Weston PD

[Cskib32087]

Sounds like Weston PD is now back on the Tait digital system on the correct channel.
They have been having problems for the last 2 years getting it running correctly and had to pull it totaly out and operate on the Public Works channel for a long time.

I guess they are doing the Meriden plan, Go out to bid and take the cheapest.
Meriden got a bid from Motorola and tait for simulcast and tait was 300k less with no coverage guarantee. Motorola had a coverage guarantee and a contacted time line.
It took tait 2 years to get everything running in Meriden also

[eclipse175]

2 years? I don't think Weston has had the tait system that long even pre-production testing

[APX7500X2]

Originally Posted by eclipse175

2 years? I don't think Weston has had the tait system that long even pre-production testing

Maybe 2 years or very close to it.
They had the Tait stuff in for a long time before even trying it, and they tried it for months on the EMS 2 channel and never got it to cover well.
They just had something in the paper about the new system about 3 months ago and how it was going to be the best thing ever. Then they pulled the plug and went to the public works channel for a few months.

Maybe now after all this time it might work

[K1TSB]

There is a LOT of misinformation here. Honestly I don't know where some of this stuff comes from. I'm not going to waste my time correcting every false statement here but I will set the story straight on one thing.... They were operating on the public works freq for approx ONE WEEK while the P25 system was removed and evaluated AS A RESULT OF A LIGHTNING STRIKE. A number of pieces of equipment were damaged and had to be replaced. And I know this will only lead to additional false information so let me head this off at the pass as well.... EVERYTHING was properly grounded and lighting protected.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Please get the facts before spreading false information on a public forum, sadly people will believe what they read here even when its not true.

[K1TSB]

Originally Posted by Cskib32087

I guess they are doing the Meriden plan, Go out to bid and take the cheapest.
Meriden got a bid from Motorola and tait for simulcast and tait was 300k less with no coverage guarantee. Motorola had a coverage guarantee and a contacted time line.
It took tait 2 years to get everything running in Meriden also

Did you actually read the bid responses? Motorola was bidding a TWO (or three) SITE system. The Tait system is 5 sites (4 of which transmit). Motorola was using an obsolete algorithm to show anticipated coverage. And yea, Tait did guarantee coverage. 95 or 97% from HT's if my memory serves me right. The bid responses are all public information.

[eclipse175]

This is interesting to read.... They have 4 transmit sites? Are they simulcasting from all 4?

[K1TSB]

Originally Posted by eclipse175

This is interesting to read.... They have 4 transmit sites? Are they simulcasting from all 4?

Yes, it's a four site simulcast P25 system. Four simultaneous transmitters. I'm referring to Meriden. Five voting receive sites.

[eclipse175]

Thats nice to have that many transmit sites. How did the lightening fry Weston's equipment even with everything grounded properly?

[K1TSB]

Originally Posted by eclipse175

Thats nice to have that many transmit sites. How did the lightening fry Weston's equipment even with everything grounded properly?

The microwave system had tower top amplifiers that are before the lightning protection. Lightning protection mainly TRIES to prevent lightning from entering the building. (In my opinion, no lightning protection will protect against a direct hit, only near misses.) One of the Tait CPU's (The centralized voter) must have received some transient voltage as a result of the microwave strike causing intermittently undesirable behavior.

[digitalBill]

They are back on their main PD freq. but from where I am in Norwalk it is not as clear as it was before they went off line.

[eclipse175]

Not as clear reception wise or like the audio isn't as clear?

[APX7500X2]

Originally Posted by K1TSB

Did you actually read the bid responses? Motorola was bidding a TWO (or three) SITE system. The Tait system is 5 sites (4 of which transmit). Motorola was using an obsolete algorithm to show anticipated coverage. And yea, Tait did guarantee coverage. 95 or 97% from HT's if my memory serves me right. The bid responses are all public information.

Ahh the Motorola v Tait, it always comes to this.
Because someone spews a "Fact" does not mean its factual!
Mapping software is like a Microsoft/Apple fight you can show theirs is worse and they can show yours is worse, each has its pros and cons and on and on


Its nice to see Weston grounded their stuff correctly. Many towns pay more money replacing things after blowing stuff up than it would have been to correctly ground things in the first place.

[K1TSB]

Originally Posted by APX7500X2

Ahh the Motorola v Tait, it always comes to this.
Because someone spews a "Fact" does not mean its factual!
Mapping software is like a Microsoft/Apple fight you can show theirs is worse and they can show yours is worse, each has its pros and cons and on and on


Its nice to see Weston grounded their stuff correctly. Many towns pay more money replacing things after blowing stuff up than it would have been to correctly ground things in the first place.

I think you missed the point... Tait, Motorola, Cheerios, Chevy, Pumpkins... Two sites wont cover as well as five sites will. (I wasn't clear enough.)

As far as factual information goes, I couldn't agree more. A public forum isn't the place for research. The facts are available to anyone who wants to dig deep enough.

[eclipse175]

I definitely missed the point.... Cheerios (or General Mills), Chevy or... pumpkins (the vegetable?), could all run two sites of simulcast? (would they pump out actual cereal (if general mills) and it would still be inferior to Tait's 5 simulcast site system? Of course we are talking about Meriden because Weston (as far as I know) only runs 2 simulcast sites.????? If that is the case those points of reference are definitely valid in this discussion... I'm just trying to understand how we compare food vendors or vegetable commodities to radio infrastructure?

[eclipse175]

Perhaps we should require a MLS standard of works cited to the posts here to prevent such accusations of "coverage maps". Nevertheless, two companies gave their "opinion" and "guarantee" (of coverage) and Weston PD sat an entire SEVEN days (or more?) operating on a secondary (non public NON LIFE SAFETY) system for their officers to communicate on. To me that is alarming. I am just a forum member so who am I to comment?

[w1kne]

Originally Posted by K1TSB

The microwave system had tower top amplifiers that are before the lightning protection. Lightning protection mainly TRIES to prevent lightning from entering the building. (In my opinion, no lightning protection will protect against a direct hit, only near misses.) One of the Tait CPU's (The centralized voter) must have received some transient voltage as a result of the microwave strike causing intermittently undesirable behavior.

K1TSB is 100% correct in his assessment here.
And any qualified engineer/technician will tell you, no matter how good you have things grounded at a tower site, lightning CAN cause damage to gear at a radio tower site. I've seen it more times than I can count.
Grounding will help reduce the amount of energy that enters into a building but depending on where the tower is struck, the intensity of the strike, and other variables, the lightning will take every path to ground it can find, simultaneously. Including through radio gear. It's an unfortunate part of life having gear at a tower site and why you should always have a backup system at a different site, if feasible.

[Abb0]

Rule of thumb for some people on this forum... never let a good story get in the way of the truth :-)