EFJohnson Technologies is a two-way radio manufacturer founded by its namesake, Edgar. F. Johnson, in Waseca, Minnesota, United States in 1923. [1] Today it is a wholly owned subsidiary of JVC Kenwood Corporation of Yokohama, Japan.
EFJohnson Technologies offers a wide range of equipment for use by law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and military. Products include Project 25 systems, portable/mobile two-way radios, and radio encryption products.
The company began as a mail order business, selling radio transmitting parts to amateurs and early radio broadcasters and was active in World War II defense production. After the war, the company introduced its Viking line of amateur transmitters, among them, the Viking, Valiant, Ranger and Pacemaker. The company transitioned to development and manufacturing of land-mobile radio products such as CB, business radio and associated technology such as the Logic Trunked Radio trunking format. EFJohnson's discontinued Viking line of amateur radio transmitter products are collected, restored, and operated by a number of vintage amateur radio enthusiasts. [2] [3]
In 1995, the Project 25 standard for interoperability was endorsed by APCO, American Association of Railroads, the National Association of State Telecom Directors, the Department of Defense, National Security Agency, National Telecommunications & Information Administration, and Department of Justice. EF Johnson signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop products that comply with the agreement.
The company was purchased in 1997 by software manufacturer Transcrypt International.
Headquarters relocated to Irving, Texas in 2005 and the company became EFJohnson Technologies in 2008.
In 2010, EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. was acquired by Francisco Partners.
It was acquired by JVCKENWOOD in 2014. [1] [4]
A mobile data terminal (MDT) or mobile digital computer (MDC) is a computerized device used in public transit vehicles, taxicabs, courier vehicles, service trucks, commercial trucking fleets, military logistics, fishing fleets, warehouse inventory control, and emergency vehicles, such as police cars, to communicate with a central dispatch office. They are also used to display mapping and information relevant to the tasks and actions performed by the vehicle such as CAD drawings, diagrams & safety information.
Base station is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
The Government Radio Network (GRN) is a network of various systems in place across Australia that enable statewide trunked radio communication. The network operates through inter-linked sites for government and public services such as police, ambulance, fire, or roads authorities which require such a system to function properly. The main aim of the GRN is to consolidate all resources into one network, ensuring greater coverage and reliability than if each department had its own independent communication system. The existence of the GRN also reduces the amount of government money and resources needed to maintain communication between units of emergency and public service branches. Last, it allows effective intercommunication among these services in times of national or state emergency for coordination of wide-scale actions.
A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive radio waves, unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. It is an audio (sound) transceiver, a transmitter and receiver in one unit, used for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication with other users with similar radios. Two-way radios are available in stationary, mobile, and hand-held portable models. Hand-held two-way radios are often called walkie-talkies, handie-talkies or hand-helds. Two-way radios are used by groups of geographically separated people who need to keep in continuous voice communication, such as aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers, ship captains and harbormasters, emergency services personnel like firemen, policemen, and ambulance paramedics, taxi and delivery services, soldiers and military units, fast food and warehouse employees, and radio amateurs.
Project 25 is a suite of standards for digital mobile radio communications designed for use by public safety organizations in North America. P25 radios are a direct replacement for analog UHF radios, but add the ability to transfer data as well as voice, allowing for more natural implementations of encryption and text messaging. P25 radios are commonly implemented by dispatch organizations, such as police, fire, ambulance and emergency rescue service, using vehicle-mounted radios combined with handheld walkie-talkie use.
Kenwood Corporation is a Japanese company that designs, develops and markets a range of car audio, hi-fi home and personal audio, professional two-way radio communications equipment, and amateur radio ("ham") equipment.
The Enhanced Digital Access Communication System (EDACS) is a radio communications protocol and product family invented in the General Electric Corporation in the mid 1980s.
