This clever advice became popular almost forty years ago when Bert Lance, director of the office of management and budget said: “That’s the trouble with government: fixing things that aren’t broken and not fixing things that are broken.” He thought he could save the U.S. government money by practicing the motto “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. His type of reactive maintenance is unpredictable and can be more costly, unlike a preventative maintenance program that keeps equipment running and maximizes its life.

Consequently, implementing an appropriate maintenance program for two-way radio communications systems for first responders is critically important. If radio components fail when needed most, it can be a matter of life or death. It is about time to ditch the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. With this old mentality of break-fix, a radio failure can go unnoticed until needed most by a first responder. By that time, it might be during a critical incident such as a felony traffic stop or foot pursuit when it is too late.

There is a new mentality of proactive two-way radio maintenance where radios are continuously evaluated and analyzed over the air in real time. When they drift out of specification, the technician calls them in before they actually fail. LocusUSA’s DiagnostX waveform analyzer identifies, verifies and analyzes the alignment and field performance of all portable and mobile radios in a network while they are operationally deployed in the field. This new proactive maintenance technology helps to keep radios at their peak operational readiness.

To learn more about DiagnostX radio analyzer, visit our products page.  For other questions or to request a demo, contact LocusUSA at 321-727-3077 or by email at [email protected].