Icom IDAS
IDAS is Icom's trademark for its NXDN offerings.
NXDN trunking overview
The NXDN specs for trunking outline two modes:
- Type-C, for "Centralized." (FB8)
- Type-D, for "Decentralized." (FB6)
Icom seems a lot more invested in decentralized than Kenwood.
IDAS Repeaters
All three of these appear to support IDAS natively. This list is US-centric.
- FR5000 and FR6000, VHF and UHF respectively. A 2U chassis that can accommodate an optional second repeater module. 50% duty cycle at 50W. (100% at 25W).
- FR5200H and FR6200H, VHF and UHF. Cosmetically similar to the 5000/6000, but rated for 100% duty cycle at 50W, and only fits one repeater in 2U.
- CY-5000 and CY-6000. 3U for some reason, only one repeater and the same 50% duty cycle at 50W, or 100% at half-power as the FR5000/FR6000. Options for internal preselector since there's all that space, I guess?
The optional second repeater module for the FR5000 and FR6000 is the UR-FR5000 or UR-FR6000. For some reason it sells for about half the price of the FR5000 repeater itself with only a single module; it's unclear if it could operate on its own.
It appears that there is an IC-FR5300 / FR6300 that hasn't hit the US market, which is a newer version of the FR5000/FR6000. It appears that there's a new option board to support simulcast.
Trunking options
What interests me is that there are some trunking options for Icom that don't seem prohibitively expensive, unlike some other options.
The base seems to be the UC-FR5000 board, which runs embedded Linux and enables trunking. A number of further options are available via CompactFlash (CF) card upgrades.
The UC-FR5000 card itself appears to retail for about $400, though some places are charging considerably more. The following options are available, requiring the UC-FR5000 card:
- CF-FR5000MT: Multisite trunking, retail is somewhere around $900-1200.
- CF-FR5000 02: Conventional repeater linking option, about $50. (I think this is something like Motorola's IPSC)
- This appears to also also support digital-mode voting?