Digitized speech transmission at VHF using existing FM mobile radios

An extensive study of digitized speech transmission over existing VHF FM mobile radio sets is presented. Objective criteria expressed in terms of bit error rate (BER) are determined for the performance evaluation of analog FM radios when transmitting digital voice. These criteria are used to define the technical characteristics such as the receiver sensitivity, co-channel rejection, and adjacent channel selectivity in the case of digital FM transmission. The concept of performance measurements of existing sets in the digital mode of operation is suggested. The results of performance measurements reported here include the following: 1) radiated FM spectra, 2) bit error rate curves, 3) receiver sensitivity, 4) BER performance in the presence of analog or digital FM interference on the same or adjacent channel, 5) signal plus noise plus distortion to noise plus distortion ratio (SINAD) performance in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference for both types of interfering signals, 6) co-channel rejection and adjacent channel selectivity for various combinations of the wanted and interfering signals, 7) receiver selectivity for both modes of operation, and 8) adjacent-signal selectivity for various combinations of the desired and undesired signals. Optimum values of design parameters of digital voice radio system are deduced from the obtained results. Finally, the implications of digitized speech transmission on the technical characteristics, operating range, channel reuse distance, and adjacent channel interference performance of analog FM radios are discussed.