Kenwood showcases first DMR range and new applications at PMRExpo
Kenwood can offer customers DMR, dPMR, NEXEDGE and P25, but NEXEDGE remains the lead technology. Mike Atkins, managing director of Kenwood Europe HQ, Communications Division, explains the strategy
Kenwood unveiled its first DMR radios at PMR Expo 2013 in the shape of the TK-D200 (VHF) and TK-D300 (UHF) hand portable radios. The radios will start shipping in January 2014 and will be followed by DMR Tier II compatible repeaters in the first quarter of the year.
The move fulfils the promise made at last year’s PMR Expo, when Kenwood announced it would be bringing ETSI compliant dPMR radios and DMR systems to the market to join the company’s NEXEDGE (NXDN) and P25 ranges. The ETSI compliant dPMR radios were launched in July 2013.
Speaking to Wireless at the show, Mike Atkins, managing director of Kenwood Europe HQ, Communications Division (pictured below), said: ‘We are starting with two portables, one high tier and one mid with repeaters, but eventually we will end up with a top to bottom family of DMR products.
‘The radios use the same form factor as some of the NEXEDGE range and feature universal plugs, so customers can use existing attachments. We are aiming at the small system market in Europe.’
However, Atkins emphasised that NEXEDGE is still Kenwood’s lead technology. ‘We’ve had it since 2008. We are now on the Version 10 upgrade path and it is a proven technology with more than 700,000 users out there. Some rivals are saying we are launching DMR because NEXEDGE is on the way out. Absolutely not: in fact we are developing it further.’
Atkins revealed that Kenwood will launch a NEXEDGE ATEX hand portable early next year. ‘NEXEDGE is particularly suited to ATEX, you just plug and play, and 6.25Khz is particularly suited to oil rigs for coverage reasons, so we think we’ll grab a large share of this market.’
He added that Kenwood plans to extend the NEXEDGE system platform. ‘There’s a limited number of sites you can have at the moment, but there will be a massive expansion in the number of sites you can have from next year. This has been driven by some of our customers who are looking for national coverage, so you’ll be able to have a large number of sites all linked with full roaming capability.’
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