A hand-held transceiver is one of those
devices you think you don't have a use for
until you get hold of one... then you'll find
it's almost indispensible.
Like many other pilots I didn't see the
need for one, until Icom Australia asked
me to have a look at one of their IC-A15
transceivers. Since I first unpacked it, the
IC-A15 has accompanied me every time I've
been to the airport, and it has changed my
mind about hand-held units.
The following are all routine activities in
the aviation world, but I wouldn't ever have
considered a hand-held part of the solution
until I had one clipped to my belt.
- Giving direction to a subject aircraft
on a photo shoot; - Finding out when a particular f lying
instructor would finish circuits; - Tracking the last inbound plane
on a f ly-away after I’d landed; - Giving parking instructions to an
arriving aeroplane; and, - Asking a pilot returning to the
line if they could take the aircraft
to the fuel pad.
Consider also the utility value
of the unit airside at an air show
and the simple joy of sitting on the
aero club verandah with a coffee,
listening to comings and goings.
And a hand-held is a great back-up
in case of comm failure.
But there is more to this unit than
what you can use it for; as a device
for receiving and transmitting, it is a
top-class product.
The IC-A15 is one of the clearest
hand-held units my hands have ever
held. It contains a BTL amplifier
that doubles the output, resulting
in a 700 mW output that cuts
through most of the noise clutter
you'll experience around the
average cockpit or apron. I was
actually surprised how well I could
hear transmissions from a taxying
Cherokee only 20 metres away.
Designed to operate in the
frequency range 118.000 to
136.975 MHz, tuning this unit to
just about any aviation frequency
is an absolute breeze. The IC-A15
has a numbered key pad; you can
select a frequency simply by punching the
numbers. One little trick is that with one
push of the ENTER button all the zeroes
are filled in. So, for frequency 120.0, you key
1-2 and ENTER, and the LCD screen shows
120.000. There is also a dedicated button for
the 121.5 distress frequency.
The IC-A15 has a memory of 200
frequencies that you can label with eight-
character names, making it easier to tune
to "ENGND" if you can't remember the
frequency for Essendon Ground. You also
have the option of collecting frequencies
into one of ten banks, so you could have one
bank for the Adelaide terminal area, one for
Melbourne and so forth.
Powering the Icom unit tested was a
BP-232H Lithium-ion rechargeable
battery pack, which the manufacturer
believes will give you up to 20 hours of
operating time. Other options included
the lower-powered BP-230N battery and
the BP-261, which clusters six AA batteries
together for use when you forget to take
the charger away.
By aviation standards, the IC-A15 is not a
light unit, tipping the scales at 0.350 kg with
battery pack and antenna fitted. However
(and the Gen-Xers will hate me for this)
it is more comfortable to hold and better
balanced than most mobile phones.
It is also a lot more sturdy, simpler to
operate and has a belt clip that looks strong
enough to hold Mike Tyson down. It has a
dust and water ingress rating of IPX4, which
means that it's considered waterproof. The
antenna clicks on and off easily to make it
more convenient to keep in your nav bag.
However, and this is something
you need to understand if you're
contemplating buying a hand-held
transceiver, they have a limited
range with the standard f lexible
antenna. Attempts to pick up your
favourite CTAF from a long way
off may prove disappointing.
They are very, very good in
operations around airports, which
is where they are the most valuable
anyway. And speaking of value, I
think I've found enough in the Icom
IC-A15 to justify not giving it back.
Icom IC-A15 Transceiver
Typical Price: $375.00November – December 2017 AUSTRALIAN FLYINGaustralianflying.com.au 71
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Steve Hitchen didn’t know he needed a
hand-held transceiver until given one to try.