U.S. Forest Service standardizes on Telex C-Soft IP dispatch solution in rugged Pacific Northwest

• C-Soft dispatch console is easily customized to serve the needs of different territories
• Region 6 of the USDA Forest Service covers over 27 million acres of public land in the Pacific Northwest
• Radio coverage includes over 400 transmission and repeater sites across difficult terrain without cellular service

Burnsville, MN, June 2020 – With coverage responsibility for over 27 million acres of public land in the rugged Pacific Northwest, Region 6 of the U.S. Forest Service places a real premium on reliability in its communications equipment. Vast expanses of its territory are sparsely populated and without cellular coverage, making Land Mobile Radio (LMR) the only viable option for field communication. The vast majority of Region 6 dispatch centers use Telex equipment, both hardware and software.

“We’ve been using Telex pretty uniformly since about 2009 or so,” says Jack Myers, Region 6 LMR Manager. “We settled on Telex C-Soft as our main dispatch software around that time. We’ve got about ten dispatch offices across the region, and each location customizes their own set-up, since needs are different in each location. We take care of all our equipment in-house, including customization of the C-Soft screens in each individual dispatch center.”

A network of roughly 400 communication sites, mostly fixed repeaters, enable the dispatch centers to stay in touch with roughly 9500 subscriber units across the region. Forest Service infrastructure is also used in cooperation with state and local agencies. Region 6 covers all of Oregon and Washington, along with parts of Idaho and California. It has nearly 4000 full-time employees, a number that jumps up to 30 percent in the summer, when tourism, fire risk and daylight hours are all at their peaks.

Along with IP-based C-Soft dispatch consoles, Region 6 dispatch centers have also standardized on Telex ADHB-4 digital interfaces. These digital headset boxes ensure stable and consistent audio performance for both input and output in comparison to a typical computer sound card. Designed as a companion to C-Soft via Ethernet, the ADHB-4 handles all common headsets, handsets and microphones, and supports six audio output channels.

For radio interfaces within the dispatch centers, Region 6 dispatch centers use Telex dual remote adapters as the gateways to connect their physical radios to the dispatch system. “All our dispatch locations use either the IP-224 or IP-223,” reports Myers. “Our plan is to upgrade all the end pieces to IP-224s, but several of our locations still use the IP-223.”

The Telex equipment has kept pace with the region’s changing needs over the years, maintaining compatibility to legacy phone lines as well as VoIP, handling a variety of radio hardware and cellular systems to ensure that each dispatch station communicates smoothly with remote field agents, nearby 911 centers, and a variety of other federal, state and local agencies.

Standardizing on Telex dispatch was an organic process based on proven performance in practical application: “Originally, we had a mismatch of random gear and copper lines with poor reliability,” Myers adds. “We looked at several companies and we went with the Telex dispatch solution. It’s been so reliable, it’s become our standard over time. It’s just what works for us.”

Equipment list:
C-Soft software IP dispatch console
IP-224 dual IP remote adapter panel
IP-223 dual IP remote adapter panel
ADHB-4 advanced digital headset box
RHB remote headset box

fs.usda.gov/r6
http://telex.com/

Press contact: Guy.Low@us.bosch.com