Ed,
For conventional ID is generally done via CWID during between transmissions, generally every 15 minutes for commercial and public safety. If a user keys up it overrides the ID and re-tries during the next period of inactivity.
Trunking is a different story. Due to the disruption that a CWID would cause, particularly on a control channel, there is an alternative ID scheme where the ID is contained in the data stream. The FCC (or anyone who can do a little bit of research on the internet) can decode this easily.
Voice IDers are unnecessary and waste resources. If you absolutely must have one at least use something that doesn't sound like a computer voice from 1985.
The purpose of an ID is for legal compliance ONLY. Any other use is just utilizing it as a convenience and should not be catered to. ID your station using the method that has the least impact on users and the least utilization of the hardware (Key-up time) and call it good. If you must have a voice ID please follow my recommendation to use the wireline (4-Wire Analog or V.24 from a DIU) and set it to the lowest priority so your users will not be impacted and can key over it. The CWID should still be enabled to ensure compliance even whe the voice ID is overridden. This should be set so that it doesn't encode PL/DPL so that the impact to users is minimized.
Dan Woodie, CETsr
KC8ZUM
