Father and son ready to grow Addcom in a smaller space

CICERO — David M. Adams worked for himself for years, building and repairing communications equipment. He started the one-man shop as a home-based business, later rented space on Teall Avenue in Syracuse in the late 1980s, and then moved to a small building in an industrial park next to Hancock International Airport.

He wasn’t always alone, of course. He would get visits from his five children and, back in the day, one of his sons, David M. Adams II, would drive a go-cart around the quieter streets in the industrial park. 

The younger Adams found what his father did interesting and pursued a degree in wireless communications at SUNY Canton until the college dropped the program. He returned to the Syracuse area, earned certification as an electrician, and worked for Time Warner Cable for a few years.

Then his father asked him about working with him at his company, Addcom Electronics, in space a short walk from his small shop. For the past 12 years, they’ve worked together at the former building 452 at the Hancock Airpark, a 9,800-square-foot building with Cold-War era cinderblock-and- rebar construction the company rents from Onondaga County.

Things have gone well, so well that young David became a partner in the business with his father three years ago.

 While technically David M. Adams II, he refers to himself as “Junior” and his father as “Senior,” to make it easier for callers and others to figure out to whom they are speaking. He explains that he and his father share duties — both sell and repair communications equipment and both install equipment. A smile crosses Senior’s face as his son explains that when one of the company’s three radio towers needs to be climbed, it’s Junior who gets the job.

Competing in a market that includes United Radio, with more than 400 employees in Central New York, Addcom has carved out a niche providing communications to school-district bus fleets as well as farms, golf courses, taxi services, retailers, and hotels and motels. The firm has customers stretching from Oswego to Cortland counties and from Verona to halfway to Rochester, Senior says. The company designs, installs, and supports radio communication systems.

When off-the-shelf technology doesn’t fit the bill, Junior likes to turn to Senior for custom solutions. For instance, at a nursing home, the standard emergency pull-cord system would broadcast information about the person who had called for help. That might have been OK before, but violates today’s patient-privacy standards.

To solve the problem, Senior created a system that alerts workers to the call for help by radio, without sharing the information with those not authorized to know.

“They give us a problem and we give them something they can count on,” Junior says.

At 63, and with no plans to retire, Senior explains that radio communications has a bright future, even in the age of smartphones, particularly among those who deal with emergencies or care for children.

“In an emergency, the first thing to go is cell service,” he says, adding that in the event of disaster, radio will work, even if it has to fall back on battery service. “If something happens, radio users can continue to talk.”

Radio also allows one person to speak to many at once, something that can be very helpful in an emergency when there may not be time to dial individuals one by one, Junior adds.

“You’re never out of luck with radio,” Senior says.

In addition, 34-year-old Junior points out that while radio may seem to a casual observer to be a 20th century technology, it continues to evolve. Digital radio sets have improved reception and even increased range for radio sets, adding as much as 20 percent to the distance at which a signal can be clearly heard.

Looking to the future, Addcom is getting ready to grow while moving into a smaller building. The current building is far too large for the business, both men say. The nearly 10,000-square-foot building can cost $1,000 a month to heat and the sturdy construction makes modifying the space impractical, they say. 

So they are preparing to break ground on a new 4,800 square-foot, steel-sided building. It features a more efficient layout and three offices next to each other to make room for a third employee as the business continues to grow. (The new building’s restroom is much smaller than the one in their current building with its three stalls and seven urinals.)

Like the previous space, Addcom’s new building will be in Hancock Air Park, a short walk from the current structure. The company applied for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) and asked for a break on the sales tax for materials used for the new location. The firm’s application to OCIDA puts the total tax savings at $47,797 and expects the project to cost about $275,000.

The OCIDA board approved the application at its April 10 meeting, noting it will create new taxable property and allow the county to sell Addcom’s current space and put it on the property-tax rolls as well.

Senior says he’s not sure what innovation will next bring growth to the communications industry, but he’s sure it will. In the meantime, he says, he and his son have built a successful business and are taking steps to keep it going. “We make a comfortable living. We have fun. That’s the important thing,” he says.                        

