Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, FL, USA

CBJTC’s radio network, which supported range control, combat simulation training and base administrative operations, had been built over several years when budgets permitted. The system was unreliable, did not provide coverage over the entire training area, and had no single point of contact for repairs or service when total failures occurred. The portable and mobile radios were also not rugged enough for outdoor military operations and required replacement repeatedly.

Tait, together with channel partner On Site Communications, deployed one P25 channel at a time on the Camp’s three RF tower sites. The Guard improved their tower connectivity by replacing 15 year old microwave radios with fiber and then hardened their tower sites. In the next phase the second year, Tait added an APCO P25 Digital Fixed Station (DFSI) Ethernet connected Omnitronics dispatch command system and Eventide logging recorder. The aviation radio was connected to the console system which allowed range control to patch them directly to range control as needed.

The system is now at three VHF P25 conventional channels, providing coverage across the training area and for many miles off-base in all directions. Additional users easily join the network each year, and the system has reliably met the Guard’s training mission for over five years.