MOTOTRBO: XPR 4550 and XPR 8300

[hummingbird1918]

In 2006, my agency purchased 61 MOTOTRBO XPR 4550 mobile (in-car) radios, In addition, the repeater was purchased which is XPR 8300. These units are for law enforcement use. The Deputies cover approximately 10,000 square miles that is riddled canyons and forest areas. We are very (extreme) rural with approximately a 45 minute response time dependent on the actual location of the patrol area.

We have had some issue with radio people (meaning there is no one available) and I need some help on this. We have been told that we need to buy new radios for upcoming narrowband change. Of course since we anticipate using federal funding all radios must be P25.

I looked at the spec from Motorola and it appears that these XPR 4550 radio are already narrowband. So do I really need to expend all that money for new radios? Or are the "patches" or converters (like the analog to digital tv switch) that will be far more reasonable in expense.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if I need to provide additional information.

hummingbird1918@gmail.com

 

[KX5MOT]

No you do not need new radios, the XPR's are narrowband capable.

 

[hummingbird1918]

I learned yesterday that reprogramming is needed because we are currently using them and the repeaters in wideband analog.

My concern now is how interoperable they are because I was told yesterday the mobile units were not Project 25 CAI (Common Air Interface). So does that mean that when we get into a situation that requires for us to communicate with neighboring agencies that we won't be able to? Yet our state Department of Public Safety does have a communication system called AIRS. I am thinking that regardless that this would not be an issue because we would hook into their system when a situation arises, i.e. pursuit, etc.

I am sorry for not understanding this...my day job is writing grants not radios, but I am taking this on since we do not have a radio person and I need this information or at least understanding until we get a new radio person to help me with grants.

Thank you for your help!

 

[TampaTyron]

Analog is already interoperable............plus you have access to some sort of mutual aid gateway (that you typically have to provide a radio for or host some sort of audio bridge appliance) so I would not worry about P25 bs unless you are seeking fed radio grant money. Basically, you need someone (typically a local radio shop or tech on staff) to modify your fcc license for narrowband and then reprogram all of your units. You can do it yourself, but I would recommend finding soneone in your organization or a competent local person to assist. I work for a large Motorola radio shop here in Tampa and this would be a no-brainer if I was there or you were here. Good luck with this as most people will wait until the last minute.................TT

 

[xmo]

There is an article starting on page 36 of the new [March 2011] issue of APCO's "Public Safety Communications" magazine that may halp clarify things for you. The article compares narrow band analog, Trbo, P25, etc.

 

[Bote]

I learned yesterday that reprogramming is needed because we are currently using them and the repeaters in wideband analog.

My concern now is how interoperable they are because I was told yesterday the mobile units were not Project 25 CAI (Common Air Interface).

I have seen a document by the governing body that outlines different levels of interoperability. I don't think that you are required to have direct Project 25 CAI capability with all responders, but you do have to posses the means to communicate effectively with them. Gateways are listed in the "OK" category because they are trying to steer all agencies toward forklift upgrades to shiny new Motorola trunked systems. For one thing not every agency operates on the same bands; some are on 800MHz, some are on UHF, some are on VHF, so P25 CAI is only part of the picture.

As it turns out, a great many rural fire and police departments simply don't have the budgets for this and are effectively employing gateway solutions, sometimes forming a consortium with neighboring jurisdictions with whom they interoperate most frequently.

I have set up such systems and once people are properly trained and establish standard operating procedures that make their use second nature, things work pretty well.

So don't feel pressured into a huge expenditure that you might not need to lay out. But get going soon as time is running out.

 

[W2NJS]

I'll try to pull some of the techie stuff together for you so when you go out to do battle you are basically informed.

1. Your present system and radios are called MotoTrbo. They all work on the same frequency band which may be UHF of VHF.
2. Your system can work in two "modes," one of which is called analog FM and the other is called TRBO which is a digital mode.
3. Modes can be mixed between channels, so you can have channel 1 on analog FM and channel 2 on TRBO, etc. etc., all the way up to the limit of your radios' capability.
4. The TRBO mode, which is digital, is not compatible with the P25 digital mode. The analog FM mode, on the other hand, IS compatible with the analog FM mode on the radios used by other departments as long as the radios are on the same band, the bands in this example being either VHF or UHF. Any radio these days that does digital of any kind ALSO can do the old analog FM as long as it's set up properly. (There are other bands besides VHF and UHF, and those are called 700, 800, and 900, all meaning megaHertz, and you will probably encounter the 800 mHz band most commonly if an adjoining or nearby department is using a P25 CAI digital system.)
5. As was stated above, your current radios are capable of narrowband operation. You need to have them reprogrammed and you must also do a modification of your FCC license.