Radio - Great reception at Bridgewater Hall

Conducting a two-way radio network upgrade has seen Pennine Telecom orchestrate a great reception at the spectacular Bridgewater Hall.

New Motorola MOTOTRBO digital radios are turning in a star performance, returning cost benefits, providing greatly extended battery life and improving coverage throughout Manchester’s iconic concert venue.

Bridgewater Hall’s Technical Manager Jonathan Rowlands explains why they replaced their two way radio system with 24 MOTOTRBO DP3400 radios and a DR3000 repeater: “We had analogue Motorola radios which were over ten years old, battered and unreliable. We had radio coverage blackspots in some areas of the building and the batteries weren’t even holding their charge for a full shift which in itself was causing problems.”

Faced with a tight budget he initially thought that the Hall couldn’t afford new digital kit which ideally would resolve the issues. “I believed a new digital radio system would cost so much more than it does and that money would be better spent repairing and maintaining our old handsets and replacing the batteries. But when I looked into this further we’d have ended up spending a lot more money over the long term.”

Mr. Rowland was also acutely aware and appreciative of the benefits going digital would and did bring. “The reception and coverage is definitely better and we don’t lose any calls which sometimes happened with the old radios. With the analogue system we wouldn’t get the coverage we needed in extreme areas like the basement and the signal dropped out. Pennine addressed the coverage problem by installing a base station in the roof.”

The old battery headaches were more than eliminated, with a decision to opt for the Motorola IMPRES Smart Energy System paying dividends. This maximises talk time and optimises battery life by reconditioning batteries according to their actual usage and resulted in dramatic improvement in performance. “I was told that they would be more energy efficient but I didn’t expect we would get this much usage out of them,” concedes Mr. Rowlands. “They’re lasting a good shift and a half now with a radio often used by one member of staff until four o’clock and then by another for the rest of the day. Sometimes they can be used from seven in the morning through to midnight.”

The DP3400’s 32 channels also sharply contrast with the old system’s meagre two channel capacity. “It gives us options that we didn’t have with the old system. Some departments can separate out and go on other channels if necessary.” That’s useful in a venue whose smooth running is dependent upon having access to instant and reliable communication.  The radios are used by the technical, facilities, corporate, programming, bars and catering teams and reception staff and allow the teams to communicate within their own group as well as having access to the other teams as and when needed. 

Switch-over also went smoothly. “It was all very simple and straightforward. Pennine’s engineers came in and set it up in a morning with minimal disruption which was great,” concludes Mr. Rowland.