For the second summer in a row, I had the pleasure of an extended stay with John Dundas' merry band of radio experts as they deployed DMR, TETRA, and Push-to-Talk over Cellular solutions across the widely scattered venues hosting the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships (CWC) in Scotland. For the first time, UCI consolidated its wide-ranging World Championship events into a single signature large-scale operation.

The 2023 UCI CWC was an opportunity for athletes to secure placement on their respective nation's Paris 2024 teams. For me, it was another chance to see up close what it takes to deliver high-performance sports, safety, and logistics communications across a diverse set of venues. It was instructive to watch deep subject-matter experts, including staff from the UK specialist communications suppliers OS COMMS Ltd and Vital Communications, plan and execute a high-pressure deliverable. It was also a fabulous opportunity to see the vibrant cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh while also traveling across vast swaths of scenic Scottish countryside spanning Loch Lomond, Perth, Stirling, and Dumfries.

One of the striking elements of this deployment was the growing value of Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC). The reach and reliability of the Motorola Solutions WAVE service supplied by OS Comms made PoC a flexible adjunct to more traditional Land Mobile Radio support. Operating on the Airsys network, the PoC stood out for its infrastructure-free architecture, location-tracking capabilities, and superior voice quality. The growing use of high-performance PoC is a trend, and I expect the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to expand the utilization of PoC with the assistance of their partner Orange.

Thanks to John Dundas for allowing me the opportunity to embed in the team. His deep experience designing and executing these complex multi-sport, multi-venue operations is rare. By allowing me to immerse in that unique world, I get to tap that expertise and gain much deeper insight into the value and limitations presented by LMR and PoC. We hope to share some of this experience at IWCE 2024 in Orlando. Stay tuned!