Posted 11/23/2002 by Tracy Justus
Radio glitch not a danger to officers, HPD contends
[Source: The Honolulu Advertiser]

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Honolulu police radio system poses no risk to officers or the public, and a planned Dec. 2 switch from the newer digital channels is to try to fix a background noise problem, an assistant chief said yesterday.

"Had this been an officer safety issue, which it is not, we would have switched over immediately," said Assistant Chief Karl Godsey, head of the Honolulu Police Department's support services bureau. "We want to make sure when we talk we can be heard, and when we ask for help, others can hear. ... This system is never going to be perfect, but we will strive to make it the best we can."

Godsey said the temporary switch to analog frequencies will not affect officer safety or police response to emergencies.

And if the problem is fixed before that, the Dec. 2 switch will not be necessary, he said.

The city fully switched police communications from analog to digital in April to create better reception and more channels, and to thwart eavesdropping by outsiders. But the system has been sporadically plagued by communication disruptions and gaps in radio coverage.

The latest incident was on Nov. 7, when a faulty software upgrade shut down portions of the city's digital communications system for nearly nine hours.

Maj. Kenneth Simmons, commander of HPD's communications division, issued a departmentwide memo on Nov. 15 that patrol officers would switch to analog channels on Dec. 2 "until the digital software becomes acceptable for our operations."

Yesterday, police held a news conference to explain the issues more fully. Godsey said the tentative Dec. 2 switch for patrol officers to analog channels on the radio communications system is necessary while technicians work on the digital side of the city's $42 million radio system.

Technicians said the background noise problem is between patrol officers and police dispatchers.

Godsey said the department decided to temporarily change over the patrol radio communications to analog so "officers didn't have to switch back and forth on channels" during the troubleshooting work on the digital system.

Officers would make the scheduled switch from digital to analog "with the flip of a switch on their radios," he said. "But we are not switching to an old analog system as reported (in The Advertiser). We have digital and analog channels on the same communications system."

The department's specialized units and those conducting covert operations will continue to use digital radio channels, which are considered more difficult to eavesdrop on, Godsey said.

Technicians so far have linked the background noise problem to faulty "digital voice interface unit" cards in the city's main communications system. Godsey said the faulty digital voice cards haven't caused long interruptions or glitches, but have recently affected the quality of police radio transmissions and reception.

"We had some difficulty with the voice cards, something that has been ongoing for several months now," Godsey said. "Putting in these new cards will hopefully deal with the problem.

"If it works fine next week, we won't have to switch. If it doesn't, we'll make the (radio channel) switch until we find a card that works properly."

Consultant Jack Chamberlin, hired by the city to provide technical support for the radio system, believes the faulty digital voice cards are the culprit behind background noise in the radio transmissions, sometimes creating a sound similar to "a waterfall."

"Other times it makes this high-pitched sound, and we can clear the noise for awhile, but then it seems to gradually come back," Chamberlin said.

The digital voice cards could arrive today and be installed next week before the scheduled Dec. 2 radio channel changeover, Godsey said.

Godsey said the Nov. 7 glitch in which three O'ahu police districts had to switch to other radio channels was not linked to the digital voice card problem. That glitch was caused by a software upgrade that was improperly configured for the system; it has been corrected.

Gerald Hamada of the city Department of Design and Construction said technicians are trying to troubleshoot the background noise problem.

"We're going to try the replacement digital voice cards first, and see if that fixes the problem," Hamada said. "If not, we'll have to take a look at the rest of the system."

Godsey said replacing previous digital voice cards and other software has caused glitches, and in hindsight, perhaps the department should have earlier switched patrol officers to another radio channel during the technical work.

"We would like to take something right out of the box and have it work ... but there are going to be glitches, just like computers," Godsey said. "This is one of the things we got to do: tune it up and tune it up frequently."

Posted 11/15/2002 by Tracy Justus
Talks seek remedy for mishmash of radios
[Source: OregonLive.com]

By Ryan Frank

Firefighters scaling the stairs of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 didn't hear a police warning that the north tower was about to collapse. Less than a half-hour later, more than 100 firefighters died when the tower crumbled.

New York City's police officers and firefighters used different types of radios that prevented them from communicating with each other.

The communications failures during last year's terrorist attacks spurred officials across the United States to begin building multimillion-dollar systems that allow emergency responders from neighboring cities and states to communicate among one another.

