PTT ID cleans the air waves for this South Florida Mall
Its 3:30 p.m. in a sunny and hot, typical South Florida day. The security guards at Bayside, one of South Florida's largest malls, are about to change work shifts. If it's anything like the last typical days, Frank the security manager will not be too happy today. He knows that he has a problem, but is not sure how he is going to solve it.
Right after the afternoon shift takes place, it starts again. Someone in his workforce using the 2-way radios is making threats, using inappropriate language and making rude remarks against the female security staff at the mall. Despite all their efforts, they cannot solve the problem or recognize the voice at the other end of the radio.
They had to endure this for weeks and now going into a month they decided to ask us for help. Before we continue our story, we need to slightly deviate and discuss exactly what PTT ID is. It’s nothing more than a special code signal that is also being transmitted at the same time that the carrier signal is being sent out. This code is unique per radio and can be easily decoded by a special receiving device.
In other words, each radio transmits a specific number without the user being aware. Now back to our story.
Since this situation happened almost 10 years ago, Motorola 2-way radios did not support this feature on their lower tier radios, unlike today where this feature is now commonplace at a price of under $300. The radios being used at the time were about 30 Motorola HT600 2-Way Radios. Frank ended up purchasing 5 of these special chips, which at the time were costly. Our service center went to work and installed these five chips into five of the 30 Motorola HT600 radios.
These radios were specifically tracked by their serial numbers and were assigned a PTT ID value of one through five. A Special Mobile was installed in Frank’s office that was capable of displaying the ID of any of these five radios on a small LCD display. At this point, Bayside Security was frustrated and was looking for any means to solve this problem.
But would our plan work. The first day, the five modified radios were introduced into the afternoon shift. These radios were given to five specific people. Almost like clockwork, it's started again, that rude and nasty voice on the radio.
Frank immediately looked at the Special Mobile in his office, but the display was completely blank. He soon realized that none of the five people of which he gave the special radios to that day were involved. The next day, five new people were given the special radios. Again, the voice appeared even nastier than before. Another day went by, and the display was still blank, but Frank was extremely hopeful because he knew it would just be a matter of time.
The third day, the same scenario occurs, but this time with different results. Like a Christmas tree being turned on for the first time, the LCD display in Frank’s office lights up. As the voice transmits over the air the number 3 is being displayed on the Special Mobile. Frank quickly calls some co-workers to document what has occurred. Although I was not there at that time, I was told that the person responsible for this cried like a baby and could not understand the means used to identify him.
This technology exists in the Motorola CP200 Radio today and at a price that would have been unheard of a decade ago. If you're interested in learning more about PTT ID and how it can benefit your business, feel free to give us a call or check out the CP200 2-way radios at www.MyRadioMall.com.
Can PTT ID save the day for you? That's a 10-4