Backhaul: the industry 25 and 10 years ago (September 2018)

25 YEARS AGO. The cover of the October/November 1993 issue of What’s New in Radio Communications featured the Motorola Communications Visar portable two-way radio, at the time the smallest two-way the company had ever released. Inside the magazine we reported on AEC deploying its Hybrid and In-House+ networked, simulcast, wide-area paging system across a hospital in western Sydney (claimed to be the world’s most advanced networked paging system). Dr Peter Reitberger and Thomas Rieder of Rohde & Schwarz explained their company’s approach to reducing adjacent-channel interference in mobile radio systems. We also reported on efforts of the Radio Communications Consultative Council and the Spectrum Management Agency to study Spectrum Licensing and interference issues. “They could find no easy way of defining a spectrum licence which would ensure that communications would be interference free and at the same time allow the holder of the spectrum licence the freedom to use it for a variety of different services as was envisioned by the advocates of spectrum marketing,” we wrote.

10 YEARS AGO. The cover of the September/October 2008 issue of Radio Comms Asia-Pacific featured the Wireless Pacific RDX Pico rapid deployment repeater, which came in three models — Lite, Pro and P25. Elsewhere in the magazine, we reported on Tait Electronics becoming the first radio manufacturer to become an accredited ARCIA member (Vertel, Tetracom, AA Radio and Mastercom were already members). The ACMA had released a draft of its new Australian Radio Frequency Spectrum plan, which proposed changes to provide new spectrum opportunities for international mobile telecommunications, space research activities, radioastronomy, mobile-satellite services and harmonisation between space and future terrestrial services. We also published ARCIA’s recommendations in response to ACMA’s proposed changes to the 403–520 MHz band. Among them were a ‘use it or lose it’ approach to apparatus and spectrum licences; spectrum changes should be ‘technology agnostic’; and consideration should be given to 6.25 kHz channel spacing instead of sticking with 12.5 kHz.

Pictured: The RDX Pico rapid deployment repeater.

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