In Oregon, a 12-member committee of state and public safety leaders will meet for the first time today to begin figuring out how to connect radios used by police officers, firefighters, the FBI, road crews, foresters and others from Astoria to Ontario to Coos Bay.

Without connected networks, firefighters often are forced to use cell phones, human relays or dispatchers to talk with peers fighting the same blaze.

The cost and duration of Oregon's project has yet to be decided, said Jeff Johnson, committee chairman and fire chief at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue in Aloha. But two things are certain: It won't be cheap, and it won't be fast.

Michigan, for example, is finishing a statewide radio system after spending 15 years and $200 million. Across the country, 17 states, including Oregon and Washington, are working with the federal government to build similar radio networks, officials said.

If they can squeeze money from the Legislature or Congress, Oregon officials say the network will pay off.

"This could be one of the most significant changes in how we deliver public safety services since we put in 9-1-1 centers," said Maj. Jim Willis of the Oregon State Police. "I think this is that significant."

Oregon's incompatible systems, which are similar to what plagued New York City rescue workers, are analogous to Windows and Macintosh computer operating systems.

Police officers and firefighters in Multnomah and Washington counties can talk with each other over the radio because they carry radios that operate in the same radio spectrum.

But they can't talk with their peers in rural Oregon. Most cities outside the Portland area use radios that operate in another part of the spectrum. And the state has no equipment to link the different systems.

In some cases, a Portland police officer and an Oregon State Police trooper parked on either side of Interstate 5 can't talk to each other over the radio.

"That's absolutely ludicrous," Willis said. "The technology is there. We have to be smart enough to make this happen."

The Oregon committee, created by a governor's executive order, will first try to figure out how to tie existing systems together with technological upgrades. It's a job Johnson compared to making Ford parts fit a Chevrolet.

The second step will be to ensure that local governments replacing outdated equipment buy radios capable of talking to neighboring departments.

Johnson said the committee also will study sharing towers and frequencies with wireless phone companies, such as Nextel Communications, AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless.

The system probably won't cover every inch of the state because the cost would be too high and the benefit too low. Remote areas -- such as the Siskiyou National Forest where the Biscuit fire blazed this summer -- probably won't be covered. For major events, crews can post mobile towers to strenghten the radio signal.

Johnson worries that the committee, which has no budget, may struggle to score financing. The committee plans to apply for federal grants and to lobby the state's congressional delegation for money.

In a separate and smaller project, the U.S. Department of Defense is paying $8.9 million to make sure firefighters and police officers working near the Umatilla Chemical Depot can talk to one another over the radio.

Ken Murphy, deputy director of the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, estimated the statewide project could run $100 million.

"It's not going to be cheap," he said. "I can guarantee you."

Posted 5/25/2002 by Tracy Justus
Testing a radio system one garage at a time
[Source: The Baltimore Sun]

By Julie Bykowicz

For the next few weeks, some Howard County residents may feel as though they've wandered into a cellular telephone commercial - the one where the guy keeps asking, "Can you hear me now?"

Across the county, public safety officials will be ducking into about 500 garages, convenience stores and other nooks and crannies to test the strength of their soon-to-be-implemented 800-megahertz communications system.

"Mind if I stand in your garage and talk on my radio?" Howard County Fire and Rescue Services Capt. Jeff Loomis asked a woman standing outside her two-story home on Jerry's Drive in Columbia this week.

Like most Howard County residents, the woman did not hesitate to motion Loomis and his Motorola partner, James Perschy, into the garage.

Within the next two minutes, the pair verified that if there ever were an emergency in that neighborhood, fire, police and medical personnel would have no trouble communicating over their radios.

The $26.6 million system uses eight towers and one building around the county and state-of-the-art digital radios to provide significantly improved coverage for police, fire and rescue units who have long been hampered by lost signals and blind spots. Five 350-foot or higher towers were built for the project.

The careful testing is the last big hurdle for the Motorola-designed system before its scheduled launch this fall.

"This is a significant milestone for the project," county Public Works Director James M. Irvin said at a briefing Monday for the teams of testers. "It may seem mundane, but testing is substantially important."

To ensure the system is working correctly, six teams of three people have been knocking on doors since Monday and will continue to do so until every corner of the county has been tested.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Loomis and his teammates estimated they had been to about 70 locations. No one had refused to let them conduct the test, he said.

