I have a few comments on the ICOM A24, which I just bought about 2 months ago. The first thing I noticed in the manual was pages of warnings about stuff like "avoid using or placing the tranceiver in direct sunlight...", remove batteries when not in use or batteries will discharge, "to avoid damage to the transceiver, turn the power off while charging", "do not charge BP-210N more than 12 hours...otherwise BP210N will be damaged", etc. It sure looks to me like somebody forgot to design the charging/power circuit on this thing!
My favorite quality of this fine unit is that the 120VAC to DC charger is rated at 11.5VDC output, but the manual says you can't use any cigarette lighter to 3.5mm adapter other than their $55 CP20, or damage will occur. I guess I've got to wonder if they really have electrical engineers at ICOM, because a 12V voltage regulator that will handle up to 40V is only about $2 from the electronics supply place, but you have to buy their overpriced (and "optional") adapter for $55, so go ahead and add $55 to the overall price. And it wouldn't take but a few inexpensive components to make a "smart charger" that wouldn't care how long you charge the thing, with no damage. If you take the directions seriously, this unit is all but unusable as a backup radio in which you put it in your flight bag and only pull it out when you need it. I am not impressed, and would not buy it again, given what I know now. Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama see KR2S project N56ML at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net --------------------------------------------------------------
