MACKENZIE PARTNES, INC.
                                                                156 FIFTH AVENUE
                                                              NEW YORK, NY 10010
                                                                  (212) 929-5500
                                                            (212) 929-0308 (fax)


NEWS RELEASE

Contact:
Stanley J. Kay, Jr.
MacKenzie Partners, Inc.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

              LEADING PROXY ADVISORY FIRM SUPPORTS OPPOSITION GROUP
                 FOR ELECTION TO TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS BOARD

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, August 11, 1998 - The Phalon Group, which is conducting a
proxy contest for control of the Board of Directors of Technical  Communications
Corporation  (NASDAQ:  TCCO),  announced  today that  Institutional  Shareholder
Services, Inc. has recommended that its clients vote FOR the Phalon Group's five
director-nominees in opposition to management's  candidates and FOR the proposal
to declassify the Board.  Technical  Communications'  annual  meeting  currently
scheduled for this Friday, August 14, 1998 in Concord, Massachusetts.

Philip A. Phalon, head of the Phalon Group and a Company director commented, "We
are  delighted  to have won the  recommendation  of ISS for our  nominees to the
Board.  Support from an independent,  third-party  such as ISS lends credence to
our firm belief that the current  Board has violated its duties to  shareholders
and must be replaced if this  Company is to move  forward and have a  profitable
future.  I look forward to the additional  support our slate can now expect from
ISS clients."

The ISS report states, "TCC is an exceedingly troubled company not only in terms
of financial performance,  but also in that it has been run as something akin to
a  publicly  traded  family  business.  Management  certifies  that it has taken
satisfactory  measures  to  remedy  past  wrongdoings,  but has not  seen fit to
disclose  these  measures  to  shareholders...The  board's  April 30 actions [to
stagger its board] underscore its disregard for shareholders."

The  ISS  report  concludes,  "In  short,  this  is not a  board  that  instills
confidence in the hearts of shareholders. It has deliberately withheld pertinent
data on the misconduct of former managers from  shareholders,  nor would it even
reveal the costs incurred in conducting the investigation...or the nature of the
separation  arrangements struck with James  McCalmont...the  incumbent board has
twice altered the company's bylaws to obstruct a proxy contest and frustrate the
shareholder  franchise,  in  defiance  of a court  order.  Such  conduct  is not
befitting  of any  board,  nor should it be  countenanced  by  shareholders.  We
therefore  believe that a reordering of the board and its  realignment  with the
welfare of  shareholders  is  warranted.  We recommend a vote FOR the  dissident
slate."

Institutional  Shareholder  Services (ISS),  based in Bethesda,  Maryland,  is a
leading  independent  advisor to several  hundred  institutional  investors  and
provides  voting  recommendations  for  proxy  contests,   corporate  governance
proposals and other shareholder related issues.

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