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.