IWCE reporter’s notebook (Part 2)

C4i has secured $2.4 million worth of new business in which it will deliver its scalable, end-to-end IP dispatch system so radio end points can be located at remote sites, said Brad Kay, the company’s president. The new projects include system installations in Riverside, Calif., River Grove, Ill., and Vietnam. Operators in those locations now can be anywhere on a wide-area network and in multiple locations yet still access each other as though they were in the same center, Kay said.

PCTEL unveiled a wide spectrum multiband antenna that offers no tune coverage of full spectrum VHF, UHF and 700/800 MHz. It is IP67- and NMO-compliant and features a rugged, impact-resistance housing, according to the company. It weighs approximately 1.1 pounds and operates in the 136–174, 380–520 and 762–870 MHz frequencies. The company also launched its Antenna Specialist ASP16 and ASP22 antennas, designed to be roof-mounted on locomotive, crew car or other railroad vehicles. The ASP16 operates in the 158–162 MHz frequencies, while the ASP22 operates in the 217–222 MHz frequencies.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials announced a program to help public safety meet the Federal Communication Commission’s narrowbanding mandate. For $25, AASHTO will work with agencies to inspect each of their licenses, determine bandwidth emissions and file the required bandwidth changes with the FCC.

Laird Technologies launched WPD136C-001, a full-spectrum, omni-directional multiband radio. The IP66-rated antenna is a commercial, heavy-duty vehicular antenna. It operates in the 136-174, 380-520 and 760-870 MHz range. It offers 100W of power and a NMO-style mount.

Etherstack and Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated the ability to carry traditional emergency services voice traffic over 4G LTE networks, while allowing interoperability with recently deployed and legacy emergency services radio networks. Etherstack ran a small piece of software known as a “soft radio” on an Alcatel-Lucent LTE demo network that provided push-to-talk style communications and group communications within the LTE network amongst other LTE terminals — while interfacing to a traditional emergency services radio network and their hand held radios. In addition, the LTE soft radio supported voice communications in the native signaling protocols that are used in traditional radio networks, which conform to APCO P25 standards.