Motorola R7 (No Keypad)

Two Way Radio GPS

Know where your team are, all of the time!

GPS (global positioning system) is a mechanism which a device can use a number of in-range satellites to triangulate it's position and transmit that position back to the repeater or base station. This enables the supervisor to more effectively manage team members by knowing their current location.

For more information on GPS, download this Motorola GPS information sheet.

GPS is designed for outdoor tracking. See "Indoor tracking" for indoor solutions.

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

TDMA is a technology that allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. With DMR this is two time slots to every 12.5KHz frequency channel allocation.

Before DMR every 12.5KHz frequency allocation could carry just one broadcast of RF traffic. Now with DMR 12.5KHz bandwidth allows two voice channels.

See the video for an explanation on how this works.

Two Way Radio Transmit Interrupt

Transmit interrupt ensures that critical message gets through.

Transmit interrupt allows for a priority message to be sent to all radios within your network. Interrupting all ongoing conversations, this feature is commonly used in emergency situations or as a way to offer new instructions to workers.

When purchasing two way radios you can choose to only have this feature programmed to radios that will be used by senior members of staff. This minimizes the potential for it to be abused by workers, meaning that should it ever need to be used all members of staff will be aware of its importance.

Digital Basic Privacy

Digital Basic Privacy ensures that any communications made using your two way radios are protected against the potential for eavesdropping. Although this level of protection is very basic it still offers a degree of protection against your communications being listened in on by unwelcome parties.

Basic Privacy uses a fixed key which is set when the radio is programmed. There are 255 potential keys to be chosen from, this meaning that this is still a fairly simple privacy option for your devices. In order for an eavesdropper to listen in to your conversations they would require your exact frequencies, whilst also knowing the exact key that you have used for privacy.

The main reason for purchasing licensed two way radios is the privacy that they offer over license exempt devices. When communicating in work environments where there is the potential for sensitive information to be passed over the airwaves, having at least a basic level of privacy ensures that due diligence has been taken to keep work communications in house.

Lone Worker

Lone Worker is a feature found on many two way radios where it's able to send a pre-determined signal, for example a distress call or alarm, to other radios in range, Lone Worker requires some type of interaction from the radio user after a period of radio inactivity.

An example of this is the radio can be set to require the radio operator to interact with his or her radio once every 30 minutes. If they fail to do so, their radio will start making an audible sound. If there is still no interaction with his or her radio within 1 further minute, a alarm will sound to other team members to tell them a team member is not responding to Lone Worker.

The supervisor can then dispatch another team member to the non-response team member's last known location to offer assistance.