On Jerry's Drive, Loomis and Perschy stepped into the open one-car garage and waited until their portable radios stopped buzzing with other teams sending test messages.

At the first pause, Loomis said into his radio: "Team 3 to dispatch."

"Team 3, go ahead," a dispatcher responded seconds later. Without the typical squawking and scratching of portable radios, the dispatcher sounded as if he could have been in that same garage.

"Grid is 40-30, we got the page, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5," Loomis said.

"That is a good test," the dispatcher responded. Loomis repeated the same test after switching his radio from digital to analog and about a minute later, ducked out of the garage.

Team 3 and the five other groups will ride through the county from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until each grid has been checked for a radio signal. While Team 3 primarily tests homes, other teams have specialized assignments. For example, Team 6 is testing out-of-county locations and Team 5 concentrates on schools. All teams consist of one county police officer, firefighter or sheriff's deputy, one Motorola representative and a driver.

Locations that fail the initial radio test will be marked for retesting, said Michael Ciampaglia, a project manager for Motorola.

The county asked Motorola to design radio communications that can penetrate buildings, unlike the current system, Ciampaglia said.

"This is a completely new game," he said. "The county will notice increased radio coverage both on the streets and inside of buildings."

Motorola guaranteed reliable signals covering at least 95 percent of the county area they agreed to cover, according to county officials.

From Loomis' perspective, the company seems to have met its goal - as of Wednesday, no test his team had performed failed.
Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

Posted 5/23/2002 by Tracy Justus
System works the bugs out
Communication radios to clear county's signals
[Source: Wisconsin Daily Tribune]

By KAREN MADDEN

Wood County officials are confident the county's new radio communications system will solve a wide range of problems.

The microwave towers were installed and the county Highway Department has used the new system since the beginning of the year. Highway Commissioner Jim Tremelling said the system, despite a few adjustments, is working well. Highway workers have had to adjust to new radio controls, but it is a large improvement from the old radios, he said. "It's taken care of a lot of the problems we've had with dead spots and skipping," Tremelling said. "That's the most important part." In March of 1999, the Central Records Committee mandated the Communications Subcommittee look at the radio problems and find solutions for them, said Communications Sgt. Mike Malooly, Sheriff's Department.

The radio system in place has problems receiving interference from other agencies on the same frequencies, with radio signals bleeding into emergency frequencies, and limited range on the portable units, he said. In addition, radio systems and cellular phones are competing for the same frequencies. To solve the problem, the subcommittee recommended these major changes to the current system: Switch from VHF to UHF frequencies; use a "trunked" radio system and use microwave technology to tie it together.

There are more UHF frequencies available than there are VHF, Malooly said. Also, in order to increase frequencies available, the Federal Communications Commission has squeezed more licensed frequencies in the same radio space. A VHF user with an old license will find ever-increasing interference on his frequency, Malooly said. A trunked system allows the most efficient use of the county's licensed frequencies, Malooly said. Information from TaitNet, the New Zealand-based communications firm working with the county, uses bank tellers to explain the trunked system. Imagine a bank where every teller has designated customers, TaitNet said. One teller may have a long waiting line while another has no customers. The customers waiting soon would become very frustrated, so it's more efficient for each customer to go to the next available teller. In the county's existing radio system, each department has its own frequency, and if it is not using its radio system, the frequency is left unused. Some frequencies are used as little as 10 percent of the time, Malooly said. A trunked system puts agencies in "talk groups," said Al Wegner, county radio engineer. When a talk group needs to communicate, the trunked system places it on the first available frequency. Radio users will not experience any difference between the old and new systems, Wegner said.

The third change, microwave connections between stations, also should be unnoticed by radio users, Malooly said. The radio towers need to be connected in some manner - phone lines, cables or different radio waves - and the county chose to use microwaves, he said.

Wegner said it will be more cost-effective. Currently, the county uses two T1 phone lines - at a cost of $12,000 each per year, to connect information systems in Wisconsin Rapids and Marshfield. For about $40,000, the county can upgrade the microwave system and it will be able to send the equivalent of six T1 lines' worth of data between the two cities. Wegner estimates the savings in phone line costs will pay for the system in a few years.

