Icom A6

[psg]

Hi Everyone
Has anyone used a Icom A6 and what did they think? Im looking at getting one and just wandered if anyone had any suggestions of maybe a better radio suited to trikes.

Rergards
Sacha

[ZULU1]

Hiya PSG, you have come to the right place for info..I am a Icom dealer.

Some background and some tips:

Icom rationalised their range a while back and as a result discontinued everything in the hand held series except the ICA 4 and the ICA6/24 series. The ICA 4 is the Toyota Bakkie of radios and we never open them up at all. They are the aviation equivalent of the F3 series. As a result batteries are cheap and very easily available, even Uniross make a direct replacement.

The ICA6/24 series is a aviation equivalent of the new 30 gs series (i think) and as result it has a very cheap (actulay cheaper) than the ICA 4 /F3 series. and at 2000mah they are very easily obtainable.


When they did this they never intended them to be used on Ultralights/Trikes (in Japan they street race and dont fly !!)

Problem is they require 11 volts input to operate on trikes, no problem we make a line choke regulator for it and the mic amp has a quirk in that un modified it will not operate on existing intercoms. Also no problem we do a software change if supplied by us. I believe they are doing at Icom in the UK also. What it means is if you try to do a swop over with a ICA3 it will squeal at you !!

But when adjusted and with the right toys, I honestly believe that with the large screen and very easy menu they are possibly the best trike radio available. I like the last 10 tx features, 10 banks as well as the 20 channels per bank, so you cant miss tower frequencies and so on. The CS 24 cloning software is excellent for menu writing. They are very reliable in service.

I use both types and have sold every brand going..I also like the Vertex Standard VXA 710 as it has the commercial radio capability.

Send me a pm with email address and iwill send you the dealers handbook and other info on them. We sell about 10-12 a month..

eish Zulu1

[Gadget]

Me and some of the other pilots use the vertex series of radios which is also very nice and have good support available. ZULU1 wasn't there an issue with regards to using icom radios on trikes, something about the warranty not being valid if used on a trike, this pushed me to buy vertex about a year and a half ago?

[ZULU1]

Hiya Gadget

Icom as far as I am aware have no policy in place reagrding usage on trikes / ultralights. In any event we would (ourselves) fix them...they are well supported in South Africa.

Vertex is as you say is a brilliant piece of kit, I wrote an article a few months back in the Microlighters magazine on the Pilot 3. I really like the 710 though..big money at ZAR3,900.00.

eish Zulu1

[Gadget]

ok dokey. I read that article, very nice. I use the smaller standard model and it works perfectly. I think both these makes are very good and it will be difficult to choose between them.