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Regulations and compliance play a defining role in the LMR industry. To understand their impact, Brian Emmett, Tait Compliance and Regulatory Manager, compares the LMR regulatory environments in two major jurisdictions: the United States and Europe.

In simple terms, regulatory compliance means obeying the rules set down by regulatory authorities. These regulations define expected outcomes and how they will be achieved. For land mobile radio communications equipment, the outcome is that the equipment will allow... Continue Reading

We’ve talked about the dangers of getting locked into the wrong P25 solution before. And yet, we still hear about people getting tangled in the proprietary web some vendors weave.

Genuine open standards are non-proprietary, so you are never under the control of one vendor. Choosing open standards will increase your choice of certified vendors and bring down prices, improve technical quality, and avoid the risk of being locked into a sole supplier. Continue Reading

The main difference between P25 Phase 1 and Phase 2 is system capacity, so the primary reason for opting for Phase 2 is additional capacity.

Phase 2 TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) doubles the number of talk paths compared with Phase 1. P25 Phase 2 TDMA creates two logical channels in one 12.5kHz physical channel. Because the Phase 2 control channel is unchanged from Phase 1 there is compatibility between the phases. Continue Reading

While it’s certainly true that P25 Open Standards make P25 system procurement more competitive, there is still some due diligence you need to apply, to make sure you get the full benefits.

Your “must-comply” criteria might be technical, commercial, legal or financial. For example, you might exclude vendors for:

  • an unacceptable level of technical non-compliance
  • proposed technology that is not P25-compliant
  • equipment that lacks CAP certification
  • proposed solution has not yet been commercially deployed
  • commercial terms and conditions are not compliant with your RFP
  • poor customer references. Continue Reading

If you have never been involved in renovating your own house, you almost certainly know someone who has. It is a major logistical exercise in planning, perseverance, and above all, patience! Mostly, you will end up with what you want, but how often do you think “I wish I had shifted that wall/put in more storage/added another bathroom”?

There are so many things to decide, and only one chance to get it all right. And for most people, you will be carrying on your domestic “business as usual” amongst the chaos of upgrading your home.

Upgrading your radio system is a bit like... Continue Reading

By Evan Forester, Marketing Campaigns Coordinator, Tait Communications.

Last week we introduced the new P25 Best Practice guides and website. Today we’ll dive a bit deeper to take a look at the first guide: First Steps to your P25 System.

I recently drove to a friend’s house and attempted a short cut. Unfortunately, I started by making the wrong turn. I ended up in a place I was unfamiliar with, but kept guessing the general direction of my destination. After a while, I literally found myself on the complete opposite side of town.

So much for finding a short cut.

If your... Continue Reading

Click to visit the website and download the P25 guides

We are happy to announce the launch of our P25 Best Practice website complete with the first four P25 Best Practice guides:

  1. First steps to your P25 system
  2. Specifying your P25 system
  3. Procuring your P25 system
  4. Implementing your P25 system Continue Reading

GSM cellphone technology, APCO P25 in United States public safety, TETRA in Europe and DMR worldwide are examples of successful digital standards. Successful standards bring real advantages. When vendors work to agreed standards, those managing radio systems have a choice of supplier which can bring down prices, and improve quality. Customers are not at risk of being unable to source products for replacement or expansion through the demise of a sole supplier.

To properly qualify, a standard needs to be non-proprietary, so not under the control of one vendor. It... Continue Reading

A basic requirement for Phase 1 P25 digital radio equipment is backwards compatibility with standard analog FM radios. This supports an orderly migration into mixed analog and digital systems, enabling users to gradually trade out radios and infrastructure equipment.

Agencies can invest in the latest P25 technology and operate it initially in analog mode with the assurance that there is a clear migration path to the future. Continue Reading

Q. What are the benefits of moving to a P25 digital radio solution?
Digital radio provides key benefits such as:

  • Improved audio quality and clarity – especially at low received signal levels near the edge of coverage
  • Enhanced user features
  • More capacity – from the same number of frequencies (spectral efficiency)
  • Greater coverage – than analog, with a sharp drop at full range
  • Secure end-to-end encryption – compared to analog scrambling/encryption techniques, digital encryption has no degradation in voice quality.

P25 is a standard specified by public... Continue Reading