The new radio system also will expand the range of handheld portables, Malooly said. Squad cars currently need repeaters installed in order to increase the range. He said the new system should eliminate the need for costly repeaters because it was designed with the portables in mind, not the mobile units in vehicles. By planning for portable use, mobile units will not have a problem sending or receiving transmissions. The Sheriff's Department and Emergency Management are scheduled to begin changing to the new system in 2003 and 2004. The If they choose to make the switch, other county law enforcement agencies also will switch during that time. Any fire departments that want to switch are scheduled to changeover in 2004 and 2005. All other municipality departments can make the change in 2005 and 2006.

A total of $843,921 has been budgeted for the radio project, including the microwave upgrade to allow data transfer to Marshfield, said Mike Martin, county finance director.
Copyright © 2002 Gannett Wisconsin Online

Posted 3/6/2002 by Tracy Justus
EFJohnson Wins SMARTNET / SmartZone Contract in Virginia Beach

Lincoln, NE – March 5, 2002-- Transcrypt International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TRII) announced that its EFJohnson Company subsidiary recently announced a contract award by the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia. In the award, EFJohnson will supply its fully compatible SMARTNET / SmartZone 7780 portable radios to the Virginia Beach City Public Schools. The radio equipment will be used in school buses supporting 84 schools in Virginia’s most populous city. The total contract value is $444,400.

Michael E. Jalbert, Transcrypt chairman and chief executive officer, stated, “Since we introduced the SMARTNET / SmartZone product line, we have been pleased with its acceptance in the industry. This contract further confirms our position as a strong player in the SMARTNET / SmartZone arena.”

David L. Hattey, president and general manager of EFJohnson, added, “We approached Virginia Beach with a favorable solution and were able to place ourselves ahead of the competition and clinch this award. This is great news for EFJohnson.”

The EFJohnson Company (www.efjohnson.com), founded in 1923, provides wireless communications systems solutions for public safety, commercial, and government customers. The company designs, manufactures, and markets conventional and trunked radio systems, land mobile radio repeaters and mobile and portable radios, including Project 25 digital radio products. EFJohnson is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transcrypt International, Inc.

Transcrypt International, Inc. (www.transcrypt.com) designs, manufactures and markets trunked and conventional radio systems, stationary land mobile radio transmitters and receivers, including mobile and portable radios, and manufactures information security products that prevent the unauthorized interception of sensitive voice and data communication.

Certain matters discussed in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other matters, the Company’s continued development of Project 25 products and infrastructure equipment, customer demand for the Company’s products, including its digital interoperable wireless communications solutions, and the Company’s future financial performance and position. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed, suggested or implied by the forward-looking statements due to a number of risk factors including, but not limited to, the level of demand for the Company’s products and services, the timing of future product development, the actual operational expense experienced, dependence on continued funding of governmental agency programs, and other risks detailed in the Company’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 2000.

Posted 3/6/2002 by Tracy Justus
EFJohnson Gets Approval for 'Trunked' Project 25 Equipment
[Source: EF Johnson]

Lincoln, NE – February 28, 2002-- Transcrypt International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TRII) announced that its EFJohnson Company subsidiary recently released its new 5100 portable radio series to the land mobile radio (LMR) industry. The 5100 portable is the first radio product to fully support multiple protocols allowing numerous agencies the ability to communicate among themselves easily with the switch of a button.

“With the industry-wide emphasis on interoperability, the new 5100 portable provides the ability for individuals on dissimilar systems to communicate,” said Michael E. Jalbert, Transcrypt chairman and chief executive officer. “In emergency situations especially, this outlet for interoperability is essential to ensure that lives are not endangered due to a breakdown in communications.”

David L. Hattey, president and general manager of EFJohnson, added “Our project teams worked in conjunction with public safety and government users to develop a product that fulfilled their communications requirements. We are extremely proud of this fully functional, feature-rich product that we are able to present to the industry.”

The 5100 portable radio has forward and backward multiple protocol compatibility and allows communications on Project 25 CAI (Common Air Interface) trunking and conventional radio systems, SMARTNETÔ / SmartZoneŇ trunked radio systems, Multi-NetŇ trunking systems, and conventional analog radio communications systems. Other highlighted features include encrypted communications allowing Project 25 DES-OFB level secure communications and an advanced display backlighting utilizing fiber optic technology.

The EFJohnson Company (www.efjohnson.com), founded in 1923, provides wireless communications systems solutions for public safety, commercial, and government customers. The company designs, manufactures, and markets conventional and trunked radio systems, land mobile radio repeaters and mobile and portable radios, including Project 25 digital radio products. EFJohnson is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transcrypt International, Inc.

