FDNY Chief Antennas

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billyfromhill

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How does the FDNY not deal with massive amounts of desense with 11 antennas on the roof of their chief vehicles? I count 11 mounts on the roof in the attached photo. Also, what is the round white antenna at the back used for? I know they are all on UHF now but I believe the chief vehicles also have 400 & 800 MHz trunked radios plus MDT and maybe NYCWiN and GPS antennas.

I've also seen other chief vehicles with a giant white rectangular box on the roof on some sort of raised platform. Anybody know what that is for?
 

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kayn1n32008

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How does the FDNY not deal with massive amounts of desense with 11 antennas on the roof of their chief vehicles? I count 11 mounts on the roof in the attached photo. Also, what is the round white antenna at the back used for? I know they are all on UHF now but I believe the chief vehicles also have 400 & 800 MHz trunked radios plus MDT and maybe NYCWiN and GPS antennas.

I've also seen other chief vehicles with a giant white rectangular box on the roof on some sort of raised platform. Anybody know what that is for?

I see at least 2 800MHz antennas on the roof. Passenger side, directly behind the light bar and centre directly behind the light bar. Can't really tell on most of the others though, looks like a bunch of UHF 1/4 waves. the white antenna could be either cellular or GPS.
 
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DaveNF2G

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Desense would only be an issue if any of the radios in the vehicle are transmitting. Usually when one transmits on one radio, they are not trying to listen to any of the other ones, so desensing is just not a concern.
 

RBFD415

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10 - 11 radio installs in one vehicle, what a project!? How many Cheifs vehicles like this does FDNY have running around?

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RBFD415

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Undoubtedly - just thinking of the scope of putting one truck together, much less a small fleet. Do the FDNY shops to it or is it farmed out when the trucks are assembled in NJ?

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bobsav21

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contract

Undoubtedly - just thinking of the scope of putting one truck together, much less a small fleet. Do the FDNY shops to it or is it farmed out when the trucks are assembled in NJ?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I'm willing to bet that it's contracted out to the radio manufacturer for the initial install and the PD " radio guys " handle the maintenance and up keep. I cant really believe that there is a separate radio for each of those antennas.
Would love to hear the particulars if anyone has some real info.
Bob
 

SCPD

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I believe it. Have seen many installs from factory or shops do like the pictured for command vehicles. There are ways to minimize issues during tx.
 

crazyboy

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Heres the "platform" you speak of.
14415677017_81774fbf8f_b.jpg
 

billyfromhill

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Heres the "platform" you speak of.

That's exactly what I was referring to. I get why they use a platform because the cap is probably fiberglass and there's no ground plane. I just don't know what that white box is for.
 

weathermedic

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The chief vehicles all have the ability to retransmit the fireground simplex frequency onto a repeater that is audible on the UHF Doitt system under the "Division" talk groups. Not sure if that is what the white box is for.

Addtionally, the radio system,or at least part of it for FDNY vehicles is contracted through a company in Brooklyn. They are of course a Motorola authorized dealer and do many radio/computer installs for FDNY vehicles, especially the EMS bureau.
 

cackis

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All Battalion vehicles are basically set up the same. Each has a UHF mobile to talk to the dispatcher, a UHF "all hazards" mobile with some DARS talkgroups, PD, EMS, interop and fireground channels, and an 800 MHz mobile primarily used on the Doitt 800 system. They also have an 800 MHz data radio for the MDT's and have UHF mobiles used to record fireground transmissions and UHF mobiles that work with the EFAS (electronic fireground accountability system) and GPS. In addition certain battalions have a vehicle repeater system (VHF to UHF) for high rise operations. The setup on the cap with the white box is for the new electronic command boards from what I've been told. Certain battalions are supposed to be testing them but I have yet to see one in the field. Division vehicles also have the ability to re-transmit fireground transmissions over their designated DARS talkgroups.
 

KK4JUG

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I guess when one of them has a crash, they don't call a wrecker. They call an electronics guy.
 

fdnyradio

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Ok....I break it down the best I can

9 6 3 1
10 7 4
11 8 5 2


Thats how the antennas are arranged on the roof of the older Battalion Vehicle in the picture. Newer battalion cars are being distributed. Note that battalion and division cars have different antenna configs as they have different radio set ups. Also the fireground audio repeater that retransmits fireground audio over the UHF DOiTT System is only found in Division vehciles

Antenna 1 - Fireground Audio Recorder Receiver
Antenna 2 - WiFi/NYCWIN Radio
Antenna 3 - 800MHz Modem for MDT
Antenna 4 - CDMA Antenna for Verizon Data Modem
Antenna 5 - 800 MHz DOiTT Radio
Antenna 6 - In Vehicle Repeater - RX Antenna
Antenna 7 - EFAS (Electronic Fireground Accountability Software) Radio
Antenna 8 - In Vehicle Repeater - TX Antenna
Antenna 9 - UHF Dispatch Radio
Antenna 10 - GPS Antenna for AVL linked to MDT
Antenna 11 - UHF DARS Radio
 

boernegang

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In the first link to the command vehicle the details state it is a diesel motor. Does anyone know if the engine has to stay running to power the electronics?? If so, has the exhaust system been modified or do they have a high idle setting?? Continuous idling of these new motors, of any of the big three, is not good for the DPF and can cause lots of problems.

Not wanting to start a vehicle thread here just curios about how this thing works in the real world.
 

ansky

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Does anyone know why the FDNY UHF frequencies sound so poor? It seems like the signal fades and sounds "choppy". I have seen lots of complaints about this in other threads but nobody seems to really know the answer. I live just a few miles outside the city and I have this problem even with an outdoor antenna. I really wish they would have kept the VHF on the air.
 

12dbsinad

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Does anyone know why the FDNY UHF frequencies sound so poor? It seems like the signal fades and sounds "choppy". I have seen lots of complaints about this in other threads but nobody seems to really know the answer. I live just a few miles outside the city and I have this problem even with an outdoor antenna. I really wish they would have kept the VHF on the air.

It's because the system is simulcast (more than one transmitter transmitting at the same time). You are probably far enough out of the designed coverage area. When this happens you start to get the "choppy" signal. This is due to the signals becoming out of phase, multipath, etc.
 

KK4JUG

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...and the signal bouncing in, around and through all those buildings isn't helping it any.
 
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