Icom M-88 For Land Use

[n0elb]

My brother in law bought that radio a number of years back and I programmed his radio for him. Out of the box it is a marine hand held. The programming software is called CS-M88 and a special cable is a OPC-966.

Since he is a licensed ham I put in some ham frequencies. Transmit inhibit can be programmed in for frequencies you intend to monitor only (such as police).

The software is not the most intuitive but is quite usable. Programming cables can be found for over $100 but deals can be had closer to $30. The software may be more difficult to locate.

Message me if you want specifics.

Bruce
Duluth, MN

[billy2moto]

It is done with the CS88 software and OPC-966U cable, but it is not intuitively obvious. I just finished putting some LMR channels in several.

I found ICOM in general to be of no help. And since the radio is sold by the marine division, those dealers seem to know nothing about LMR programming.

The radio is approved in the US for both marine and Land Mobile service, wide and narrowband. Once properly programmed, it works very nicely. It is a very inexpensive intrinsically safe radio.

[kb2vxa]

I suppose you know that land mobile and marine are two different services so transmitting on land on a marine frequency is illegal without a shore station license. Unless he uses it on the water transmit inhibit is suggested. Amateur Radio is another story, no FCC certification required and bro in law being licensed it's perfectly legal. Properly programmed is the key, I hate to see anyone get in trouble.

[billy2moto]

True, which is why my client has several shore and ship licences. Another peculiar point is that marine service is only for ship to shore or intra ship communications. It is also illegal to talk infraship (two units on the same ship). We use LMR channels for everything except that permitted for marine service where it is sometimes necessary to communicate with vessels .

Another interesting observation is that the only mobile I could find which is approved for both services is a Motorola XTL2500.

...wb4cht , operator vents the natural gas ...

[mmckenna]

Seems to be a lot of confusion here...

The radio in question IS a Marine VHF radio and was sold for Marine VHF use.

It ALSO had the capability to have some additional channels programmed in using the software and cable. This was intended for companies that not only use Marine VHF channels, but also part 90 channels for business use.

These are very specific models of radios that were produced with this capability. Your normal VHF marine channels came pre-programmed into the radio. The additional memory could be used for other VHF frequencies.

Using VHF marine channels on land is not legal unless you specifically are holding a shore station license, which are not easy for individuals to get hold of.

Programming these radios with additional channels, such as Amateur 2 meter band, Part 90 frequencies, etc is OK. This radio does NOT, however, meet the specification nor have the certification for MURS.

I think Uniden used to make a marine VHF radio that would do GMRS and FRS. I'll need to see if I can find the info on that one. It was not programmable, just pre-programmed.