Why carry more than one handheld radio? - Use a Daniels Crossband Repeater.

Hartford’s Bradley International Airport is the second largest airport in New England, with 296 flights daily and 6.7 million customers a year. The Connecticut Department of Transportation owns the airport and has gained a reputation for efficient operation of the facility. However, the Radio Communications Department saw an opportunity for improvement.

The airport’s de-icing crew members were carrying not just one, but two handheld radios. Why? So they could talk to both Airport Operations on UHF and the pilots on VHF AM. Handheld radios don’t operate in both bands so they had to carry two. But there had to be a better way of doing things thought the Radio Department so they decided to do some research.

They came across an ad from Daniels Electronics talking about crossband radio repeaters which receive a radio signal on one band and then retransmit the signal on a different band. They realized if they installed a Daniels crossband repeater, de-icing crew members only needed to carry one UHF handheld, because if they could talk to the repeater they could talk to the pilots. This looked like the solution to the problem but first they wanted to clear things with the FCC.

After further consultation with the FCC, they learned that Daniels radios were approved for use in both UHF and VHF AM as well as crossbanding between the two bands. Therefore, they decided to purchase the equipment.

It was easy to install and is simple to maintain or upgrade due to the modular construction of the radio. And though the repeater is at a remote location, in the summer months when it is not being used it is simple to turn on and off with a received DTMF tone sequence.

In the winter, just before a pilot is going to push back, the tower gives him the repeater frequency and CTCSS tone so he can talk through the repeater to the de-icing crew. Officials at the Connecticut Department of Transportation and Bradley International Airport are presently happy with the reliability and performance of the Daniels radio. And most importantly, the de-icing crew members now only carry one handheld.

For more information on how Daniels can meet your requirements for crossband repeaters contact the sales department at Daniels. sales@danelec.com

CAPITOL ELECTRONICS INC.
230 E. Main Street
PO Box 715
Plainfield IN 46168
TEL (317) 839-5022
FAX (317) 839-2662
email: sales@capitolinc.com
www.capitolinc.com

The Daniels CI-RC-4M Multiple Link Controller is a radio router that enables repeater steering across multiple hops through the entire radio network by providing control of multiple Daniels MT-4 Digital P25 radio links. The CI-RC-4M Multiple Link Controller is capable of controlling up to four P25 RX/TX radio pairs.

This unit can control each transceiver pair in a number of different configurations from standard drops and links to CTCSS, NAC and DTMF controlled drops and links. 7 CTCSS tones and 7 NAC codes can be programmed into each path of the controller allowing the user to steer the transceivers by turning links “On” and “Off”. Transmitter channels can be changed, according to a global channel selection table, using NACs (channels 1-16) or CTCSS tones (channels 1-15.)

This system also has an auxiliary E&M connection available which can connect up to four transceiver pairs. This external connection can be used in cases where tone remotes are required at a site.

Redundant Switch

The Daniels Redundant Switch facilitates automatic or remote user-controlled switching from a main to a backup radio system. The switching can be controlled manually via wireline or a received DTMF tone. Alternatively, it can be set up for automatic switchover via the use of various alarm modules.

The Redundant Switch is a 1U high, 19” rack mountable unit that allows switching between two radio systems. The primary application is for switching to a duplicate, “redundant” radio system in the case of a failure in the primary radio system. If a failure was detected, the Redundant Switch would transfer RF signals and voltage inputs from the primary radio system located in one subrack to another backup redundant radio system located in a second 19” subrack.

The switching can be controlled manually via wireline or a received DTMF tone or, can be set up for automatic switchover via the use of various alarm modules such as the Daniels Power Monitors and/or the SITE/MC. Automatic switching based on a detected alarm condition is a new capability for Daniels Electronics, as is wireless remote switching via the SITE/MC.

Besides enabling backup systems, the Redundant Switch could also be used to turn off complete racks of equipment in order to save current during the winter months. Only one subrack with a monitor receiver need be on. Then, come spring when the rest of the radio equipment needed to be operational, a DTMF tone could be sent from a base station to the monitor receiver which could be set up to cause the Redundant Switch to turn on any other subracks. By contrast, in the winter, a tone could be sent to turn equipment off.

P25 Tutorial Guide

The Daniels Training department has written a P25 tutorial that provides a simple, comprehensive and informative description of Project 25.

The document assumes the reader is familiar with conventional Two-Way Radio Communications systems. The document is available for download from the Daniels website by following this link:

• Repeating time delay of less then 100 msec
• Seamlessly passes OTAR
• Seamlessly passes Data
• Power consumption of less then 150 mA (12 Vdc)

Effective February 10, 2004 the following Daniels Electronics Ltd products have reached the end of their product support life due to a lack of available components. These products will no longer be supported by Daniels Electronics.

• MT-2 series radio products (excluding the power amplifiers which are common to our MT-3 systems).

The MT-3 Analog and MT-4 Digital Base Station and Repeater products can replace MT-2 systems with enhanced functionality in a current production product, to ensure continued operation to all customers. For more information on the MT-3 and MT-4 products visit, http://www.danelec.com/products/

In the last (Fall 2004) issue of the newsletter we included an online survey to determine awareness of our new products. We would like to thank you for taking the time to participate in our survey. It was very helpful to us and will allow us to tailor our marketing and product programs to better suit you, our customer. As promised we held a draw for a seat at a future technical training course (a $750 US value). The winner is Tim Veilleux of the Calgary Health Region.

Greetings,


IWCE Las Vegas will soon be upon us and once again Daniels will have a strong presence at the show to meet with each of our customers. We hope you will take the time to come by the booth (# 10032) and say hello and while you are there we look forward to telling you about our latest developments.

I am particularly enthused by the new products we will be showing. The Radio Router with its capability for repeater steering across multiple hops will address an application that has been requested by many of you. Similarly we will be launching a new product called the Universal Interface card (UIC) with its Ethernet connection to other LMR subsystems in a P25 network. The UIC opens up new possibilities for connectivity and interoperability that will dominate our market for years to come. With many new developments we will have lots to talk about at IWCE. See you there.

Robert Small, VP and COO