2020 was indeed a special year. As with the rest of the world, RACOM had to adjust to the new situation. We are proud to say that we passed this test successfully.

We managed to quickly apply appropriate measures in production and the rest of the company adapted to working online.

With the help of our partners, distributors and suppliers we again managed another year of growth. A huge thank you to all who helped make this possible!

Sales in all product lines have been positive. Our RAy microwave links were purchased in large numbers as ISP’s around the world raced to improve the levels of internet connectivity to meet the increasing demands of those trapped in a distance learning and home office environment. RACOM was able to adaptably increase production and delivered over 30% more links than in the previous year.

Sales of our RipEX radio modems also continued unabated despite the postponement of many projects due to government lockdowns and restrictions throughout the year. The flexibility of the product has seen it used in a wide variety of solutions, some of a confidential nature within government, military and university applications.

And M!DGE has been used in many new applications, both as a standalone solution and with RipEX, as more and more people come to understand the benefits of hybrid solutions.

At a time when others were reducing staff numbers, RACOM went in the opposite direction. We strengthened the human resources department to assist in finding new employees, mainly in R&D. This will help considerably in earlier completion of new products.

As we look forward to 2021 we do so with confidence, full in the knowledge we have survived a troubled year and proved that we are more than capable of adapting to what might come our way. Again, a very big thanks to staff, contractors, suppliers and of course our global partners and distributors for the huge levels of support we receive.

Thank you for your continued support. Here’s wishing you health and prosperity in 2021.
We look forward to continued cooperation and joint success through 2021 and beyond.

Countries around the world are again being forced to take steps to control the spread of Covid-19. RACOM continuously implements all guidelines issued by the Czech Government and are doing the same during the current state of emergency. This has resulted in the company more or less adopting the same smart strategies that proved so effective in the Spring of this year, to protect our staff and maintain a smooth running operation.

As was the case in Spring, our infrastructure and production continue to function smoothly. This does however take considerable planning. We operate partially on isolated shifts and provide protective equipment for all staff who must be in the facility. Considerable organization is required to adapt and compensate for colleagues who are away for quarantine or personal reasons, caring for their families.

RACOM is operating at full scale production levels. All incoming orders are processed within standard delivery times. To date and thanks in most part to the commitment and dedication of our staff, production has not stopped for a single day. As a result of long-term planning and good relationships with our suppliers, we are facing no difficulties in our supply chain.

Over 50% of colleagues are working remotely; online meetings are commonplace to support ongoing development. R&D projects continue unhindered, firmware updates are being released on schedule. Thanks to the easy-to-use design of our products and exceptional quality of our web, user manuals, application notes etc. we are not facing any issues with commissioning and operating of our equipment. And, of course, Technical Support is fully operational, even remotely.

Sales and Marketing are making sure our partners continue to receive all the information they need through our Webpage, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and frequent online meetings.

Despite the difficult situation with most projects at least postponed, we are proud to share that our sales is still slightly higher than in the last year. We are also happy that many Internet service providers take advantage of our RAy microwave links being delivered under special conditions during the Covid crisis. ISP’s can quickly and easily increase Internet capacity in their networks for the majority of the population who are working from home offices and students learning remotely.

At a time when many companies are having to lay off or furlough staff, RACOM is hiring! Among other appointments recently made, we have welcomed a new colleague to our R&D team, are strengthening our Purchasing department, and have a new member within the Sales team.

For as long as emergency measures are required to control the spread of the virus, you can be assured that RACOM is ready to cope and supply the world with essential communication equipment.

As our products generate interest in more and more countries around the world RACOM, in cooperation with its local partners, has been actively engaging with national authorities gaining homologation for all our product lines, allowing them to be used in new territories.

Since gaining homologation for the latest generation of RipEX, M!DGE and RAy in USA and Canada we have been particularly busy in South America where we have recently gained type approval in four new countries.

M!DGE has gained homologation in Ecuador where RipEX has also received government approval.

Both RipEX and M!DGE have also received government approval in Argentina.

In Peru, both products have gained homologation and in Brazil, RipEX has received type approval for use there.

On the other side of the world, we are also happy to announce that RipEX has received type approval in Russia. In addition, both RipEX and M!DGE have been added to the official approved radio equipment list for import, another essential requirement for the Russian market.

This also automatically qualifies the products for use in all other Eurasian Economic Union Countries: Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Our Sales Managers in these regions are already working with potential partners and end users who have shown an interest in our products.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us. Your respective regional Sales manager will be able to advise details of accreditations specific to your country. They will also be happy to provide more information about our products or how best to meet specific requirements in your area of operation.

RACOM is delighted to announce that Czech Radiocommunications (CRA) is the next Czech Telco operator to select RAy as its Microwave link of choice.

One of the largest Telco operators in the market, CRA owns key, strategic communication towers throughout the Czech Republic, from where it distributes television and radio broadcasts and provides data services.

RACOM was invited and participated in the tender with its partner SUPTel, a long-term certified CRA supplier.

Our Microwave links passed a demanding tender process, which lasted from January to May 2020. Due to Covid-19 lockdown and quarantine restrictions, the entire tender process was conducted without the possibility of personal meetings and presentations. Thankfully, CRA technicians had been testing RAy links since 2018 and were already familiar with many of the key benefits of this radio.

