Relm introduces VHF portable from Shenzhen Hyt
, West Melbourne, FL, has introduced model RPV516A, the first of its RP series of portable two-way radios made under its OEM agreement with Shenzhen Hyt Science & Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
The unit, which will be available on Jan. 25, is a 16-channel VHF transceiver that will be sold in a package that includes a rapid-rate desktop charger and a 1,100mAH nickel-metal-hydride battery. The unit is constructed to military specification (mil-spec) standards and has capabilities such as two-tone encode and decode, and priority channel scanning. Relm described the portable as compact, lightweight and inexpensive. The new radio’s software can be cloned to other RPV516A units, or programming can be done using Windows-based software.
A UHF model (RPU516A) is planned for release in the first quarter of 2002. Models with 32 channels that are field-programmable are planned for release in the second quarter of 2002.
“The RP series of portable radios enables Relm to reestablish its product offerings within the commercial, business, and industrial segments of the land mobile radio market, complimenting the more sophisticated portable two-way radios currently offered under the BK Radio brand name,” a statement from the company reads.
Ken Ascher, chairman of Communications Electronics, Ann Arbor, MI, said that his distributorship has sold thousands of Relm’s model MPV32 radios to dealers, police and fire departments through its Web site.
“The RP series should be a terrific replacement. From a perspective of national security and emergency preparedness, it has a useful feature of two-tone sequential paging. Response agencies can keep the radio in standby mode and tone individually or group call to alert the radio,” Ascher said.
Ascher explained that most volunteer fire departments use VHF as opposed to 800MHz trunking, and that a lower-cost radio is critical for their budgets. He said that the RP series accommodates most of the volunteer fire departments’ needs, citing good audio quality, small size, computer programmability and frequency agility for mutual aid requirements.
Although Ascher liked the new RP series, he said that Relm’s service department has offered what he called “extraordinary support” for older equipment. As an example, said that Relm restored the Washtenaw County (Michigan) Road Commission’s 20-year-old Relm radios to factory specifications at a third of the cost of new radios, saving the county thousands of dollars.
John Spane, the owner of Ra-Tech Services, a Relm dealer in Mount Airy, NC, said that Relm’s manufacturers representative was due to arrive in a day or two along with a Relm engineer to demonstrate the new RP series and to answer questions. Spane said that he normally uses new radios himself to try them out before offering them to customers.
“We’re up here in the country, and you don’t burn your customers but one time. If I try a radio and it doesn’t perform, I put it on eBay and get rid of it at cost,” Spane said.
Spane said that Relm had discontinued some previous radio models that had been good sellers, and that he is interested in the new radios and products that the company is introducing.
David Storey, Relm’s president, said in a prepared statement: “This product introduction is consistent with our strategy for growth in the business and industrial segment of the market. We are committed to providing users with effective and reliable two-way communications solutions that are easy to use and very affordable, a combination that we believe is critical and attractive to users in this highly competitive market. The RP series portable radios will achieve that objective, and the introduction of the RPV516A represents the successful completion of the first step in our plan. Customer orders have already been received for the entire initial manufacturing run, a good indicator that this model will be well received by the marketplace.”
Storey concluded, “The RP series is the result of the combined efforts of our staff and that of Shenzhen Hyt Science & Technology and reaffirms the importance of leveraging relationships with high-quality, cost effective technology partners.”
Relm manufactures and markets two-way FM business radios and high-specification public safety mobile and portable radios, repeaters and accessories, base station components and subsystems. Products are manufactured and distributed under Relm Communications, Uniden PRC and BK Radio brand names.
