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Moving premises always creates a lot of upheaval and no shortage of headaches for any kind of organisation. And when you are running a wireless comms system to coordinate your operations, you have to think about how you are going to shift the network infrastructure, too.
That’s the conundrum Associated British Ports (ABP) faced when they decided to move their offices at the Port of Ipswich from one side of the site to the other. Staff at the port, which handles two million tonnes of cargo a year and is the UK’s biggest grain exporting hub, use two way radios to communicate with one another as they go about their day-to-day work.
What the port’s management team needed to do was relocate the base station which runs this two way radio network. So they turned to Brentwood for help.
Our view was that the base station they already had installed at the former offices was out of date anyway so, given the likelihood of the company needing an upgrade in the near future, it made sense for them to do this now. However, we understood their concerns over controlling costs, so we looked at minimise the need for additional ancillary equipment to provide coverage over the full site.
Value and performance
Our recommendation was to install an ICOM IC-F6022 at the new offices.
The IC-F6022 is actually a vehicle radio by design, but when paired with a power supply it performs more than adequately as a desktop base station. Our reason for recommending this model was that it seemed to offer the optimum balance of value and performance.
With 128 channels available, the IC-F6022 offered more than adequate capacity to connect to all on-site radios. It includes straightforward mode and channel scanning options, and useful fleet management features such as remote kill and stun (locking out lost or stolen handsets) and lone worker monitoring.
Thanks to the impressive range of the IC-F6022 – a feature of many vehicle radios – one of the things we were able to do to help keep a lid on costs was avoid the need for extra repeater units to boost signal.
Instead, we connected the base station to End-Fed Antennas fixed to the outside of the new office building, which was able to give good enough coverage to connect to two-way radios right across the site.
With more than 40 years’ experience to draw on, Brentwood specialises in wireless communications solutions across the full spectrum of industry verticals. To find out how we can help your business and its people stay connected, get in touch today on 01245 403520.