NHP Radio, Can you hear me now?

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Thayne

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May 1, 2002
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Kinda strange, ain't it. That newspaper article says it's an "800 megawatt" system.

Even if it doesn't work good for communications, with 800 megawatts it ought to warm up the fuzz' donuts from a-ways off. . .
 

nhp9943

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Jul 29, 2004
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Lies Lies Lies. Lets be honost here 800meg was the worst choice for NHP. Coverage is **** and they know it. There is so much intermod along the strip you may as well not even have a radio. Amazing though Metro is still on VHF and seems to be able to talk along the strip just fine. What they also are not telling you is that the state did not purchase the upgrade from Macom to allow over the air reprogramming, so everytime they add a talk group or mountain top to the system, they have to reprogram every radio associated with that agency. This results in an unbelivable amount of man power and overtime. I am glad to see the Nevada Appeal is so gulable. Do you think maybe they (the Nevada Appeal) just happened to be on top of snow valley peak. Or perhaps its just the propaganda machine at work. You decide!
 

TOUGHLIFE

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Sep 14, 2003
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DOT Radio Techs

Listening to the system specifically TG 06-141 (the DOT Comm channel) is very interesting at times when the radio techs are out on the road trying to ID and resolve radio problems.
 

Pro-95

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BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal John Macdonald and Dan Berger display photos at the Nevada Department Of Transportation office of their radio system equipment at Snow Valley Peak.
Other than bad grammar and punctuation it seems to read to me that these guys, at an office, showed off pictures of sites in Snow Valley Peak.

I don't get the "lies lies lies" part. I didn't see anywhere they could be lying. The radio system doesn't work. Everyone knows that. Having anyone waste their time to analyze it, is just that. Adding more sites is a bandaid. The system is a hemorrage that needs to be plugged. period.

Adding "over the air programming" won't solve the holes problem. I am thankfull the State didn't spend that money because in the end it will either be a massive money pit (at which time they can waste more on OTA) or it will go out with the garbage in favor of something that works "in a geographically challenged State".
 

SCPD

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Feb 24, 2001
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The real unfortunate part of this whole situation is how well the VHF trunked system worked. Since most of the rural Nevada counties use VHF, the NHP had interoperability with everyone except some Las Vegas agencies and in Washoe County. Whoever decided not to license the frequencies involved in the VHF system not only wasted about $15 million, but also left a legacy of liability for correcting this "oversight". It was interesting that the communications people for the State of Nevada then stated there were not sufficient numbers of VHF frequencies available to reprogram the system. If there weren't enough frequencies in Nevada for a statewide VHF trunked system it would be difficult to imagine any state except for Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming which would have sufficient frequencies for such as system. I think the vendors of 800 MHz trunked systems ripped Nevada off. First they seemed to remain silent when programming the VHF system with non-licensed frequencies and then probably pushed the use of the EDACS system which very few agencies were using. With the state on EDACS it would seem to give a push to local agencies to convert to 800 MHz trunking, inertia which will be beneficial to the vendors.

There must be something here that I'm not understanding.
 

RFGUY

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Aug 4, 2004
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Somewhere in Nevada
The EDACS system in itself is not all that bad in its design. Seems to work well in a small system with closely spaced towers.
The problems here in Nevada are the 800 Mhz frequencies and the fact that much of Nevada is mountainous terrain. The spacing between the sites is farther than called for in the system specs., and the system is just too fragile.
Most of the Troopers carry Cell Phones to communicate when the system goes down or they are out of range, this is of course ridiculous at best that they should have to do this.
Most sites are linked by microwave as are cell sites, so should an earthquake occur, those dishes will move just enough to put both EDACS and cell service out.
The biggest point to be made is; why would they select 800 Mhz for a state like Nevada.
Could have been a slick talking salesman and a lack of knowledge by the State as to what they were buying.
The latest rumor is that the State of Nevada is considering returning to VHF and replace the EDACS system. I kid you not!
More of the taxpayers money!
 

TOUGHLIFE

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The State of Nevada has many licensed VHF high band repeaters thru out the State that are licensed to DPS and most are turned on but not used in the areas currently being dispatched on the 800 system. An example is in LV on Arden Peak. I was lucky to be up on the site in September and saw one of their transmitters properly labeled and licensed turned on in standby mode. There is no reason why they could not be used in lieu of the 800 system for normal DPS operations. Carefully look at the FCC database and you will see them for the State. I guess someone enjoys spending all that money for a bill of goods that the State really does not need. Just my thoughts.
 
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