Tuesday, April 02, 2013
My first aviation handheld radio
by Celso from Miami, FL 
Pros: Ergonomic, well built, good, clear sound.
Cons: Poor range in the cockpit unless an external antenna is used.
Review: Overall I am satisfied with this radio. It is my first handheld and I do not have much experience with aviation communications. The range on this radio is poor unless I use an external antenna. I was able to do a 5x5 radio check, ground-to-ground at a distance of 6 miles using an ELT external antenna.
One battery charge seems to last forever when monitoring.
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Monday, March 25, 2013
Performs as advertised
by David from Milton FL USA 
Pros: Small, good range
Cons: Programming functions are difficult
Review: Tested it in the air, and it has good range. Able to talk clearly to ATC from over 10 miles out without an external antenna. Speaker easily overcame cockpit noise in my C177. Manually entering and using channels is intuitive, but when you want to program into memory and use other options, make sure you have the manual with you. Overall, very satisfied.
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Monday, March 18, 2013
I would buy this radio again
by Alberto from Marcos Juarez Cordoba Argentina 
Review: I have no time to evaluate thorougly this product
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Good basic radio. Good value
by scott CTSW from Dallas, TX 
Pros: LiIon battery, squelch buttons, battery voltage readout when you turn the unit on (cool).
Cons: Headphone jack cover, manual
Review: I bought this to replace an ICOM A6 that I ran over with my car (which still works, BTW, with new antenna). I've given up trying to use the memory on these radios. The manual does not give a good example, you have to use trial and error.

The sound is good. I like the smaller size. I do not like the screw-on cover for the headphone. I'll probably remove it and cover the jack with tape.


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Tuesday, September 18, 2012
GREAT BUY!
by Barbe from Independence OR USA 
Pros: great clarity & coverage
Cons: does need to be charged up after about 8 hours of use.
Review: Exceeded expectations
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Wednesday, August 29, 2012
What A Transceiver
by Doyle F from Crossville TN USA 
Pros: Good range, portable, easy to use. Good volume,
Cons: Squelch could be better
Review: As an aviation lover I must say, this beats the competition. Good volume in noisy conditions. Good range, just to see what these could do, I drove 10 miles from home. Contacted my daughter and it was load and clear.  In the air I am willing to bet the range would reach much further. The manual could have been just a little clearer but with it's help and some poking around I was able to figure out this jewel easily. I'm picking up and listening to air to air and air to ground very well. Makes a great back up radio, I am a huge believer in keeping redundant back up. When we go camping I will be taking this along, If we get in trouble and need rescue and the helo is above us and we can't signal, this will be the tool that gets us out fast, why you ask, because we can talk to the helo.  I highly recommend you get the alkaline battery pack to go with it, just in case there's no way to charge it. You can always pop the AA battery pack in and your set.  Get this radio it's a must have for hikers and pilots.

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Tuesday, August 14, 2012
It could be better...
by Joseph from Frankston TX USA 
Review: The radio sounds good, but the monitor is too small. Also it's hard to understand the manual in order to work the radio.
When you are flying its hard to see the letters on the screen.
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Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Simple to operate
by Philip from San Antonio TX USA 
Pros: Simple controls, good reception
Cons: Medium size
Review: Easily operated without reading manual!
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Monday, June 04, 2012
One design flaw...
by Mark from San Pedro CA USA 
Pros: Excellent unit all the way around
Cons: Headset port cover plate.
Review: Love the unit, excellent all the way around with this exception:
In order to use a headset must remove two jewler's screws that hold a plastic cover plate on the right side of the unit.... right.
So let's suppose - I'm in a multi-engine IFR hold at night in moderate chop and I lose comm. I snatch my trusty ICOM from the bag AND my jeweler's scredriver and set about remving these two screws.. NOT!!!

Mr. ICOM,
Please put a rubber gromet system in place and make it kit form so we can retro-fit existing units. At that point I'll come back and give it 5 stars.

Sincerely,
A very happy customer othewise.

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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Great product except for...
by John H from Fresno/Avenal Ca. 
Pros: Quality product ,good range and clarity.
Cons: User manual hard to decifer.
Review: The transciever and related accessories are a high quality product, however the users manual instructions seem to be from a different language.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
by George from Honolulu HI USA 
Pros: Portability, simple to use and dependable.
Review: Great transceiver, will buy this product again if additional needed.
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Monday, January 09, 2012
Good transceiver but poor users' manual
by A Customer from Tucson AZ USA 
Pros: transceiver performance
Cons: owners' manual poorly written
Review: The transceiver works well. BUT I found the users' manual frustratingly unclear in places, e.g., the section on storing frequencies in memory. I urge ICOM to hire a professional editor for a rewrite into clear, plain, illustrated English and put the result into a PDF file online for download.

