Radio Communication Makes A Comeback
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday July 26, 1995
"BREAKER-breaker" and "plain wrapper" were cult words of the 1970s, along with hit songs such as Convoy. They came out of the cult of CB radio, which spawned its own huge retail and publishing industry, along with a unique language. It helped truckers dodge police speed traps, saved lives in the outback and was the godfather of today's courier systems.
Somehow, CB radio today seems much more romantic than a mobile phone. It was like a 1970s version of Internet. You could talk to strangers about all kinds of things yet retain your anonymity. First Ultra High-Frequency (UHF) then satellites changed all that, and now the modern pestilence of the mobile phone has banished CB radio to the nursing homes where crystal sets and walkie-talkies now live. Well, almost. CB is still useful in the outback and small towns.
Now Telstra has found an extension for the cellular phone system that is scheduled to be phased out in favour of digital around 2000 - although there is growing pressure to reverse this intention. Telstra has invested heavily in a new mobile radio-cum-cellular system it calls Fleetcoms, even to the point of trademarking the name.
Telstra describes it as "one of Australia's most advanced systems of radio communications for companies with a mobile workforce". It makes CB look a little geriatric when you realise it offers voice, data and telemetry transmissions.
It's a system able to guarantee that a channel is available for every transmission automatically. It is based on networks of base transmitting and receiving stations controlled by a central computer, with the system automatically transferring the channel as you pass into a new zone. It also has the ability to be networked into the cellular phone system.
Telstra Fleetcoms charges a fixed monthly fee, then all calls within the network are free, including calls to a company's PABX extensions. Another benefit is that because it is not a mobile phone system, it doesn't demand specific equipment. Because it operates on the globally preferred MPT1327 "open" system, you can use any brand of hand-held microphone, cordless hand-held, or master control unit.
Existing UHF and VHF radio can be reprogrammed to access the Fleetcoms service, providing it is within the "footprint" of the transmitting/receiving stations.
Fleetcoms users can do conference calls on the net, send data between computers, put messages on a screen on a mobile unit in a vehicle, and allow individuals to talk to each other privately. It provides priority calling and emergency "queue-jumping" access, as well as call diversion.
Data modems mean you can plug a laptop computer into the mobile to send back to base and, with a printer, produce hard copy of material sent down the line from head office. Real-time data can be downloaded to a centralised processor at baud rates of 1,200 or 2,400.
One big national convert is Radio Rentals, which runs about 120 vehicles across the country. The national service manager of parent company Thorn EMI, Tim Mullaly, says: "Previously our two-way radio system was a private one that allowed only one department to talk to one driver at a time. (Now) we can have multiple conversations on multiple channels and all are private. There is no queueing and our control panel can talk to more than one vehicle at once."
Rubber ducky, that's a big 10-4.
© 1995 Sydney Morning Herald