Metuchen PD

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gn32772

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Hi. Does anyone know if Metuchen PD recently changed frequencies? Haven't heard anything on 472.05 for a few days, except for some digital noise. The RR database and FCC search don't show anything new.
 

GM

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Sounds like a switch to DMR (Motorola TRBO) occurred...
 

W2SJW

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Well, they don't have proper emission designators on their license for that mode, only analog NFM.
 

robertpearsall

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I think they just wasted a lot of taxpayers dollars since they need to give back there frequency soon also found the fire department has a pending app. with the FCC so they may be making switch soon also.I did run Police with DSD and found transmission's garbled don't know if they are encreptted or if I have a setting off on my DSD.
 

ion_op

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Why switch to DMR?

What is the reason why they switched from FM to DMR other than spending money?
 
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902

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What is the reason why they switched from FM to DMR other than spending money?
There are advantages going to DMR. It's a pretty decent mode, really. The biggest thing is that you can fit two simultaneous conversations into one repeater. The repeater cuts the channel into 2 timeslots pretty much giving you two channels where you once had one. Some DMR systems also do vehicle location on the second timeslot. And, DMR embeds unit ID, so there's no burst for identification. The system could be configured as dual-mode, too, and potentially revert back to analog if needed (although I have no specific knowledge that's what they did/or are doing), and the radios themselves operate in analog. I don't see it as a waste of money in that respect.

The bad thing about this from my perspective is that they did not update their license to reflect the change. In my view, you can't enforce one set of laws and choose to ignore another - or that's what it looks like from the outside looking in. In fairness, it's probably some vendor who sold the equipment, got the purchase order, plugged it in, and decided "good enough", and not anyone in the PD. Still. I can think of a number of incidents across the country where the FCC ordered a public safety licensee that was operating in digital without the correct emission endorsement on the license to go back to analog and then correct the license (the FCC usually shys away from fining public safety unless they absolutely have to).

They're on T-Band, so they wouldn't need to go though the ordeal they would have to on VHF going to a TDMA emission. If they were on VHF, before they could get recoordinated for the 7K60 emission, they would need to demonstrate that their output is not getting into any licensed repeater's INPUT, or blocking the base station receivers of any licensed simplex systems on the same frequency or on the 7.5 kHz adjacents.
 

johnls7424

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Certainly a hinderance towards interop purposes. Feel sorry for this dispatcher having to patch info through if needed.
 

GM

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From what I understand, Metuchen PD still has their analog freq. programmed in their radios for inter-op purposes with surrounding agencies. I wasn't told why they made the switch to DMR mode though, but am working on a way to getting an answer. I was also told that the Fire Dept. is studying a possible switch to DMR as well, but no decision has been made thus far with that.
 

johnls7424

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The only reason why I think they switched to DMR and probably the only logically reason why is for secrecy. Now I can't justify how making a switch to DMR is more cost effective then switching to a digital/conventional P25 flash with some DES encryption loaded in, but that's for a whole another forum set on that idea... Also.. Even if they have their older UHF analog for let's say channel 2. It just doesn't seem logical to me to do that method to maintain interop.
 

JRayfield

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There are a number of very good reasons why many agencies around the U.S. have switched to MOTOTRBO (DMR), besides the agencies wanting 'privacy'.

It's very easy to justify why someone would install DMR instead of conventional P25. First of all, the cost. DMR is going to be much less expensive than P25 (even P25 conventional). Second, DMR is going to offer a lot more features/functionality, as compared to P25 conventional. Those are just two 'justifications' of DMR over P25 conventional, that immediately come to my mind.

John Rayfield, Jr.


The only reason why I think they switched to DMR and probably the only logically reason why is for secrecy. Now I can't justify how making a switch to DMR is more cost effective then switching to a digital/conventional P25 flash with some DES encryption loaded in, but that's for a whole another forum set on that idea... Also.. Even if they have their older UHF analog for let's say channel 2. It just doesn't seem logical to me to do that method to maintain interop.
 

johnls7424

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Have a quick question. A ham digital radio that is comparable for Tier 1 and 2... Will it be able to monitor Metuchen's traffic?
 

W2SJW

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Only the XPR7550. Ham DMR radios are set usually for 400-470. Otherwise, yes (assuming they are not running encryption).

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W2SJW

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Ok, now you have to figure out the color code, time slot & talkgroup. Time to break out DMRDecode on a tapped scanner or SDR dongle...

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johnls7424

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Has anybody ever discovered the time slots and color codes for Metuchen PD. I don't have success with running DSD to determine some of these factors. I guess I'm asking the community at large here to help shed some light on that and maybe we can find a proper way to enter it into the database
 
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