Backhaul, June 2015: the industry 25 and 10 years ago

Backhaul takes you on a trip down memory lane as we look at what was happening in the critical communications field 25 and 10 years ago.

25 YEARS AGO. The cover of the June/July 1990 issue of What's New in Radio Communications featured a system from Motorola's National Parts Division, comprising MasterTech R-4000A operating software and circuit analyser hardware, complete with an IBM-compatible PC. Inside the issue, John McKendry from Philips Radio Communications Systems looked at the state of PMR and whether it would survive the challenge of paging, trunked radio, CB and mobile data. His conclusion was that PMR would see moderate growth rates and still be alive in the year 2000. There was also an article from Andrew Mowat (Expertech) detailing error-handling schemes in radio data communications, and a preview of the 1990 Professional & Commercial Radio Communications Product Show - a forerunner of Comms Connect - to be held at the Old South Melbourne Football Ground.

10 YEARS AGO. The Rohde & Schwarz FSH 6 GHZ handheld spectrum analyser featured on the cover of the May/June 2005 issue of Radio Comms Asia-Pacific. Inside, in a reflection of the post-9/11 world, the issue dealt with the lack of interoperability between emergency services organisations. In the US a new thing called P25 was making waves, while here at home, then NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione declared that “radio interoperability is a primary concern across the country", adding that radios are “sitting on a shelf, ready to go, but there is no guarantee that they will work if communication is needed across other radio networks". He also took a swipe at manufacturers, saying, “We rely very heavily on encrypted communications. Even if they were working to an industry standard such as APCO 25, if we do not have the algorithms in each radio we cannot talk."