(ICOMM can do this well if they choose: The ICOM manual for my IC-756Pro ham radio transceiver is clearly written.)
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
radio ok,, instructions & programming not
by Bill from Calif 
Pros: nice size & transmitter receiver work well
Cons: Memory programming & recall not adequately covered in manual
Review: The radio works fine, the instruction book is poorly written & the memory programming is too complex. I suspect most just use the basic operation & don't try to work with the memory.
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Saturday, October 01, 2011
Programing Nightmare
by Kent from Nebraska 
Pros: Tough with good performance.
Cons: Very difficult to program channels to scan.
Review: This is a decent radio as far as performance. However I really question that not one review here mentions the difficulty in programming channels. I consider myself very electronics literate and can almost always figure things out...this radio has stumped me for over three years now. I'm online today looking for answers and noticed all these glowing reviews and had to comment.
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Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Nice performance...easy to use
by Craig from San Antonio TX USA 
Pros: Price, ease of use, compact size functionality
Cons: No screwdriver to remove cover for adapter
Review: Simple to use...great volume. Nice versatility. Also seems to have good range. Able to pick up my home airport from over 12 miles away loud and clear.
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Monday, June 13, 2011
Good Insurance
by George from Osawatomie KS USA 
Review: While I have not needed to use the transceiver, I have tried it out at the airport and it works well. I was motivated to buy it when I lost electrical power on a night flight 15 miles from my base. The runway lights were on when I arrived but had it been after 2200, they would have been out and I would have had no way to turn them on.
The hand held transceiver is probably the best insurance against me having that problem again but, if I do, it will be a handy back up.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Excellent Brand!
by RIGOBERTO from HARLINGEN TX USA 
Pros: Well built, great engineering!
Cons: I was only able to order 2 radios this time!
Review: Exceeds our expectations!
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Awesome little Radio!!!
by Dustin from Fayetteville AR USA 
Pros: Ease of use.
Cons: None!!
Review: Just what I needed, a reliable, loud and simple to use hand held Radio. This is no better Radio you can get for the money.
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Monday, April 04, 2011
Good Transceiver
by Larry from Hockley TX USA 
Pros: Lithium Battery, small size
Cons: headset adapter didn't come with it.
Review: Been using it flying a C172 without any problems. Nice radio.
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
If you want the BEST hand held radio, the A14 is it!
by Michael from St. Louis MO USA 
Pros: Freq. response, battery life, all the features, to many to list
Cons: None
Review: If you need an air-band radio you can count on, the IC-A14 is the best.
I wish Icom made this model in the ham radio. The only down side is the owners manual and the misprints are due to language translation, but you can get it with some thought.
This is simply the best hand held radio I have owned.
By the way "mypilotstore" was great, I recommend buying from them.
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Monday, January 31, 2011
Works as Intended
by Jim from Atlanta GA USA 
Pros: Compact, Durable, Ease of use
Cons: No Keypad backlight
Review: I've had this radio for 2 months now and it works great. Several flights ago, I decided to test it on a vfr approach in a noisy C182. I received ATIS 14 miles out with no breakups or static. Contacted Tower 10 miles out and communicated effectively all the way to the ramp. Could use a keypad backlight for night flying though. Overall, a good radio for the price and works as intended.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Easy to use and sufficiently loud.
by J from San Jose CA USA 
Pros: Loud
Cons: [none]
Review: Transceiver works very well. Easy to use and loud enough for noisy environments. Recommended.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
Great little radio
by Luis from Naperville IL USA 
Pros: Long lasting battery
Cons: No lighted keypad
Review: I bought this radio because of the 2000 MAh Li-Ion battery. I am not disappointed. This battery really lasts forever. The manual says 18 hours but it seems like it lasts a lot longer. Contrary to other reviews, I found this radio really easy to use. On my first day I was already saving and naming memory channels without the manual's help. I found the display rather small. The frequency numbers are easy to read but other display data can be hard to see (the "TAG" or "ANL" signals, for example). The light stays on until you turn it off but only lights up the display and not the keypad. All in all, I would recommend this transceiver to anyone. I also had no problems with Mypilotstore.com's delivery. Fast and efficient service.
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Thursday, September 09, 2010
Great little radio!
by Bob from Los Angeles CA USA 
Pros: Easy to work and great audio.
Cons: Need screw driver to access headset plugs - no big deal really
Review: I like the balance in my hand, some radios are bottom heavy due to the weight of the battery on the bottom. The A-14 has the battery on the back so it's comfortable to hold.
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Monday, August 16, 2010
Good solid radio
by Michael from Houston TX USA 
Pros: Very feature oriented; compact size, excellent battery life
