Icom Ic-A4 Vhf Air Band Transceiver Instruction Manual

							iA4
VHF AIR  BAND TRANSCEIVER
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
This device complies with Part 15 of the
FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the
condition that this device does not cause
harmful interference.
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FOREWORDREAD ALL INSTRUCTIONS
carefully and completely
before using the transceiver.
SAVE THIS INSTRUCTION MANUAL—
This in-
struction manual contains important operating instructions for
the IC-A4.
EXPLICIT DEFINITIONSThe explicit definitions below apply to this instruction manual.
CAUTIONSRWARNING! NEVER
hold the transceiver so that the
antenna is very close to, or touching exposed parts of the
body, especially the face or eyes, while transmitting. The
transceiver will perform best if the microphone is 5 to 10 cm
away from the lips and the transceiver is vertical.
RWARNING! NEVER
operate the transceiver with a
headset or other audio accessories at high volume levels.
Hearing experts advise against continuous high volume op-
eration. If you experience a ringing in your ears, reduce the
volume level or discontinue use.
NEVER
connect the transceiver to an AC outlet or to a
power source of more than 16 V DC. Such a connection will
damage the transceiver.
NEVER 
connect the transceiver to a power source that is
DC fused at more than 5 A. Accidental reverse connection will
be protected by this fuse, higher fuse values will not give any
protection against such accidents and the transceiver will be
ruined.
NEVER 
attempt to charge alkaline or dry cell batteries. Be-
ware that external DC power connections will charge batteries
inside the battery case. This will damage not only the battery
case but also the transceiver.
WORD
DEFINITION
RWARNINGPersonal injury, fire hazard or electric shock
may occur.CAUTIONEquipment damage may occur.NOTEIf disregarded, inconvenience only. No risk
of personal injury, fire or electric shock.
FCC caution:Changes or modifications to this transceiver, not
expressly approved by Icom Inc., could void your authority to
operate this transceiver under FCC regulations.
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DO NOT 
push the PTT when not actually desiring to trans-
mit.
DO NOT 
allow children to play with any radio equipment
containing a transmitter.
DO NOT 
operate the transceiver near unshielded electrical
blasting caps or in an explosive atmosphere.
AVOID 
using or placing the transceiver in direct sunlight or
in areas with temperatures below –10°C or above +60°C.
The use of non-Icom battery packs/chargers may impair
transceiver performance and invalidate the warranty.
Even when the transceiver power is OFF, a slight current still
flows in the circuits. Remove the battery pack or case from
the transceiver when not using it for a long time. Otherwise,
the battery pack or installed dry cell batteries will become ex-
hausted.
SUPPLIED ACCESSORIESAccessories included with the transceiver: Qty.
qAntenna .......................................................................... 1
wBelt clip  ........................................................................... 1
eHandstrap ........................................................................ 1
rBattery pack or battery case with Ni-Cd batteries  .......... 1
tWall charger*  .................................................................. 1
* The battery pack (BP-195) or battery case may differ depending
on version. Some versions do not include a battery pack and wall
charger.
+_
qw e
tr
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							FOREWORD ........................................................................ i
EXPLICIT DEFINITIONS ..................................................... i
CAUTIONS .......................................................................... i
SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES................................................. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................... iii
1 ACCESSORY ATTACHMENT ....................................... 1
2 PANEL DESCRIPTION ............................................ 2 – 4
Panel description  ................................................... 2 – 3
Function display .......................................................... 4
3 BASIC OPERATION  ................................................ 5 – 7
Receiving and transmitting  ......................................... 5
Setting squelch level ................................................... 6
Side tone function  ....................................................... 6
Lock function  .............................................................. 6
Display backlighting  .................................................... 6
Low battery indicator  .................................................. 6
Dial select function  ..................................................... 7
4 SCAN OPERATION  ...................................................... 8
Memory (lockout) scan  ............................................... 8
VFO (full) scan ............................................................ 8
5 MEMORY PROGRAMMING  .................................. 9 – 10Programming a memory channel  ............................... 9
Memory names  ......................................................... 10
6 OTHER FUNCTIONS  .................................................. 11
Initial set mode .......................................................... 11
Resettng the CPU  ..................................................... 11
7 BATTERY PACKS ................................................ 12 – 14
Charging precautions  ............................................... 12
Battery pack charging  ............................................... 12
About the battery pack .............................................. 14
Installing batteries in the battery case  ...................... 14
8 CLONING .................................................................... 15
9 TROUBLESHOOTING ................................................ 16
10 SPECIFICATIONS ....................................................... 17
11 OPTIONS ..................................................................... 18
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1
ACCESSORY ATTACHMENT
DAntenna
CAUTION:
Transmitting without an
antenna may damage the transceiver.
