Icom Sweeps NMEA Marine Radio Awards for Unprecedented Second Straight Year
Icom marine radios have taken top honors in all three radio categories at the 2004 National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) awards event. This is the second year straight Icom has swept the category. The prestigious event was held this year at the NMEA convention in Naples, Florida.
Icom's rugged IC-M88 once again ran away with the top award for best portable VHF radiotelephone, the advanced IC-M602 again claimed the best fixed VHF radiotelephone category, and the digital IC-M802 won for a third straight year as the best single side band (SSB) radiotelephone.
"We made NMEA history last year by sweeping all three radio categories. We're very pleased to repeat the event this year", says Rick Waedekin, National Marine Sales Manager for Icom America. "Icom strives to put out the best, promote the best, support the best, and back the best. We appreciate the marine electronics industry's recognition of our efforts and accomplishments.
"Over the past decade, Icom has won 18 NMEA awards. "Well need to get a bigger wall to fit all these plaques", says Bob Carey, Icom Vice President.
About the radios:
The M88 won the best VHF handheld award. The M88 is super compact, military rugged, offers a 20+ hour Li-Ion rechargeable battery (the longest lasting in the industry), offers 5 full watts of output power, and is submersible performance to JIS-7 specifications. The radio is ideally suited for the discriminating recreational boater and for the professional marine trades. A new stubby antenna option is new for 2004.
The submersible M602 is Icom's ultimate marine VHF, winning the best fixed mount award. A front-facing speaker offers an impressively loud and clear 5 watts of audio output. A 22 watt built-in hailer is the most powerful in the industry. A built-in foghorn with 4 selectable patterns is also selectable. NMEA in/out jacks provide for easy plug and play connection of most third party GPS units, and the readout is viewable on the M602's large dot-matrix screen. Seven levels of backlighting keep the display and keypad easy to see, day or night. Class D DSC is built-in, and a second fully independent receiver continually monitors channel 70, even if the first receiver is in use on another channel. The 10 key pad offers quick access to all the M602's functions, plus the user may direct enter channel numbers. The M602 accepts up to 2 optional plug and play COMMANDMICTMs – Icom's remote control microphones. Each COMMANDMIC operates up to 70 feet away from the M602, is submersible, offers control of most every radio feature (DSC excluded), and doubles as an intercom. It's like having 3 radio stations or intercom points on board. The M602 truly sets a new standard in marine VHF radios.
For the third year in a row, the NMEA named Icom's M802 the best SSB radio. The M802 offers pindrop-clear DSP (digital) reception and 150 watts of worldwide talk power in a compact, feature-rich package. The remote control head offers installation ease, allowing the radio body to be installed out of the way. The M802 is the first consumer SSB to offer DSC (ITU Class E). One-touch e-mail access is available, the full 10 key pad allows direct frequency entry, and there's even a headset plug on the front panel, so listeners don't have to wake up everyone on board to enjoy their favorite shortwave broadcasts. The M802 offers NMEA input for plug and play third party GPS operation. A super-wide band receive capability includes all HF amateur bands. Ham transmit capability is built-in, the M802's digital RX eliminates the need for an optional filter to take advantage of SITOR, FSK and other operating modes, and the radio is 100% duty cycle. The M802 is the next generation of SSB technology here today.
- (Icom America, U.S.A.)