Having a smartphone with a push-to-talk function for group communication with a team of people sounds great. For example, volunteers working in an operation led by fire and rescue teams could use their smartphones and a push-to-talk application to communicate in professional TETRA talk groups.
It sounds cool but how practical are today's smartphones in practice? Can they deliver the five things that a professional, everyday user cannot do without?
The group call is the most important feature in professional radio communication. With one simple, push-to-talk button, a user is connected to many colleagues at the same time. It’s the ultimate in working together and is very easy to use in professional radio systems such as TETRA. In contrast, in cellular systems, linking up several people to talk together requires setting up a conference call...
The near future will see more and more calls to emergency centres arriving in a digital format. There are 5 important reminders of making multimedia-capable critical communication networks happen. And it is not only a question of technology!
You already have or use a TETRA network. But what about your TETRA radios? Are they still meeting the needs of your organisation and users? Or do you need to buy new devices to meet demand? The benefits of new radios can certainly be worth it - they can make your staff’s everyday tasks easier, help them be more effective, or even save money for you. But how can you best specify what you need?
So you want to buy new radios for use on your TETRA network. You’ll probably have read lots of good advice already, telling you to do this and that if you want to get the ones that are right for you. But, what about the things you shouldn’t do? When buying new radios, which five things should you stop asking in your Request for Proposals (RFP)?
Imagine how much better a fire and rescue service could work if its staff could easily send live video images of the incident to the control room. Or if a police officer could complete their admin tasks during a coffee break, while remaining in their patrol car, out on the beat? Broadband technologies can make these opportunities real for public safety organizations. But how do we get to this new...
What do you carry on duty? Your mission-critical radio. Smartphone. Mini-printer. Flashlight. Digital camera. Body worn camera. Tazer. Night-stick? Could you reduce the number of devices you carry? And how would you do it? Should you do it?
When the battery runs down on the TETRA radio, people usually blame ... the batteries. But you have a lot of control over how long your batteries work. Here are seven tricks that can make your TETRA radio battery last longer:
If you have followed the trends of the PMR market, you must be aware of the discussion and publicity around LTE and broadband. We are on the brink of a transformation in critical communications – apparently. All this hype is confusing especially if you are in the process of specifying a new radio communication system for your organisation.