Transcrypt International, Inc. (www.transcrypt.com) designs, manufactures and markets trunked and conventional radio systems, stationary land mobile radio transmitters and receivers, including mobile and portable radios, and manufactures information security products that prevent the unauthorized interception of sensitive voice and data communication.

Certain matters discussed in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other matters, the Company’s continued development of Project 25 products and infrastructure equipment, customer demand for the Company’s products, including its digital interoperable wireless communications solutions, and the Company’s future financial performance and position. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed, suggested or implied by the forward-looking statements due to a number of risk factors including, but not limited to, the level of demand for the Company’s products and services, the timing of future product development, the actual operational expense experienced, dependence on continued funding of governmental agency programs, and other risks detailed in the Company’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 2000.

Posted 2/5/2002 by Tracy Justus
APCO Project 25 accepts proposal for P25, 2-slot TDMA
[Source: APCO]

News Release
APCO Project 25 Steering Committee
January 29, 2002

Salt Lake City, Utah

The APCO Project 25 Steering Committee announced today that they have formally accepted a proposal from EADS - Defense & Security Networks (EDSN) and Nortel Networks to create a new Project 25, 2-slot TDMA standard. This 2-slot technology will fit into a critical place in the Project 25 family of wireless, digital technology standards for public safety. EDSN is a relatively new entrant in our Project 25 standards process, yet their presence has been known for years in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TETRA process. In fact, their work in that area led to the creation of the European Publicly Available Specification (PAS) TETRAPOL.

The new proposal accepted by the Project 25 Steering Committee represents a new and exciting compatible advance in our Project 25 standards effort. EDSN and Nortel Networks have taken great pains to ensure their proposal fits the needs of the large, geographically constrained US Public Safety agencies, while proposing an extremely high level of interoperability with a fairly graceful migration path. The core of the new standards proposal is backward compatibility with Project 25 Phase I conventional and trunked systems. This new proposal has expanded and enhances an earlier work of ComNet Ericsson that was subsequently withdrawn.

The EDSN and Nortel Networks proposal will use the Phase I control channel, data format, vocoder, and system identification plans. In its completed form, it will provide backward compatibility to both a Phase I conventional and trunked network. Full interoperability and backward compatibility will be provided through the use of the Phase I Common-Air-Interface (CAI) standardized technology. The Phase I CAI technology will also be used to provide subscriber unit to subscriber unit (direct mode) Communications services in the 2-slot TDMA standards. Based on the information available today, they are predicting this direct mode service and seamless link to Project 25, Phase I technologies will operate at power levels almost equivalent to our Phase I, thereby assuring comparable coverage. Of equal importance to our users and spectrum
coordinators is the fact that the technology developed from these proposed standards will be able to operate in a reasonably spectrally pure environment, which will aid the large users in integrating this technology alongside their existing technology with a minimum of adjacent channel interference.

Mr. Don Pfohl, Steering Committee Member and Director of Communications for the City of Mesa, Arizona, expressed his pleasure with EDSN and Nortel Networks effort to embody all the Project 25 Steering Committee's past and current needs within the confines of their proposal. "With the technology that is created from this proposal, I will be able to ensure my users there is a future migration path from Phase I FDMA to Phase II FDMA or TDMA without having to do a system-wide flash cut." In supporting this proposal, the Project 25 Steering Committee emphasized how important interoperability was to our decision and how important we view the extensive work EDSN and Nortel Networks have done to date. Mr. Art McDole, Co-chair, Project 25, said, "It is evident by the inclusion of the Phase I CAI, the Phase I control channel, channel data format,
vocoder, and the high level of backward compatibility EDSN and Nortel Networks is proposing, that they have collectively made every effort to comply with our
needs as articulated in the Project 25 Statement of Requirements and subsequent documents provided them."

The Project 25 Steering Committee remains confident that Nortel Networks, EDSN, and our partners in TIA will be able to bring a 2-slot TDMA member of the family of Project 25 standards to completion within a few short years. While the creation of the formal standards is highly dependent on consensus, EDSN and Nortel Networks have exhibited their willingness to find it. While we acknowledge these companies' other defacto standard products currently in the field will be competing in some ways with both ETSI - TETRA and the Project 25 Phase I standardized technology, we do not believe that competition will have a dilatory effect on either the sales of Project 25 Phase I technology or our success in creating a 2-slot TDMA standard with our partners in the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).