ICOM, a manufacturer of communications and navigation equipment, has announced the IC-M502, the next generation marine VHF radio. The IC-M502 is waterproof to JIS-7 standards - rain or spray won’t bother it. The generously sized front panel looks at home in today’s modern navigation stations. Its large buttons and dials are big enough to allow fast and easy operation, even in rugged conditions. Yet the rear of the radio is shallow enough to easily fit into limited space areas.

A large, backlit display features up to four dot-matrix lines of station information. Boat owners may program in their own marine channel names, on-the-fly. View latitude, longitude and time information on the dot-matrix display by hooking up the IC-M502 to a third party GPS unit.For emergency use, SC101 Digital Selective Calling (DSC) is built-in as a standard feature. A red, see-thru cover guards the DSC button against accidental activation. Additionally, the IC-M502’s memory capabilities will store up to 40 DSC distress ID numbers, as well as 40 incoming messages (great for when you’re away from the helm).