“High tech industries need a constant and ever-growing supply of really good technical expertise”.
A statement that we can all agree with, perhaps. But what does it really mean, and what can be done to make such people available in sufficient quantity to address the current skills shortage?
A few months ago, we at the FCS were challenged by our Business Radio Council to have another look to see if anything could be done to improve the acquisition and retention of suitable skills in the business radio sector, with an emphasis on site engineering. We reached some surprising conclusions.
At the time, we happened to be in the middle of a review of the FCS1331 Business Radio Site Engineering Code of Practice. That work has now been completed for the previous year, and you can download your copy from the FCS website, free of charge. However, in the course of this task we came across a lot of information which, when put together, added up to an unexpected way forward for the skills issue.
Adding context
Some background. Generally, providers of BR radio systems tend to use already established radio sites and rent space in them. They don’t always start with a bare patch of ground and build a new tower (essential though that is sometimes). This means that site engineering is often about knowing how to install a correctly designed new system into an existing site and making it work efficiently without messing up everybody else’s system in the process.
It isn’t always about new ways to use the latest technologies, that may be coming down the line and are being talked about in the ‘think tanks’. If you are running a small company, you need actual income, sooner rather than later.
What smaller companies need is youngsters coming on, who understand sufficient of the basics to hit the ground running and act as a valued member of a highly capable team.
They are not expected to know everything; far from it. But, with a good grounding in the basics, they can definitely make a useful contribution, and we find they very much like earning the respect of their team-mates as they build their experience-base.
Regarding team building, we are talking about something which can:
- Discuss requirements in an intelligent way with the customer to determine a good, value-for-money, adequately resilient system design. This includes system coverage strategy, and arrangements of cooling, earthing and lightning protection with the customer
- Suggest a maintenance regime for the system to the customer
- Check the required security arrangements with the network administrator. Cyber security is an increasing concern
- Get the design approved by the customer at a detailed level
- Start work to prepare manuals and user guides for the customer
- Do the necessary research to find the right site, or sites
- Contact the site owner and arrange space rental contracts and so on
- Plan the required physical defences to be deployed, if there are none already
- Go to the proposed site and check the real situation there. This includes final confirmation of the radio spectrum needed, and measuring transmissions from other users to check for unwanted power, on-channel. The team also needs to determine the NGR of the antenna location, check the earthing and cooling arrangements, as well as essentials like fire extinguishers and first aid kits
- Apply for a radio spectrum assignment
- Arrange access to the site with the owner/operator to carry out the installation
- Order the components and build the system in the lab
- Test it as system units
- Programme-up some the mobile units to support operational testing
- Transport it to the site under an installation plan agreed with the site operator
- Build it all at site,
- Test it some more
- Show the customer it works to requirements, and get written approval
- Update the site book and deliver the manuals
- Go through everything folks from the customer’s staff
- Finish installing all ancillary equipment and notices
- Programme the rest of the mobiles and install them into vehicles, alongside all other types of mobile installation
- Drink a toast with the customer at the handover.
Ok, it’s an over-simplified list, and there is obviously much more to it than that. But enough background.
Recruitment and retention
Going back to recruitment and retention, the problem is that when a company takes on a new person who is just starting out in their career, they may get a bit of a shock when the work they will be contributing to is explained to them in detail. They may find out that what they have learned so far leaves them well short of what they need to know to do the job.
They may not even see the connection between many of the items on the above task list and what they have been taught [in academia]. For a start, the emphasis on resilience may be a completely new concept.
We all know that talent needs to be able to see real career opportunities, and have the opportunity to gain all the relevant skills. Such skills in the field of operational radio communications will be needed forever. That means that the ones who do make it are assured of a long and interesting career.
Recognising all this, the FCS has looked at what contribution it can make towards resolving this very important issue. As a first step, it has been decided to reform the current FCS Site Engineering Accreditation Scheme (SEAS).
The targets for the revised scheme were announced at the FCS Comex ‘23 event. They are:
- That SEAS will provide a solid theoretical understanding, not only of what you do but how you do it in a variety of directly relevant subjects
- These subjects will encompass everything about radio engineering in the BR environment (with resilience, of course, being a crucial aspect)
- The candidate will undertake an examination which, upon completion, will accredit them to the SEAS scheme and make them members of the PRSI.
Having this qualification, the individual will have the skills to know what is needed and be able to gain experience. They will gain the necessary confidence to undertake necessary tasks at a very early stage, and so will fit into teams far better.
To this will be added references to additional training provided by specialist organisations that they may wish to undertake. This is important as many of the activities require extensive and detailed advanced-level expertise. (For instance, you wouldn’t want to climb a 50 metre mast if you weren’t sure the safety harness was reliable).
New recruits are just as clever and capable as current members of the industry when we were first starting out. However, too many are not taught all the practical things that they will need to make a good start in a real-life career. With a good theoretical understanding, reinforced by practical experience, they will do well.
It is early days yet, and we will see how effective SEAS 2023 is. But, right now, we believe it will be immensely helpful in reducing the number of potentially good people who join the industry, fail to impress in the first days, lose heart too soon and then leave it again.
For more information on the work of the Federation of Communication Services, visit www.fcs.org.uk
