New: Unaddressed; Broadcast and Open Voice Channel Mode Calls

As of R2.10.0, MOTOTRBO supports three new call types. Note that these call types are not supported in Capacity Plus and Capacity Max has similar features which operate differently to these.

Unaddressed Call

An unaddressed call is a group call call to one of 16 predefined group IDs in the range from 16777184 to 16777199. To initiate or receive this call type, the group ID needs to be in the contact list.

It can be configured to be a one-way broadcast call without hangtime or a two way group call with hangtime. Only one unaddressed call can be configured per radio and many per console.

One possible application could be as follows:

Alias	ID	Alias	ID
Talkgroup 1	101	Unaddressed 1	16777184
Talkgroup 2	102	Unaddressed 1	16777184
Talkgroup 3	103	Unaddressed 1	16777184
Talkgroup 4	104	Unaddressed 2	16777185
Talkgroup 5	105	Unaddressed 2	16777185
Talkgroup 6	106	Unaddressed 2	16777185
Talkgroup 7	107	Unaddressed 3	16777186
Talkgroup 8	108	Unaddressed 3	16777186
Talkgroup 9	109	Unaddressed 3	16777186

Using the configuration in the above table, a user from Talkgroup 1, can talk to users from Talkgroup 2 and 3 by making a group call to Unaddressed 1. This is because Unaddressed 1 16777184 is in the contact list for all these radios.

Broadcast Call

A broadcast call is a one-way group call, which has no hangtime and allows the operator to select a specific group of users to call. It is supported for an Emergency Group Call.

If a radio users is not a part of the Broadcast call, and they press the PTT button, the call request is denied by the radio. If the broadcast call is set to interruptible, the call can be interrupted to support Emergency Voice Interrupt, Data Over Voice Interrupt and Remote Voice De-Key , but not Voice Interrupt.

Group Call; Unaddressed Call and Open Voice Channel Mode can all be transmitted as a broadcast call.

A broadcast call selection option is available for a group call contact. If this option is not selected the

call has a hangtime. If the broadcast call option is selected, the group call has no hangtime.

You can configure a contact group ID as both a broadcast and a non-broadcast call by creating two

contacts for the same group ID, where one contact has the broadcast call option selected and the

other not selected. In this scenario the two contacts are associated with different channel positions.

Open Voice Channel Mode

An Open Voice Channel Mode (OVCM) is a type of call defined by the ETSI DMR standard. In OVCM, radios not configured to work in a particular system can both receive and transmit during a group or individual call. 

OVCM group call also supports broadcast calls.

Contact Type (OVCM TX) supports initiating OVCM calls, while Channel Configuration OVCM (OVCM RX) supports participating in an OVCM call. All group and individual contacts can be configured with OVCM TX and OVCM RX enabled or disabled, with disable being the default option. 

When OVCM TX is enabled for a group or an individual contact, the radio indicates the call is in OVCM. Radios can be configured to allow OVCM RX. In that case, the radio can participate in calls which would otherwise require special preconfiguration. OVCM RX is configurable at the personality (channel) level.

Availability

These features are available in all MOTOTRBO conventional systems (i.e. Simplex; Single Site and IP Site Connect). They are also supported by dispatch applications which use the NAI Voice/Control interface. All that is required is an upgrade to R2.10.0.

They are also well defined in the standard so should work with other vendors radios (if they support these too).