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 Being Retired now, I thought that it was time for a new name to this Blog |
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Talk about perks, my career had one of the best I can think of! I traveled in the course of business, delivering classes for my employer. I was a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and taught classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2-way radio communications. I knew that when the time arrived that I would retire, and I have. I've always said that if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out! I can't handle the heat anymore. I was qualified to deliver approximately 32 different classes, but about half of those were 'Legacy' classes, and were not in demand anymore. My students were technicians, those who maintained, programmed, calibrated, and repaired large 2-way radio systems. Some of these systems are statewide, and use TCP-IP networking to allow sites to communicate with others. Some are small, traditional type radio sites. The size doesn't matter, in each case the systems must be kept operational at all times, since many of them are Public Safety Systems. So I traveled, sometimes frequently, 3-4 weeks in a row.... where have I been? Some of the places I've been (I can't list them all here, the list would be too long) are pretty interesting. 1. Hawaii - Four times, Oahu, Maui (twice), and the Big Island 2. BangkokThailand, twice 3. Frankfurt Germany, twice 4. Algiers, Algeria 5. Melbourne Australia 6. Bismarck North Dakota, Summer & Winter 7. Los Angeles, Too many times to count 8. Washington DC, Too many times to count 9. Seattle three or four times 10. Texas, all over the state 11. Florida, all over the state 12. New Mexico, HOME! Several times  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
Tomorrow 8/7/25 Tomorrow I will help a former co-worker one last time. Why last time? Because I'm not being paid by Motorola for this help. I'm helping him because he's a friend. There was a class I delivered called 'Fleetmapping'. I was asked to deliver it during the Pandemic. In doing so, I edited the course materials extensively. Who delivered it before me? A Contractor. But, he didn't want to teach it on line for a variety of reasons I won't go into here. I was the only instructor of it for a long time, until a fellow instructor started delivering it. Now don't get me wrong here, this guy has more knowledge of all things RF in his pinky finger than I have in my whole body! But.... He doesn't like to follow the Instructor Guide, does not use the Powerpoint slides at all. He prefers to use manuals to teach any course. Why? His background is Engineering. And he's right, our Powerpoint modules are too lengthy, and frankly, not very good. I'm not a fan of not using Powerpoint, but there comes a time where you have to. The thing is, this course needs to be taught using Powerpoint because it's a 'soft-skill' course. There are no hands-on activities that require special tools and such. The hands-on activities are completed using Microsoft Excel. One of my good friends still at Motorola will be delivering this class for the first time in a couple of weeks. He just wants to review things for an hour or so. I'll help him to hopefully make him more comfortable. What's this course about? I'm glad you asked. I mean, with a name like Fleetmapping, it could be anything. So here's what is done in all radio systems, no matter who the manufacturer is. The radios you see a Public Safety Officer carrying is called a Portable radio. A Subscriber radio. Those radios are programmed using a suite of Software. However, programming it 100% correctly does not mean it will operate on the system. In fact, you won't be able to Transmit (Tx) or Receive (Rx) on a Trunked System. Why? Because the system is not configured/programmed to allow that radio to do that. What that means is, programming the radio gives it the 'ability' to Tx & Rx on a Trunked System. Configuring the system gives the radio the right to do that. So Fleetmapping is the process of programming the system and the radio to allow communication to occur. It's a class I loved delivering. In delivering it, you're more of a Facilitator than you are Instructor. The course is approached, and delivered in a different way. Powerpoint slides are still used, but the key to understanding it is configuring the system. You don't have to be an expert in radio programming, nor an expert on Configuring the system. But you MUST understand how this is done on both ends. And, I still want nothing to do with delivering classes again.  |
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