Icom's M504 wins NMEA communications' product of the year award for 2006
Icom marine radios have taken top honors in annual National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) awards events for years. For 2006, the NMEA recognized Icom’s M504 marine VHF radio as the top product of all communications devices. This year’s prestigious event was held October 18-21, 2006 at The Naples Grande Resort & Club in Naples, Florida.
“We are always most pleased to win an NMEA award”, says Icom America Vice President Bob Carey. “What makes this 2006 award so sweet is that the NMEA streamlined their awards by narrowing down all the previous communications categories into one. For a mature product like a marine VHF to pick up the “best of” category award means Icom’s put together something special. The M504 is a perfect blend of features and performance that also takes advantage of today’s GPS information. The M504 is the killer application of the marine radio world.”
This is Icom’s 19th NMEA award in a dozen years. The NMEA industry awards recognize excellence in design, performance and reliability in marine electronics products. The awards are selected by votes from marine electronics dealers, distributors and other industry professionals.
The M504 is the industry benchmark in mid-priced recreational marine VHF radios. The radio includes Class D DSC, something that up to recently was reserved only for high-end radios. The M504 contains two independent receivers inside the one radio, with one receiver (devoted to DSC) constantly monitoring emergency CH 70. A boater may easily share their own and other ships’ position data without ever using the mic – the data displays on the M504’s LCD. Received position information can be transferred to a third-party GPS unit that uses industry-standard NMEA 0183, to poll whether a specific ship is within communications range and to plot their position.
Other M504 notable features include 4.5 watts of acoustically tuned receiver audio, which is over double some other manufacturer’s specifications. Incoming messages will cut through any ambient noise encountered in a marine environment. A built-in 25 watt hailer and 4 pattern foghorn come as standard features. Icom’s “receiver-repeater” feature is built-in so a boater can monitor the M504 through an external speaker or through the hailer. The hailer feature may also be used for making on-board announcements through the M504’s handheld speaker mic.
The M504 is the first fixed mount marine VHF to receive Icom’s “Submersible PLUS” (IPX8) rating. The radio is built to survive direct submersion nearly 1/3 deeper.
The M504 may be fully remote controlled by the optional COMMANDMICIII™. The M504 is available in black or gray.
For more details, please see
IC-M504 product page
Icom America