Mobile communications backbone comes to end

  • Published
  • By Ronell Harvey
  • 60th Communications Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  It's the end of an era for the 60th Communications Squadron and a former Air Force master sergeant as all land mobile radio users switch to a new system the week of Dec. 9.

Travis has received $3.6 million in funding to upgrade its Trunked Land Mobile Radio System and add a second site, known as site A, to cover the south side of the base.

The old TLMR system was in operation at Travis for more than 15-years and is no longer supportable given the interim advances in wireless and mobile communications technology.

Travis' new system will offer redundancy, over-the-air programming, over-the-air rekeying and radio authentication.

"The old system does not have the capability to perform over-the-air rekeying operations," said James Kirby, 60th Communications Squadron base personal wireless communication systems manager. "(These systems) often lose their crypto keys and have to be physically brought in to us to be rekeyed. A radio will not operate unless it has a current key that authenticates to the network."

According to Kirby, over-the-air programming gives the 60th CS radio shop the ability to program radios from a distance. Radios will not have to be physically brought into the shop each time to switch channel groups or to add a channel group.

The radio authentication capability is a strong security measure that protects the TLMR network. This capability will only allow those radios that have the proper credentials to transmit and receive on the network. Should a radio become lost or stolen, that radio can be instantly deleted from the network to ensure communications stay secure.

"Both OTAP and OTAR are vital improvements as manning levels are subject to change at Travis," Kirby said, who will perform a symbolic deactivation of the old TLMR network Dec. 12. The shutdown is an appropriate bookend to the old system for Kirby since, as a master sergeant, he originally brought it online Feb. 28, 1998.

For more information on the TLMR network, call the 60th CS at 424-0183.