Cons: None
Review: I purchased this radio a few months ago as I am student glider pilot. Through a recommendation of my instructor, I found this radio to be all that I need for radio communication. I highly recommend.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Good handheld for reasonable price
by Jim from Merrillville IN USA 
Pros: Good battery life
Cons: Headset adapter required, PTT if you want to use hands free. Both are a little expensive.
Review: Used the radio initially to ferry my radio-less Citabria into a controlled airport for a new radio installation. No problem communicating clearly with the tower 14 miles out. Feel good about the unit now as a backup. Great for monitoring radio transmissions at fly-ins etc.
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Monday, June 21, 2010
by Steven W from Flanagan IL USA 
Pros: Excellent reception
Cons: Needs dash mount to come with it
Review: If your looking for a portable radio? This is the one to buy! Especially the quality you get for the price. Funny thing nobody's herd of this radio. These guys are the only Co. that sells it i believe?
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Monday, May 24, 2010
Good Product
by A Customer from Bedford NH USA 
Pros: Good size and weight. Good performance.
Cons: Smallish digital readout. No jack for earpiece or headphone.
Review: Good product overall. Conveninet size and good performance. A slightly larger digital screen readout would be helpful. It lacks a jack to connect an earpiece or headphones to.
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Monday, March 29, 2010
Good signal, clear sound, straight forward controls
by Tom from Waynesboro VA USA 
Review: Easy to use, strong signal. Great for ground use and back up in airplane.
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Monday, March 01, 2010
As advertised
by Johan from Pretoria, South Africa 
Pros: Size, solid, battery life
Cons: None
Review: Exactly what was expected, no surprises, no disappointments.
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
I would buy this product again, again, again
by EDUARDO RICCI from OSASCO SAO PAULO Brazil 
Pros: Functions, design, battery
Cons: nothiing
Review: Amazing design and quality!!!
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Monday, December 28, 2009
Almost Perfect
by Ahmed from Mactan airport, Philippines 
Pros: Size, weight, signal, battery life time, sound quality, memory arrangment
Cons: Simple Head phones connection
Review: The device has met most of my expectations, it is perfect for student pilots, I really like the heavy duty body, the long battery lifetime, the light weight, dimensions, strong signal, easy memory arrangment and recall. Generally very reliable and easy to handle and use. But for me it has only lacked the option to connect a simple headphones, I know it needs the opc-499 to connect aviation headset but for headphones although it has a 3-conductor 3.5mm plug the headphones work on one side only
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Friday, October 30, 2009
by Michael from Bealeton VA USA 
Pros: Long battery life, direct access for fast channel changes.
Cons: Have not found any yet!
Review: A very nice transceiver in a small package. I work the field in construction/maintenance and this radio never leaves my side. I really like the long battery life and direct access controls. I have never had a problem with the tower hearing me like some radios I've used before. Thanks!
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Friday, October 02, 2009
Sturdy product
by mike from springdale AR USA 
Pros: Price, quality
Review: It has all the features most pilots would want, but the memory recall operation isn't as intuitive as it could be. Overall still a nice radio.
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Thursday, August 06, 2009
Highly recommended!
by A Customer from Gansevoort NY USA 
Pros: Easy to use and sound is clear.
Cons: Can't really think of any.
Review: I like the fact that the radio doesn't take up a lot of space yet the sound is very clear and it has a long range. I also like the fact that not only can I store frequencies that I commonly use, but that I can keep it organized. Lastly, I like the fact it is simple to use. Once programming, I only have to hit the up or down arrow to change channels. I highly recommend this radio!
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Thursday, January 15, 2009
Excellent radio receiver
by James from Morristown TN USA 
Pros: Range, especially with external attenna
Cons: No convienent way to connect external power such as on the A6 & others.
Review: Radio is used on a Light Sport Powered Parachute. Also have one for a backup in bag. Range is very good, radio is compact and very useful.
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Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Excellent purchase.
by Humberto from La Paz Baja California Sur Mexico 
Pros: Small, cheap, long time batteries.
Review: I'm very happy with my ICOM. This transceiver is just what I needed.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Excellent Icom Quality and Value
by Rex Dietrich from Port Orange, FL USA 
Pros: Again - Small size, well made/good quality
Cons: Needs a simple earphone “listening” jack along with the full headset jack.
Review: Nice/small size - easy to carry, use, and fit in flight bag. Needs a simple earphone “listening” jack along with the full headset adapter-jack.
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The hand strap attaches on a small eyelet on the belt clip.

The headset adapter will not work.  The IC-A5 used the OPC-967 headset adapter and the IC-A14 uses the OPC-499 headset adapter.  The same Icom PTT can be used on both transceivers.