Telex radio dispatch powers key flight center communications for Classic Air Medical

• Classic Air Medical provides emergency transport of patients via 12 flight bases throughout the Intermountain West region of the USA
• Telex C-Soft consoles bridge VHF and 800 MHz radios to incoming cellular, satellite, VoIP and conventional calls at the flight center
• Peak Mobile Communication integrated Telex radio dispatch for seamless communication with aircraft, first responders and medical facilities

Burnsville, MN (December 2018): In the rugged, sparsely populated Intermountain West region, emergency medical transport is an everyday need. For 30 years, Classic Air Medical has been providing this service, flying patients to medical facilities for appropriate care. Their still-growing network of 12 air medical bases serves Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho with both helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft.

Communication from the Classic Air Medical flight center in North Salt Lake, Utah was an ongoing challenge. The company operates VHF and 800 MHz radios, and receives calls via landline, cellular, VoIP and satellite telephones. “We had all sorts of mediums that we used to make and receive calls, each on a separate device,” notes Flight Center Manger Paul Matheson. “It was not efficient, and in this business, that meant it wasn’t up to our standards of safety. We knew we needed an all-in-one solution.”

After meeting with potential communications vendors, Classic Air Medical selected Telex radio dispatch equipment for its ability to combine today’s wide range of communications technologies into a single, cohesive system. The Telex implementation at Classic’s flight center in North Salt Lake, Utah, was designed and implemented by Peak Mobile Communication, a local system integrator specializing in two-way radio and dispatch.

The flight center team consists of two communications specialists and one operation control specialist. The three stations are each outfitted with Telex C-Soft software-based consoles, bringing all needed functions to an IP-based system that can be addressed via keyboard, mouse or 24-inch touchscreen. In the server room, a Telex IP-224 dual IP remote adapter bridges the center’s two radios – a Kenwood NX-5700 VHF air-to-ground radio and Motorola APX-7500 800 MHz public safety radio – to the operators.

Peak Mobile Communication used the Telex system’s programmability to create a user interface emulating the look and feel of both the Kenwood and Motorola radios on the C-Soft screens. “That was important, because one big change was that we no longer have physical radios at the desk. They now live in the server room,” notes Matheson. “The dispatch screen design made the transition very easy.”

Peak Mobile Communication further maximized the benefit of the C-Soft system by using SIP telephony to integrate all incoming telephone traffic -- including cellular, satellite and landline phones – into the C-Soft console interface. This allows the dispatch operators to interact seamlessly with all radio and telephone traffic, which was a critical part of the Classic Air Medical design criteria.

“Having a collection of devices at each desk makes effective communication difficult to the point where it actually becomes a safety issue,” says Paul Matheson. “Telex offers an all-in-one solution that fully addresses that need. All calls are unified on servers and routed into the system through a single headset at each station.”

This is a critical capability, as each emergency generates a series of rapid-fire calls by the flight center, gathering key information for the pilot and the destination medical facility. Telex C-Soft enables the dispatch team to talk to first responders on scene, get information to the pilot and alert the hospital using just the touchscreen (or keyboard and mouse, depending on the user) and headset. Operators can also use the system’s optional per-line call playback function to access over two hours of transmissions for immediate playback and confirmation.

“Our Telex system has been live 24/7 for nearly a year and has never gone down. The software is completely stable, and Peak Mobile gave us a great system design with full redundancy,” says Matheson. “We’re in a business where fast, accurate communication is mission critical, so this was literally a life-saving change for us. I would absolutely recommend the Telex C-Soft solution.”

Telex equipment list:
3x C-Soft 12-line IP dispatch console software
3x C-Soft 12-line per-line call playback module
3x C-Soft 6-line SIP telephony module
3x ADHB-4 advanced digital headset box
3x IP-224 dual IP remote adapter
http://www.classicairmedical.com/
http://peakmobile.com/

Contact person for press inquiries:
Guy.Low@us.bosch.com | (952) 736-3935