Chicomm Blog

When businesses, communities, or organizations begin looking into improving their connectivity and communication, one of the first solutions they turn to is wireless networking, and for good reason. Wireless networking is essentially when a computer-based network uses wireless data connections for connecting network nodes. It is an effective alternative to traditional wired networks and carries multiple benefits, including:

• Resolving connectivity issues where fiber or copper cannot go
• Eliminating recurring fees charged by phone companies
• Giving you easy access to critical information at the point of work
• Providing reliable network connections that minimize downtime and improve productivity
• Extending your secure network to a wider area of coverage

Are you wondering how a communications solution can help your organization? Many people across many industries are looking into adopting a communications solution to help them stay safe, become more efficient, and reduce costs. Here are the ways radio and network communications solutions can benefit you and your industry.

Education

School buildings and campuses become safe and efficient when the staff can communicate effectively. Creating an environment where students are always safe and can focus on learning is the core objective for schools around the country. In order to do this, schools need to adopt a comprehensive communications strategy that includes radio, network, security, and video solutions.

Over the past decade, both commercial and residential areas have been transforming the ways in which they communicate. For example, did you know that 80% of residential homes have moved away from landline telephone connections? People have been quick to adapt to new innovations in technology in terms of how they communicate at home, but not everyone has been as quick when it comes to businesses. Many organizations still operate through copper phone lines, even though more efficient and capable technologies exist. Communication is the most important thing that a business can do, and by not updating the ways in which they communicate, they can fall behind and end up facing communication issues in the long run.

As businesses are increasingly looking to IT departments to improve productivity and control costs, they are recognizing the many advantages of utilizing high-capacity wireless links to replace fiber or aging copper-based leased lines, both in terms of cost and network performance. Put simply, companies can (and should) use wireless links to provide fiber-like performance at a significant savings in costs as compared to copper leased lines.

We all share a common problem at one point or another. Poor radio coverage! Whether Cell Phone, Two-Way Radio, Wi-Fi or Wireless Data, RF (Radio Frequency) Wireless signals for the most part have the same characteristics for signal propagation. Different frequencies penetrate buildings and structures in a manner that signal loss will occur. This means you have good coverage outside, but you may have marginal coverage inside. You have marginal coverage outside, but you may have no coverage inside.

Building structures are made up of many different materials that either absorb RF or reflect RF. Either way a signal in the center of the building never seems to make it to you. You need to stand by the window in order to use your device.

Today’s solutions for signal loss in buildings or structures are far more advanced and lend itself to a seamless transition.

Let’s go through the acronyms:

DAS – Distributed Antenna System, a network of radio frequency cables or fiber optic cables with antenna terminations throughout a building or structure.

Dress Up. Cause Chaos. Do Good.

CHIditarod is Chicago's Urban Shopping Cart Race, Food Drive, Costume Contest, Fund Raiser and all around Good Time. It is also one of the largest mobile food drives. The event gets it's name CHIditarod, from the Alaskan Iditarod. The date of the event was chosen to coincide with the kickoff of the Iditarod.  The annual event is in it's 10th year and takes place in the Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village Chicago neighborhoods. There are some basic similarities between the races, but the Chiditarod is more focused on fun then coming in first.  Instead of sleds, they use shopping carts, and instead of dogs, they have teams of five people: four pullers and one musher. Also, each team is required to start with 60 lbs of food in their cart for donation.

Chicago Communications, LLC sponsors many different types of events throughout the year. We sponsor runs, festivals, trade show venues, picnics, and believe it or not, snowmobile racing. Yes, snowmobile racing, also known as Snocross.

What is Snocross? Snocross is a sport involving racing specialized high performance snowmobiles on natural or artificially-made tracks consisting of tight turns, banked corners, steep jumps and obstacles. Riders race at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. Now you might be wondering ….. do they actually race in Illinois? While there are tracks all over the country – New York, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan -- the southern-most snocross track in the country is, yes, located in Illinois – Wauconda, Illinois to be exact. Races take place pretty much every weekend from December to March, and as you might expect to coordinate practices and race days takes a village. It also requires two-way radios.

Well, it’s hard to believe but the holiday shopping season has begun. How do I know? As luck would have it I spent one of my days this past weekend at the mall with my daughter. The mall was absolutely packed. It was wall-to-wall people and wall-to-wall parking. Here I thought I was getting a jump on my holiday shopping by going before Thanksgiving, but apparently everyone else had the same idea.

This veteran's day 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.