Top 3 Trends of Radio in 2013

With 2013 finally upon us, it is time to move forward with regard to radio. Last year lead to one of the largest years radio dealers have seen in 20 years, mainly due to the Federal Communications Commission's mandate for Narrowbanding all radio channels below 512 MHz. Narrowbanding created scheduling conflicts and made things hectic for those involved, but overall, it allowed us to revisit with all of our customers. Some abided by the mandate, took the proper steps and have completed narrowbanding. Some have not.  In addition to that, changes occurred with the D Block legislation that left the 470 MHz users on a freeze and rumors of a private LTE network for public safety left many questions unanswered as well. Looking ahead though, the future of two way radio remains to look bright, and here are 3 trends you’re sure to see this year.

ChiComm Introduces Customer Care Expert, Millie Watt

    You may remember when we introduced ChiComm’s FREQ (pronounced "Freek") Squad. Their purpose is to give you helpful hints and tell you about the latest happenings for all things in wireless communications, from the latest model of a portable radio to assisting in customer care. Each FREQ Squad member has their own specialization, and so far we’ve heard from Barry Broadband about wireless broadband, Ann Tenna about in-building coverage and Tommy Two Way about digital radio. But possibly the most important part of all these topics is the service and care behind each of those topics. That’s where our new customer advocate, Mille Watt, comes in. Millie is full of bright ideas! She takes special care of customers, so count on her for generating intelligent guidance wherever protection and preventive maintenance topics are present. She’s your go-to expert for any concerns you may have related to warranty, contracts, and protection programs.

As always, we are grateful for each and every one of our customers and employees. We are thankful for all of the opportunities we received this year to partner on many significant projects. We encountered some big challenges but all the people at ChiComm stepped up in a short time frame and addressed these challenges head on. It's thanks to our employees that we are able to continually accommodate our customer's needs and meet their expectations.

     Lester started at ChiComm in October of 1983, and upon his retirement next week he'll have put in just over 29 years here. He has primarily been a mobile installer for ChiComm but he’s done a little bit of everything throughout his years here (base installs, microphone repairs, squad builds, responding to service calls). At the time he started the cellular business was booming in full swing so he jumped right in to learning how to install mobile cellular units in cars. Besides the skills he learned from some electronic courses he learned everything he knows on the job.   His job description includes: installing a wide range of equipment in vehicles and repairing equipment when necessary, whether in the shop or on location at a customer site. A majority of the jobs he's worked on have been for government agencies, including dozens and dozens of squad cars and undercover vehicles. He has been working on vehicle solutions for as many years as he can remember.      

ET Phone Home: Smartphones and Crime prevention (Guest Author)

One of the downsides of any form of new technology is that it is inevitably expensive and attractive to thieves. Over the years, burglars have focused on Video Recorders, DVD players, and, now, Flatscreen TVs. Car thieves have moved from car radios via CD players onto SatNavs, although even those are no longer of sufficient value to interest most opportunists.

In the same way, the advent of mobile phones has been responsible for a sharp increase in the number of muggings, mainly with young people as both perpetrators and victims. This particular crime wave has been revitalized over the last couple of years by the launch of expensive smartphones such as the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, etc. These, along with Tablet computers, retain very high re-sale value and are therefore very robber-friendly.

The Allerton Hotel has been around since 1924, boasting many impressive credentials including its classification as a historic landmark of Chicago and its unique Northern Italian Renaissance architecture. It has a rich history of being one of the city’s most exciting social hot spots, and was originally operated as a club hotel for men. The 26 story historic building consists of 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space in addition to its 443 guest rooms, all of which is made operational by the hotels' 225 employees.

    At any given time there’s about 40 employees using portable radios across the Engineering, Security, Housekeeping, Room Service and Banquet/Event departments. In the hospitality industry, meeting guest's expectations is crucial, so timing and coordination are essential to achieving rapid response times. Communicating instantly and efficiently amongst your staff is critical to providing excellent service and customer satisfaction. Whether it’s getting a guest extra towels to the room or responding to an electrical issue on the roof, the operator stationed at the base station relays the message and dispatches the respective department to respond right away. Two way radios expedite guests’ requests in a timely manner and keep the operations running smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

"Can You Hear Me Now?"--Dead Spots Are Still A Problem Indoors

      There’s no doubt about it: the future of communicating will rely on wireless technology. Smartphones have become a necessity and their users expect the ability to stream video, e-mail, text and download everywhere they go. In fact, according to a recent Ball State Institute for Mobile Media Research study, 99.8% of all college students use some kind of mobile device or cell phone on campus, making colleges one of the most wireless communities in the United States. And while commercial carriers boast the ‘most coverage’ and the ‘largest networks’—their claims often aren’t providing reliable coverage inside buildings. For large buildings, venues and campuses, distributed antenna systems are the widely used platform in improving wireless coverage.     

Thanksgiving has grown near once again and what better way to celebrate the holiday than joining friends and family to support a good cause, right?! For the past 28 years the Dan Gibbon's Turkey Trot has strived to do just that, donating all of its proceeds to benefit organizations operating in and feeding those, in DuPage County. Last year's race hosted more than 7,600 attendees at the event, putting the predicted expectancy for this year over 8,000 people! The event has seen enormous growth each year since the 74 runners that participated in the very first 5k race. 

 As veteran's day approaches we'd like to take the time to pause and thank our Veterans! Let's salute and honor those for being American soldiers, Marines, and sailors, and Coast Guard members, and National Guard members — all those who have served and currently still serve our country—for we deeply appreciate the sacrifices they have made in serving to keep our freedom intact.

      One major point to keep in mind before we dive into LTE (Long Term Evolution) & LMR (Land Mobile Radio) is that it will be many years, maybe even a decade before the transition is made and convergence plans are rolled out completely. There are understandably many concerns about the latest technologies being introduced, ranging from costs to planning to integration—and there is not a simple answer to these concerns. The convergence options made possible will have a lot of different benefits for a lot of different users that will depend on the users in each community. Therefore every agency will have its own set of possible solutions. One thing we can all agree on though is the rise of expectations for first responders and the increasing demand for the tools that make it easier for public safety personnel to do their jobs. Now let's take a step back and break down the complex capabilities of both LTE & LMR.