Lowestoft: Unique radio makes waves
FIREFIGHTERS in England and Wales have been trialling a Lowestoft company's unique radio product.Fern Communications, which is based on the Pinbush industrial estate in Lowestoft, has been testing its FRX-1 radio repeater with the South Wales and the Bedfordshire and Luton fire and rescue services with the hope of improving the safety of firefighters working in dangerous or confined spaces.
FIREFIGHTERS in England and Wales have been trialling a Lowestoft company's unique radio product.
Fern Communications, which is based on the Pinbush industrial estate in Lowestoft, has been testing its FRX-1 radio repeater with the South Wales and the Bedfordshire and Luton fire and rescue services with the hope of improving the safety of firefighters working in dangerous or confined spaces.
The repeater was tested in a railway tunnel in Bedfordshire. By directing the radio signal around solid structures to avoid black spots, radio signal was maintained up a distance of 1,100m.
A second test was carried out in an underground air raid shelter made of reinforced concrete. Using the FRX-1, crew manager John Cox was able to make five 90-degree turns and travel nearly 80m away from another radio before losing contact.
Mr Cox said: 'The air raid shelter trial demonstrated that the FRX-1 not only has the ability to extend the reach of a signal but that it can 'bend' the signal around the labyrinth of twists and turns you are faced with during a rescue, so you can communicate through solid structures.
'Our ability to communicate with each other, regardless of the environment, means we can save more lives and be that much safer in the process.'
Most Read
- 1 Coastal wreckage scuba diving club searching for new members
- 2 Woman shot by pellet gun when leaving Lowestoft shop
- 3 'Don't suffer in silence': Support on offer as UK heads for inflation spike
- 4 Seven places to get a fry-up in Lowestoft
- 5 Lowestoft man battling back after prostate cancer diagnosis
- 6 Have you got any memories of the James Paget hospital when it opened?
- 7 East Anglia’s ports tap into fast-growing domestic cruise market
- 8 Mum 'ecstatic' as SEND placement finally found for son with complex needs
- 9 Can you spot yourself in these Lowestoft school photos through the years?
- 10 Coastal town residents urged to vote on future regeneration plan
The South Wales service also recently conducted a four-week trial, during which the radio repeater was used with radio headsets in underground corridors in Cardiff bay.
