Digitac Voter

[jjimenez01]

I have a local PD willing to donate a Motorola Digitac Voter that was used in a VHF securenet system. My question is can the voter be re purposed and used in a UHF analog system? The model and serial numers are below. Thanks for your help in advance.

Model # Q2980A

Serial # 525CPJ0400



Jonathan

 

[davidgcet]

do you have the rest of the equiptment required? the voter is only the inbound audio sampler and console tie in, there is another box for the TX. plus you have to have the backhaul, the Digitac is going to likely be analog so you need an analog backhaul or a T-1/microwave and a channel bank to handle the A/D conversion at each end. then you need GPS sync for the TX control.

are you just trying to put a 2nd RX only site out there to increase talk in range, or are you trying to simulcast 2 sites? some of the stuff above does not apply for a RX only site, though you do need the backhaul no matter what.

 

[jjimenez01]

My apologies for not being more specific. The proposed donated Digitac Voter is hopefully to be configured with a MTR2000 that is currently in operation. The organization that wants the voter needs to add one remote receive site to its existing stand alone MTR2000 repeater. It has already committed to using a Verizon line for the backhaul transmission from the remote site. Since there is no line of sight between the main site and the remote site.

As for the remote site is a radio receiver, antenna, preselector and pilot tone generator all that I need?

 

[davidgcet]

i believe so, but to be honest i have never set one up for just remote RX my experiences are with full blown simulcast sites using Quantars. you can call Moto tech support and they can tell you exactly what you need.

i can tell you this, trying to short cut any portion of the job to save a few bucks is likely to make the users unhappy with it's performance. is that Verizon line analog or digital, cause with analog lines any hum/noise on it will result in it always voting the prime site as it thinks the other site has noise. Digitacs vote several times a second, it is not unusual to see it switch back and forth many times during a conversation and audio quality MUST be excellent for it to function as desired.

also, i think the ones for securenet had an extra card or two in them vs the analog models. you will likely have to reprogram the unit to tell it to ignore them. if this unit being donated does not have working spares, i honestly would not even bother with it. by the time you convince them to buy spares they will likely be down and parts NLA since Digitacs are discontinued after the end of this year and only supported to 2018 at the latest.

my honest advice is to get engineering involved, so you know you do it right.

 

[jjimenez01]

Thanks for the advice. Ive been trying to get a local Motorola shop to assist me but to no avail.

 

[davidgcet]

you probably will have to deal with M's tech support/engineering, local shops are rarely in on the system design phase and so they may or may not know the exact options required for your situation. a call to the actual Motorola saleman for your area should get you to the right folks, but call the guy who gets his check from M and not from a local shop.