ICOM Enters Consent Decree With FCC

[W3WN]

ICOM America Enters Consent Decree with FCC & Agrees to Pay $20,000 in Civil Penalties for violating Sections 80.225(a)(4) and 80.1101(c)(2)(ii) of the Commission's rules, to resolve an investigation into whether or not ICOM imported and sold marine radios that did not include "all the public safety features required by the Commission's rules"

The full decree, DA-16-597A1.docx, can be downloaded from the FCC web site at https://www.fcc.gov/document/icom-america-inc-consent-decree

(Not that a $20,000 civil penalty is more than a drop in the bucket and part of the cost of doing business to ICOM, mind you)

[kb2vxa]

It's a drop in the FCC fund bucket too AND the investigation was not resolved either. So what's the point of a nothing paid, nothing received, nothing resolved Consent Decree anyway?

[W3WN]

It's a drop in the FCC fund bucket too AND the investigation was not resolved either. So what's the point of a nothing paid, nothing received, nothing resolved Consent Decree anyway?
ICOM pays a token fine, gets a token slap on the wrist, the FCC can proclaim a victory (that really isn't one), and we all move on, happy as pigs in s... happy as clams.

Funny that nothing about this has been mentioned on the ARRL page. (not)

[NQ6U]

Why would it? It's not a ham radio issue.

FWIW, Icom makes way more money selling marine radios than it does from selling amateur radio equipment. Look at the bridge of any modern commercial vessel and you'll see mostly Icom gear. In fact, prior experience with Icom marine radios is why I went with them when I got into ham radio. It was a name I knew. Never heard of this "Yaesu" thing, but I sure had heard of Icom.

[W3WN]

Why would it? It's not a ham radio issue.

FWIW, Icom makes way more money selling marine radios than it does from selling amateur radio equipment. Look at the bridge of any modern commercial vessel and you'll see mostly Icom gear. In fact, prior experience with Icom marine radios is why I went with them when I got into ham radio. It was a name I knew. Never heard of this "Yaesu" thing, but I sure had heard of Icom.
No, but ICOM is a major presence in Amateur Radio.

I just recall past news stories about Amateur radio related manufacturers or suppliers, even if Amateur Radio wasn't their major line of business... or even if they were still in the AR business (Zenith and Motorola come to mind for those... Collins too).

Obviously the folks in Newington who handle the news feed for the web page don't think this is important. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

[KC2UGV]

Why would it? It's not a ham radio issue.

FWIW, Icom makes way more money selling marine radios than it does from selling amateur radio equipment. Look at the bridge of any modern commercial vessel and you'll see mostly Icom gear. In fact, prior experience with Icom marine radios is why I went with them when I got into ham radio. It was a name I knew. Never heard of this "Yaesu" thing, but I sure had heard of Icom.

Is Icom really more popular than Vertex in marine applications? I tended to see Vertex radios in marine applications, although my experience is minimal. I had thought Vertex was huge, rivaling Icom?

[NQ6U]

Is Icom really more popular than Vertex in marine applications? I tended to see Vertex radios in marine applications, although my experience is minimal. I had thought Vertex was huge, rivaling Icom?

Nope, not at the commercial level. Big ships have either Icom or JRC radios. Vertex is a bit player.

[KK4AMI]

The only two big ships I have ever been on had National and Collins. That would be the USS North Carolina and a 1954 C4 Freighter. The C4 was the USNS Observation Island. We had a real radio room and a radio operator called Sparks. Yes he was older then the Collins :). What about Sperry and Raymarine?

[kb2vxa]

The real beauty of those ultra high end HF marine radios is they have everything imaginable plus full output and RX sensitivity from DC to light. If you have enough money to afford an antenna farm like a VOA station you wouldn't be caught dead without one for each band and a hefty amp for each one.

"Someone said I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
John Lennon