IC-F3 Operating Instructions
based on material from Pacific Northwest Trackers Association

IC-F3 Info

Instructions for operating ICOM F3 Radio

Revision 3, January 27th, 2006

The following information describes the configuration and operation of the Icom F3 radios provided by David Kovar to various teams. If you have any questions about, or corrections to, this document, please send mail to kovar@1srg.org.

I have included the full information on all of the frequencies in these radios. All of this information is available from a variety of resources dedicated to scanning hobby. I felt that it was more important to fully inform the users of the radio than it was to attempt to hide information which is readily available elsewhere.

1.      Knob near the antenna turns clockwise to turn the radio on. Continue clockwise increases volume, counterclockwise decreases volume. Continued counterclockwise turns it off.

2.      The radio has 2 banks of 16 each channels to choose from. When the radio is turned on, it will return to the channel last used, unless the battery has been changed. Not all channels are necessarily programmed.

3. The Quick Charger Drop-in Base is for charging the Ni-Cad battery ONLY. The battery must be attached to the radio in order to be held in the correct position for charging. There is a “Wall Wart” power supply which attaches to the base and plugs into a wall outlet. There is also a cord with a cigarette lighter plug. This can be attached to the base in place of the wall wart to allow charging from a car. Be careful with this. Some cars require the key to be turned on to get power to the cigarette lighter, so this should only be done when the engine is runnung.

4. The Alkaline Battery Pack holds 8 size AA batteries. These can NOT  be recharged. When this pack runs down, the individual AA batteries should be removed and replaced. Do not attempt to connect any of the charging devices to your radio when the AA pack is attached.

5. The Speaker/Microphone plugs into the top of the radio near the antenna. One pin is larger than the other. Be careful to plug it in correctly.

6. Depending on when I programmed your radio, the keys are set in one of fourways.

First Revision (the display should initially be blank when powered on)

IC-F3 can be Field Programmed. IC-F3S can not.

The following is the standard programming I used for the radios (DCK-4). Your milage may vary, as they say.

Bank 1

Bank 2

Field Programming the IC-F3

I would caution you against casually reprogramming your radio unless a) you know what you're doing and b) you document the change in some manner. It is very frustrating to try to troubleshoot someone's radio in the field, expecting one configuration and then finding out that they modified it slightly and that is the source of your problem.

1.      While pushing <C> and <speaker symbol>, turn power ON.

2.      “DEALR” appears on LCD.

3.      Input Dealer Passcode.

4.      Frequency that is now set up appears on LCD. (Receive Frequency).

5.      Push <up triangle> or <down triangle> to select a channel, then input frequency with 10-keypad.

6.      <speaker symbol> will cancel input.

7.      <#> will inhibit the frequency.

8.      Push <left triangle> to shift to Transmit Frequency, then input frequency with 10-keypad.

9.      Repeat step 5 for additional channels.

10.  Turn power OFF

11.  Turn power ON as normal to operate with new frequencies.

Note: In this Dealer Set Mode, it is possible to program only the Transmit and Receive Frequency