is a Japanese manufacturer of

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

transmitting and receiving equipment, founded in 1954 by Tokuzo Inoue with the company's original name being "Inoue". Its products now include equipment for

radio amateurs An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators ...

, pilots, maritime applications, land mobile professional applications, and

radio scanner A radio scanner or simply scanner is a radio receiver that can automatically tune discrete frequencies, scanning over a frequency band to find a signal until the initial transmission ceases. The term ''scanner'' generally refers to a communic ...

enthusiasts. Its headquarters are in

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

. It has branch offices in the United States (in

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in King County and the twelfth largest city in the state of Washington. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

(in

Delta, British Columbia Delta is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and part of Greater Vancouver. Located on the Fraser Lowland south of Fraser River's south distributary, arm, it is bordered by the city of Richmond, British Columbia, R ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

), the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(

Bad Soden Bad Soden am Taunus (, ), commonly known as Bad Soden, is a town and spa in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, Hessen, Germany. It had a population of 22,563 , up from 21,412 in 2005. Information Bad Soden is a residential town for commuters working in F ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

(

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

) and the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Protocols

IDAS

IDAS is Icom's implementation of the

NXDN NXDN stands for Next Generation Digital Narrowband, and is an open standard for public land mobile radio systems; that is, systems of two-way radios (transceivers) for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication. It was developed jointly ...

protocol for two-way

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. This should not be confused with In ...

products intended for commercial Private Land Mobile Radio (PLMR) and low-end public safety communications systems. NXDN is a Common Air Interface (CAI) technical standard for mobile communications. It was developed jointly by Icom and

Kenwood Corporation is a Japanese brand of consumer electronics. Since October 2008, Kenwood has been owned by JVCKenwood as a result of a merger between Kenwood Corporation and JVC. Kenwood has manufactured electronic equipment such as AM/FM stereo receivers, ...

D-STAR

The D-STAR open radio system was developed by Icom based on digital radio protocols developed by the

Japan Amateur Radio League The Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) (in Japanese, 日本アマチュア無線連盟) is a national non-profit organization for amateur radio enthusiasts in Japan. JARL was founded in 1926 by Robert Masayuki Hisamoto and Japanese radio communi ...

and funded by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. This system is designed to provide advanced voice and data communications over amateur radio using open standards.

Products

Icom manufactures two way radios and receivers for use in marine applications,

Airband Airband or aircraft band is the name for a group of frequencies in the VHF radio spectrum allocated to radio communication in civil aviation, sometimes also referred to as ''VHF'', or phonetically as ''"Victor"''. Different sections of the ban ...

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

applications, land mobile applications, and FRS /

GMRS The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a land-mobile FM UHF radio service designed for short-range two-way voice communication and authorized under part 95 of the US FCC code. It requires a license in the United States, but some GMRS comp ...

applications. Some radios made by Icom are compatible with

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

and SmarTrunk trunking systems.

IC-V82

The

Icom IC-V82 The Icom IC-V82 is a VHF band transceiver, handheld transceiver designed by Icom Incorporated, Icom for radio amateurs and professionals who require VHF communication. Although it is a little outdated, (launched in 2004 and discontinued in 2014), ...

is a VHF

handheld transceiver A walkie-talkie, more formally known as a handheld transceiver, HT, or handheld radio, is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald Hings, radio engineer A ...

with coverage in the two-meter band (144–146 MHz) and a maximum output power of 7 watts. It was manufactured and sold by Icom from 2004 to 2014. Following its discontinuation, Icom issued an advisory warning about counterfeit radios, including the IC-V82. In October 2018, the company issued a cease-and-desist order against a Chinese manufacturer suspected of producing counterfeit Icom products; it also noted that this was not the first time it had taken such steps. In June 2022,

United Against Nuclear Iran United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a bipartisan, non-profit advocacy organization based in the United States. Its stated objective is to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Al ...

, a U.S.

advocacy organization Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using fac ...

, identified the Icom IC-V82 as being used by

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

, a U.S. designated

Foreign Terrorist Organization Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) is a designation for non-United States-based organizations deemed by the United States secretary of state, in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA), to be involved i ...

. It sent a letter to Icom outlining its concerns about the radios' dual-use capability (analog+digital) and regarding Icom's business ties to Power Group (Icom's representatives in Lebanon) and Faza Gostrar, which claims to be the "Official ICOM representative in Iran". Many of the devices purchased by

that subsequently exploded in the 2024 Lebanon radio device explosions, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 708, were reported as being IC-V82s.Christiaan Triebert and Aric Toler (18 September 2024
"The device blasts on Wednesday may have involved more explosives than Tuesday's, a Times analysis suggests"
''The New York Times''. Icom opened an investigation into the case on 19 September 2024, while a sales executive at the company's U.S. subsidiary said the radios involved appeared to be counterfeit units.

References

External links

Official global website

Complete list of all amateur radio rigs produced by Icom
{{Authority control Electronics companies of Japan Amateur radio companies Manufacturing companies based in Osaka Electronics companies established in 1954 Japanese brands Japanese companies established in 1954 Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Radio manufacturers Models of radios