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.