By the final phase of the tender only two products were being considered – RAy3 and a well-known Italian product. RAy3 strongly outperformed its competitor on technical specifications: e.g. instead of a fixed duplexer in the middle of the band, RAy3 uses a SW defined polarization switch with a narrow bandwidth (18 MHz) that can be placed anywhere in the band. Combining this with narrow channels (3.5 – 112 MHz) and the option to assign them asymmetrically allows maximum use of the available spectrum. CRA also appreciate RAy3’s speed of up to 1 Gb FDD compared to 500 Mb generated by the competition.

We are confident that CRA will be satisfied with RAy links as are Cetin (O2) and other Telco operators who have been enjoying them for many years.

Happy Birthday!

RACOM’s Microwave link calculator has recently reached a special milestone in its life. It is six years since it was published on our website.

Since then, this product has been performing calculations for our customers, over 120 times per day, every day!

So why is it such a popular product?

It is easy to configure and perform calculations. Additionally, RACOM’s complete portfolio of Microwave radios and antennas are already predefined in the product; you do not need to access any data from external sources.

The product calculates how good the availability of the link will be. It also shows the level of signal strength you should get when routing and displays the elevation profile. And of course, it is a simple matter to enter new parameters and recalculate. All of this helps simplify the link design process.

Because of the effectiveness of the RACOM link calculator and the simplicity to configure, it is regularly used by Universities in Czechia, Austria and beyond, as a tool to teach students about Microwave link calculation – helping train future generations of Microwave engineers.

And because of the popularity of the link calculator, we have even included a version in RAy tools, the suite of mobile Apps we launched that can be used for Antenna alignment and link management.

Find out more about Microwave link calculation

The Czech Telecommunications Office recently reviewed and updated General Authorisation No. 14 governing the conditions of operation for the license-free 10 GHz band. From 1^st July 2020 it will be possible to use a 56 MHz channel, i.e. RAy Microwave links can now operate at their full speed of 360 Mbps.

The 10 GHz free-band is very popular in Czech Republic especially for longer hops. With the option of a wider channel, it will be even more attractive. 56 MHz now provides the opportunity to double the capacity of backbone connections which will result in lower overall costs for the provider.

The popularity of 10 GHz means many sites have high occupancy and only equipment like RAy with high resistance to interference works reliably on these busy sites.

RACOM is happy to be part of this continued revolution to improve backhauls and high speed last miles for Telco operators and ISP’s throughout Czech Republic.

Covid-19 forced the whole world further toward remote communication. RACOM are also more active on social media now keeping the RACOM community updated with important information.

We have completely redesigned our profiles on all main platforms and bring news at least once a week:

Facebook is used to provide important product and company information, shares information from partners and also provides inside information about what is happening at RACOM.

LinkedIn also provides product and RACOM community news and is where we will publish information from regulatory authorities and our industry sector.

YouTube’s RACOM channel hosts product and training videos, shares videos from partner events and all other video content related to RACOM business and social events.

Follow us on social media and be the first to get all the news!

During the current Covid pandemic we hear stories daily, from around the world of initiatives to help communities and countries survive this current global crisis.

Czech citizens are well known for their community spirit. Many people are sewing face masks at home and in local communities for use wherever needed; in hospitals, retirement homes, for essential workers etc. As part of this national initiative we are happy to report that RACOM and our staff are doing what we can to support local efforts. Many of us have been making face masks for the local communities where we live. As part of our collective efforts, we have even designed and made the latest must have RACOM face mask fashion accessory.

Worthy of a special mention, our mechanical designer is supporting a cause of particular note. He came across another nationwide initiative ‘3D printing against Covid’ on Social media. This initiative provides printing and distribution of protective face shields to be used by doctors, nurses and other front line workers in the fight against Covid-19. Fortunately there was already a local group in our region organized by Scouts. Milan quickly decided he should support this worthy effort and discussed the possibility with his line manager at RACOM.

As a Covid home-office worker, Milan transferred all RACOM 3D printing equipment home, set up his own printing lab and got to work producing shields in accordance with strict guidelines. After refining the manufacturing technique, reducing printing time by 40%, he has been producing 10 shields a day and will continue as long as there is a demand for this essential equipment. Milan is fully supported by RACOM and his work RACOM duties have been minimized to support his community action.

The initiative was started by Prusa Research, a Czech producer of 3D printers who developed a prototype over 3 days making the designs and CAD available to others for free.

Anyone wishing to join this initiative can get more information here and watch a video of the fabrication technique here.

RACOM management has adapted structures to meet new COVID requirements, applying smart new strategies taken from rescue services and utility organizations. Such measures ensure production levels and other activities continue unaffected in the functioning of the company.

Many staff are working from home and following government quarantine guidelines.

Those who can only perform their job by being present at RACOM premises at our HQ, mechanical and SMT plants are now split into shifts and with no physical contact with each other.

Personal hygiene is a priority; everyone must wear a face mask at all times and staff are working in isolated spaces, using all the extra available offices with maximum consideration for social distancing. Each shift works alternate days, ensuring the whole work place can be thoroughly disinfected between each shift.

All meetings with more than 2 people are conducted remotely using teleconferencing tools. All RACOM visits are prohibited and we communicate with our customers and partners remotely.

Material receipt and expediting operate on a non-contact basis with forwarders.

All these measures ensure that any health issue would affect a very limited part of RACOM.

Our purchasing department is constantly in touch with our component suppliers to ensure we have no outages in component supplies.

Our staff and their health are our number one priority and we are confident we meet all our obligations being able to support and supply our customers without any outages. However we apologize in advance if you experience any minor disruptions or delays.

For as long as emergency measures of this sort are required, you can be assured that RACOM is ready to cope and supply the world with essential communication equipment.