Backhaul, November 2013: the industry 25 and 10 years ago

Welcome to Backhaul, where in each issue of Critical Comms we'll take a trip down memory lane and look at the state of the industry 25 and 10 years ago.

25 years. Twenty-five years ago, Critical Comms began life as What's New in Radio Communications, with the first issue published in Aug/Sep 1988. Rohde & Schwarz signal generators featured on the cover and stories inside included: a profile of UHF communications at the Mt Hammersley mine in Western Australia; the emerging field of packet radio; the introduction of five-tone sequential signalling for the Wyong Shire Bush Fire Brigade in NSW; and making the case for radio in the fight against satellite and fibre-optic comms.

Looking over the new product announcements in that issue, cellular telephones were beginning to make an impact, CB radio was popular (this was the '80s, remember!) and RFID (or RF Auto ID as it was then known) was on the cusp of explosive growth.

10 years. Exactly 10 years ago, What's New in Radio Communications changed its name and became Radio Comms Asia-Pacific with the Nov/Dec 2003 issue. Tait was on the cover with new base stations and handhelds. This issue seems to have had a bit of a focus on HF, with a case study on HF radio telephones (Radtel) and a story on the use of HF by NGOs and peacekeepers in hotspots around the world. There was also an article on the Mid Murray Council in South Australia, which had decided to install its own radio and microwave network.

It's amazing to see how things had changed between 1988 and 2003 - we were now dealing with email, the World Wide Web, Windows systems, IP, VoIP, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and digital communications in general. Spectrum analysers had shrunk to become handhelds, wireless hands-free kits were all the rage and PCs had become mobile devices