Same frequency band, three different jobs
All three of Icom's IC-A16 handheld, IC-A220 panel-mount and IC-A120 base station operate in the same VHF air band and support both 8.33 kHz and 25 kHz channel spacing, but they are built for three genuinely different roles, and understanding which role you actually need decides the purchase far more than any single specification.
The IC-A16: portable, self-contained
At 257 g and running from its own battery pack for roughly 17 hours, the IC-A16 is built to be carried, not installed. It suits pilots wanting a backup radio in the cockpit, ground crew needing to monitor or transmit on the ramp without aircraft power, and any use case where the radio needs to move between locations or operate independently of an aircraft's electrical system entirely. Its output power, 6 W PEP / 1.8 W carrier, is modest compared to the panel-mount and base station units, which is the trade-off inherent to portability.
The IC-A220: installed in the aircraft
The IC-A220 is a panel-mount VHF air band transceiver with a bright OLED display, drawing power from the aircraft's own 13.8 V / 27.5 V supply and outputting 8 W carrier power, a meaningful step up from the handheld's output. Its memory structure, 20 regular channels, 50 group channels, 10 GPS-linked channels, 20 history channels and 10 weather channels, reflects a radio designed to be the aircraft's primary installed communication set, integrated with the panel rather than carried in a flight bag. This is avionics installation work, not a plug-and-fly purchase, and it is chosen when an aircraft needs a certified, permanently wired communication radio rather than a portable supplement.
The IC-A120: fixed ground installation
The IC-A120 is a base station radio, at 1.5 kg and drawing up to 5.0 A on transmit from a 13.75 V / 27.5 V supply, built for fixed ground installation rather than an aircraft at all. Its feature set reflects that role directly: high visibility, simple operation, IP54 dust and water resistance for outdoor or semi-exposed mounting, dualwatch and on-hook scan functions for monitoring more than one channel, and optional Bluetooth headset connectivity for hands-free ground operation. This is the radio for a flight school's ground operations desk, an airfield office, or any fixed point that needs to communicate with aircraft on frequency without being installed in one.
Matching the radio to the role
- Need a backup radio to carry in the cockpit, or a portable unit for ground crew: the IC-A16.
- Need to install a certified communication radio permanently in an aircraft's panel: the IC-A220, fitted as avionics.
- Need a fixed ground station for a flight school, airfield office or ramp operation: the IC-A120.
- Running an operation that needs all three roles covered, air-to-ground communication from the aircraft, a portable backup, and a ground desk that can talk to both: these three units are complementary rather than competing, each covering a role the others do not.
ASPL supplies Icom's aviation radio range across all three form factors and can advise on which combination actually fits a specific operation, whether that is a single aircraft owner, a flight school, or a ground operations setup.