CICERO — David M. Adams worked for himself for years, building and repairing communications equipment. He started the one-man shop as a home-based business, later rented space on Teall Avenue in Syracuse in the late 1980s, and then moved to a small building in an industrial park next to Hancock International Airport.

He wasn’t always alone, of course. He would get visits from his five children and, back in the day, one of his sons, David M. Adams II, would drive a go-cart around the quieter streets in the industrial park. 

The younger Adams found what his father did interesting and pursued a degree in wireless communications at SUNY Canton until the college dropped the program. He returned to the Syracuse area, earned certification as an electrician, and worked for Time Warner Cable for a few years.

Then his father asked him about working with him at his company, Addcom Electronics, in space a short walk from his small shop. For the past 12 years, they’ve worked together at the former building 452 at the Hancock Airpark, a 9,800-square-foot building with Cold-War era cinderblock-and- rebar construction the company rents from Onondaga County.

Things have gone well, so well that young David became a partner in the business with his father three years ago.

 While technically David M. Adams II, he refers to himself as “Junior” and his father as “Senior,” to make it easier for callers and others to figure out to whom they are speaking. He explains that he and his father share duties — both sell and repair communications equipment and both install equipment. A smile crosses Senior’s face as his son explains that when one of the company’s three radio towers needs to be climbed, it’s Junior who gets the job.

Competing in a market that includes United Radio, with more than 400 employees in Central New York, Addcom has carved out a niche providing communications to school-district bus fleets as well as farms, golf courses, taxi services, retailers, and hotels and motels. The firm has customers stretching from Oswego to Cortland counties and from Verona to halfway to Rochester, Senior says. The company designs, installs, and supports radio communication systems.

When off-the-shelf technology doesn’t fit the bill, Junior likes to turn to Senior for custom solutions. For instance, at a nursing home, the standard emergency pull-cord system would broadcast information about the person who had called for help. That might have been OK before, but violates today’s patient-privacy standards.

To solve the problem, Senior created a system that alerts workers to the call for help by radio, without sharing the information with those not authorized to know.

“They give us a problem and we give them something they can count on,” Junior says.

At 63, and with no plans to retire, Senior explains that radio communications has a bright future, even in the age of smartphones, particularly among those who deal with emergencies or care for children.

“In an emergency, the first thing to go is cell service,” he says, adding that in the event of disaster, radio will work, even if it has to fall back on battery service. “If something happens, radio users can continue to talk.”

Radio also allows one person to speak to many at once, something that can be very helpful in an emergency when there may not be time to dial individuals one by one, Junior adds.

“You’re never out of luck with radio,” Senior says.

In addition, 34-year-old Junior points out that while radio may seem to a casual observer to be a 20th century technology, it continues to evolve. Digital radio sets have improved reception and even increased range for radio sets, adding as much as 20 percent to the distance at which a signal can be clearly heard.

Looking to the future, Addcom is getting ready to grow while moving into a smaller building. The current building is far too large for the business, both men say. The nearly 10,000-square-foot building can cost $1,000 a month to heat and the sturdy construction makes modifying the space impractical, they say. 

So they are preparing to break ground on a new 4,800 square-foot, steel-sided building. It features a more efficient layout and three offices next to each other to make room for a third employee as the business continues to grow. (The new building’s restroom is much smaller than the one in their current building with its three stalls and seven urinals.)

Like the previous space, Addcom’s new building will be in Hancock Air Park, a short walk from the current structure. The company applied for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) and asked for a break on the sales tax for materials used for the new location. The firm’s application to OCIDA puts the total tax savings at $47,797 and expects the project to cost about $275,000.

The OCIDA board approved the application at its April 10 meeting, noting it will create new taxable property and allow the county to sell Addcom’s current space and put it on the property-tax rolls as well.

Senior says he’s not sure what innovation will next bring growth to the communications industry, but he’s sure it will. In the meantime, he says, he and his son have built a successful business and are taking steps to keep it going. “We make a comfortable living. We have fun. That’s the important thing,” he says.