Large US city solves radio coverage issues to safeguard firefighters

The fire department in a large American city had experienced radio coverage issues which potentially put their fire fighters at great risk. The department relies on a radio system with more than 50 antenna sites, and they were unable to determine the origin of the problem.
Coverage issues are common in public safety radio systems, and often, it cannot be discerned whether the problem stems from a faulty radio, antenna, or filter.

The fire department installed Combilent’s monitor solution on all transmit and receive line antennas. This unique solution allows the fire department to monitor if radios are keyed when commanded to. Monitoring data is delivered in real-time and logged in a monitoring platform diagnosing any potential issues by analysing monitoring data trends.

With the monitors in place, the fire department can detect and separate antenna faults from radio- and filter faults fast, bringing several benefits:

Better coverage for enhanced safety
By continuously monitoring their radio system and being able to pinpoint issues fast, the fire department can now resolve problems quickly. This ensures continous, uniterrupted radio coverage, and ultimately, the safety of the city’s firefighters.

Minimized maintenance costs and downtime
Combilent monitors significantly reduce the need for manual inspections and catch potential issues without that the human eye may not find.

Enhanced control and reduced third-party reliance
The output from Combilent monitors is translated into useful information in real-time. This allows the fire department to predict issues and plan repairs and replacements – without relying on regular manual inspections.