Caller Alias

Radios which do not support this feature will merely display the Radio ID or potentially the Radio Alias. Radios which do support this feature will display the Caller Alias.

Inband Caller Alias (a.k.a. Talker Alias) is a feature that allows a MOTOTRBO radio to transmit a user-defined text string of up to 31 characters with all voice calls. The text string can either be 31 UTF-8 or UTF-16BE characters long, depending on the CPS/RM TX Caller Alias setting. This string is transmitted as part of Link Control PDU embedded in the SYNC of each timeslot.

It was standardised in ETSI TS 102 361-2 v2.5.1 and described in Section 5.4.

This feature would be useful for customers who have users that share radios between shifts. At the start of the shift, the user would enter their name (or some identifier) via the menu. This information would then be shown on any radios or dispatch consoles party to that call (Private; Group or All Call) whenever that user transmitted voice. At the end of the shift, this can either be deleted or changed.

This text string does not necessarily need to be programmed via CPS or RM so (particularly in the case of RM) one can continue to use one configuration between many radios as usual. If no text string is used, the receiving radios will simply show the name from the contact list or the Radio ID.

The CPS/RM Edit Caller Alias setting allows a technician to configure a radio to optionally restrict editing of the Inband Caller Alias. The choices are:

• Fixed. The Inband Caller Alias can only be configured in CPS or RM.
• Radio Menu. The Inband Caller Alias can be altered from the radio menu - applicable to display models only.
• Radio Menu and Power Up. The Inband Caller Alias can be altered from the radio menu or upon power on - applicable to display models only. In the latter case, when turning a radio on, the user will be prompted to enter the required string.

Radios without a display and keypad also support Inband Caller Alias but only on transmission and only as a fixed (string editable in CPS/RM only) configuration.

Inband Caller Alias works on all MOTOTRBO topologies and is supported by all radios on M2020.02 software or later.

All radios support a local cache of up to 500 aliases. This cache is erased on power down. If a radio receives a transmission from another radio which is not in the local alias cache, it will display the name from the contact list or the radio ID until the complete TX Caller Alias is received.

See Also

Radio ID

List of software versions

ETSI TS 102 361-2