MOTOTRBO™ Digital System gives site wide coverage at National Trust

To facilitate better communication among work teams at the National Trust Stourhead Estate in Wiltshire, south-west England, UK conservation charity, National Trust has moved to a MOTOTRBO™ digital two-way radio platform. Covering an area of 10,7km², the estate attracts over 300,000 visitors each year who come to see Stourhead’s world renowned landscaped gardens and the Palladian-style mansion which is home to a Regency library and extensive collections of furniture and paintings.

The estate management at Stourhead had been experiencing major problems with its existing two-way radio system; the most pressing being a lack of signal coverage, numerous dead-zones and poor quality voice communications. To ensure work teams would have a reliable and scalable communications platform to address their immediate and future needs, Motorola Solutions’ partner, DTS.Solutions UK Ltd proposed a MOTOTRBO™ digital solution. The system comprises a DR3000 repeater base station, a DM3600 mobile radio and 35 x DP3400 portable radios.

Customer Profile

CLIENT: National Trust – Stourhead Estates

SECTOR: Tourism

The MOTOTRBO™ digital network is based around a central DR3000 repeater base station and antenna system installed at the estate mansion – this had to be done discreetly as Stourhead House is a Grade 1 listed building of historic importance. Full-time staff and volunteer groups use a pool of DP3400 portable radios while a DM3600 mobile radio is installed in the estate’s visitor reception centre.

Voice communication has improved dramatically and radio signal is now available across the entire estate. This is a result of MOTOTRBO™’s ability to reduce signal interference and eliminate background noise for improved signal quality. MOTOTRBO™ also boosts radio spectrum efficiency by doubling channel capacity which means that more users can be supported when needed and more information can be transmitted on existing frequencies.

In addition to enhanced voice communication and signal coverage, it was important that the radios offered safety and security features such as easy-to-access emergency buttons and a Lone Worker option. These features are essential for Stourhead’s traffic marshals, visitor guides, shuttle bus operators and particularly those working in relative isolation across the estate such as gardeners involved in potentially dangerous operations, including tree pruning, hedge cutting and other largescale maintenance projects.

The move to a MOTOTRBO™ digital two-way radio platform has improved operational efficiency dramatically in that Stourhead’s work teams can now go about their daily tasks knowing that they have robust, reliable and high-quality voice communications across the entire estate.

MOTOTRBO™’s ability to double the calling capacity – by using TDMA technology to split a 12.5kHz channel into two channels for simultaneous voice conversations – means that more people can now communicate over the existing licensed channels without interference. This also lowers communication costs by reducing the amount of equipment required.

Ensuring the safety of staff and visitors across the estate is crucial. MOTOTRBO™ offers numerous features that are specifically designed to help organisations bolster safety and security across many different operations and situations.

Finally, Stourhead has a future-proof radio network that can be easily expanded to accommodate more users should the need arise while also providing a robust platform for data applications.