Example Scenario:
A customer has three dispatchers, each with an MCC-4, all sitting in the same room. Each dispatcher is responsible for a different aspect of the business, but they all need to talk to the same group of people who are using radios. They set up RSP-Z2s to link the dispatchers to the radio users, but when they put everyone in the same net, the dispatchers would hear each other through their MCC-4s.
They needed something to stop that, and even though the RSP-Z2 does not per se support cross mute, it can be simulated.
We provide two solutions here: One using Monitor Groups only, the other using a combination of Monitor and Broadcast Groups.
Solution 1: Simulate Cross Mute Using Only Monitor Groups Instead of Nets
Monitor groups provide one-way audio, giving a user the ability to listen without being able to respond. In the first Monitor group, Radio 1 is listening to Dispatcher 1, Dispatcher 2, and Dispatcher 3. If any of the three dispatchers speaks, it’s heard by Radio 1 and everyone using that radio system. However, the dispatchers do not hear each other’s audio through the system. The other three monitor groups are each used to send audio from the radio system to dispatchers.
Using Monitor groups this way, when Radio 1 receives audio from a user in the field, it’s sent to each of the three Dispatchers, via their individual Monitor groups.
When any of the three dispatchers replies, our attention returns to the first Monitor group; Radio 1 (the monitoring resource) hears the dispatcher, but the other two dispatchers do not. This effectively creates cross mute between dispatchers; they don’t hear each other’s transmissions.
Solution 2: Simulate Cross Mute Using Monitor Groups and Broadcast Groups Instead of Nets
Z-Series software/firmware release 4.8.0 adds Broadcast Group capability. Broadcast groups provide one-way audio from one resource (the Broadcaster) to the resources in the Broadcast group. Audio from anyone other than the Broadcaster is not heard. Therefore, using a combination of Monitor and Broadcast groups can simplify the cross mute simulation setup.
Instead of setting up four Monitor groups (as was done in Solution 1), set up one Monitor group and one Broadcast group.
When the Broadcaster speaks, all the resources in the group hear the audio.
When one of the resources in the Monitor group speaks, the Monitor hears it, but the others do not.
This effectively creates cross mute between dispatchers in this example scenario. They don’t hear each other’s transmissions.