Icom two way marine radios have become an important tool for
Brockenhurst College, a foremost provider of maritime training in the
south of England. The college uses Icom IC-M35 Buoyant VHF Marine
Transceivers to assist in the tuition of their maritime apprentices and
RYA students on the water.

Gary Hales, Head of Marine Technology at Brockenhurst College, ‘The maritime department was created about 18 months ago. We now
have 6 staff who cover a wide range of subjects which includes marine
engineering, boatbuilding, composites, marine upholstery and of course
RYA courses which we provide down at Hengistbury Head. The age range we
cater for is 16 plus…our oldest student is 60 years old. All our
courses are full and our marine engineering courses are oversubscribed
by 200%.’

Pete Jowell, Head of Technology at Hengistbury Outdoor Centre which is part of the College said, ‘Brockenhurst College uses the IC-M35 Buoyant VHF Marine Transceiver
in our on the water training; a lot of the students come down here and
learn to sail as part of their curriculum. If they are learning to
become a boat builder or marine engineer, the sailing environment
provides the relevancy to what they will do in the future.’

He added, ‘the Icom radios we use are important to us because they allow
us to communicate on the water, letting us pass on relevant information
to make training more effective and making sure our students are safe.
They provide a very good safety point especially as most of our
students start from 16.’

Asked why they use Icom, Peter Jowell said, ‘the radios have become more
and more important. It wasn’t until two years ago that we had VHF
marine radios. Before that we had little licence free walkie
talkies…two way radios that left a lot to be desired…so nobody ever
bothered using them. It took a while for everyone to get use to using
VHF but now it is a common tool that we all use…so useful.’

Peter added, ‘Icom was here when I joined the centre and I have found it
to be a very good product and Icom UK have provided really good
backup.’