
a bit touchy at times.
The user manual with complete specifications can be downloaded from
IcomAmerica.com. In case that link goes bad, it is also available
here.
Helmet Interface
The A6 external headset connector is made for dual plug prongs that
are both 3 conductor. A cable was included to adapt it for standard
aviation plugs. PPG helmets with two prong plugs cannot plug in here as
the radio uses separate microphone and PTT inputs. If tried, the
transmitter will be locked ON. Also, a higher microphone audio level is
needed than the standard PPG helmet can supply. I measured that the A6
needed 275 millivolts of microphone audio for 100% modulation. A PPG
helmet puts out about 25 millivolts. An adapter/amplifier would be
needed for use with a PPG radio helmet.
Power
The IC-A6 comes supplied with the BP-210N 7.2 Volt 1650 mAh nickel
metal hydride battery. But it also has other battery options such as the
BP-211N lithium ion battery rated at 7.4 volts at 1800 mAh, the BP 209N
Nickel Cadmium battery rated at 7.2 volts at 1100 mAh is available, and
the BP208N battery case for six 1.5 volt alkaline cells. The radio also
has an external 11 volt DC input connector. Hmmm… why 11 volts, Icom?
Overall
As I expected, this is a good, basic, aviation radio. Standard and
needed functions are all included without the radio being cluttered with
a lot of extraneous “cutesy” functions.
Unfortunately, standard PPG radio helmets cannot be connected
directly with the A6 due to the different connector and audio
requirements. An adapter and amplifier are needed.
I like the radio, but am disappointed about its inability to easily
interface with a PPG helmet.
The current list price of the IC-A6 is $575, but street prices can be
found that are less than $260. |
