What is trunking?

Trunking in Radio Communication, a technique that makes communication not only a lot easier but also more efficient. In traditional radio communication systems the different users have been operating on separate radio frequencies or radio channels. Often the number of users using a system exceeds the number of channels that is provided. As the result users have to share the same single channel.

In a radio trunking communication system the system smartly controls and guides the users toward a free channel. The user does not have to worry if a channel is free or not.

In other words trunking permits a large number of users to share a relatively small number of communication paths - or trunks. Commercial telephone communication is a wire line version of trunking. A computer manages this sharing of communication paths automatically. The central controller, a computerized switch, makes channel selections and other decisions normally made by the radio user. Channel assignment is automatic and completely transparent to the individual users.

In two-way radio communication trunking is defined as:

The automatic and dynamic allocation of a small number of channels among a large number of radio users.

Trunking in radio systems became possible with the introduction of the microprocessor that made it possible to bring enough computing power into mobile and portable radios as well as the trunking controller of the system. The trunking controller is the heart of the trunked radio system. It is the housekeeper of all activity within the system. It receives your request for communication, processes it and establishes the contact.

A radio trunking network consists of one or more base stations which are all connected to each other. Because of this the user can dispose of a much larger emitting area, depending on the coverage area of the operator. For the end user this network is totally transparent. Depending on the user's position, his signal will be received by the closest base station and transmitted to one or more communication partners via trunking.

For each subscribed company a so-called "communication fleet" is created. Every user of this fleet has the possibility of calling one or more radios within his fleet at the same time. For each conversation a unique channel is opened on the radio trunking system. As a consequence conversations of different companies cannot mix up, so that no-one who is not involved in the conversation can hear your talk - if wanted not even other fleet users. The possibilities and advantages of this system are infinite.