Insert the supplied antenna into the an-
tenna connector and screw down the an-
tenna as shown at right.
Keepthe jack cover attached when jacks
are not in use to avoid bad contacts from
dust and moisture.
DBattery pack replacementTo remove:
Push and hold the bat-
tery release downwards,
then pull the battery pack
upwards as shown at
right.
To attach:
Mate the notched ends of the battery pack and the trans-
ceiver, and push the battery pack until it clicks into place.
DBelt clipConveniently attaches to your belt.
To attach:
Slide the belt clip into the plastic loop on the back of the bat-
tery case/pack.
To remove:
Push the top of the belt clip towards the transceiver and at
the same time, push it downward and free of the plastic loop.
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							Panel description
qVOLUME CONTROLS [VOL](p. 5)
Turns power ON and adjusts the audio level.
wPTT SWITCH [PTT](p. 5)
Push and hold to transmit; release to receive.
eCHANNEL UP/DOWN SWITCHES [Y]/[Z]
➥Push to select the operating channel or frequency. (p. 5)
➥Select item conditions in set mode.
rLOCK SWITCH [ ]
➥Push and hold 2 sec. to toggle the key lock function ON
or OFF. (p. 6)
- “
” appears on the display.
tVFO/MEMORY SWITCH [V/M]
➥Push to select VFO mode or memory mode. (pgs. 5, 8)
- “X” appears when memory mode is selected.- The transceiver has 19 memory channels.
yMEMORY WRITE SWITCH [MW]
➥Push and hold for 5 sec. to write information into mem-
ory channels. (p. 9)
uSCAN SWITCH [SCAN]
➥Starts and stops the scan function:
VFO mode: VFO scan function.
MEMORY mode: Memory channel scan function. (p. 10)
2
2
PANEL DESCRIPTION
q
w
e
r
t
yu io !0 !1 !2 !3 !4
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2
PANEL DESCRIPTION
➥When memory mode is selected, this switch sets the dis-
played channel as a scan lock-out channel when pushed
for 2 sec. (p. 8)- “SKIP” appears on the display.
iSQUELCH SWITCH [SQL]
➥Push and hold to open the squelch. (p. 6)
➥While pushing [SQL], push [Y]/[Z] to select the squelch
level. (p. 6)
- 9 squelch levels and squelch open are available.
oFUNCTION DISPLAY(p. 4)
!0TRANSMIT INDICATOR
Lights red while transmitting.
!1EXTERNAL DC POWER JACK [CHARGE]
Connect a 12 to 16 V DC power source using the optional
cables, CP-12L or OPC-254L, to charge the attached bat-
tery pack; or connect the BC-110V wall charger for charg-
ing.
CAUTION:
This connection is for charging ONLY.
Power to the transceiver must be turned OFF during
charging.
!2SPEAKER/MICROPHONE!3EXTERNAL SPEAKER AND MICROPHONE JACKS
[SP/MIC]
➥Connect an optional speaker-microphone or headset, if
desired. The internal microphone and speaker will not
function when either is connected. (See p. 18 for a list of
available options.)
➥Side tone function is available when an optional head-
set adapter is connected. (pgs. 6, 18)
!4ANTENNA CONNECTOR(p. 1)
Connects the supplied antenna.
