We program and reprogram a great deal of hire radios in our
workshop, and the traditional process involves attaching a programming lead to
a radio and sending the files to update the radio. This process has become a
great deal faster using Motorola’s RM2 programming system, which means that
radios automatically program when connected, but it still involves attaching
and removing a cable. So in practical terms each radio probably takes a minute
to program, and you can only do one at a time.
The game changer is ‘Subscriber Wi-Fi’ in the new E series
radios.
Once configured you can program 15 radios at once, without
attaching a lead.
Here’s a screenshot of the Remote Device Monitor (a part of
RM2).
This shows 6 radios DP3441e and DP4801e being programmed
simultaneously. As you can see the radios don’t reveal much of what is happening, but you hear just a
few small bleeps from the DP3441e’s and bleeps and a display message or two
from the DP4801e radios.
It’s a faster operation than USB2 - there is no programming
leads involved. It’s also hugely faster than OTAP (Over The Air
Programming) which works via a radio channel on an operational system.
I cannot wait to try a firmware upgrade in these radios –
it’s a process we normally hate at work as it is lengthy and time consuming, especially
with so many handsets and it usually needs doing twice a year as Motorola
release firmware upgrades. Inevitably this process is staggered as we never
have all of our radios back at any one time!
The time savings in our workshop has justified us investing
in a very large fleet of Motorola’s new DP3661e radio with subscriber Wi-Fi
licences, and has made us to decide than any radios that we now purchase for
the hire fleet must have Wi-Fi capability going forward.
