Codan Radio Transportable Radio Systems User Guide - Manual (Page 14)

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3.3.2 Forward Observer/Sniper Communications
During fi eld trials of the Transportable Repeaters that Codan has developed, an alternative application was also
found to have been met by the tactical repeater. Various law enforcement agencies and their personnel are routinely
called upon to act as forward observers lying prone, similar to a sniper. For these applications the requirements are
similar to the undercover operation; however a longer talk time is required on the order of 5 hours. Even with a regu-
lar portable, the coverage range offered is very poor since the observer (and the radio) is lying prone on the ground,
putting the antenna on the radio in the least optimal orientation for signal coverage. Thus the repeater is needed to
provide improved coverage between the observer and the support teams.
In this particular application the duty cycle is quite low (5% talk, 5% listen, 90% idle). However all other requirements for
the repeater remain the same – “D” cell batteries, compact, rugged, small, easy to carry and importantly still P25 en-
crypted. The “D” cell transportable repeater described above was able to meet this requirement without further modi-
fi cations since the low current consumption of the radio supported an operational battery life of more then 12 hours.
3.3.3 Diplomatic Security
The security protection of senior government offi cials as well as diplomats, and the coordination of their support
teams require transportable radio repeaters that can go wherever the offi cials and diplomats travel.
A Transportable Radio system that is easy to deploy, compact, self contained and possibly secure with encryption
would meet the obvious requirements of this application. Depending on the entourage of support staff and size
of the security detail, a large radio system may be required rather then just a single channel. In these instances a
transportable trunked radio system may be needed to offer suffi cient capacity for all the radio users. Trunked radio
systems are specifi cally designed to offer large call capacities since they support multiple simultaneous calls. For
example a 5 channel trunked system in a public safety environment could support several hundred portable
and mobile radio users.
Transportable Trunked radio systems are a challenge since they are more complex than single frequency conventional
radio repeaters. This means more equipment, higher power consumption, heavier equipment and complex duplexers
to combine the many frequencies onto a single antenna system. All of these requirements are challenging but
not impossible. Shown below to the right for example, is a 5 channel transportable P25 trunked radio system that
can be moved around in a small van or helicopter. This same system can also be packaged in smaller stackable trans-
portable cases (shown below left) to enable it to be transported in any vehicle and then carried and set up by a
single radio technician.
An added consideration for this type of application is whether the equipment will be used internationally and
if so will it be transported by the diplomatic community. If the transportable cases are orange in colour they
can be considered to be diplomatic pouches and thus can bypass international customs inspection like the rest
of a diplomat’s baggage. Packaging the radio equipment in orange cases simplifi es its transportability
internationally for diplomats.
Polyethylene Case
Polyethylene Rack
Mount Case