TETRA  |  2011-09-22

Sepura radios perform at major festivals in Germany

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

Sepura’s German partner Selectric delivered the on-site installation and user training in a record time of less than three hours

The smooth running of large-scale events presents considerable and diverse challenges in a variety of arenas: from communication and health and safety to security and crowd management. The large crowds attending festivals and concerts around the world every year are often unaware of the seamless coordination required to ensure the successful and safe running of such events.

The Bavarian Red Cross (BRK), in charge of health and safety at two major summer festivals in Bavaria, experienced first-hand the outstanding performance of Sepura TETRA radios.
 
The Sonnenrot festival which took place in the Bavarian town of Eching on the 15th and 16th July saw the first successful field trial of Sepura TETRA radios in Bavaria. Sepura radios were deployed to BRK volunteers responsible for health and safety. Sepura’s German partner Selectric delivered the on-site installation and user training in a record time of less than three hours.
 
Martin Bengler, project manager for the BRK commented: “Our users were extremely impressed with Sepura radios. The hand-portables’ outstanding audio quality enabled clear communication as it filtered out any background noise and the loud music from the twenty three bands performing at the festival over two days.  In addition, the fast call set up time and the ease with which Talk Groups can be created and changed enabled smooth and efficient operations”.
 
Kronach Schutzenfest
More than 300,000 visitors gathered in an area of 12,000 square metres for the Kronach Schutzenfest from the 11th to the 21st August 2011.
 
“Our users were so impressed with the digital radios that they didn’t want to part with them!” said Ralf Schmidt, responsible for volunteers’ management and coordination for the BRK.
 
Andreas Kristek, BRK Rescue Services Deputy Manager commented: “Sepura radios’ audio quality was dramatically better than that of our old analogue radios. For instance, Talk Groups prevented any miscommunication. In particular, Dynamic Talk Groups proved to be a very useful function at events like this where groups often need to be created and modified.” Kristek added: “In addition, the radios’ emergency button was vital in incidents dealt with by single rescuers who were able to have both hands free while communicating. Although security is not strictly our area of responsibility, knowing that communication was secure at all times gave us great confidence and peace of mind”.
 
Wolfgang Liegl from Selectric said: “Historically each one of the six Bavarian Public Safety organisations - including the Regional and National Police, Fire, Red Cross Rescue Services, Recovery and Customs - communicated using their own specific analogue network. The Bavarian TETRA network, by replacing the six existing infrastructures, will enable more efficient and reliable inter-agency communication and a better service for the public.”
 
Kasper Barfoed Regional Director for Sepura added: “Positive feedback from users is the best endorsement and testimonial for any product in any market. Such encouraging comments validate the decision made in 2009 by the Bavarian federal government to deploy Sepura TETRA radios for its public safety organisations and demonstrate further confidence in the Sepura-Selectric partnership.”  Barfoed concluded: “We cannot forget to mention that for the third year running Sepura radios are in use at the world-renowned Oktoberfest in Munich, which runs from the 17th September to the 3rd October 2011”.

Source: www.sepura.com