A trunked radio system is a digital two-way radio system that uses a digital control channel to automatically assign frequency channels to groups of users. In a traditional half-duplex land mobile radio system a group of users with portable two-way radios communicate over a single shared radio channel, with one user at a time talking. These systems typically have access to multiple channels, up to 40 - 60, so multiple groups in the same area can communicate. In a conventional (nontrunked) system, channel selection is done manually; before use the group must decide on which channel to use, and manually switch all the radios to that channel. This is an inefficient use of scarce radio channel resources, because the user group must have exclusive use of their channel regardless of how little transmission they are doing. There is also nothing to prevent multiple groups in the same area from choosing the same channel, causing conflicts. A trunked radio system is an advanced alternative in which the channel selection process is done automatically.
Radio over Internet Protocol, or RoIP, is similar to Voice over IP (VoIP), but augments two-way radio communications rather than telephone calls. From the system point of view, it is essentially VoIP with PTT. To the user it can be implemented like any other radio network.
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop voluntary, consensus-based industry standards for a wide variety of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) products, and currently represents nearly 400 companies. TIA's Standards and Technology Department operates twelve engineering committees, which develop guidelines for private radio equipment, cellular towers, data terminals, satellites, telephone terminal equipment, accessibility, VoIP devices, structured cabling, data centers, mobile device communications, multimedia multicast, vehicular telematics, healthcare ICT, machine to machine communications, and smart utility networks.
Voice logging is the practice of regularly recording telephone conversations. Business sectors which often do voice logging include public safety, customer service call centers, and finance. Although voice logging is usually performed on conventional telephone lines, it is also frequently used for recording open microphones and for broadcast radio.
Mobile radio or mobiles refer to wireless communications systems and devices which are based on radio frequencies(using commonly UHF or VHF frequencies), and where the path of communications is movable on either end. There are a variety of views about what constitutes mobile equipment. For US licensing purposes, mobiles may include hand-carried,, equipment. An obsolete term is radiophone.
In telecommunications, APCO-16, is a US standard for the characteristics and capabilities of public safety trunked radio systems.
The Project 25 Inter RF Subsystem Interface is a non-proprietary interface that enables RF subsystems (RFSSs) built by different manufacturers to be connected together into wide area networks so that users on different networks can talk with each other. The wide area network connections using the ISSI provide an extended coverage area for subscriber units (SUs) that are roaming. The extended coverage area is important for public safety first responders that provide assistance in other jurisdictions during an emergency.
ASTRO 25 is the next generation of ASTRO digital two-way radio communications by Motorola Solutions. Motorola first introduced digital two-way radio in the U.S. in 1991 under the name ASTRO Digital Solutions.
Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO) was founded in 1935. It is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals and supports the largest U.S. membership base of any public safety association. APCO’s mission is to be a leader in providing public safety communications expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach to benefit its members and the public.
Etherstack is a provider of wireless communications software to the Professional/Land Mobile Radio and defence industries in Europe, Asia and North America. Their products cover wireless protocol stacks, IP-based communication networks, cryptographic communication solutions, Software Defined Radio (SDR) and Software Communications Architecture (SCA) compatible waveforms. Etherstack provides these software technologies to defence organisations and commercial manufacturers, such as Icom, Inc.; the Swedish Defence Material Administration; and Raytheon JPS.
Setcom Corporation is an American manufacturer of communications equipment for police motorcycle officers, firefighters, rescue personnel and industrial users. Setcom supplies public safety professionals in all fifty states, most major US cities, and more than twenty countries with communications equipment.
JVC Kenwood Corporation, stylized as JVC KENWOOD, is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. It was formed from the merger of Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (JVC) and Kenwood Corporation on October 1, 2008. Upon creation, Haruo Kawahara of Kenwood was the holding company's chairman, while JVC President Kunihiko Sato was the company's president. JVC Kenwood focuses on car and home electronics, wireless systems for the worldwide consumer electronics market, professional broadcast, CCTV and digital and analogue two-way radio equipment and systems.
Tait Communications is a multinational radio communications company with headquarters based in Christchurch, New Zealand. The company has offices in 17 countries and employs 869 staff (2011). Tait develops voice and data radio technologies, exporting about 95% of products from its Christchurch manufacturing base. Customers include London Buses, Country Fire Authority and Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Competitors include Motorola, Harris Corporation, E.F. Johnson Company, Raytheon, HYT, Selex and EMC spa.