REVIEW OF IC-92AD Gerard Hickey 2/1/2012

Capabilities Dual band, dual VFO transceiver VFO-a: Wide band receive; FM only VFO-b: FM and D-STAR capable Four power settings 5 W (H), 2.5 W (M), 0.5 W (L), 100 mW (S) 850 memories for VFO-a 450 memories for VFO-b

Basic Controls PTT Volume Control Memory/Freq Selector Microphone VFO a/b Selector Lock Key VFO/Mem/Call Buttons

Review of the Keypad Most common functions available from the keypad Direct frequency entry Backlit keypad for operation in dim environments

What is on the Display Primary VFO Freq/Me m Label Mem Chan Battery Level Bank Chan Modulation Mode S-Meter Repeater Offset Tone/S quelch

VFO is used to tune to an arbitrary frequency Don’t forget repeater offset, tone, squelch Memories allow all the settings to be stored for quick retrieval VFO vs. Memories VFO W7GL B Simplex TSQL DUP+

IC-92AD Memory Structure The memories for VFO-a and VFO-b are completely separate Each VFO has a pre-assigned number of memories and 2 call memories VFO-a: 850 VFO-b: 450

Saving VFO to Memory First step is to set the VFO with all the settings to program the memory with Frequency, tone, offset, squelch, power Press and hold for 1 second Rotate channel selector dial to find blank memory or desired memory entry to program Use and to set bank and memory label Press and hold for 1 second to program

ICOM Memory Banks Memory banks are used to organize programmed memories into functional groups 26 banks ( A – Z ) Up to 100 memories per bank ( 00 – 99 ) Great to use for traveling between areas or “modes” normal use, public service events, emcomm and interop channels

Critical Menu Functions Menus on both VFOs SET MODE Power save, Weather alert, Attenuator, Lock DUP/TONE Repeater and CTCSS tone, DTCS code, Offset D-STAR Menus ( VFO-b) CALL SIGN (also press for 1 second—triple beep) Modify UR, RPT1 (R1), RPT2 (R2) and MYCALL (MY) DV SET MODE DV DATA TX, GPS TX MODE

Setting Power Levels Each band (i.e. 2m or 70cm) has separate power level settings Press and hold for 1 second to switch power levels High(5W) -> Med(2.5W) -> Low(0.5W) -> Super Low(100mW) Tip: Rotate channel selector while holding

Setting Subaudible Tones Subaudible tone and DTCS are set in the DUP/TONE menu Subaudible tone has both repeater (TX) and CTCSS (RX) settings Don’t forget to enable the squelch setting!!! Hold for 1 second to set TONE, TSQL or DTCS Tip: Rotate channel selector while holding

Setting Repeater Offset Standard band offsets are already programmed into the IC-92AD Non standard offset can be set through the OFFSET entry in the DUP/TONE menu Hold for 1 second to switch positive, negative and no offset Tip: Rotate channel selector while holding

Setting Modulation Mode The IC-92AD can use FM, FM-N (narrow band), WFM (wide band, RX only), DV (D-STAR) and AM (RX only) modulation modes AM is also used in the aircraft bands Hold for 1 second to switch modes Tip: Rotate channel selector while holding

Two Minute Intro to D-STAR D-STAR allow simultaneous transmission of voice and data at the same time D-STAR does not use tone or DTCS D-STAR still uses repeater offsets D-STAR introduces Call Sign memories to enable transmission to be routed through repeater or over the internet

D-Star Addressing Four items are necessary in order to communicate on the D-Star network UR: The final destination of your transmission. Used for callsign routing, linking and unlinking from reflectors, and STARnet Digital talk groups. RPT1: Your entry point in to the D-Star network. This is almost always the callsign of the the local repeater and the port you are using. RPT2: Used for cross banding and sending transmissions over the internet through the gateway. Most of the time this is set to the callsign of the repeater with the port of “G” to access the gateway. MY: The callsign that you are transmitting with. Allows others to see who is transmitting and how to transmit back to you.

Special Broadcast Callsign To address all users, the UR memory gets set to CQCQCQ. Most of the time when you transmit on D-STAR your UR memory will be set to CQCQCQ. If you are really not sure what your UR memory should be set to, start with setting it to CQCQCQ and try to make contact.

Special UR Callsigns When working with a repeater, there are two callsigns to invoke special functions. Always use the callsign of the repeater in the UR. Use an eighth character of I to request link status. Use an eighth character of E to request an echo test. RPT2 must be set to the repeater’s gateway port.

Go Forth and Play The only real way to learn the radio is to play with it and make mistakes. We have all made the mistakes Don’t worry! Become regular participants on Nets (not just the one for your club) Get up on the Mike and Key repeater (K7LED) and talk to lots of people. Awful lot of experience out there that you can learn from Most of all just have fun