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With Cyntony's new-year tie-up as a USA reseller of RapidM products, I had the opportunity to get trained on the RAPTAWC family of secure communications hardware and software that enables old-school analog voice radios to become networked for digital voice, data and position, or -- a perfect excuse to escape the cold to enjoy the summer weather in South Africa.
The excellent staff of RapidM treated me to a full day of training sessions covering the RAPTAWC architecture, HF communications fundamentals, RT5 terminal user interface, CommandPoint situational awareness application, configuration, key management, and e-mail and gateway networking software. The day culminated with some real-world HF comms in the environs of the executive capital city, Pretoria. This so-called 'Experience Day' is complementarily offered to serious customers to gain understanding of RAPTAWC capabilties. Fair warning: you'll be impressed and want to buy.
Pictured above are RapidM engineer Gert Cronje, and me in front of a rugged tablet running the CommandPoint software and an RT5 ultra-rugged Tactical Terminal connected to a CODAN HF radio (tucked elsewhere). Gert's DIY bespoke LandRover was perfect for an authentic African jaunt. Had we encountered a cliff, it surely could have climbed it!
We exercised the HF secure digital transmission of broadcast position reports and digital voice announcements, person-to-person secure digital voice communication using vocoder data rates ranging from 300 to 2400 bps. We also used the blue force tracking features of CommandPoint to rendez-vous with another RapidM crew who were out and about, finding them at the National Botanical Garden.
The more I learn about the history and challenges in long-range infrastructure-light secure communications, the tremendous value and robustness of RapidM's RAPTAWC system becomes apparent. It is truly potent and practical.