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2
PANEL DESCRIPTION
Function displayqMEMORY MODE INDICATOR(p. 9)
Appears when memory mode is selected.
wLOCK INDICATOR(p. 6)
Indicates that the lock function is in use.
eLOW BATTERY INDICATOR
➥Appears when the battery is nearing exhaustion.
➥Appears and flashes when battery replacement is nec-
essary.
rFREQUENCY DISPLAY(p. 11)
➥Shows the operating frequency. 
➥Shows the channel name when the memory name func-
tion is selected. (p. 10)tBUSY INDICATORS
➥“BUSY” appears when receiving a signal or when the
squelch is open.
yMEMORY LOCKOUT INDICATOR
➥”SKIP” appears when the memory channel is set as
lockout channel.
uMEMORY CHANNEL INDICATOR
➥Shows the memory channel number.
➥When the transceiver output power increases above a
specified level, a protection circuit stops the transmitting,
then “--” appears on the display instead of the memory
channel number. Release [PTT] then push it again to
continue transmitting.
MRSKIP
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3
BASIC OPERATION
Receiving and transmitting
CAUTION:
Transmitting without an antenna may dam-
age the transceiver.
qRotate [VOL] clockwise to turn power ON, then set to the
10 o’clock position.
wPush [V/M] to select memory mode or VFO mode.
eSelect the desired memory channel or VFO frequency with
the [Y]/[Z] keys.
• When receiving a signal, “BUSY” appears and audio is emitted
from the speaker.
• Further adjustment of [VOL] may be necessary at this point.
• Push [SQL] to toggle the squelch function ON and OFF. (p. 6)
• When the dial select function is selected, each push incre-
ments/decrements the frequency either 100 kHz or 1 MHz. (p. 7)
rPush and hold [PTT] to transmit, then speak into the mi-
crophone.
• Transmit indicator lights.
tRelease [PTT] to receive.ïMemory ➾VFOMemory channel contents can be moved to VFO .
qSelect memory channel to be transferred:
➥Push [V/M] to select memory mode, if necessary.
➥Push [Y] or [Z] to select the memory channel.wPush [V/M] key for 2 sec. to transfer the memory contents
to VFO.
- VFO mode is selected 
NOTE:
•Only frequency data is transferred even if the memory
channel has a memory name.
• When the preprogrammed memory frequency is outside
the range of the preprogrammed VFO edges, an error
beep tone sounds and no data is transferred.
q Set volume
w [SQL] switch r Speak into 
microphone r Push to transmit
t Release to
receive
w Select channel
     or frequency
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3
BASIC OPERATION
Setting squelch levelThe transceiver has a noise squelch circuit to mute undesired
noise while receiving no signal.
➥To open the squelch:Push and hold [SQL] to open the squelch. This is useful to
listen to weak signals that do not open the squelch.
- “BUSY” appears on the display.
➥To close the squelch:Release [SQL] to close the squelch.DSetting the squelch levelqWhile pushing [SQL], push [Y] or [Z] to select the squelch
level.
- ‘Sq 1’ is loose squelch and ‘Sq 9’ is tight squelch. (Initial
level is 3.)
- ‘oPEn’ indicates that the squelch circuit is turned off.
wRelease [SQL] to return to regular operation.Side tone functionWhen using an optional headset, such as those from the
David Clark Co. via the OPC-752
HEAD SET ADAPTOR
, the
transceiver outputs your transmitted voice to the headset for
monitoring. (p. 18)
Lock functionThe lock function prevents accidental channel changes and
accidental function access. [PTT] and [SQL] still function
while the lock function is in use.
➥Push [
]for 2 sec. to toggle the lock function ON and OFF.Display backlightingDisplay backlighting automatically turns on when a key is
pushed.Low battery indicatorLow battery indicator appears
when the battery power has de-
creased to a specified level.
MR
“    ” appears when the 
lock function is in use.
MRSKIP
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